Iron Chef Oregon

D & V left Central Oregon yesterday. I've been watching their progress on geocaching.com as they find geocaches. I miss them. We have so many things in common.

We had them over for dinner last weekend, and Connie and I cooked. While Connie was making Mornay sauce and mashed potatoes, I was making crepes and cooking broccoli. We get fresh vegetables packaged by Mann's, that you can microwave in the bag. Sometimes we get a medley of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, sometimes just broccoli. Dave saw me leaving the kitchen with the bag of broccoli, and asked where I was going.

Have you ever cooked broccoli? I love the taste, but it smells rank. So when I cook veggies, I take them to the garage where we have a little microwave just for cooking veggies or when the main microwave is busy. That way I don't stink up the house. When they were done, seven minutes later, I fetched them and Dave says, "You cooked them in the bag?" That's the beauty of watching other people do things. You learn new ways of getting things done. It's why we like watching cooking shows.

See our kitchen in the picture above? That corner to the left of the stove is a popular location. We don't have a one-butt kitchen, but we've put so many essentials next to that spot that it's difficult to prepare anything without getting in there. It's where we have the silverware, the dishes, the spices, the cutting boards, the cooking utensils. It's great when you're the only one cooking, but when Connie and I both cook at once it can get kinda dicey. We finally faced the inevitable and moved some of the essentials elsewhere to make it easier. Nonetheless, Dave saw us doing our little cooking dance as we moved in and out of the prime location and said it was like watching Iron Chef.

We filled the crepes with chicken or fish, broccoli and Mornay sauce, which we served with mashed potatoes and fresh-baked bread (the pre-made baguettes you bake yourself). 'Twas wunnerful, if I say so myself. And I do.

The weather was beautiful today, and we hit a local geocache. We'll probably do another one tomorrow.

Tonight I made a batch of salsa. I blend all the ingredients except for half a tomato, which I dice up and add at the end so it's chunky. Our secret ingredient is a wee bit o' liquid smoke. (Sorry, Melissa.) I guess it's not so secret. What I love about crepes and salsa is that they're both so flexible. We use them in lots of different ways. For instance, I'll wrap an omelette in a crepe and top it with a little salsa. yum


Posted by Dave    Blog Tag: Chatter