A Plainly Elegant Salad by the Careless Cook

 

I admit I adore salads, with a big BUT! (only one T) Lettuce with bottled commercial dressing, carefully concocted to cover up every delicate, fresh flavor, is an insult to your taste buds and if you serve it to friends, you'll hear a loud choking noise and a call for 911, and hope it's not too late.

 

Doesn’t have to be that way. Lots of things you can do with olive oil and a vast array of vinegars, with many flavors. Red and while vinegars. Balsamic vinegar. Rice vinegar, plain and seasoned.  Think of vinaigrette as the baseline and be adventurous!

 

And when it comes to the salad itself, don’t think of “Dang this stuff is exotic and expensive,” think of what you’re got in your refrigerator, your pantry, and what you can do with what you’ve got.

 

First off, start with sipping a sturdy cup of red wine to stir the savage mind and bring it to boil over with a bursting of ideas. Tell no one what you’re doing. You’ll only confuse them. They don’t have your charming and efervescente palate. They probably won’t even pick a decent wine.

 

The Plainly Elegant Salad

 

Ingredients

 

¾  head of iceberg lettuce, cut or chopped as you wish (mine was coarsely chopped)

 

Handful of flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

 

2 stalks of celery, just a little thicker than thinly cut

 

½ red onion, peeled and thinly cut in slivers about half as long as your little finger

 

A handful of broken walnuts or another nut of your choosing

 

2 tangerines, peeled and pulled apart

 

A table spoon of Herbs de Provence. Look up Herbs de Provence if you’re curious. 

Short answer: Lots of herbs. I buy my packets from The Spice Lab on Amazon

 

Smoked salmon (I prefer Norwegian, that comes thinly sliced and smaller than your palm) Don’t savor smoked salmon? Try another type of smoked fish that’s not canned. Shrimp might work. I haven’t tried it.

 

A can of black beans, strained and rinsed. 

 

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Olives, if you wish

 

Next comes the dressing:

 

Red wine vinegar, seasoned rice vinegar, olive oil

 

Puttin’ It Teegether

 

The dressing.  I start with a few tablespoons of the oil and vinegars in a cereal sized bowl, taste and add more that suits me.

 

The Salad

 

In a fairly large salad dish, toss all the ingredients together except for the parsley, smoked salmon and herbs.

 

Cut the salmon to about half the size they come in the package, and use them to decorate a large salad dish. 

 

Scatter the parsley and herbs on top.

 

Voila!

 

 

 

 

Careless Summer Soup from The Careless Cook

 

 

Right away you may be thinking: Hot Soup in the summertime? I suggest you gather your pitiful thoughts and tell me if you take your burgers off the gill and pop ‘em in the fridge?  Or don’t like BBQ in the summer. Lots of dishes go well in the good old summertime.  

 

The Careless Cook offers a soup so good, even with 90 degrees outside you’ll take a spoon-full and get so excited you’ll wet your socks, and anybody close.  

 

Hey! Summer sun is no challenge for air conditioning or buckets of icy beer!  Speaking of which, The Careless Cook likes a nice tipple whilst he stirs the pot of his deliciously Careless Soup.  Perhaps a Scotch and a splash of ice and cold water?  Don’t overdo it with the water after the Scots worked to make you smile. Be polite! 

 

Take a sip or two and let’s get going!

Adds a lot of flavor to any soup or pasta
Available for about $10 on Amazon

 

My Ingredients (If you use yours, good luck!)

 

A big pot!

1 lb ground turkey

12 oz frozen mixed vegetables

1 large onion (I like to cut mine in thumb sized chunks)

15 oz can of red kidney beans. Empty the can. Don’t rinse the beans and loose the flavor!

A big handful of fresh spinach, or more

Flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped to decorate the soup

1 big handful of shredded carrots

32 oz chicken broth + two cubes of bouillon 

1 heaping tablespoonful of Marinara sauce

1 heaping tablespoonful of Laksa (available on Amazon, see photos above)

Olive oil and salt and pepper as needed

1 Lemon

 

Puttin’ It Teegether

 

Slosh the bottom of the pot with olive oil and heat up the pot.

 

Add the ground turkey and stir to break up the meat as it cooks.

 

When the meant is no longer red, add the onion, mix and cook until the onion is translucent.

 

Add salt and pepper.

 

Add the spinach and allow the leaves to wilt, then mix with the meat and onion.

 

Add the kidney beans WITH the juice.

 

Add the remainder of the vegetables and the broth. Let the broth simmer before crushing and adding the 2 bouillon cubes.

 

As the soup comes to a simmer, add the Laksa and Marinara sauce and stir well.

 

Taste to see if it needs more salt or pepper.

 

To give another taste of summer, grate the lemon, toss the grated bits in the pot and squeeze the lemon juice into the pot.

 

Mix.

 

At this point, I turn off the heat, cover the pot and let the soup rest for an hour or two or overnight.

 

Fill your bowls with soup and sprinkle chopped flat leafed parsley on top. 

 

Then, my three faithful followers, it’s time to see if the Scotch has gone bad. I have some that lasts for days.

Best Burgers You’ll Ever Eat! Says The Careless Cook

 

What’s the best hamburger you’ve ever eaten?  Don’t tell me it was when you were eighteen in the dark of night, in the backseat with…. Be honest or dishonest, I don’t care because either way you don’t remember if you were clutching the hamburgers or the buns. 

 

Let’s stick to your taste buds. Ah, maybe not.  Let’s stick to a hamburger you remember.

 

Most burgers I’ve had were dry and/or tasteless, overcooked, and not worth the calories.

 

Now I’ll stop with nostalgia of your nights in the backseat, or the ruinous burgers and march on to how to make the best burger you’ll ever eat.  

 

Rest easy. It’s not made with beef raised by Japanese farmers in Kyoto and sold at a price that matches what it costs to fix a Ferrari. 

 

This hamburger is made with American beef and you make it in your kitchen.  Which means you can drink wine while you cook and not worry about those sirens and pesky blinking red lights.

 

Ok. Time to pop the cork and get to cookin’!  By the way, I prefer a polite red while I cook, or whatever you say, if you’re buying.

 

Do y’all know that outstanding Chef, Jamie Oliver? He offers a hamburger almost as good as the Careless Cook’s version.

 

Best Burger

 

Ingredients for two burgers

 

2 hamburger buns.

 

6 oz ground beef per burger, with about 84% lean. If you go too lean, your burger will be dry.

 

Cut a handful of strips of onions. 

 

Slice some rounds of pickles. Enough to cover a bun. Any salty pickle will do.  I make my own.

 

Mustard and Catchup.

 

Coarse salt.

 

Black pepper.

 

Unsalted spicy Cajun seasoning

 

Putting it together:

 

Stretch out some parchment paper. 

 Roll the ground beef into two balls until they are solid.  

Slap each ball down on the paper.  Mash it down with your palm.

 

Give each patty a good amount of coarse salt and black pepper, then add a good dose of  unsalted Cajun spice.  Use your palm or a spatula and press the patties to a medium thickness.

 

Add some olive oil to a large skillet and saute the strips of onion until they are browned

 

Before you take out the onions, open and brown each of the buns.  Let them soak up the thin layer of oil. 

 Take out the buns. Don’t let them burn!

 

Put in the beef patties, spices down.  Use your spatula to press the patties down a bit and let ‘em sizzle!  

Add the onions on top of the burgers and flip ‘em over.  I cook my burgers about 2-3 minutes on each side.

 

Put pickles on the bottom buns, then add catsup.

 

Put the burgers on the buns with the onions up. 

 

Put mustard on the top bun.

 

Put the top bun on the burger!

 

Let it sit for a moment.

 

Press it down to allow the juices to absorb into the buns.

 

Cut the burger in half. 

 

Ask your wife if she really wants to eat both halves of her burger.

 

Pour her another glass of wine. Compliment her on how much weight she’s lost.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fortnum and Mason, a delight for the senses

I was first in London as a lad, a millennium  ago, melting my way into the ways of the  world. London smiled and led me into a wonderland of “yes indeed.” For Hemingway Paris was a moveable feast.  My feast was London and so it remains. To this day, the lady is still smiling and offering  a banquet. 

Although there are many,  one beautiful delectable charm is Fortnum and Mason. To label it as a grocery store is akin to mistaking priceless diamonds for rough gravel. This sparking jewel dates back to 1707.

Walk through the beautiful doors and feel surrounded by luxury.  Ladies and male clerks, dressed in black and white livery, coats and tails, stand ready. My first stop is the seemingly never ending array of tins of every known variety of tea, many of which have found a comfortable place in my cupboard. 

Just tea?  Oh poor things! You have yet to go there.  Pies and pastries, mustards, sauces, jams and jellies and on a floor below, fabulous wines and liquors.  Men and women’s attire on floors above. A glory land for selective shoppers! And yet there is more. Tea rooms and delicious luncheons, because in London, Fortnum and Mason is a satin tradition.  Before you leave, be sure to go upstairs and sample the store’s own gin distillery. Yes, they offer tastes of white gin, pink gin, and others. 

Now let's move on.

 Next door to Fortnum and Mason, be sure to step into Hatchards, the city's oldest bookshop, where you'll find, among the many tomes, autographed selections from well known authors.

Time for lunch? Or maybe a noontime cocktail?  Why not?

Around the corner from Fortnum and Mason, you’ll find 45 Jermyn Street, connected and owned by Fortnum and Mason. Delicious meals! My preference is to sit at the bar and converse with loquacious barkeepers.  It’s where I learned how to make a Perfect Manhattan. A hint: it starts with Four Roses! 

With lunch and a tipple behind you, is there more to see and do and marvel nearby? Do some shopping along along Jermyn Street. Mens and women's clothing, shoe shops, famous perfume shops, and a fabulous cheese shop. 

Oh, child! You’ve just begun the trek through a wonderland!

Three Nights in Oxford, UK

 

The Bridge of Sighs, named after the one inVenice

Took a three night trip to Oxford, and I don’t mean Mississippi, although they both have something in common. Oxford, Mississippi and Oxford, England both are college towns. 

 

Maybe one day I’ll write about Miss-iss-ippi, but this time I’m talking about pubs, fish and chips and a university that’s got 36 colleges, one of which, Balliol College (Ba-lee-aal) dates back to 1263, founded by a nobleman, John I de Balliol and is the oldest. Are there some young ones?  Yes, but I won’t get into youth and perhaps embarrassments. Read on.

 

An interesting spot, Oxford, and not just the University. Downtown Oxford is all stone buildings and museums and excellent restaurants and pubs as old as Shakespeare’s plays.  Matter of fact it’s said William visited The Crown pub (itself dating back to 1364). 

At Shakespeare’s time it was an inn, with drink and rooms for overnight travelers. No longer an abode for dusty pilgrims, but The Crown does have great food and Doom Bar, my favorite beer. Old style, pulled from the keg. You’ll find the pub down an alley, but no worries. A huge sign over the entry gives you a clue.  The Crown is now nestled in what was once the stables and outhouses. Careful where you step!

 

But by the way, English beer/ale/bitter, sometimes gets a bad rap from Americans, with unkind slander: It’s warm! It’s flat. 

The slanders are dead wrong.  Kegs are kept in the cellar, which is 55 to 60 degrees cool and instead of being pumped with carbon dioxide (CO2), British keg beer (often called Real Ale) gets a lighter touch of fizz from natural yeast.  For my taste buds, real ale is softer and tastier, and like a first kiss it’s surprisingly wonderful.

Ok, out of the pub and back to the 36 colleges at the University of Oxford. All 36 are autonomous, self-governing corporations within the University. There are other autonomous corporations within the University, all of which tend to be academic.

 

Yes, you can visit some colleges, but be sure the one you want to visit is open to visitors. Days and times vary. We visited Christ Church College, still a functioning church, as well as a college, and the seat of the Bishop of Oxford.

I could go on about things to see and do in Oxford, so I will! Another treasure is the Bodleian Library, begun in 1320 in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. The church is still used for meetings, and over the centuries the library has expanded again and again. The original books are still there and are still in use by scholars since 1602. These days the library accepts every book printed in the UK and has for several centuries. At present, the library holds 13 million printed items. Besides the books, the architecture is magnificent, and something to see, inside and out. Also of note is the Divinity School is a part of the library.

 

Time to talk about a couple of museums, of which the Ashmolean is the most noted and most popular.  There you’ll find both an astounding array of art and archaeology. Surprised you’ll find the Ashmolean was founded by Elias Ashmole and donated to the University of Oxford in 1677? As you know by now, like Rome, Oxford University was not built in a day! Let me give you a taste of what you’ll find in this museum: The death mask of Oliver Cromwell and an Arab ceremonial robe owned by Lawrence of Arbia. The museum is right across the street from the Randolph Hotel.

From the front of the Ashmolean looking toward the Randolph Hotel

 

Another museum you don’t want to miss is the Pitt Rivers Museum. Filled with curiosities from countries and civilizations around the world.  You’ll find arts, crafts, weapons, ships and other startling things from tribes and areas of the world you never knew existed.  Take my word for it, this is not a hurry-up situation! I was astounded by the unique ways people have found to murder and slaughter fellow humans! Also, if you think tribes of Native Americans and those on every other continent lived quietly and in peace, think again.

 

After a day of walking, exploring and visiting pubs, it’s time to sit and rest in comfort. You’ll want to settle in at the five star Randolph Hotel. I just showed you a picture above. 

Too expensive? We paid $250 per night for a lovely room and a wonderful bar called The Morse Bar, from the Morse novels by Norman Colin Dexter and the TV series.  I could spend every evening in that bar, whether or not I chose to try out quality alcohol of every persuasion, served by wonderfully dressed bartenders, who treat you as though you were of the rich and famous.

 

The hotel opened in 1866 and has been refurbished along the many years, but still manages to keep the feel of elegance.  Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to pull yourself away from the fantastic bar long enough to treat yourself and your loved one or at least someone to a high tea in one of the hotel’s lovely dining rooms. “Would you care to have another cup of glorious tea My Lady, or perhaps some dainty finger sandwiches and macaroons and other splendid sweets?”

 

Yes, I’m sure you would say yes, and then perhaps a flute of champagne? 

 

You’ll find there is more to England than London, although that too is special. Wonderful cities and ancient villages call the traveler and among the best of the best is the ancient university of Oxford.  Don’t race through it. Give yourself time to settle in and make yourself a slave to elegance and history and a new way of life. Oxford!

 

 

Things I didn’t mention that are worth a mention:

 

How to get there?  Ask at any kiosk or at the Heathrow Airport bus terminal for the bus to Oxford. Tickets cost about $30 to $40.  There is a bus that leaves every 20 minutes and in about 1 hour and 30 minutes drops you off in downtown Oxford.

If you're going from Oxford to London, there's another bus.

 

The Martyrs Monument (across the street from the Randolph Hotel):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrs%27_Memorial,_Oxford

 

The Ivy, splendid for breakfast, lunch, or dinner

The Eagle and Child, the most famous pub in Oxford will reopen in 2027. 

 

Lovely Lunch at the Yellow Deli and Bakery

 

 

Across the huge Sidney Lanier Bridge, tucked away on a side street at the edge of Brunswick Georgia, you’ll find a truly rare treat, The Yellow Deli and Bakery.

 

Surely, you’ve been to any number of cafes and sandwich shops.  Forget ‘em! This one is special. Maybe more than special.  A semi-large, shaded parking lot, gives you the effortlessly feeling that you have indeed reached the right spot to settle in for lunch or breakfast. 

 

Politely rustic, with a beautiful patio, surrounded by flowers, the Yellow Deli and Bakery is as welcoming as your grandmother’s garden, and the food may be even better. Better keep that a secret.

 

Sit inside if you wish and enjoy the dark wood interior, watch the kitchen in action, and settle into a very comfortable booth.

 

But, as for me and my very close, intimate friend, we opted for the outside, the flowers, and the sweet sound of trickling water. But, wait a sec. Georgia in the Springtime? Bugs? 

 

No worries. On every table there’s a small, lemon scented, plastic spray bottle to allay your fears and send gnats and such searching for another spot.

 

Am I ever going to get to the food?  Well, yes, in due time. Don’t rush me!

 

The servers are polite and come to you with wonderful smiles and a solid knowledge of what’s on the menu.  I’ll tell you right now, everything on the menu is wonderful, serving the best lunch I’ve tasted since lunching in Europe.

 

We ordered a corn beef sandwich on house made sourdough bread….after all, this is a bakery!  Along with the beef, the sandwich has a wonderfully generous smear of delicious coleslaw.

 

As if that wasn’t enough, we ordered a delicious salad of greens, toasted pecans, blueberries, and bite sized white cheese, tossed with the house made vinaigrette. To top it off, the salad comes with heavy, dark raisin and nut bread from the Yellow bakery.

 

We shared the sandwich and salad and found it was more than enough for hungry,  

gluttonous travelers. 

 

What about drinks?  Delicious coffee and teas, plus water.

 

Nor did we escape the Cream Cheese Pie, with a topping of sweet blueberry sauce. 

I have barely scratched the wonders that are on the menu.  For more ideas, opening hours and so forth, go to 

https://yellowdeli.com/brunswick

 

Something else that puts this delightful spot on the map is that all the servers, bakers, and cooks live together in a large home down the way. It’s a Christian commune, living the Christian life.  But, should you think these folks are from another planet, you’re wrong. Very nice people! They will not bring up religion unless you do. Their aim is to offer the best food to all their customers in the most polite ways.

 

I like nice people, who care for their customers and serve healthy food made from scratch! We found it right there in the Yellow Deli and Bakery.

 

Of course we’ll go back!