Home cooking 101

(photo by Carol) Sometimes I enjoy cooking, as tonight when we had Linda & Mark over. Menu: grilled chicken breasts, tri-tip steak, zucchini and squash, sauteed red potatoes, cherry tomatoes & cucumber salad and water melon. Chicken: bbq rub and & Citrus Grill Grilling Sensations with a tad bit of olive oil to keep from sticking to grill. Steak: marinate in Yashida's Gourmet (teriyaki), ditto with olive oil ~ both then drizzled with bbq sauce when almost done. Zucchini & squash: wash & pat dry, cut lengthwise in 1/4's, let sit in olive oil, season to taste with Lawry's Seasoning Salt. Spuds: pre boiled, slightly cooled, cut into bite-sized pieces; saute in olive oil and a pat of real butter with garlic seasoning salt and chives, & pepper to taste. Tomato & cucumber: peel cucumbers, cut lengthwise, de-seed & cut into 1/4" pieces, halve cherry tomatoes, ad chopped fresh sweet basil & olive oil with a splash of "good-grade" Balsamic Vinaigrette, fresh pepper to taste. Watermelon. (notice mason jar of honey - great on fried potatoes)
Strange how food can bring back memories; I learned to cook as a young boy; spaghetti was my first real dinner I cooked from scratch. Everyone had to endure my experimental ingredients. Several years ago while on a Varsity scout high adventure week, a few boys said I cooked better than their mom. (I think they just didn't want to cook.) Some had never had fresh trout - they said it was still pink after I'd cooked it (me and Brett Mecham were the only two who caught any at Panquitch Lake; Justin Page threw his entire pool in the lake while casting; we used Tebbs' cabin one night) and I remember they liked my French Toast because I put Cinnamon in it. I come from a family of men-who-cook-at-home and I'm thankful Lindsay has shown great cooking skills, enjoyment and bbq knowledge... I wanna teach the Monkey Boys the fun of cooking some day :)
Bon Appetite everyone.