Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

The only souvenir I remember my dad having was a piece of shrapnel that cut him behind his ear on a Japanese bombing raid.

His CO wanted him to get a Purple Heart, but he said no for just a scratch.

 

Today is my MIL's birthday. I think she turned 89, but it is impolite to ask.

For brunch my wife got some dim sum from Yummy House. She loved it, but it was nowhere near the dim sum I have had in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago.

For dinner I am making her request which is a farfalle pasta with a sun dried tomato and roasted red pepper sauce with heavy cream and shrimp. It is my take on a recipe from Bon Apatite that had no shrimp. Adding the shrimp takes it to another level. Also the original recipe called for penne, but farfalle is an improvement.

 

Mr Han is great, especially if you have a Chinese friend in your party to get the good stuff. My friend gave me props for eating things that he thought that I wouldn't eat, like chicken feet.

My San Francisco experience was from getting a recommendation from a shop clerk in Chinatown the night before. My wife and I were the only Caucasians in the place and the place was huge. OMG was it good. I have no idea what I was eating because none of the servers spoke English. They would just point at things and smile.

I was disappointed in what we got today, but I have been there on other occasions and it was OK.

 

This what the day is all about.

 

Tonight we are using up the remnants of the smoked chicken in a salad and I am making rice with datil peppers as a side.

I also spent some of the afternoon making bird blocks.

 

I prefer vinegar based slaw over ones with mayo.

Here is a good one: Tangy Vinegar Based Carolina Coleslaw Is Perfect for Barbecues

I cut the sugar in half and double the celery seeds.

 

Tonight is jambalaya with chicken and andouille. Still working on getting rid of that smoked chicken.

 

God no.

He was a Goldwater conservative. He thought that his success in life was do solely to his hard work in spite of the fact that he never would have gone to college without the GI Bill and some good luck getting into college as a football player because one of his former coaches put in a good word to George Halas that called the head coach at the school he wanted to attend as an engineering student.

My dad said that he attended one practice and quit the team.

But he always thought that everything he achieved was due solely to his own effort and not to good fortune.

 

There is no emoji that I can post here, but it would have lots of tears.

War is awful. It sucks. Occasionally somebody can be honorable, but it usually goes the other way. Killing people is usually not a good thing.

 

My dad participated in the sinking of a lot of Japanese shipping in the South China Sea. He did not like that he took the lives of many people doing it. Talking to him late in life he regretted doing it, but he had to do it as his duty.

Even though we disagreed on politics he was a good man.

I miss him.