Sunday, March 29, 2020

Boudin Mac n Cheese Goulash



      NOTE:  For those who do not know, Boudin is a white sausage made of pork (usually heart and liver) stuffed with pork rice dressing into pork casings. It can be found throughout the south.   
      Oh boy, does my wife love this one.  Not only a delicious Cajun dish, but comfort food for any day of the year.  You can prepare this in a large deep skillet or in a large baking dish whereas to reheat and meld all the flavors for a couple of minutes; providing leftovers for several days or to freeze for later.  This dish feeds 2 in the RV.

1 pound skinned boudin
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 15 oz. can kernel corn, drained
1 package of mac n cheese, prepared
1 stalk celery, sliced *
1 bell pepper, chopped *

1 onion, chopped *
1 teaspoon garlic
Tony Chachere's to taste
salt n pepper to taste

*The Holy Trinity* of Cajun Cooking


Zummo's Pork Boudin

Simmerin' Boudin and Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity

      Remove Boudin from skins and brown in skillet seasoned with salt n pepper to taste. Add garlic, onion, celery, and bell pepper; sauté for 10 minutes.  Add the tomato sauce and water and cook for 30 minutes on low heat, stirring to prevent scorching or sticking.  Stir in the corn and prepared Mac n Cheese and remove from heat.  Serve and enjoy.

Final simmer of all

Plated and ready to devour; plenty tasty

"A nickel's worth of Goulash beats a $5 dollar
 can of vitamins"  
Old Hungarian quote

WiFi courtesy of Verizon MiFi
   

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Fifty Shades of Politics


NOTE:  The following is strictly my own opinion, although based on the most available facts I can find.  I have been thinking about this for quite a while and the week here off the grid in La Push helped me find my compass.  I welcome all other opinions and do not discriminate against those that disagree.  Just defend it with facts.  We approach another election year cycle and this one is no different, unless you see the criticality of the current temperament.  The boiling point is near and the melting pot is bubbling over at the edges.  YOU WILL NOT OFFEND ME IF YOU READ NO FURTHER. 
       I did not vote for Obama, although I was curious to give the man a fair chance to fixing our then current situation as well as healing our country.  Unfortunately I was disappointed.  I am by no means racist, but he did more to divide this country by race, creed or whatever than any other president in history.  Let's be clear on this.  JUST BECAUSE I DISAGREE WITH A PERSON OF A DIFFERENT RACE DOES NOT MAKE ME A RACIST.  I won't even comment on his foreign policy.  I read his book, The Audacity of Hope and wanted to believe, but his naivete' showed up too quickly and inevitably he resorted to the "Take the lead it's my way or the highway I have a pen and a phone" mentality.  Who would criticize him or confront him without facing the thundering cries of racism?  I applaud President Obama for trying.   Although I have questions about his ties to his Islamic faith in his policy decisions.  I respected the office he represented regardless of any results.  I tried to wait patiently to see the good in what was happening, but in the end I was often disappointed.  Look at him now.  The man who believed in hope is now a multi-millionaire with several homes and not a worry in the world.  I do not foresee he has any plans to pay his good fortune forward.  


      I voted for Donald Trump simply to make my vote count. There was no way I was going to let it slide or have my vacancy be filled by some jackal who voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton.  There will be plenty of people who will criticize and even vilify me for this.  In some small way I feel I helped save the country for at least the next 4-8 years.  I once had a new teacher look disgustedly at me when discussing politics and I said that I have always been Republican as they gave the military our fair share when it came to pay raises. Teaching was a tough profession to navigate as a conservative.
      Donald Trump is not perfect, far from it.  He is the first president to be elected as (to my knowledge) not a politician, but a businessman.  Of course with this comes a certain 'egotistical' attitude.  This has caused a considerable amount of unrest, chaos, and even outright hatred in Washington D.C. throughout both parties.  Businessmen are 'zero sum gain' type of folks.  Fix it, find a way to make it solvent through tax loss, or achieve outright profit.  This attitude confused many fellow Republicans and outright infuriated Democrats.  They didn't know how to deal with him.  So, like many Sci Fi movies when aliens land on Earth...….if you don't know what else to do...ATTACK!   A few (very valuable) Republican colleagues distanced themselves from him out of fear or saw no way to gain for themselves.  The Democrats?  Well they started their plans to 'BOMB THE HELL OUT OF HIM'  remove him from office no matter what the cost.  This however did not take Americans into consideration.  This cost us millions to fuel an assault that never produced any results or facts for that matter.


      The last year of his office has been laden with continual accusations, investigations, and unfounded rhetoric.  Again, this will draw lots of criticism from friends that DO NOT like him as well.  I have lost several close friends over the past two years due to the political climate.  We are, after all, at the age where we feel it is important to speak our minds and vote as responsible citizens.  THERE WERE NEVER ANY ACCUSATIONS THAT WERE PROVEN TRUE OR HAD ANY SHRED OF  LEGALITY.  NO RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE.  I do find it interesting that immediately before the elections President Obama commented that there was no outside Russian interference in our electoral process.  But, when HRC lost ……….oooops, there it is.  As for UKRANIAN INTERFERENCE.  They have miles of second hand testimony that POTUS said this or promised that...…while Joe Biden is actually on film bragging that funds would be withheld unless the Ukrainian Prosecutor was removed.   He is referring to the one that was investigating his son.
      The Impeachment Proceedings only took place as Democrats had majority in the House of Representatives.  They had their own agenda and NEVER let Republicans provide their own witnesses and very little of their own testimony.  Of course when the HOR impeached the president and sent it to the Senate for trial they were incensed beyond civility that the Senate was able to call their own witnesses (finally) and acquitted POTUS for the alleged crimes.  My disgust rose even further when I watched as the leftist, liberal, citizenry aligned themselves with this self serving verdict as a 'crime against the rule of law'.  It has only strengthened my resolve that far too many citizens fail to have a working knowledge of the very Constitution they wish to overthrow.
      Well, here we are, a nation more divided than ever over issues so very few understand.  There is no respect for the president or the office, which to me is unconscionable.  In my opinion President Trump had done 80% of what he promised to do.  The exception would be to FINALLY fix health care which is still a very HOT BUTTON issue.  I am afraid that he looks at this as a business and without the support expected he couldn't get it through.  I won't say that health care is a 'human right', but is should at least be looked at as an agenda for all mankind.  I also wish he would work at becoming more presidential.  The arrogant, tough guy bully persona in government has run it's course and then some.  Governing is choosing, governing is deciding what is best for the country as a whole, no matter what.  Have we gone so far down that we don't realize that what is promised from the Socialist platform is a placebo that will contradict everything our country has worked for 244 years!  IT IS NOT THE ANSWER. Much like the lottery, much of what Bernie Sanders says sounds good.
.

     I tire of hearing the terms 'patriots' or 'nationalists' as they only diffuse the issue from what the majority of Americans are feeling.  Most of us want the government to get off their collective asses and work harder towards what is best for our country.  This DOES NOT include sanctuary cities, DOES NOT include taking care of and providing benefits for undocumented or illegal aliens before we take care of our own including veterans and homeless.  There have always been avenues to immigrate here for a better life.  There is no fast lane, much as I imagine it is for the life you currently find yourself in.  Our country is founded on the basis that all immigrants are welcome.  This does include that you work hard to better yourselves, obtain citizenship, and assimilate to our laws.  Nobody is trying to rob you of your customs.  I urge you to become better educated, more self informed.  Fact check the stuffing out of what you see online and then make an educated decision.  I myself have been the victim of sharing posts I didn't fact check.  No one is exempt from the hatred that is being created here, not even me.


       It goes without saying that 'The Squad' in the HOR has been getting a lot of air play due to their refreshing new views.  Examine closely their rhetoric.  Ilhan Omar was elected from a district comprised strictly of the 70,000 Somalis that President Obama insisted Minnesota allow to settle there.  This created an atmosphere of hate from the citizenry that some of our servicemen died trying to feed and protect.  Rashida Tlaib elected from the Detroit area, is the largest concentration of Muslims outside of Tehran.  She declared from the day elected that 'now we can impeach the (insert expletive here).  Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is a Democratic Socialist elected from New York  whose ideas, although bold, are far fetched, uneducated, or unrealistic at best.  All three of these women have butted heads with the Democratic leadership (Pelosi and Schumer), both so unresponsive to America's needs that they don't even realize how uninfluential they really are anymore.  Senator Schumer's recent threats towards the Supreme Court are vile and he should be held accountable for them judicially.  With such disrespect towards members of their own party as well as admitted open hatred towards our country it really should make you think about where their values are and how much they hate ours.  But, they have gotten some attention as they once again preach the old liberal mantra...….what DON'T you have because of the rich?
     The Democratic Party is a mess; not that mine is much better, but if that is your feeling then I encourage you to vote for the candidate you believe will help lead us back along the path we so successfully negotiated for over the past two centuries.  Vote with a clear heart and mind, not hatred and anger.  Please vote for the good of all American citizens.
     I don't know quite what to make of the Corona Virus.  We have weathered viruses before; the list is hearty.  This time has a different feel to it.  People have been easily panicked by the reporting of it.  Toilet paper shortages?  Give me a break.  The lack of civility and respect for one another in the grocery store only weakens us. I refuse to believe it's the end of days and the safeguards being all that I assumed we all did all along.  Regardless, POTUS has acted very presidential and although it is his business acumen protecting our country I find his actions admirable.  I'm also quite sure that the 'left' will find a way to somehow blame this on POTUS or through whatever campaign they can conceive as far as budget and debt.
     There has never in my memory been a time of greater conflict, larger divide, and lack of respect for one another as there is now.  There is no civility to this kind of politics.  What many don't see is that what we're teaching our children is that an ever increasing view is to create unrest, havoc, and violence, ala Antifa.  It is never been about peaceful protest or negotiation for themMy mantra? "......to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."  I will still vote for the most qualified candidate this coming fall, but still haven't made up my mind.  There are no great choices, but I will vote my values as I was raised.  I fear for our future more than ever, no matter who wins in November we may all lose.


"No man will ever bring out of that office the reputation which carries him into it.  The honeymoon would be as short in that case as in any other, and it's moments of ecstasy would be ransomed by years of torment and hatred."  
Thomas Jefferson



WiFi courtesy of Verison Mifi






Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Mollusca....Siliqua Patula Strikes Back!

When the tide is low he appears, taunting you....daring you to chase him

      We arrive once again at the Pacific Coast in Grayland, WA.  We set up camp at Grayland State Park.  Great site will all the amenities, but a bit pricey at $373 for 9 days.  Of course we are here for the clam digging.  All the clams we got in Alaska are long gone.  Besides, Barb LOVES digging clams.  Everything is always better fresh.  We had 2 dig sessions over 9 days in 3 weeks to load up whatever room we had in the freezers.  This would also leave us some room for RnR and Roux some beach frolic time.

Grayland Beach
      There has been plenty of rain in the PNW the past several weeks and there is plenty of water to go around, even where you don't want it.  Due to my chronological dyslexia I put us here a day early and so they gave me a site for one night that was only partially flooded till the next day.  We also got the yearly non-resident clamming licenses this year as we planned to dig about 12 days in all.  The non-resident 3 day license is $9 so $21 for the yearly made sense.  Additionally, we closed on our land in Texas on Day #2 by traveling to the Fed Ex office in nearby Aberdeen to receive, sign, notarize, and return the documents as well as having our bank transfer the $$$ for the down payment and closing costs. It was a very smooth experience and 'hats off' to our banker at Fifth Third Bank back in Michigan for 'covering our six'.  We still had one more day off due to digging not opening till Day 4.  This would include gathering firewood, last minute supplies, transferring the electric to our name on the new property, and digging the spare cooler out of the back of the truck.  I plan on saving all the clam shells from this trip to compost into the garden back home.  An entire 43 quart cooler filled with clam shells?  That is gonna take some baking soda.    

Camp Clamarooski


Campfire Queen
(It's a bit chilly still mid winter)

      There will no competition this time, no crowning of the Clam King.  My wife knows there is no contest.  We do it for the love of the sport, the beach, fresh air, success and relishing meals we would create.  There is so much to savor and appreciate about time at the beach.   We haven't been here for 2 years.  Although she was born and raised a Southern Girl, my wife is in her natural element here.  She will forever be my Clam Queen.  We were only able to dig 3 days due to a gale front coming thru the morning of the last day open.  Additionally, Barb wrenched her back and we quit early Day 3, harvesting 20 of our allotted 30 clams.  

At the truck (Day 1, Barb's whopper limit)

30 in the bucket waiting to be cleaned

Cleaning & Prepping
     We took a break after this dig to travel to East Olympia and visit our friends, John n Wilma Meek.  Setting up camp next to their shop was nothing new and we were able to relax and settle in for nearly a week.  I did have to be careful as we were hooked up to a 10 amp GCFI outlet with adapter so when we ran the microwave we had to turn off the heater...….lesson learned, twice.  John has been battling diabetes as well as a variety of other health issues.  We wanted to visit and help out as we could with things.  

Barb & Wilma stocking firewood
(I love the fact Wilma drives the tractor)

Her Majesty Harley the Wondercatt

      The second digs in March resulted in our camping at Screaming Eagle RV Park in Ocean City.  Rates here are $40 per night.  Everything at the beach is more expensive, but we love it here.  The owner is very nice and even gave us our favorite site this time.  We stayed here for 9 days, digging clams for 6. We have stayed here several times and this time we added digging with friends.  Ruby Garlinghouse is a long time high school friend who is lucky enough to live near the beach in Ocean Shores, WA.  Ruby and her husband Rick love razor clams, but don't get to dig as much as they used to so we decided to get together for a couple days doing the 'Clamapalooza' thing.  We had good days and very good days, but in the end we stocked up our freezer as well as theirs and others. Three days Barb was on her game while I was feeling my age and out dug me saving both our limits.  6 days digging here yielded us over 90 clams for ourselves. Ruby and Rick dug with us 2 days and put away 45 clams themselves.  We also put away 90 more for our son and friends Wilma and John as well.  For the entire trip this time we froze 140 clams.
    
Ocean City Screaming Eagle Camp

Barb surveying 2 limits


Rich brings up a small one
Ruby & Rick Clements
      While here I prepared Venison Stroganoff, Venison Burger Soup, Italian Sausage Soup, Venison steaks over the fire, OTR Gumbo, OTR White Chicken Chili, and Velveeta Skillet dinner.  Lots of soups here at the beach this time of year, home cooking for chilly weather.

Venison Burger Soup

Venison Stroganoff
Rockfish w/green beans and wild rice

Grilled Venison Chuck Steaks w/Garlic Butter

      We enjoyed our visit to Washington Pacific Beaches as always.  I grew up here, but my wife became a quick, willing learner.  She loves the ocean and fine tuned her technique to a whole new level this trip. It is always good to see her this happy.  It never hurts with a freezer full of razor clams. venison, and rockfish to enjoy for the coming months and the 'Cherry on the Cake of our Day' to close on the Texas land for our winter place.  We now take a week's sojourn to ourselves at the beautiful rocky sea stacks of La Push before visiting friends once again, then heading east to our home in Michigan. 

"It's all the same to the clam" 
Shell Silverstein

WiFi courtesy of Screaming Eagle RV Park

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

North American Wild Game Meatloaf


      Everybody loves meatloaf.  We are no exception.  I have a meatloaf recipe perfected over many years from the ROTEL Cookbook.  Only a little spicy, but definitely tasty.  I adapted this dish while visiting some dear friends of ours in Washington between clam digging trips.  Wilma, John, and I went to high school together many years ago.  We have visited several times since retirement and Barb and Wilma became fast friends.  Both strong, independent women who always let John and I know just how lucky we are...….what a shocker.  John's health has been a major concern the past several years and so I had to take into consideration meals that would be agreeable with his kidneys, most notably phosphorus.  Red meat was the easiest option.  I wanted to make this a sportsman's treat for him.
      I have plenty of Venison onboard as well a couple of packs of Reindeer Sausage.  I also had a single pack of Elk burger I had traded for back in deer camp a couple of months ago.  The feast progressed to the planning stage.  A veritable plethora of wild game and a feast fit for a man who hunted nearly everything his entire life.   Meatloaf ala Whopper.....

3 pounds ground venison
1 pound ground elk
1 pound ground reindeer sausage
2 cans ROTEL green chiles and tomatoes, drained
1 Tablespoon  Adolphs Meat Tenderizer (or any brand) to suit.
3 eggs
1 small yellow onion, chopped
bread crumbs (as needed)
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

      Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  By hand mix the burgers and sausage together with 1 can of the drained ROTEL, Worcestershire Sauce, and eggs while occasionally adding the spices till well mixed.  Then add enough bread crumbs to bring it all together with a good consistency; not too wet or dry...….just firm.  Press into a 9 x 16" baking dish.

Molding mixed and seasoned loaf into 9 x 16" baking dish

Pre-oven ready     
      Pour remaining drained ROTEL over the top, add drizzled tomato sauce or ketchup and finish with plenty of sprinkled salt and ground black pepper.  Bake for 90 minutes.  Check for doneness and continue if needed.   
Out of the oven 
(excess moisture comes from the ROTEL)

Plated, bon apetite'

     We did find this to be the correct mix of ROTEL and other spices to cook, but needed some  salt/pepper when eating.  It was a bit bland.  Lesson learned from the preparation of such a large meatloaf.  A great dish served any time of year to a crowd appreciative of the bounty provided by Mother Nature and American Sportsmen everywhere.  


"Age appears to best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read"
Francis Bacon

WiFi courtesty of Verizon MiFi