Jan. 10, 2003 - 19:12 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

The Menu

Heather and I ate out at a nice new Italian restaurant recently in the new shopping center on old Lowry Field development. Nice atmosphere, good furniture, courteous waitress, everything was great -- up to a point. I ordered spaghetti, a dish with the typical pesto mix, one which goes by different names at different places but is about the same as far as taste is concerned. The same thing I have experienced before with boiled potatoes. The pasta was cooked without salt. I have never been able to add enough salt to potatoes boiled without it. Beats me why, that is the way it is with me. God help me if the doctor ever takes me off salt.

Just thinking, guess that is why men like their wife's cooking so much better than other cooks food. The super wife has spent so much time trying to figure how to tickle her hubbie's palate that no one else can come close.

I thought I was in heaven the first time Mom made and served corn fritters. Wow, how good those little, brown, slightly crisp on the outside with such good corn on the inside flavoring the whole thing.

Then heaven was mine the first time she made banana fritters. Same thing, except the banana had disappeared, but the flavor was accentuated and permeated the entire fritter. Heather does about the same with banana waffles now.

I think each man likes his meat at a certain point of done. There seems to be more grades than, rare, medium rare, medium well, yadda, yadda. Most men aren't epicures, but they know what they like and how they like it prepared and seasoned. Seems that wives find out quickly how a man likes his food, and the quantities he wants per meal.

Most main dishes Mom made had at least a tad of bacon grease to add flavor. Onions, an anathema to some folks but are the height of good food for me. Don't really like chopped onions on my ice cream or in the cake icing but in main courses a tad or more of onion makes it gold in my eyes.

Thinking about it, don't women have a knack for fixing food the way it is appetizing to them ? Appears to be I think.

My uncle the cook made many appetizing things for our table now and then, one thing I remember is that glorious ginger bread he made. I have never tasted any better anywhere.

Over time we find a restarant that fixes food we like and we know what food of theirs we would rather not eat. Its a matter of proportion, if the majority of their food is something we like we come back again.

I like most any food but I do not ask Heather to cook fish, liver or oriental. But I can eat that way when we go out. I know which places near us that serve scrumptious liver and onions. Where to get good tasting fish and occasionally I sneak off by myself and eat Thai or Japanese.

As a little kid I used to watch wide eyed my Mother and Grandmother cook. I don't think I ever saw either of them use a recipe or a measuring implement. It was all done so neatly, quickly with great efficiency. Good recipes in those days didn't seem to pass on very well except between family members. Somebody would pester Grandma for a recipe one goody or another, she would write it out and if I was around she would wink at me as she handed it to the supplicant. I knew that there was one ingredient or process left out. Tickled this little guy. Family secrets you know.

Some things I can cook following a recipe implicitly, but stew for me is a piece of cake. And I am turning into my Grandmother maybe. Someone asked me to pass on my recipe for the guacamole I make. Hm. Like her I fly by the seat of my pants mostly, she wore jeans.

DOUGAMOLE

5 avocados

1 small can of crushed olives

Onion, mayonnaise and picante sauce on hand.

prepare avocados by quartering and separating from seed and taking a teaspoon, slip the peel off.

Moosh the avocados into a paste.

Open the can of crushed olives and holding the lid on, squeeze all the moisture out you can. Add to avocados.

The rest is done to individual taste.

Finely chop onion as needed. Add to mixture.

Add a bit of mayonnaise (to taste).

Picante sauce ? How much ? Depends on how hot you want the mole to be. One thing though is that I put it through a strainer to drain liquid off.

Judicious handling is required if the avocados are a bit too ripe, they tend to get rather soupy. In that case Louisiana Hot Sauce works better (Cayenne might be better yet), olives from the squeezed can can be laid out on paper towel to drain more moisture. Evenso, good stuff occurs.

A dash of this, a pinch of that and a drop or two of the hot stuff. If you don't like the taste, you didn't listen to your taster. So for tonight, that's what's on the Menu . . . . . . . . . . .

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