I am a Tall Drink of Water

Does the expression, "you are what you eat" really make any sense? Sure, I acknowledge that whatever we ingest becomes a part of us, but most food nicknames for people have negative connotations. If you are not that smart or are plain stupid you're called Meathead - not because you like sweetbreads. If you are inactive or actually can't move or think you're a Vegetable - not because you had a green salad for lunch. If you ate too much or eat a lot all the time you're a Porker - ok, maybe that one is accurate.

So if it were the case then after today's lunch I would be one cold chicken. I had a fabulous chicken chili that my wife had made over the weekend from a recipe she had gotten from a friend from another friend from a party from the internet or Betty Crocker or something. I love how recipes move. Some people are real sticklers for recipes. "I can't make this, I don't have a pinch of Kosher salt." Others (maybe someone like me) never followed a recipe exactly - "I'm sure it will be fine with a beer in it instead of plain old water!" My wife had no hesitation substituting almost half of the recipes prescribed ingredients. Why? "Didn't feel like going out to the store. "

Good reason. I like that about recipes. They allow for originality. Or at least creativity. So if you are what you eat then its a compliment that depends on who created your meal - is it a meatloaf that uses ketchup and Lipton onion soup mix? or a meatloaf that uses diced tomatoes and fresh parsley?

So if I eat Fruit Loops tomorrow...

Old House

I haven't talked much about the house, but I should. It was built in 1727 and deserves some respect. We love it, it has the style and charm of an old house, but has been so well maintained that non-do-it-ourselfers (which we are) can handle it. Now that's not to say that there's not stuff we need to do or to get done.

Here's a fun one: This is the time of year when I get to start worrying about water in the basement. Hurray. Our first house had that fabulous problem, too, so we buried a nice and expensive and extremely effective dry-basement system into it. It was great. Never had to worry about it again. Problem solved. However, I don't live in that house anymore. And the new house (err, OLD house) has a nice water-in-the-basement problem to deal with. Fabulous. So this will probably be my last Spring of up-and-down the stairs with the wet vac because the peace of mind of having a dry basement - not to mention how that will help preserve the house from water problems in the floors and walls - is tremendous. I just need to part with all the money. Which is not fun to think about.

Oh, and did I mention I probably need a new driveway this year too? And that its about 200 feet long? No? Well chalk that one up to "preservation" as well.

Well doing all this will get me excited for our annual Spring Pig Roast - never too early to start planning for that.

Recipe: Guinness Batter Fish Fry

The fish fry went well so I wanted to share the basics of the batter.

[Needs to be a photo here - working on it]

4 Tilapia fillets - or whatever fish you want - I also used scallops, though a deep fryer would have made them better
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2/3 cup beer - in this case Guinness Stout which made for a nice creamy flavored finish

Whisk the wet into the dry ingredients

Salt and pepper the fish then dredge it in flour, dip it into the batter and place it into a pan of hot oil (olive, or your preference). How hot? I didn't measure but should have since I splattered a little and got some nice grease burns on my arm. Keep the temperature under control or you may burn the batter before cooking the fish - What? Maybe that happened to me. So? - Cook the fish for a couple of minutes on each side - til its done is my general rule - and with fish, don't overcook.

That's pretty much it. Its not really original, I mined some recipes from around the web and other cookbooks - I'm not good with flour ratios and that kind of thing, so I always have to look that stuff up.

I served it with lemon slices and tartar sauce (how bold!) and of course a pint of Guinness.

Not in Denial

I'm not in denial over what happened Sunday, but I'm not going to talk about it (or read about it, discuss it, watch it). So instead I'll go over the food, which was a huge success. I thoroughly enjoyed the fish fry. (We took pictures and I'll post when I get around to it). Here's the menu:

• Shrimp (ok, so I boiled the shrimp, I'm easing into the whole fry thing);
• Mussels steamed in butter and garlic with parsley and taragon (still not fried - yikes! Some fish fry!);
• Tilapia fillets, Guinness battered and fried(hurray!);
• Scallops, same Guinness batter and fried;
• Fish sticks for the kids - although they ate mostly the shrimp and some mussels - next time I'll skip the frozen sticks;
• French fries (ok, so I went frozen here as well - maybe next year I'll get a fryolator and make my own).

I guess that was it. I had planned to do cole slaw and some raw veggies but got all wrapped up in the fry. I need a sous chef sometimes.

Accompanying this was a few pints of Guinness. We ended with grocery store bakery cupcakes with red and blue icing and little plastic footballs on them. The footballs were rings and we wore those as we watched [something] on TV.

It worked out great. The food was ready and consumed before [something] started and we were couch bound with brews and snacks by [something].

I really enjoyed it - the battering and frying. *Sniff* *Sniff* Do I smell a fryolator in my future...