End Of Summer Steaks

Well, the first week of school is over and another Sunday is here. This morning Cy, Dad and I woke up and went fishing with our neighbor, Kim. So of course I was hoping to cook a fresh chinook salmon that had never seen the inside of a refrigerator. But instead of reelin' 'em in we just sat there ... waiting, talking, waiting and talking. We didn't catch any fish so instead of the freshest salmon of our lives we made alternate plans. Mom called on the cell phone about an hour before we gave up; Dad asked her to buy steaks. Despite the lack of fish, we had a great time hanging out on the river.

I've seasoned them with salt, pepper, cinnamon and olive oil. Last night I was looking at our google analytics page. It shows us where all of you are looking from, how much time you spend on the blog, your page views and all sorts of other cool stuff. A couple months ago we were surprised to find visits from Moscow, Spain, The Netherlands, Brazil and Australia. But last night our jaws dropped to see a visit from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Better known as Saigon. Now, while Moscow, London, Melbourne, Amstelveen and Zurich were cool, This one topped all because we spent a couple of days in Saigon about a year-and-a-half ago. We love the international readership we've drawn with our cooking. Now back to the steaks.

Now that we've started the grill we are chopping our basil and scrubbing the potatoes. We have an all potato hobo pack planned and a corn dish where we put kernels in browned butter and basil. Our friend, Ben, has brought us dessert, a large watermelon, which is very heavy for its size. Dad says this is because sugar is heavier than water, and this one is loaded with sugar.

We've added a little more to the steaks seasoning and have prepared a hobo pack for our millions of potatoes. I'm not sure if it qualifies as a hobo pack though, it only has the potatoes, olive oil and butter in it. Once the steaks go on the grill (where the hobo packs are) I'm going to start our corn dish.

The hobo pack is on the grill and the steaks are almost ready. I have finished sautéeing the corn and just pulled the steaks off the grill. I think we're ready to eat!

The potatoes were succulent and buttery, the corn was sweet and fresh and summer-y, and the steaks were tender, and perfectly seasoned. That watermelon sure lived up to its name, sweet and watery. It was a wonderful meal for this end of summer day.

If Spontaneity is the Spice of Life This is a Well Spiced Meal

What is it about Chinese food that has a bad rap. I've always wondered why, if a Hollywood director wanted to visually scream "LOSER!" they would stick one of those cardboard take-out containers in a person's hand. For some reason Chinese food has a bad reputation as the undercooked fare of people who are too lazy to care. That's what the movies tell you.

Any ways, Cyrus is out to once-and-for-all eliminate that idea. He's going to grill a chicken breast in a style reminiscent of, well, Chinese food. The recipe (I rarely say that on Cy's weeks) is from dad's new License To Grill cookbook by Chris Schlessinger and John Wiloughby.

As a side dish dad is teaching Cy to make hobo potatoes, he and Cy bustle back and forth, laying out tin foil, halving potatoes and adding salt, butter, olive oil, garlic and other spices. Then throw the foil wrapped taters onto the grill and finally dress them with Italian parsley from our garden and fresh grated Parmesan (this also works well just throwing the packet straight into the fire). In the salad we have spinach, also from our garden (Clark: there's that local/lo-cal option you were looking for, twice, in more ways than one!) (see comments for: "It Was Like Summer Out There" May 16, 2010).

Wow that is a fragrant glaze- Hoisin Sauce, lime juice, ginger and garlic with gobs of basil. The glaze for the chicken smells like...it's indescribable. Meanwhile Cy has had a kitchen misadventure. He was tossing the bell peppers and onion in olive oil. He poured in about a cup too much oil. When dad realized what was happening he intervened and siphoned off most of the oil into an almost empty jam jar. Then mixed it into a sweet. Bam! Sour. Bam! Olive-y salad dressing.

This is a bit of an odd dinner. The plan is very loose. I thought the salad was done when Cyrus, sitting next to me savoring the short break in the cooking out of nowhere asked, no-one in particular, "Could we put nasturtiums in the salad?" Then he went outside and picked a bunch of nasturtiums from the garden. And now Dad's adding peaches to the salad. If spontaniety is the spice of life this is a well spiced meal. Now Dad's grating parmesan onto the salad? Geez! It looks like it snowed. I think they've gone crazy.

An odd dinner indeed. While the focus was intended to be a chicken covered in hoisin sauce that became a side dish with co-main courses in the hobo potatoes and salad. The whole meal was vibrant and special. The way each bite was so unique and special. The food was so bright. The salad wasn't just green, the chicken wasn't chicken colored and the potatoes weren't just white. This meal was diverse and vibrant. This meal will be remembered. This meal was something from a dream.