same here, lunched with some pals from the '60s at a place in east orlando, the Old Cuban Cafe, food was good and I brought a bunch of roast pork and cuban rice & beans back to the house....
I did grill us a hamburger steak to go with the left over green beans & new potatoes and squash--that bunch destroyed 3 racks of Baby Backs last night--
Having company over tonight. Grilling NY strip steaks, baking scalloped potatoes with roasted poblano peppers, grilling asparagus, and boiling some fresh corn on the cob.
Tonight it will be a half boneless pork loin grilled indirect off charcoal over apple wood smoke--we've got fresh combo petite butter beans & sweet corn ( I know, but I prefer it fresh over bagged succotash ) and fresh fried okra--
Ahh, the smell of my spaghetti sauce has been filling the house all morning--it will simmer 'til around 3pm and then rest for a couple of hours--then simmer heat will get it ready for supper--fresh classic romaine salad topped with vine ripe tomatoes and Sargento fine shredded cheese along with toasted sunflower bread will be on the table tonight-- Ice cold longnecks during the afternoon with a good bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon on the table tonight--
Last night was leftover smoked chicken from the 4th shredded into a salad. This morning my wife said that we have lots of open BBQ sauce bottles in the frig that i need to deal with, so as soon as it stops raining I will get the grill going and grill up a mess of chicken drumsticks.
Sounds delightful. Sometimes I spring for authentic parmigiano-reggiano cheese and freshly grate. It is a bit more expensive, but it really good. I don't use that with highly spiced sauces as the spices will overpower the cheese so why bother, but i will use it to great effect with less spicy ones.
Lurk-- Agree completely--I always want any spice, sauce, or anything used to compliment the food and not over whelm it--And along that line I'll always agree don't scrimp on any cheese or if it's a pasta dish always use top shelf pasta--the flavor difference is far beyond dollar difference--but that's just me--
This year I am growing a new pepper along with datils, fatalii, and Scotch bonnets: siling labuyo. The plant was sold to me as a Thai bird's eye pepper plant, but it isn't. I just ate one. It is quite hot.
Lurk-- Ms. Jan likes to take any left over smoked chicken and make her chicken salad with it--which usually is going to have cut up seedless red grapes, and cut up either pecans or walnuts in it--pretty good sammich--
Yes it is--you can also catch Ms. Jan dipping out of the bowl with either Captain's Wafers or Ritz crackers too--
