Is This a Food Blog???

Joe doing his thing with a big cut of meat. Mmmmmm Good potato.

I think you all know what the last things are.

We are busy today preparing for our Priest to come for dinner. It is a special time for us as we really like this man and want to find out more about his life. He is from Nigeria...here I believe, with no family It's nice for him to be included in the lives of his Parish members. Joe picked the menu...being an old meat cutter, we are having steak, twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole, a relish tray, rolls, and for dessert...brownie ice cream sundaes. Laddie will be on his best behavior of course. He is a very friendly greeter at our door. I'll write more tomorrow about our evening.

Yesterday, after cleaning, we went on a picnic. We ate by the Rock River and watched the water flow at the dam. The morning started out rainy, but by noon the sun was out. Our town festival is this weekend and we hope the weather cooperates. Everyone waits all year for this event. People come from all over. Lots of bands, rides, and good carnival food. There's something about this kind of food...I love the corn dogs, caramel corn, snow cones, and the crispy funnel cakes. Everything tastes better in the carnival or fair atmosphere. Things taste better, when they come out of a picnic basket too. I have never outgrown my love for picnics. Joe likes them too, so this is a treat for us during the summer. It can be a meal taken from home, or just a visit to a drive in to take the food to a park. We really like doing the simple things on the spur of the moment.

This is the week that I cat sit. Joe's kids will be on a cruise and they are leaving the cats in my care. Sammy, Abby, and Charlie will be waiting for me to feed them and pamper them. The last time, Charlie learned how to turn the water faucet on. He's a clever cat...I'll have to keep my eye on that guy.

So, this is what's going on at our house. I'll include a recipe today for my potatoes.

Have a great weekend, do something fun.

Balisha

Twice Baked Potatoes (These are not lo-cal)

4-6 large Idaho potatoes
1/2 stick of butter

Half and half to moisten... like mashed potatoes

Large pkg cream cheese

1 cup sour cream
salt and pepper

I bake the potatoes, then while still warm cut an oval out of the top of each and peel it off the potato.Take the little piece of peeling...and put butter on it and I get two and Joe gets two. Laddie gets the rest.

Scoop the potato out of the shell.

Mash the potato and add the rest of the ingredients.

The ingredients are not measured so much...I pretty much just wing it and can tell when the potato mixture is moist enough.

I stuff each shell...pile high. Then you can be creative...cheddar cheese, Swiss, bacon, paprika, what ever to make these beauties your own. When it's time to serve...put them in the microwave or back in a 350 oven till warm through.

Balisha

PS.....This is to make this a blog about gardening...put a sprig of parsley on each plate before serving. I knew that I planted that parsley for a reason!