doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What is for dinner?

From Normandy, we went out to restaurants regularly but made a couple of meals at the B&B. Here is the Pont l'Abbey Charcuterie- Bucherie where we bought 6 marinated steaks, 6 marinated pork chops, sausages, home-made pate, etc. Cooked it on the grill and the results were satisfying.



Before cooking....check out that bread in the center of the table....that is a piece of art!!

Here is a dish Genevieve made tonight. Various veggies...Zucchini, onion, tomato, bell pepper stuffed with a secret mixture of pork, deer, beef (beef alone works...pork add juices) mixed with ground veggies - she developed this back when the kids were young to sneak veggies into their diet - the mixture works as a stuffing in cannelloni too. It's usually covered with parts of a catch-all spaghetti/tomato sauce that works for everything from pasta to pizza.



Spaghetti Sauce - 20 min - Gene

1 can of peeled tomatos
1 8oz can of tomato paste

2 onions - chopped
4 garlic cloves - chopped

3 tbs olive oil

1.5 tbs dried Oregano
1 tbs dried Basil
1/2 tps Curry powder
1 tps dried red peppers
1 tps pepper
1 tps salt
1 beef bullion cube
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs parmesan cheese - grated

1/4 cup white wine

In a large pot, put in olive oil, bring to medium heat;
put in onion and cook till clear;
add chopped garlic for 30 seconds (do not burn).
Add the can of peeled tomatoes�- cut each in the center with scissors to let the juices out, add the tomato paste and water (I like 3:1 rather than traditional 2:1 water to paste); then add the spices and white wine.
Let simmer for 15 minutes. Voila.

Good stuff.

I and my family were the guests of the Vang clan for their family picnic. They are one of the larger tribes of Hmong who were settled in this country. The food, which, I neglected to get photos of, is spectacular, heavily influenced by Tai cuisine, since most Hmong spent time in Tai refugee camps.

Everyone is welcome in the Vang family.



From the left, representatives of Liberia, Ethiopia, India, USA, Colombia, Laos, and another American. I convinced the pretty Colombian to marry me, 14 years ago.


Best,
Ted

There are two books on the war in Laos worth reading:

Shadow War by Conroy:

https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-War-CIAs-Secret-Laos/dp/1581605358

And better Undercover Armies by the CIA's historian Jack Ahern. I've read the classified version which will blow you away. The version you can get will have a lot of black marks in it.

https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/6_UNDERCOVER_ARMIES.pdf

I have a deep suspicion of any other version of this history because the historian often has an agenda which effects his scholarship. I knew a lot of guys involved in that war in Laos....Operation "White Star" was 7th SFG involvement there. In the end, about 250 American para-military led 60,000 armed mountaineers in an amazing stand against the regular North Vietnamese Army...talk about force multipliers.

No war today, Gene, just a good time with good food in the company of friends who come from all over the world.
All of these people are my friends, and, I am a much richer man from the experience.
Their American Dream is no different from my own.

Thank you for your service.

Best,
Ted

Tonight....Pork roast....Fennel Gratin...sliced small potatoes with a gravy scrapped from the roast pan. The pork roast was especially delicious.

Gene,
Unusual day here, shared a light lunch with the wife and son, then they left for volunteer duty at church-I wasn�t on the guest list actually. Thus, the bird dog became my date for the informal Anoka car show, where I met my younger brother.

The Missus makes up a mean shrimp cocktail. The ingredients I know are shrimp (duh) ginger, garlic, cilantro, Clamato, Chalupa hot sauce, chopped avocados, salt, pepper, lime, love and some mystery. Her Colombian angle on eats is not to be underestimated.






Uh, how many beers did I have, Louise?




Puppy cones are free at Dairy Queen in Circle Pines.

Summer is good times around here.


Best,
Ted

Wow Ted...that mixture of spices....just wow. And PBR....I worked as a bartender in Tuscaloosa for about 3 months in summer 1971 waiting from my Foreign Service Application to go through in a bar which sold the most PBR in all of Alabama.

I never much was a fan of muscle cars in the 1960's....I was just too poor I guess. I bought a VW Van in 1968 for $800 upon return from VN...no flower on the door...which I drove to the Atlanta Pop...first big spectacle after Woodstock where I saw Jimmi Hendrix play Star Spangled Banner at midnight on the 4th of July. I then turned into a Jeep guy.

Ice cream for a field dog? Are you giving away trade secrets?

She gets about 2 or 3 a year. At 5, due to the daily exercise regimen I have her on, she is 41 pounds of rock solid muscle. I think the exercise is the trade secret. All my dogs have been fed by Purina, and they get meat table scraps.

I�ve owned the Olds about a quarter century, restored it myself, and from what I have seen, it is one of damn few on original 400 power, and original drivetrain. This is a luxury car, pretending it is a muscle car, a/c, PW, PS, PB, tilt, power drivers bucket seat, cruise control, vacuum power trunk, and some other stuff I probably forgot. It will literally cruise all day long at 90mph with the 3:08 gears.

Actual muscle cars get old, fast, when it is in the low 90 degree temps and you are stuck in traffic.

We had pork loin the other day, there is a picture in Stan�s July 4th thread.

I love pork. And shrimp. And I�m lucky I don�t weigh 300 pounds.

The dog helps.

Best,
Ted

No comment on the Fennel? A spicy and tasty veggie very underused...