"Your" Tunafish Recipe

Today's lunch, tunafish.  Yummy!

I know there are many ways that people like to make tunafish.  Growing up this is how my mother made it, so this is how I make it (and how I prefer it):

Tunafish:

INGREDIENTS:

Tunafish

Carrots

Celery

Onion

Salt, Pepper and Garlic Powder

Mayo

In a small mixing bowl combine chopped onion, chopped carrot, chopped celery (as much or as little of all three as you like).  Add a can of tuna, ground pepper (to taste), salt (to taste), garlic powder (to taste) and mayo (as much or as little as you desire).

Serve on bread; toast, toasted english muffin or with crackers.

(*my mom tends to chop the veggies rather finely, I prefer them a tad larger.  and, I like to use a red onion for a slightly sweeter taste and another splash of color.)

Two variations:

The Tuna Melt - after the tuna has been mixed, place a toasted english muffin on a baking sheet, add some tuna and cover with a slice of american cheese (or cheddar if you wish), place under broiler and broil until the cheese has melted and edges become browned.

Tuna - for a sweet tooth - instead or chopped veggies, or perhaps in addition to the chopped onion, add a tablespoon (or so) of relish and mix.

NOW ... how do you make your tunafish???

What do you like to drink?

It might sound silly to say it this way, but I’ve noticed that I tend to have a “male” palate when it comes to the things I like to drink - I’m talking alcohol here.

My #1 Beer = Guinness, which I know many women do drink, but not nearly as many as you’d think.  When I was still a senior in High School and visiting my big bro in college he asked me to taste it, he knew I liked coffee and didn’t hate beer, so he thought I might like it - though I think he was honestly expecting me not to like it.  When I did he had this big grin on his face and called his Frat Bro over saying “watch this...” and asked me to do it again.  I believe his Frat Bro was impressed as well.  I can also recall one of my first times ordering a Guinness at a bar, I was in my college town and the bartender pretty much did a double take and then literally said ‘are you sure’ to which I responded something like ‘I don’t typically order things I don’t like’.  Ha!  It wasn’t as impressive - if you will - when I was over in London, though I still got a fair number of appreciative smiles and nods from folks, an American Girl who actually drinks Guinness - and likes it!  My family and friends are used to it now, but I still seem to inspire shock and awe in some when they see me drinking one - fairly recently I got a “NICE Maggie!” when out to dinner with some friends and my friends brother-in-law saw that I’d ordered a Guinness.  

This is not to say that I don’t like other beers, lordy that would be a lie.  I do like the darker beers better, and am also a big fan of hoppy brews like IPA’s or a Kolsch to a nice summertime Wheat Beer!  If I tried to list all the beer’s I’ve tried ... we’d be here a while! 

Like my father and my brother, I LOVE trying Microbrews, especially when on vacation somewhere.  Find the local Microbrew, eat a meal and try their sampler ... etc.

And then there is the fact that my father, my brother and my Aunt Kris all Home Brew!  Oh yeah ... 

My #1 Drink - Liquor - well this one is a bit more difficult ...

Scotch - Laphroaig - Neat.  On the rocks.  With a little water.  Or even over my Whisky Stones.  The peaty’er the better!  Though I am willing to give them all a go, and have tried a fair few to date.  I started out trying, and liking, Jameson (which I know is Irish and a Whisky) and then when in Edinburgh in the summer of ’08 (at the Fringe Festival with Conflict Relief) my friend Adam and I took the “Scotch Whisky Experience” and I found Laphroaig.  On first smell the nose seemed too strong for me, something I would never really like ... but I tried it none the less, and LOVED IT!  Brought a bottle all the way back to the States to introduce it to my Dad and my Brother!

How’s this for a funny story: my brother had just defended his Thesis and been officially made a Doctor, PhD., and we were all out to a fancy schmancy dinner in Georgetown, Washington D.C.  The name of the restaurant is 1796 (or a year close to that) and while waiting for our table we ordered some drinks at the bar.  I ordered Laphroaig on the rocks and an older gentleman at the bar (with a date) eyeballed me and started a conversation, again with the tone that “most women don’t order such a drink, AND like it”...funny...but I digress, where’s the single man - my age - who appreciates these things in me???  Blah blah blah...

Then there’s ...

Tequila - straight, no salt and no lemon!  I’ve got this great photo of two friends and I - after my first module in my masters had ended - at a bar in Cockfosters, London, doing a tequila shot.  I’m the only one not making a “ewe this is gross/too strong” style face - AND I didn’t use salt or a lemon, and they both did!  :)

But I digress, I do also love Tequila in my name sakes drink, a good old Margarita!  Most often, and for the traditional style, on the rocks with salt.  Yet I do also appreciate a nice fruit/frozen Margarita from time to time as well - had a Pomegranate one in St. Marks Place in NYC once.  Mmmmm....

I’m also a big fan of Gin and Tonic’s, and had a fair few in pubs around London.  Martini’s - Dirty Martini’s being my favorite.  Manhattan’s which my Dad drinks and apparently my Granddad liked a lot as well, in fact, there’s a small glass pitcher in my folks house that is the “Manhattan Pitcher” that used to be my Granddad’s.  Vodka and Cranberry - and here’s a little hint, if you like this drink and have never tried it with Vanilla Vodka, well then DO IT!  (Ok that one’s pretty girly.)  Ouzo - I don’t know that this one is girly or not, it is potent and tasty!

Wine - the dryer the better, like licking the oak barrel ... well, you get my point!  Which is not to say that I don’t like sweet or desert wines, because I do!  And I LOVE Port!  And Meade.  I love meade, and have actually brewed one (with my Dad)!

These are not the only things I like to drink ... but they are some of the front runners!  :)

Anyhoo, this blog post evolved from my drinking a glass of Ardbeg Scotch right now, thinking I tend to drink things my Dad and Brother like....while perusing “The Single Malt Whisky Companion” by Helen Arthur book that my bro and sister - in - law gave me for Christmas two years ago, and thinking it might be fun to list all the Scotch’s, Beers etc...that I’ve had...the beer list will be much harder (and longer) to do...but I digress (I think I’ve said that more than once in this here post)...for now I shall make a Scotch one since that is what I am currently partaking of!

What do you like to drink?  

Perhaps there is something out there I’ve never tried...and you can suggest?

Foreign Food ... Foreign Country

So I was just sitting here thinking about a recipe I found in a cooking magazine over the weekend, it's for Scotch Eggs.  You might be saying, what are Scotch Eggs?  That is the question I would be asking if I had not lived in the UK for a while where I discovered them.

Hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage and coated with (according to this recipe) crushed cornflakes and then lightly fried.

The recipe had me reminiscing about my time in London ... sigh, I miss it, a lot!  And then, as is fascinating with the human brain, one thought did that hop skip and a jump (in about a mila-second) and I was thinking of the "American Foods" that I craved while I was living abroad.

When I would come home to the States for Christmas or Summer Holiday, there were a few things I wanted "RIGHT AWAY"!  These three things pop into my mind immediately:

#1. American Pizza - specifically NY Style Pizza!
#2. A Hamburger - juicy, greasy, cheesy awesome hamburger, think diner or sports bar style burger.
#3. A Steak - a nice juicy, American Beef Steak!

For some reason beef here and beef in the UK tastes different, though this has nothing to do with the burger crave - or only partly - they just don't make burgers the way we American's do!

But I digress...now I miss Lady Grey tea, all those English & Irish cheddar cheeses, McVities Digestive Biscuits, and Scotch Eggs ... to name a few things ... which brings me back to the joy at finding a recipe for Scotch Eggs!  Awesome!  I just might have to try making them this weekend.

A few things I've cooked!

A Pineapple Meringue for a "1950's Dinner"

A Birthday Cake for my Mom

 Spanikopita

 Boeuf Bourguignon (from, you guessed it, Julia Child's Cookbook)

 Pre-Cooked Greek Tsoureki (or Easter) Bread

 My first Souffle EVER ... Chocolate for my Folks Anniversary

Yum yum yum!!!

"I'm a stomach on a mission!"

It was the summer of 2001 and I had just graduated from college, my family was taking a 'Hall Family European Vacation' - move over Chevy Chase the Hall's are on the scene ... !  We went to London, England; Paris & Lyon, France; Lucern, Switzerland; Salzberg, Austria; and Munich, Rothenberg, Heidelberg, Ulm & Neu Ulm, and Frankfurt, Germany!  We had a great time!  It was an amazing vacation - on many levels, but the food and drinks consumed were one of the most exciting aspects!  Oh that Fondu in Switzerland; the Pub Food and Cask Ales in London; the Salad Lyonese in Lyon; the coffee's; the wines; the fresh food market's; the Beer at the Hofbrauhaus ... etc ... I could go on and on...

Right, so it was lunch time, and we were outside of the walled city of Rothenberg, Germany when I caught my father on video calling himself "a stomach on a mission"!  Laughter ensued, and still does from time to time when this saying is brought up in conversation.  But the truth is, the food is my father's favorite part of a vacation - being local to wherever we are at the time, the more interesting and the more expensive the better!  He instilled in me, and my entire family, the fabulous joy of trying anything at least once.

If I'm being entirely accurate my Granddad actually instilled this idea in us and my father (and mother) fostered it.  While I don't recall my Granddad actually saying this, the sentiment has remained and been ingrained in the brain (and is now being passed onto yet another generation - my nieces), "TRY EVERYTHING ONCE!"  How will you know if you do or do not like it if you are not even willing to try it once?!  And so ... a family of "stomach's on a mission" have been living, trying, exploring, cooking and eating for years!

Now my father might be the 'stomach on a mission' part of this blogs equation, but my mother is the one who taught me how to cook!  Half Italian, we grew up with a lot of Italian food yes, but we also grew up with a number of German foods gracing the table, as well as a myriad of "American Foods".

My folks had lived in Germany for three years, my father being in the service and being stationed there, so there were many dishes that friends of mine had never heard of, unless they came over to my house!  Rouladen, or as we call it 'Pickle Steaks' with homemade Spatzel ... oh yeah!  And Christmas is not Christmas without our Racing Stripe Cookies - more commonly known as Linzer Schnitten 

(I must check some of my spellings in this post...)

But I digress, my mother taught me how to make many things - from scratch - including, but not limited too pancakes, a breakfast food I'd cooked often enough that when I was living in London and wanted to make pancakes for my friends one morning, I was able to recall the recipe without much effort.  I started putting things into a bowl and before I knew it I had pancake batter.

Now, as adults, I find that my brother and I share recipes often - or at the very least, pictures of our newest cooking creations - and LOVE to cook new things while the other is about ... showing off our skills in the kitchen, and our everlasting love of trying new things - as a chef and as an eater!  :o)

Why I am now sharing it with "you" ... I don't know, seems like a fun idea!  And perhaps a way for me to obtain some new recipes from others out there ... ?  I'm guessing my posts will be a mixture of memories, cooking/food diatribes and recipes - oh yeah, and pictures of what I make (I do love photography as well, I'm a gal of many talents and likes ... we only live once ya'll ... )!  At least that's what I envision the blog to be, at this moment in time!  :)

At any rate ... visit when you can/want ... and enjoy!  Oh, and always TRY EVERYTHING ONCE!

Stay tuned for more.