Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

Tonight I’ll be grilling bone-in country cut ribs indirect over cherry wood smoke. They’ll be seasoned with coarse black pepper and Everglades seasoning with Pat’s Homade on the last two turns. Baked potatoes will be on the top rack.

Inside we’ve got a pot of fresh butter peas and pod okra.

The back porch is stocked and ready for your choice of adult libations.
Our weather remains “typical panhandle variety”—morning low was 38* then sunshine and a high of 77*

Life is good in Gator Nation!

 

Chicken wings for $4.25 per pound at Publix?

 

Tonight I’ll be grilling hamburger steaks from a freshly ground boneless chuck roast.

Inside we’ve got a pot of freshly steamed green cabbage and the leftover butter peas and okra.

Another spring type day here with a morning low of 39* and a mid-afternoon high of 77*—sunshine and blue skies for the day.

Late afternoon and early evening ice cold longnecks and chilled wine are available on the back porch.

Life is good in Gator Nation!

 

First dish with the leftover crawfish was tacos with a jalapeño, cilantro, and lime ranch dressing.

Second we did a pasta dish. Olive oil and garlic based sauce.

Today was tacos again. This time we used the pasta sauce, olive oil, garlic and jalapeños as the sauce for the tacos. Really tasty.

Have enough for one more dish. Have to think about what I will make.

 

Chicken’n’rice for us tonight. Easy fix for a ball game night

Ice cold longnecks and chilled wine for the game night.

Life is good in Gator Nation!

 

Tonight’s supper will be a big pot of beef stew with onions, celery, carrots, potatoes and plenty of great gravy.

Our side will be fried cornbread.

I’m going with my Jim Beam Black/Extra Aged and Canada Dry Zero ginger ale. Ms. Jan will stick with her chilled wine.

Life is good in Gator Nation!

 

Hey I made potato pancakes this morning. Been years. Turned out pretty good. Seasoning is about everything along with extracting the water adequately.

 

Tonight I’ll be grilling thick center cut pork chops seasoned with coarse black pepper and Everglades seasoning. You are correct, Pat’s Homade on the last two turns.

Inside we will have a pot of freshly steamed yellow squash and vidalia onions, butter beans, and white rice topped with Rotel tomatoes.

Beautiful day here today—low this morning was 44* and a prediction of 81* for our high. The back porch is open and ready for your company. Ice cold longnecks and chilled wine are on hand.

Life is good in Gator Nation!

 

Chili - no beans!

 

Tonight I’ll be grilling chicken halves seasoned with coarse black pepper and Everglades seasoning and of course Pat’s Homade on the last two turns.

Inside we will have a pot of fresh green beans and new potatoes with yellow and white cob corn. On the side we will also have a baked four cheese Texas toast.

The back porch is open and ready for your company. Ice cold longnecks and chilled wine are available.

Life is good in Gator Nation!

 

"There's no such things as bad chili.....some's just better than others."

As told to me by the colorful retired Army colonel I worked under when I was hired as instructor at the local community college in 1979 at age 25.

He was the department head and had obtained a horticulture degree from some school in Georgia I can't recall at the moment.

There was only the two of us running the department, which offered both a 2 year Associate degree and also a 1 year Certificate for those who just want the basics.

He took over when the department head retired who basically set the entire program and department up. Then I took over when the colonel retired. By then the academic side of the college was pushing out the vocational side and support for us was dwindling fast. Ironically the college started out as a vocational school.

I left after 5 years to open up my own landscaping business.

Learned a few things from that retired Army colonel:

How do you tell the difference between a Cabbage Palm and a Washington Palm from a distance? The Washington palm has a shine to the leaf and the Cabbage Palm doesn't. There are other differences but these are palms that grow very high so that was a spotter's guide tip....one that you'll never find in writing in any textbook or manual.

 

Ended up using the last crawfish in a rice dish. Went simple.

Made some white rice.

Separately I warmed some jalapeños and red onions in sesame oil, soy sauce, and siracha sauce. I let it simmer for maybe 15 minutes to cook it down a bit in the wok. Then I threw the rice and crawfish into the wok. Stirred for a few minutes and let it steam a bit with the lid on. Maybe 5 minutes.

Simple but pretty tasty.