Hello list.
I hope I did not ruffle any feathers with my earlier remarks regarding my
opinion of olives in Mexican food. There has not been a whole lot of cooking
in my house for the past couple weeks, at least until today, when I spent the
better part of the afternoon making a roasted turkey on my outdoor smoker. It
has been a long time since I cooked anything on it, and I'm definitely rusty.
But, the turkey and sides were outstanding in the end. There hasn't been much
going on in my kitchen lately because two weeks ago today, I received the news
that my Dad had passed away. It happened in the very early morning hours at
home, and my Mom was with him. He had battled Diabetes for 45 years and had
been struggling with complications with his heart and other health issues for
the past several years. His passing came as no surprise to me, but the loss is
still very real. On top of that, Heather came down with a bad stomach flu just
a couple days later, with an ear infection to follow a couple days later.
Until Saturday night, I only had two nights of good sleep in the previous 12
nights. We finally figured out what the problem was, and she is making a great
recovery thanks to some antibiotics. We had the funeral service here in Las
Vegas, but the barrial service was held in a small Idaho town which is an 8 to
9 hour drive from here one way. We made the trip all the way up there and
back in two days. Heather and Emily stayed home as we couldn't afford for
Emily to cancel her appointments. Long car trips have always been a great
struggle for me, and to be cooped up in a car for 18 hours inside of two days
and getting in late was especially difficult. So needless to say, things have
been rough for the past couple weeks. I've not really had my regular drive to
cook and try new things lately. But now, the funeral is over, the barrial
service is complete, and I'm back home and beginning to recover some of the
sleep I lost. So not only did I make the smoked turkey today, but I have a
number of things I plan to make with the leftovers, such as a panini using
smoked turkey and sun-dried tomatoes, enchiladas, and maybe a soup as well. I
ordered and received the newest cookbook from "Cooks' Illustrated a few weeks
ago that is full of recipes using the cast iron skillet. Many of the recipes
look and sound very good, and I'm looking forward to trying them out soon. I
hope all of you are doing well and cooking and/or enjoying some awesome food.
I will share more of my successes as they come along. Which reminds me, I
found and made an amazing recipe just before my Dad passed away for what is
called a lemon bliss cake. It is a butter cake, flavored strongly with lemon,
baked in a bundt pan, and glazed with a mixture of sugar and lemon juice while
the cake is still hot. The resulting crunchy coating is packed with intense
lemon flavor and eats very nicely. I will share the recipe when I can find a
few minutes to send it in. It was so good that Emily has asked me to make it
for a piano residle she is hosting this weekend. I'll share other great
recipes as I make them in the near future.
Jon
