Promises

As the saying goes, "Spring is Busting out all over". With it comes a whole new set of promises.

Baseball with the promise of a new season, everybody equal starting from scratch, all memories of the errors of last year forgiven, if not  forgotten.

In the garden there is new promise also. Everything doing it's job, from the poppies who attract the bees,

 to the stringy Asparagus fronds that channel the fuel from the sun into it's roots for future good eats.

Poking around in the garden new life and promise is everywhere:

The point of this post is really just to show off that the fruits, of the efforts we have put into the garden, are on the way.

Strawberries

We have your :

Grapes

Blackberries

Lemons

Currants

 

Not to mention the Peaches and Raspberries! Stay....Tooned

Fajitas 101

The other night I wanted Fajitas. Since I can't make a little, of anything, I called the neighbors down to help.
I have had Fajitas in restaurants and back yard Bar-B-Ques all over and it amazes me what people call Fajitas. There seems to be a mystery as to just what is a fajita? A mystery meal if you will. Allow me to share what I call a Fajita...

To make MY Fajitas you need only:
Skirt Steak, Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs (breasts will just dry out and require more stuff to fix), Sliced Yellow Onion, Bell Peppers (any type other than green)

Optional is:
Fruit (Pineapple works very well), Mushrooms, Sour Cream, Cheese (s), Green Onions, Avocado...

Marinade:

For the Chicken-
Tequila, Soy Sauce, THE SAUCE, powdered Garlic, onion powder and cumin.

For the Beef-
Substitute a Dark Beer ( I use amber ale) for the tequila.

And a Bar-B-Que.

Shall we start with the beef? Easy- peasy, unroll the skirt steak onto a cutting board.

Find the thin end, you'll know it when you see it, and trim it off to a length of about 5 inches. This will allow you to keep this part of the meat from becoming jerky. Slice the rest into sections of 5 to 6 inches (this will make the steaks easier to work with on the grill) and put into a zip-lock bag along with the marinade, expel all the air then seal.

The chicken is even easier. Open the package. Pour the chicken into a baggie and add the marinade, expel the air and seal. Massage the baggie to evenly coat the pieces and set aside along with the beef.

Time for a beer. The marinades will need two or three hours to do their magic.

Time to fire up the grill and get to cooking. Remember to keep a cool spot so the chicken has a home and if things get out of control you have a place to go.

 Heat up a small to midsize pan on the grill, add some oil and then the onions. Do this first and they will be ready when the chicken is. (An advantage I have is an abundance of cast iron pans and such, and I have NO problem putting them on the grill.)

Place the chicken on the grill over the coals and let them cook a few minutes and turn them over. Do this a few times then move to that safe spot on the grill to finish coking.

At this point I like to cut the pineapple  into spears season with some brown sugar and chili powder. They join the chicken on the grill. Pineapple likes a long slow sauna not a slash and burn so keep an eye on them.

The beef and optional green onions are next. Remember to save the skinny piece to add later. Cover the grill and talk to your guests for a few minutes.

Keep turning the pieces of beef, checking the chicken and pineapple and stirring the onions. Add the skinny piece of steak onto the hot spot and let it join the party. (Now would be a good time to enlist some help to get the optional things prepped) The hard part in all of this is to NOT BURN ANYTHING! We want a nice "char" not a "cinder". To make things a little harder try to keep the lid closed as much as you can, that is how the smoke comes into play. You don't want smoke- use your oven and cook top.

Just before the meats are done move the pineapple to the coals to caramelize for a couple of minutes. When done, remove the parts to the kitchen and let them rest.

There is a trick to slicing the beef. Cut the steaks into 3 to 4 inch sections and slice them straight down across the grain.

This way the steak will be tender and tasty, instead of chewy and tough.

Slice the chicken against the gran as well. Toss some tortillas onto the grill to warm up, and by golly you got yourself some FAJITAS!




Zowee that still looks good. Next time "Garlic Crusted Salmon on a Plank" Stay Tooned...

How Does the Song Go?

I was nervous right up until there was a knock at the door. With Carol the wonder Dog by my side, I opened the door and let in this long haired kid with a well traveled  guitar case.

Following a  casual discussion about all of Grateful Dead artwork on the walls and all the green sprouting up in the back yard it was time for "school". With me being an "old hippie" and him being a "young hippie", there seemed to be a reverse student teacher relationship between us and I was happy to be the student.

After blowing through the "Scales" and the major chords we got right into choosing a song to dissect. With the vast amount of time I have spent listening to music I was at a loss as to which ones to pull out so I limited our choices to Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, the Grateful Dead and Randy Newman.

First choice, "Franklin's Tower" (because it only has two notes in it), but that was quickly replaced with a perennial favorite "Uncle Johns Band" (six notes but a 'funner' song). Pulling out his phone Mr. James downloaded the tune from the web and set the phone down so we both could look at the video and LISTEN to the tune. Comparing what we heard to what was written in the song book we noticed some subtle differences between the two. This is were the interpretation and nuance of the artist comes into play. How many versions of "Over the Rainbow" are out there now? All the same song yet none of them alike.

The beauty and freedom that music brings is the magic that frees the soul.

When I asked him to show me the strum pattern in the book, a puzzled look came over his face that was quickly replaced with a sly grin. He went on to explain, "It's not in the book. These books were all made for the piano and augmented for the Guitar. Best and quickest method is to listen to the tune performed by the person who wrote it". Then he reset the song on the phone again, moving the cursor to the beginning of the song so we can concentrate on the intro. He did this a few times, writing on a piece of paper, and then gave me the piece of paper with the strum pattern written on it. I have been listening to this song since 1970 and mauling it with my guitar since 1973, just never could master the strum. He stumbled a couple of times, then like magic there it was, yeah it took 5 maybe 6 minutes for him to make the song his own.

I called our relationship student / teacher, I'm thinking now it is more student / Professor, we're meeting again next week...stay Tooned

Thump thump thump

Today is the day, or tonight is the night; at about 5:00 pm I'm going to do something I haven't done since Junior High School. I'm taking a guitar lesson.  I tried to do this last summer but it just never worked out. Leave it to that Daughter of Mine to put things together. She got me a couple of lessons for Christmas.

Now a simple guitar lesson would be just that, simple, so that will never do. What is coming down, in about 4 hours, is Mr. Travis James is going to be giving the lesson. This is just too way cool, and quite intimidating. For those not in the know Mr. James is a major part of a local band The Highway Poets. The Highway Poets were known as Hillside Fire until they decided to add more bluegrass into their sound.

Marisa Tomei said to Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny, " you'll do fine...as long as you don't fuck-up" I kinda know how Joe must have felt with such wonderful advice. I can feel my heart going 'Thump thump thump' in anticipation.
I have been "playing at" as opposed to "playing the" guitar for, jeepers 40 years and never got good and comfortable with it. So now that I'm out of work and have the time, let's do this thing. I do have 2 guitars one electric and one acoustic which kinda covers all the angles.

Well 3 hours to go, guess I'll take a tub, maybe warm up my fingers, too early to drink. Scary stuff...stay Tooned