Recently in Misc. Category

Happy Easter to all our Christian friends and customers, from Julie and me. This year I think we're going to forego the traditional Easter fare, and cook Chinese instead.

What's for dinner at your place?

Oops, forgot the beer. Be right back.

I'm utterly amazed.

P.S. You know what makes a great birthday present? Survival Spice®!!!

Well, no food pictures to show off these days, but we did see the Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Gardens yesterday. Good times, and the exhibit runs through the end of May. Go early, and take plenty of water, though they have water fountains throughout the gardens, and a kick ass swamp cooler in the gift shop!

Update: Julie's take on the day is here, and it's a much more colorful version than mine.

It's Cactus League time again, and I had the chance to visit the latest park to spring up from the desert. Camelback Ranch is the new home of the L.A. Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox, who used to train in Florida and Tucson, respectively. I was a big Dodger fan when I lived in Los Angeles, so I was really looking forward to the game.

It's a beautiful park, though I prefer the smaller, more traditional parks like Maryvale, home of the Brewers, and Phoenix Municipal Stadium, which hosts the A's. Camelback Ranch is just too big, and too generic for me. Nondescript Aramark food, which didn't do anything to help identify which park I was in. I wasn't expecting Vin Scully to be doing the play by play, but I did hope to get a grilled Dodger dog!

It was a beautiful day, and a really good game, highlighted by some great infield play by the Dodgers, who seemed to be in mid-season stride already. For a baseball fan like myself, Cactus League has always been my annual baseball bender.

What's up, been cooking? Me, not so much.

I think this picture got lost in the shuffle somehow, so better late than never! I found a low sodium, all natural ham this year, and it was worth the price I think, though it was a semi-ridiculous $4.49 a pound. I glazed it with honey, orange juice, and Survival Spice®. I used Yukon Golds for the scalloped potatoes, and made a fresh green beans almondine with shallots to finish it off.

The ham was so good I went out and bought another one for the freezer. Sheesh, I forgot about that, too!

May 2009 be a darn sight better than the year before, unless 2008 was a banner year for you.

If it was, keep it up!!! Thanks for your support of Desert Island Foods®.com.

I guess it'll be 10 years since we partied like it was 1999 now. We're staying in this year, and I'm going to forage at the store tomorrow to figure out what we're eating. Stay tuned!

Are you going out or staying in? Any good food and drink in the works?

Okay, it's not the usual Friday Funny, but I got this cool picture in an email from Dr. Biggles this morning:

Hey mang,

Didn't get any shots of the food, too busy don't ya know. But
here's a shot of my brother inlaw's cookies! Actually, there
were a few different kinds. This one is Sasquatch! His leg
broke so Meathead bandaged it up with icing. And for the record,
he made his own metal cookie cutter to make them, neat eh?

Neat, indeed! I'll bet someone could make a bundle making eclectic cookie cutters like that.

Have a great weekend! See you next week.