a nice sandwich

hey foodies! anybody hungry? i'm guessing your palates are now clean enough to eat off of?! maybe we should start off with something light so it's not such a shock to our systems. it is nice to have lighter fare in the summer, when we want to cool off, and relax outdoors in the warmer temps. one of my favorite memories of this type of lavish relaxation, which this weather just seems to make you crave, is a summer jaunt many years ago on The Barrycuda. HI LOR!!! there's alot to be said of spending a weekend with friends on a houseboat and camping on the beach. on a side note here are three things NOT to do when camping on an open beach:
1. do not have a brown tent.
2. do not use down sleeping bags, and
3. do not set the tent up on a slanted dune.
(i've become a much better camper!)
anyway, our idea of cooling off on the houseboat was doing beer rifle-shots on the roof of the Barrycuda and then jumping off into the waters of the bay. we ate on the houseboat, courtesy of the Barrys, simple summer sandwiches. mr. and mrs. barry were great to put up with all of us crowding things up. the prize for best line of that weekend goes to mr. barry, who, very sadly, recently passed (send your good thoughts out to my friend Lori who misses her dad %^* ). mrs. b said to mr. b "would you like a nice sandwich?", to which mr. b replied..."why do i have to have a NICE sandwich, why can't a have a damn LOUSY sandwich?" that was a great weekend, thanks to the b's for that memory. we later camped out overnight at fire island, and spent the next day on the beach entered in a sand castle competition. classic simple summer food and drink, and fun.
the chance to uncomplicate your life during the hotter temps is instinctual. just look at animals lying on their backs with their legs in the air when it gets hot out. listen to your instinct. relax, damn it. keep it simple, keep it cool...no i'm not gonna say "keep it semi-homemade" i could get sued for that couldn't i, sweetie? anyway, how about a little gazpacho? i'm a big fan and i do add a little complexity to the great debate over the appropriate texture and combination of ingredients by including corn in the recipe. i like the color and the sweetness it adds. so here it is,
GAZPACHO
4 large tomatoes blanched, peeled, deseeded, small rough chop, juice reserved
1 cuke, peeled, unless you use the "burpless", deseeded, small rough chop
4 scallions(white and green parts) or 1 small red onion, small rough chop
couple of handfulls of corn kernels
juice of one lime, or lemon if you prefer
splash of red wine vinegar
quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil
about a cup of tomato juice (use as much of the reserved as you have)
a little green pepper very finely chopped, italian, or roasted jalapeno, or a couple of shots of hot sauce
salt to your taste and add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil when you serve.
just combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and let chill abit.

HERE'S MY FAVORITE SPANISH CHEF. JOSE ANDRES


or you could just have a nice sandwich.

camping with "catheno"

i got to thinking of the great times camping and that led me to go through some old photos. (by now you should be used to these digressions) there was, of course, always food and drink, and dancing. some of the pictures below are from the site at bass river and some are from #31 in newburgh. you can tell we were having a good time. yep, that's me with hugely long hair, and braces too i think. god that sucked so badly! i had those braces on for 25 months, 1 week and 2 days; and it was hell! i can't begin to tell you how many times in the beginning i would sit outside the orthodontist's office and cry after an adjustment it was so painful. there was alot of drinking going on in those days, whiskey usually, rubbed on the gums and then just guzzled. it never helped but it gave me something to do until i could pass out. anyway, those are not such good food and drink memories. the food was awkward and the drinking was excessive. obviously it didn't stop me from having a good time. the girls don't camp anymore now that they have the cabin, i mean, what the fuck they're always in the woods now! we usually try to go once in spring and once in fall. oh yeah, the "catheno" thing. before i met catherine and odalys john would say "you have to meet my friend(s) catheno" well that's what it sounded like to me when he said it, you know, "catheno". i used to think "who the fuck is this person, and what's with the weird name?" anyway, it turned out to be "cath and o (short for odalys)" aka "the girls". well, enjoy the photos.

shrimp on "the barbie"

and the cocktails, of course

bacon really gets you out of your tent in the morning

the girls... :^*

and the boys

thank you for seeing you

no, that's not a mistake. it's something Odalys says. she said it once at a Halloween party we all went to when she saw this guy there dressed like Elvis, and it's the sort of stupid thing that just never goes away. now we always say it when we are saying good-bye to each other. we visited "the girls" this past weekend up in Bethel, NY and had a great time. as i mentioned we hadn't seen them since last august so there was alot to catch up on, and we had alot of down time by the fireplace (we made alot of trips out to the cord). they've done a little more work in the cabin. the bathroom looks great with a new floor, sink(with cabinet), toilet, mirror and lights; some painting in the master bedroom, and new arrangement of furniture in the guest bedroom and living room. it was hugely cold up there but it didn't keep us from firing up the bbq for our surf and turf dinner. the girls like to cook too and there's always food and drink when we get together. they made some caprese salad and mini pizzas with arugula, prosciutto and fresh parmigiano for appetizers. and we did filet mignons and lobster tails after and it was delish. we used to do alot of camping together and we probably had the only gourmet food on the camping ground. we would bring these pre-marinated pork tenderloins, or shrimp on skewers, or fish steaks, and cook rice or pasta and have appetizers spread out while we were cooking. we'd have some music going and of course that led to dancing. one time at this campground at bass river state park in new jersey the rangers kept passing by our site and they finally came over to us to tell us that while they didn't want to put a damper on our party we were obviously having way too much fun and to make sure that we didn't let it get out of control. that was actually a "dry" campground and the rangers were totally cool. another one of our favorite places to camp is the KAO campground in newburgh, our favorite site there is #31. there's some beautiful hiking around there.
here's some photos of the weekend, bon apetit!
us and them, 8^* love ya!!

the surf...

and the turf.

appetizer anyone?

oh yes, and the drinks! lotsa drinks %^D