Steak, Green Beans, and Horses

The other night, I was in the mood for steak and Bev found some green bean bundles in the freezer from last year’s garden.  I grilled them both on the charcoal grill to get this.

We have a vacuum sealer and I continue to be impressed with the more-than-a-year-old food that we discover and eat.  The beans were as fresh and tasty as they would have been after just a month in the freezer and they were very good grilled - everything is better wrapped in char grilled bacon.  The steaks had been in there awhile as well and I consider the vacuum sealer a must for our lifestyle - we wore out a FoodSaver and now have a commercial grade one from Cabela's. 

Sunday Humor - USRSF

I saw this on Facebook and being from both WV and TN, so after a chuckle, just had to post it here.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

Chicken Marsala for Pat’s Birthday

We managed to let Pat’s (SIL) birthday slip by us and to make up for it, we offered to cook her a meal of her choosing and she selected chicken Marsala and invited four of her friends for the event.  

Easy Individual Tomato Pies

As summer and tomato season begin to wind down, it’s time to be sure we’ve eaten plenty of the good ones and this meal was to accomplish this goal.  I had something else in mind for breakfast but Bev wanted to make individual tomato pies using the recipe from the Roseville Bed and Breakfast courtesy of Suzanne Cook & Company.  We served them to the attendees at our RV rally in May and they went over well.  

A Fish Meal With The Lusk’s

A year ago, we joined the local chapter of the FMCA called the Tennessee Travelers as a way of having monthly RVing opportunities and meeting new RVers the area.  We have met many fine people and invited one nearby couple over for a fish dinner - we knew it was a favorite of theirs.  Good friend, Joe, and SIL, Pat, also joined us.

We decided on a European style meal (several courses over an extended time) with a menu of raw oysters, chargrilled oysters, oysters Rockefeller, bread, fried crappie, slaw, hush puppies, and homemade peach ice cream.

We bought a box of oysters from the Shrimp Dock in Maryville and according to the box, they came from Sea Farms Inc. in Hudgins, VA so I assume they are from Chesapeake Bay. 

The first appetizer of raw oysters was served with Ina Garten’s Cocktail Sauce, lemon wedges, and saltines.

The Adams & Myers Visit Almost Heaven South

We had met Betsy (Joyful Reflections) and George a couple of years ago while RVing in Crossville and of course the Myers are good friends so when Betsy expressed interest in meeting Dave (Big Daddy Dave), we invited both over for an afternoon on the dock.  Betsy agreed to be the official get-together photographer and blogger so I will only post about the food and her post will be up on 9/1 so please drop by her place.  The previous day, I had smoked some ABT’s for our wine group and decided I’d also smoke up some ribs for the dock meal and the menu was:

Appetizer - ABT’s  (stuffed jalapenos)

Main course – Ribs, pulled pork, slaw, chipotle baked beans, buns

Dessert - Tres Leches Cake, provided by the Myers

Our Birds

We have been feeding the birds for many years, but due to our planned travels this year, we didn’t want them to become feeder dependent then quit feeding them.  As it turned out, the travel plans got cancelled so we decided to begin feeding them again.  I’ve always been in awe of the variety of birds visiting Betsy’s feeders (Joyful Reflections), so I ask her to send me some shots of her feeding area then we had a couple of conversations about the details.

Before getting into the songbirds, I’d like to tell you about our Hummers – I believe Bev has four feeders for them and one is on the bedroom deck and visible from the living room.  This is the window we look through with the feeder on the left side of the middle window and it’s fun to watch them fly right up to the window if they arrive in spring to no feeder or if it runs out of food, as it did last week.