The 50-50 Pie.

I've got an 18" pizza pan. It's big, so big that after I bought it 4 years ago I discovered it wouldn't fit in our conventional oven. So there it sat collecting dust on top of the fridge.

Well as luck would have it, our old oven crapped out, and the pan fit in our new oven (Propane fired).

Okay, now we get to use the thing. 

With a pie pan that big and differing tastes in the house it's easy to make one half of the pie to my tastes and one half to the better halfs.

The other night I made a 50-50 pie. One half for her, and one half for me.

Here's the construction.

D'oh! Half w. Evoo.

Thanksgiving Day # 1...........

Yesterday was Thanksgiving (Thanks Capt. Obvious!)  

Since we're headed off to Utica tomorrow for the traditional Turkey feast at the in-laws, my better half and I had a ham dinner yesterday. 

Gotta say, it was pretty darn good.

French Onion Soup Recipe.....

There used to be a restaurant in Childwold , NY called Dumas's, which is currently The Thirsty moose.

It was and still is a popular snowmobiling destination.

The Dumas family ran it for years and it had awesome homestyle cooking.

When we'd go there when Dumas's still ran it I would always order the French Onion Soup-it was awesome. And I'd ask for the recipe and the chef, would laugh and shake his head and say, "Nope!"  

Alas, I couldn't make it at home.

A couple of weeks ago one of my co-workers at school, (who will remain nameless to protect the innocent) who used to be a waitress there told me before they sold to the new owners, she'd nabbed the recipe.

Ha! I can make it home. It's fairly straight forward, but I think what gives it distinct flavor is the Lambrusco-makes it sweet. 

I made it last night and it's very good-No pics because I was lazy. 

I want to get this down in case I lose the precious piece of paper the recipe is on.

So here it is, Dumas's French Onion Soup recipe as written verbatim.

2 large yellow onion

1 large red onion

3 pats butter

cracked pepper (lots of it)

1/8 cup Olive oil

Sizzle down

1/2 cup lambrusco

1 tsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. worcestshire sauce

8 cups water

1 tb. gravy master

2 tb. beef base.

Try it, you'll love it!

And if you're in the area, give the Thirsty Moose, their food is pretty darn good too!

Hand Turkey......

Not to be confused with the Hand Jive (Willy).  One of my favorite blogs is Meat Sections- Alyson draws some awesome food related sketches. They make me giggle.

Like the Hand Turkey.

 

And cranberry sauce....

And Green Bean Casserole...

Check her work out at Meatsections-Click Here.

Seriously funny. And she sells T-Shirts too.

Taco Salad....

Got these non-stick bowls from some where on Amazon.

Put a tortilla in 'em....

Bake 'em for 10 or 15 mins.

Fill 'em up with your favorite fillings-

Good stuff!

Oscars.....

Had to take a trip to Glens Falls today. On the way back we had to go through Warrensburg. The cool thing about that is there's a store called Oscar's, that specializes in smoked meats and cheeses.

Here's the link- Click Here to go to Oscar's they'll mail you stuff, and it's awesomely good stuff.

It was a total impulse buy today. I know there's wicked good cheese there, but did I really need to stop and buy any?

I was almost past the turn for Oscar's and the car decided for me-seriously, the directional went on, and the car turned right, went up the hill and there I was.  The proverbial kid in a candy cheese shop.

So here's what I bought.

Hickory smoked gouda.

Hickory smoked bacon and cheddar.

Triple X cheddar.

And when I was at the counter getting ready to pay, there was a wheel of cheese under glass, so I asked the gentleman what the cheese was, he replied, "3 year old cheddar." And without skipping a beat he took a cleaver and lopped me off a chunk, which I tasted inhaled.  I said, "Give me a pound please."

3 year old cheddar.

So that's that. I almost bought a smoked ham, and some kielbasa, and brats, and god knows I could have bought one of everything. But, my wife certainly would have killed me if I spent 4 or 500 dollars on comfort food. So I stuck with the cheese.

This place is awesome, a cheesehead's paradise.

Next time we'll get some sausage.

Father's Day.....

Not the Father's Day in June, this one was in November.

My good friend Mike's father passed away a few weeks back. He was very close to his father.  When Mike was a kid his father would take him hunting and fishing and do those things that fathers and sons do, creating a bond, that makes the son into a man.  

I received a message from Mike last week that he was going to scatter his father's ashes on a pond, next to a fishing club his dad had belonged to for 40 years. It was an open invitation, for his friends, and even though I wasn't obligated to go, I felt a strong urge to. 

And so I did.

The pond and camp weren't too far from the Hinckley Resovoir in the Southern part of the Adirondack Park, about a two hour ride from Tupper.  

I traveled from Tupper to Indian Lake, then south to Speculator/Lake Pleasant, and then west towards Hinckley on Route 8.  The sun was out, the sky was blue and the day had a very special feel to it from the very beginning. 

Now I wasn't really sure where exactly we were going to meet. Mike hadn't been there in a few years, so he gave me general directions and said he'd sit on the side of the road just past the intersection of Rt. 8 and 365. 

So, no worries,I drove, and showing up and hour early (in case I got lost), we intersected precisely at the intersection of 8 and 365, he too was early. He and his buddy Mark looking for a cup of coffee and me looking for him. 

This is the first part of the day where I kind of went, whoa. I knew all along that I wouldn't have any trouble finding him, not sure how I knew it, but I knew it. And if you've ever been in that neck of the woods, it is the middle of nowhere, with lots of places where one could go the wrong way. And bang- there he was.

There was no coffee shop within reach, we went to the camp.

 The camp.

We had both.

What a beautiful place. The camp itself was weathered and you could see that it's been used by generations of families doing the things families are supposed to do.

We parked, and after some small talk it was time to disperse his father's ashes. 

These are Mike's words describing the day:

During his life, my Father enjoyed many activities- hunting, fishing, golf, baseball, skiing, traveling, along with the comradery of his friends. With the help of two of my friends, I was able to do some of the same activities, while we said a final goodbye to my Father.

We traveled a few hours to get to the place he loved. We dispersed his ashes into the pond where he loved to fish, as my good friend spoke the words of the Mourners Kaddish in Hebrew. We fired the shotgun that he gave me 42 years ago, and the shotgun he recently left to me. (We fired the rifle that Aunt May left also) We tossed a baseball into the pond and tried to hit it with the rifle shots. We drove a few golf balls into the pond in a competitive format. We tossed a fishing line into the pond, hoping but not expecting to land any fish. We drank a beer and had a shot or two and said a toast to life.

And when it was time to leave, I realized just how much I am my Father’s son. And as I write this account of Saturdays activities I realize how fortunate I am to have these 2 friends who took the time and went the distance to share a very important day with me.

Those of you who wanted to but couldn’t be there, thank you for your thoughts. 

Now, after Mike had placed his father's ashes in the pond, he turned and walked back up the hill towards the camp.  His good friend Mark who had just done the reading and myself stood there and just looked into the water as the ashes dispersed. 

 Now, here came "whoa" moment number 2 for me.  As we watched the ashes, a face formed in the water- I looked at Mark and said, "You see that?" He nodded.  It slowly dissipated, we both exhaled and walked back up the bank.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not the overly spiritual type. As a matter of fact, if someone told me this, I'd be the first to say, "Yeah right."  The funny thing was, it seemed normal. I'd never been to any kind of ceremony like this, but looking at the image in the water, it just seemed normal. I've got no other way to explain it.

So as Mike said above we celebrated his father's life by shooting, fishing and hitting golf balls.

C'mon trout, we know you're there. 

 Adirondack golf tee.

Tiger Woods, be afraid, be very very afraid.

Tiger, don't worry!

As for me, no pic, but Tiger shouldn't worry about me either.

  Just 3 guys on a beautiful Saturday morning enjoying the outdoors.

And for some reason I think there may have been a fourth there.

Adirondack Life.......

No not the magazine filled with waytoomanyadvertisementsthatusedtobeagoodread!

This is about a beautiful Wednesday afternoon.

It's been dark, gray and rainy/snowy/sleety for the past couple of weeks.

Sure there's been the occasional day where the Sun would make an appearance,  but along with the time change last week, I've been feeling like a mole.

Yup, a mole, those cute little creatures that reside underground and never see the sun, hence, they have no eyes.

Today the Sun came out, and I had to make a trip to Long Lake to see the Doc to get rid of this sinus infection I've had for a month and a half.
So after my visit to the Doc and armed with enough prescriptions for an army, I drove home to Tupper.

It was a classic Adirondack fall day.

On the way home I took some pics.

(disclaimer-I in no way pretend to know how to take pictures)

 Looking down Long Lake from the beach.

Bog River Falls-spent a lot of teenage years swimming there.

Big Tupper from the Bog River Falls bridge.

Neat little island on Big Tupper.

Nice little boathouse.

A slightly bigger island on Big Tupper. Make a nice summer retreat.

Litchfield property. I believe that road goes by Buck-A-Year hunting camp.

You're here! Make sure you got your building permit and zoning rules!

From the boat launch across from the Riverside Restaurant (well, where it used to be....)

Looking into town-I wonder how many more years that smokestack will be there?

Which way does the wind blow? The answer my friend, is blowin' in the wind......

Seward Range (I think). Taken from the flow @ Moody.

Another view-I think there might have been a glacier there.

Tree, tree, tree........ (What movie was that line in?)

And now for the contest!   Which famous Tupper Laker(s) reside in this lakeside residence?

The winner gets a meatpie made by yours truly during the X-Mas Holidays.

What a day.

Tuesday.......................

Hadn't planned a post, not that I ever do, but when opportunity strikes, you post baby!

I made Salisbury Steaks tonight.

Picked off the recipe from   Allrecipesclickherefor link . 

A great alternative to meatloaf and burgers-

Add some mashed potatoes and veggies and you have a meal.

Quick and easy.

 

In the pan....

Still in the pan....

 

On the plate......

Comfort food. Very good.

Monday night.......

It's Monday night, and we all know very well, Monday's suck. 

Why does Monday suck, well simply because it's Monday.  

Unless you're retired, and I ain't, Monday's will continue to suck for the next few years.

(If I need to explain any further, please stop by, and I'll give a detailed explanation)

But, loyal readers, I digress (again), this post is about easy cooking on Monday night.

As I pondered what to make for myself and my better half, I was at a loss. 

I clicked on Allrecipes and there was a recipe for Reuben soup.

I got excited, until I saw it had kielbasa in it-No go. Reubens are made from corn beef, and kielbasa isn't corned beef and the better half hates kielbasa eventhoughhermotherispolish!  

Whew, glad I got that out of my system.

Then the obvious occurred, why not make Reubens?

And that my friends, I did.

 

The basic ingredients.

 

Butter the downside, and spread some 1000 Island dressing on the topside.

 

Place a slice of corned beef on.

 

 Place a slice of swiss on that.

 

Place some sauerkraut on that.

 

Another slice of swiss.....

 

Another slice of corned beef.....

 

Grill 'em baby........

Ready, set, .........

 

Go!