Patio Table Woes

I'm going to stray off of my usual food post today.

A couple of years ago we re-built our patio and built a new one at the other back entrance of our house. For the first time since we moved in here in 1983, we actually had the need for patio furniture.

I looked at several stores before I found what I wanted, and I wanted this set badly. All-weather wicker, a nice 4' diameter, glass-topped table and 4 very comfortable chairs. Being a thrifty sort, I decided to wait for it to go on sale even though that decision would mean that we would not be able to eat on our new patio until the following summer. No matter. I wanted that table and chairs, it was too expensive, and I had the time to wait.

By mid-September I had been visiting this store weekly for almost 2 months, watching the price go down, but it never went low enough for me. Two weeks later, Christmas decorations filled the space that the patio furniture had taken. I asked the salesperson and was told that all of the stock had been returned and there was nothing left. I was absolutely crushed.

The following spring, I started to look again for a table and chairs for the patio. I found nothing similar to the set I had fallen in love with the previous summer, in fact, I found nothing that I liked period!

Out on errands one day, I wandered in to the store where my dream patio set had been. Nothing jumped out at me, and I started out of the store. As I walked down the aisle, I looked up past the lawn mowers and... there it was! Table, four chairs, all by itself near the doors that led to a back storage room. Leftover from last year, shuffled around in storage, it was still in good shape and 70% off the listed price!

I couldn't buy it fast enough. I also bought a big ol' cover to keep the sun from deteriorating the "wicker" and an umbrella. Jack and I have used this table and chairs over and over. We also bought a black metal set for the larger patio, but I didn't like it as much.

This year, we brought out the "wicker" set last week. I brushed the cobwebs off and got the chair cushions from their winter storage place in the basement. Yesterday I set up the umbrella, and we ate outside for the first time.

This morning, it was beautiful and I opened the umbrella so that it wouldn't fade in a "fold" pattern. The wind whipped up a bit, but I didn't think anything of it. Until I heard a crash. And my heart sank.

The wind, blowing from direction which it rarely does, lifted the umbrella which, in turn, lifted the table, and they all turned over. The umbrella was fine, the glass top on the table shattered.



I cannot describe how bummed I am!

It took over an hour to clean up the mess, and there are still tiny bits of glass in the cracks between the stones that I cannot get without tweezers (and I don't have that much time on my hands!). Worse, I called three different glass shops and the least expensive one quoted me $250 to cut a replacement. We paid $350 for the entire set.

Can we use the table without the glass top? Probably. Crumbs will regularly have to be vacuumed out, and it will have to be covered all of the time we aren't using it to keep pollen, dirt, etc. from settling in the "wicker". But it looked so nice with the glass top. *sigh*

Reminder to all of you who are assembling your outdoor spaces for the summer-- keep an eye on the wind and always close your table umbrella when you aren't using it!

Pan-Fried Striper with Charred Corn, Avocado, and Tomato Salsa

Recipe: Pan-Fried Striper with Charred Corn, Avocado, and Tomato Salsa

A few weeks ago I met my friend Jenni at Trader Joe’s for our semi-regular Foodie Shop-a-Thon. This would not be necessary if I lived near TJ’s or Whole Foods, but since the trip to that part of town takes about 50 minutes, I have to stock up when I get the opportunity. Because of my broken ankle this past winter, I have not been there since November and the trip to these stores was greatly missed.

I brought a cooler and plenty of ice so I was able to buy some frozen and refrigerated items. While looking through the selection of frozen fish, I was pleasantly surprised to find striper fillets. Jack and I have had striper when we go on vacation because it’s a local fish to the middle/ southern Atlantic coast but I have never seen it in the stores in western Pennsylvania. It is a great tasting fish—mild, sweet, delicate, similar to tilapia but the fillets are larger. Of course, I bought two packages. It was an incredibly fun day, we had a great lunch while sitting in the outdoor courtyard of Casbah, and I returned home with lots of food and meal ideas for the next few weeks.

I wanted fish for dinner last night and when I opened the big freezer and slid open the lower bin, guess what was lying on top. An internet search for striper recipes was uninspiring, so I looked in the refrigerator. I needed to use an avocado asap, and the cherry tomatoes on the counter were looking very ripe, so I came up with pan-frying the striper, then topping it with a salsa. This was served with rice, and it was excellent. The fish, under a crispy cornmeal crust, was tender; the avocado-tomato salsa was the perfect accompaniment with a little added jalapeño contributing some spice. Our favorite restaurant while on vacation in Lewes, DE is called Striper Bites, and we usually buy three or four bottles of their own (wonderfully spicy, chipotle-based) hot sauce every year, so we also added some additional heat with several drops of that.

This was an excellent way to make striper, which is also called rockfish and striped bass (or you can use any other mild fish like tilapia or bass).

* Exported from MasterCook *

Pan-Fried Striper with Charred Corn, Avocado, and Tomato Salsa

Recipe By: Vicci

Servings: 2

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

--------- ---------- ---------------------------------------

1 cup frozen corn kernels -- thawed and drained

3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

2 whole green onions -- slice diagonally; keep the light colored bottom part and

dark green tops separate

2 medium garlic clove -- minced

1 teaspoon minced jalapeño

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2/3 cup chopped tomato

4 ounces avocado -- pit removed, peeled, diced (one small avocado, about 6

ounces before pitting and peeling)

1/3 cup cornmeal

3 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon canola oil

10 ounces striper fillets

1/2 cup rice -- uncooked

Spray a medium sized skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium flame. Add the corn kernels and shake to form a single layer in the pan. Cook for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes, or until the kernels are lightly browned on one side. Mix in the bell pepper, the light-colored green onion bottom slices and cook for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeño and stir for one additional minute. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool a bit.

Prepare the rice and keep warm.

Mix the cornmeal, flour, and ground cumin on a large rimmed plate and set aside.

Drizzle 1 teaspoon of canola oil into a large nonstick skillet and heat over a medium-high flame. Dip the fillets into the cornmeal mixture, firmly patting the mixture into the fish, turning a few times to coat thoroughly. Place in the hot skillet and turn the heat down to medium. Cook for three minutes on one side, flip, the cook for 2 minutes on the other side.

While the fish is cooking, mix the lime juice, olive oil, salt, cumin, and pepper in a small cup. Add the reserved green onion tops, cilantro, chopped tomato and avocado to the corn mixture and lightly toss with the lime juice dressing.

When the fish is done, serve with rice and salsa.

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Per serving: 691 Calories (kcal); 22g Total Fat (5g saturated); (27% calories from fat); 33g Protein; 94g Carbohydrate; 75mg Cholesterol; 574mg Sodium

Food Exchanges: 5 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 9 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

To expand more on my "turkey post", I took this today of Spooky watching our new yard-friend...

Somehow, I don't think that they will become buddies!

Turkey Lurkey?

Well, I guess it was inevitable. Fifteen years ago, Jack and I stopped eating red meat (beef, pork, lamb, etc.) and haven’t missed it much (after the first year or so, anyway). We are now considering giving up turkey. As he said “one step closer to total vegetarianism”. Why, you may ask, are we pondering this additional change to our diets?

Here he is:

It would be stretching it a bit to call him “cute”, but there is a certain appealing way he struts into the yard when I fill the birdfeeders, waiting until I step back onto the patio before running under the feeders where I have “accidentally” spilled some extra seed. I don’t know what he does with his days, but whenever I fill the feeders he is around somewhere. One of the feeders makes a scratching noise as I screw off the top, and Jack thinks that is what attracts the turkey.

Yesterday, as Jack mowed the lawn, the turkey wasn’t fazed at all. He was eating, that large noisy John Deere be damned!

Spooky doesn’t know what to make of this large bird. He will sit, tail twitching, and watch the turkey graze.

So as we watched the big ol’ bird this morning, Jack mentioned that he has started to feel badly about eating turkey now. I agreed, but I wonder what we will do at Thanksgiving. :)

Creamy Avocado Dressing

Recipe: Creamy Avocado Dressing



How could I not be inspired by this fabulous head of butter lettuce and bunch of Easter Egg radishes?

On my friend Jenni’s recommendation, I picked up a bag of mixed pepitas, pine nuts, and slivered almonds at Trader Joe’s. I then found these wonderful salad fixings in the organic section of a nearby food co-op, and just had to make a gorgeous spring salad. I had made a creamy avocado salad dressing the previous day, and it was the perfect touch.

I developed this salad dressing because I had one extremely ripe avocado which needed to be used immediately. Dinner was already planned, and precluded adding anything made of avocado to it. So I mixed up the dressing, using plain fat-free yogurt for creaminess, pressed plastic wrap on the surface and, lo and behold, it stayed nice in the refrigerator for 5 days.

Maybe I will subsequently experiment with different seasonings (cumin comes to mind, or powdered chipotle to make a more “zingy” dressing for topping fish) but for now I leave it as is because the taste of the avocado really shines through.

*Exported from MasterCook *

Creamy Avocado Dressing

Recipe By: Vicci

Servings: 6

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

---------- ---------- --------------------------------

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic -- increase to 2 teaspoons for a real garlicky punch!

6 ounces avocado -- chopped (approximately an 8-ounce avocado minus pit and peel)

1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt

2 tablespoons (or more) skim milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

In a blender or small food processor, process all of the ingredients until creamy. Taste and adjust for seasonings. Add more skim milk if a thinner texture is desired.

If not using immediately, this will keep, in a tightly-covered glass container, for 3 or 4 days. "Fruit Fresh" can be added (about 1/2 teaspoon) to prevent darkening.

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Per serving: 46 Calories (kcal); 3g Total Fat (1g saturated); (59% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; trace Cholesterol; 106mg Sodium

Food Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

Turmeric Chicken with Coconut Milk and Asparagus

Recipe: Turmeric Chicken with Coconut Milk and Asparagus

Okay, guess what the pervasive fragrance in our house is these days?

Last year we had a period of very warm weather at the end of March and the lilac bushes began to open their buds, but when it snowed and the winter winds returned during the first part of April they froze and fell off. Last year, this tree gave me just a few lilacs.

I think that Mother Nature is trying to make up this year!

Twenty-four years ago I planted this shrub. It was the first year in our “new old house”, and I just had to have a lilac bush. The scent of lilac has always reminded me of my Gram, who had a huge bush in her yard. I have photos of me, as a baby, sitting under it and also several photos of Gram standing beside it.

To me, smelling lilac is almost like having my wonderful, dreadfully-missed Gram back with me.

All of the spring-flowering trees and shrubs and bulbs have hit their peak now. The yard is awash in white, lavender, scarlet, burgundy, pink, and lime-gold. It’s breathtaking.

Alas the weeds are also flourishing, and although I’ve tried to keep up it really is impossible. Today I will go to Lowe’s and buy a 2-gallon jug of Roundup concentrate, which should make the job easier on the large planting areas in front of the house. I dread to find out how much it will cost. It has been 2 or 3 years since we bought the last jug and I’m sure that, along with everything else, the price has jumped.

In the last week, I have been harvesting about a half pound of asparagus from the garden every day. I never did like asparagus much, but shortly after we moved into the farm we were visiting my parents and my Dad was showing me his garden. He had planted an asparagus patch a few years earlier and as we went by he snapped off two spears and handed one to me. I really didn’t want it, but I always try to play The Good Daughter as often as I can, so I ate it. Then went back for another, and another. Wow, what a different taste from the store-bought asparagus! Straight from the garden, asparagus has a nice, sweet taste that is quite unlike its straight-from-the-produce-aisle cousin. The following year I planted my own asparagus patch and had to wait for a few years for the plants to become established but we eventually were harvesting a pound or so every day.

I amassed quite the collection of asparagus recipes!

As expected, the asparagus lost its vigorous growth several years ago and I replanted new roots. These matured and are probably 3 or 4 years from needing to be replaced again.

Yesterday’s harvest:

One of my favorite recipes for using the garden asparagus is for pasta primavera, which I don’t have a recipe for, just sautéing vegetables and adding a little lowfat half-and-half for creaminess, then serving over whole wheat fettuccine.

Dinner last night was a Thai-inspired Turmeric Chicken with Asparagus over Rice Noodles.

This is one of my favorite asparagus-containing dishes, although the mix of flavors hides the taste of the asparagus somewhat (so I use store-bought asparagus in the recipe quite often). I adore Thai food and this is the epitome of everything I enjoy in that cuisine—lemongrass, coconut, spices… all covering pieces of asparagus and chicken and soft rice noodles. I have to restrain myself from eating it too quickly!

I hesitate to post the photo because it’s a bit bland, although if I hadn’t forgotten to sprinkle the cilantro on it, it would have looked better. To be honest, I was proud of myself that I actually remembered to add the coconut extract at the end of the cooking time because I often leave out that step. So I forgot the cilantro. So goes my brain. This is delicious, much more so that the photograph depicts.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Turmeric Chicken with Coconut Milk and Asparagus

Recipe By: Vicci

Servings: 2

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

---------- ---------- ---------------------------------------

5 ounces rice noodles -- wide, similar to fettucine

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 tablespoon canola oil

8 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast -- sliced into 1/4" wide pieces

1 large garlic clove -- minced

1 small onion -- sliced vertically

1 large lemongrass stalk -- finely mince the white part of bulb only (about 2 tablespoons)

8 ounces asparagus -- ends trimmed, cut into 2" long pieces (split the thick pieces)

1/4 cup light coconut milk

1/2 cup fat-free half and half

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

2 tablespoons chopped peanuts

1/2 large lime -- cut in half; for serving

Prepare rice noodles according to directions. Drain, soak in cool water to prevent sticking. Set aside.

Mix the fish sauce through ground turmeric in a small cup. Set aside.

Heat wok over a high flame. Drizzle in the canola oil, tilt the wok to distribute the oil evenly; add the chicken. Stir-fry for 30 seconds, then add the garlic, onion, and lemongrass. Stir fry for 2 minutes, or until chicken is opaque. Add the asparagus and stir for another minute. Add 1/4 cup of water and stir to get the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Turn the heat down to medium; add coconut milk and fat-free half and half. Bring just to a simmer*, add the soy sauce mixture. Cover and turn heat down to maintain a very gentle simmer. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until asparagus is just tender. Sprinkle coconut extract over and stir in.

Serve in shallow bowls. Sprinkle with peanuts. Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over all.

*simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer! :) As I have mentioned before, both the fat-free and the lowfat half-and-half will separate if they come to a boil so watch it carefully!

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Per serving: 601 Calories (kcal); 15g Total Fat (2g saturated); (22% calories from fat); 34g Protein; 82g Carbohydrate; 66mg Cholesterol; 679mg Sodium

Food Exchanges: 4 Grain(Starch); 4 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 23 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates

Southwestern "Bruschetta"

Recipe: Southwestern "Bruschetta"


On Saturday evening we went to a party at the home of our friends Karla and Frankie. Another friend, Don, who moved way out west to Wyoming was visiting for a few days, so we used it as an excuse to get together. I enjoy going to Karla's house. It's a modern, clean design with a nice deck overlooking the river where we were able to sit and enjoy the unusually warm weather. The guests were fun, the food delicious, and the drink... strong. :)


Karla had a southwestern theme going, and I decided to make a variation on bruschetta as my contribution. I had found a recipe, but decided to go in a slightly different direction. This turned out to be very good. The bread was brushed with garlic oil and toasted on one side, topped with a mixture of avocado and tomato, sprinkled with cheese and cilantro.




* Exported from MasterCook *

Southwestern "Bruschetta"


Recipe By : Vicci
Serving Size : 20 (2 pieces)


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 whole French baguette -- about 15" long-- sliced into 40 3/8" thick rounds
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large garlic cloves -- minced
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano -- crumbled
1/2 teaspoon chipotle pepper powder -- optional
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 medium avocados -- about 8 ounces each (before peeling and removing pit)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
4 ounces Cotija cheese -- crumbled
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro -- optional




Preheat broiler.


In a small saucepan over low heat, saute the garlic in olive oil until very light brown. Remove from heat. Brush baguette slices with the garlic oil. Place under the broiler and broil until light brown (should take less than a minute-- watch carefully!). Remove to a rack to cool.


Toss the chopped tomatoes through salt in a medium bowl. Pour mixture into a wire strainer, set over a bowl, and drain at room temperature for 45 minutes to an hour. Peel and remove the pit from the avocados. Chop finely, place in a bowl, and toss with lime juice. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, tossing once or twice. Pour the avocado mixture into another wire strainer and drain for 15 minutes. Mix both tomato mixture and avocado mixture together. If not using immediately, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours. Allow to come to room temperature before using.


To assemble, top each baguette slice with a scant tablespoon of the tomato/avocado mixture. Arrange on a serving plate and sprinkle crumbled cotija cheese over all. Sprinkle with additional chopped cilantro, if desired.


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Per serving: 72 Calories (kcal); 7g Total Fat (2g saturated); (76% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; 5mg Cholesterol; 138mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates



The tomatoes are thoroughly drained so the bread will not get soggy, and if you make the topping ahead of time you may want to store it (for no longer than a couple of hours or the avocado, despite the lime juice, may begin to brown a little) in a container with a few layers of paper towels at the bottom to absorb excess moisture. Also, the bread can be toasted ahead of time-- just cool and tightly wrap in plastic.

On a totally different line, here is what is poking up between the patio stones:




Don't they have the most adorable little faces? :)