No more ouzo

Well, I really enjoyed the Greek Festival. Probably enjoyed it a little too much. I am NEVER drinking ouzo again. The food was superb. The festival was held right on the Halifax River. We even saw a dolphin. Just look at that food!!!

Oh no!!!!

I'm not quite sure what is up with me. On Thursday night I made rice pudding. My salt was refusing to come out of the cannister. So I shook it really hard, but I made the mistake of holding the measuring spoon over the rest of my dry ingredients. I obviously didn't notice that a lot of additional salt kinda went in too. So my rice pudding was inedible because i t was too damn salty.

Last night, I decided to make corn bread bites from a recipe in "Cooking Light" magazine. I was yakking on the phone with a friend while combining the ingredients. And I kinda forgot the egg. So I ended up with sort of but not quite cornmeal hush puppies. I dunno. I really didn't like the taste of them though, although I sure the lack of egg could have played a part in that. They were more savory than sweet and I think I like my cornbread on the sweet side rather than the savory side.

Today I'm not making ANYTHING. Instead I'm heading down to the 31st Annual Greek Festival here in Daytona with a friend.

New beer

I picked up a Melbourn Brothers Strawberry Beer at ABC a few days ago. I just drank it last night. It was OK. I say OK because of what I paid for it. Had it been a $3 bottle of beer, I'd praise it up and down. But it just was not worth what I paid for it. I've forgotten the exact price. I wanna say it was around $7.

What BeerAdvocate has to say about it. Most appeared to like it much more so than me.

My breakfast this morning

I couldn't finish it, of course. I can't eat two eggs. One egg just didn't seem like enough but two eggs was just too much. I did eat all the bacon and cheese though. The Publix biscuit was pretty good.

Chile Cheese Soup

Since I'm now cooking for one most times, I usually freeze half of this recipe, sans cheese. Good tomatoes are very important. If it's not tomato season, I strongly suggest you put out the extra money and purchase hothouse tomatoes.

4 cups of rich beef stock
10 garlic cloves, peeled
4 large tomatoes (Tomatoes need to be good quality and ripe)
3 medium onions, quartered
1/2 tsp mixed dried herbs
1 scant tsp of sugar (I use Splenda)

1 medium onion, cut into thin rings (I usually halve the rings,)
2 jalapeno peppers, cut into thin rings ( I leave seeds in because I like the soup to be spicy)
1 red bell pepper, seeded, cut into thin rings or chopped
1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup of mozzarella cheese


I couldn't find four large tomatoes - at least not of the quality I needed so I used nine small. You do not need to remove the skins. I just use my tomato shark to remove the tops.

In large saucepan, bring broth, garlic, tomatoes, quartered onions, herbs, and sugar (or sugar substitute) to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to simmer and continue cooking for thirty minutes. Puree in blender or food processor and return to pan. ( I do half at a time)



Add onion rings and peppers and simmer until tender, about fifteen minutes.

Toss together cheeses. Ladle soup into serving bowls. Add cheese and stir gently. Serve.

Macaroni and cheese

Yeah, I know everyone has their own recipe for mac and cheese, but last night I made the best mac and cheese I have ever made.

16 oz of elbow macaroni
1/2 cup of butter
1 onion, chopped
6 tbs of flour
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp of Mexican chili powder
4 cups of milk ( I used 2 %)
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups of four cheese Mexican blend shredded cheese (mix of Monterey Jack, Cheddar, Asadero, and Quesadilla cheeses)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook macaroni for approx. 5 minutes. Drain.
In medium non-stick saucepan, melt butter. Add onion. Saute onion for about 2 minutes. Blend in flour, salt, pepper, and Mexican chili powder. Stir until paste is made. Gradually add milk. Bring to boil. Simmer until mixture thickens slightly.
Place cooked macaroni in buttered 9 X12 pan. Mix cheeses with macaroni. Pour sauce over cheese and macaroni. Stir.
Place in heated oven and bake for approx. thirty minutes or until top browns.