Running With Quills: Belated happy 4th!

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Belated happy 4th!

We missed out on wishing you all a happy 4th of July! Hope yours was fabUlous. Here in the Pacific Northwest it was cold and wet. Now, Seattle summers histori

cally begin on the 5th of July, but we usually have a week or two of gorgeous weather in May to help get us through until then. Not so this year. In fact yesterday, which turned out nice in the afternoon I spent scrubbing moss and mold off my back steps and off my fence (where I could reach, anyway--I should have done this in the Spring before my garden filled out--but it was too freaking wet). It looks sooo much better in toda

y's sunshine.

But I digress. We had a really quiet 4th this year. Often we'll go to the children's parade in our neighborhood and watch my great nieces and nephew. But we slept in and caught the pics on Facebook instead. We had Doug and Mimi (our closest friends) over for dinner. Which reminds me--I've got a great recipe for you meat eaters (and would probably be tasty on tuna for you piscatorians). It's called Korean Broil and it goes like this:

1 scored flank steak
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 heaping teaspoon ginger
1/4 cup salad oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 green onions sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced

Mix all but first ingredients together.

Place steak in a gallon baggie and pour mixture over it. Seal and marinate overnight or longer in fridge.

Broil or grill, then slice at an angle and serve.

I'm telling you, this is So Good! We served it with corn on the cob, fruit salad and pasta salad. Good stuff.

We'd planned to go to a house overlooking the sound to watch the fireworks, but the weather was too crummy so we stayed put and just kicked back and visited instead. It was very relaxing if not exactly holidayish.

How did you all spend your 4th? Got any recipes for me?

13 Comments:

Kate Douglas said...: Good morning, Susan. Your 4th sounds wonderful--we spent ours at our son's inlaws' home down in wine country. They had a wonderful party for about 80 people with barbecue and swimming and a children's parade. I was coming down with a head cold so didn't stay very long--thought I had allergies or never would have gone out and about--but we did have a great time getting to see all our grandkids (our daughter's family was there, too)and a lot of our kids' friends. It was hot and sunny and a truly perfect 4th.

Your recipe sounds yummy! I'm going to give it a try.; 7:14 AM
Anonymous said...: Happy belated 4th Susan!

I'm glad you enjoyed the weekend! Mine was full of family time too. We had an informal get-together at my parents' house on Friday, a bbq/clambake on Saturday at my aunt and uncle's house and then dinner out on Monday night.

Thanks for the recipe. I'll pass it along to my family.

Jennifer S.; 8:30 AM
Anonymous said...: I have recently found a marinade taht is soo good and flavorful. It is McCormack Grill Mates - Montreal Steak - the dry version. There is a recipe on the side that is way easy...

2 tsp seasoning
2 tbls soy sauce
1/4 olive oil

this is per pound of meat. I also splash in some liquid smoke with a few shakes of the bottle. only takes 30 minutes to marinate (if you dont have time). If it doesnt look like enough - I just mix up another batch.

I am trying to find things to grill, it is so good. I have used it mainly on red meat, but did kebobs that had chicken and it was great. I have also marinated veggies with it, and comes out great!

Gail; 11:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Happy Independence Day, Susan! We have our son in town from Atlanta and so we spent a lot of time piling into cars and finding fun. One of the best was picking strawberries, which my son videoed and put on YouTube. A lot of people don't know about the wonderful fresh produce that can be found in the PNW, but we had so many strawberries, peaches, blueberries, and cherries that we made a red, white, and blue cobbler. We mixed strawberries, blueberries, and pitted cherries (about 10 cups) with 1/2 cup sugar and dumped it all into a 12 X 16 pan. We topped it with a mixture of Bisquick and brown sugar mixed with water to form a stiff, yet spoonable dough and baked it for 30 mins at 400 degrees. It was amazing!
My son leaves tomorrow morning and we will all miss him so much! But, Dayum! did we have a good time!

Lynne Thomas; 11:45 AM
Katherine said...: Happy 4th!
Spent Thursday through Sunday out at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA participating in the SOVREN (Society of Vintage Racing Enthusiasts) Pacific Northwest Historics Races, which is a benefit for Children’s Hospital in Seattle.

It poured rain for most of Friday morning and I had five hours of guilt free reading since there wasn’t anything to do except stay dry by sitting in the truck, which was a nice treat. The rest of the weekend was overcast but mostly dry if a little on the cool side. It was good driving weather and nice for all the guests, since in full sun the asphalt can get really hot.

My sweetie loves to see the kids interested in old cars so he always invites them to sit in his car and get their photo taken. (I’m going to have to get a booster for the little ones, the racing seat sits right on the floor of the car and so the wee ones disappear) A lot of the other drivers do the same, which is cool because then the kids have a personal connection when they see the cars out on the track.

Our row in the pits was little Italy with 10 vintage Alfa Romeos all lined up and ready to go. For lunches we did a “potluck-bring whatever you have” plus pizzas. One of the drivers and I cranked out pizzas on a two burner electric grill. We did twenty pizzas and probably fed about 40 people each day. We did a little too good a job because everybody was begging us to promise to do it again next year and a couple of drivers from California were trying to bribe me to do the pizzas at an event at their home track. I almost caved to a bribe of passenger time for 6 laps at speed on the track at Laguna Seca, which was a good bribe because I really, really love to go really fast (with a good driver) and Laguna Seca is an amazing track. But the event, which we go to as spectators, is during our one vacation for the year and I refuse to cook for those five days (well that and sweetie was looking a little dog in the manger about it all)…it was close though.

By Sunday night, we were so exhausted that we were asleep by 9pm and slept right through all the noise from the fireworks.

Pickled Watermelon
(Adapted from the Lee Brothers)

Enough really sweet, ripe but not mushy watermelon cut into 1”x1”x1/2” “tiles” to fill about ¾’s of what ever size jar you plan to use as your container.
White wine vinegar and water in a ratio of 3 parts vinegar to 1 part water to fill the container mixed with a pinch of sugar.
Sliced sweet onion
A couple of sprigs of flat-leaf parsley or basil – optional but recommended
Cracked pepper corns - optional

Put all of the ingredients into your jar and put a lid on it, give it a couple of good shakes and refrigerate for at least 24 hours, consume with in a couple of days.; 2:59 PM
susan andersen said...: Kate, I so envy you your grandchildren! And how nice to have all your kids together at once. That's hard to do when they live in different places.

Jennifer--a clambake!! That sounds marvelous! I love clams. Well, darn near any kind of seafood, really.; 4:47 PM
susan andersen said...: Gail, I'll give the McCormicks a try. I've used their packets for Swedish meatballs and a couple of slow cooker dishes.

Lynne, how great to have your sweet baby boy with you! And your cobbler sounds dynamite. Did you pick the strawberries on Vashon?; 4:50 PM
susan andersen said...: Katherine, the vintage car race sounds cool. My first car was a '36 Chev. Not exactly race car material, but a great car all the same.

I've never had pickled watermelon. Do you use all the watermelon, including the rind? Or just the flesh part? Or just the rind?

Like I said, never had it, so I'm a little clueless. *g*; 4:52 PM
Katherine said...: There is a classic watermelon rind pickle that is probably in every southern themed cookbook, but in this case it is just the pink flesh. Hence the softer white wine vinegar rather than a distilled white or cider.

Here is the actual recipe from "The Lee Bros.: Simple Fresh Southern"

One 2 1/2 pound piece of ripe watermelon cut into 1x1x1/2 inch tiles (1 scant quart) -- the cheat is to get a tub of cut up watermelon fingers
1 8oz sweet onion cut into rings
2 sprigs of fresh basil or flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of salt (if the watermelon is bland I use sugar instead)
1/8 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/3 cup of water
1 quart glass container with a lid

Layer the watermelon, onion and basil/parsley in the jar.
Pour the water, vinegar, salt and peppers into a bowl and stir until salt is dissolved
Pour over the fruit and seal the jar
Jar into the chiller and give it at least an hour for a mild pickle, the longer the stronger they will be.
The Lee's state that they will keep for a week, but they will be pretty potent by then.
My tummy rebels over peppers, so I generally leave them out.; 6:18 PM
Jayne Ann Krentz said...: Susan, great blog! And I am collecting all of these interesting recipes, starting with that marinade. Yes, I think it would work well, not only with fish but with tofu. Thanks!

--J.; 7:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Susan-we picked the strawberries in Snohomish Valley. Soooo yummy!

Jayne-Tofu takes marinade wonderfully, especially the really firm kind made locally. Like fish, however, you don't want to marinade it long. Try 20-30 mins.

Lynne Thomas; 10:54 PM
susan andersen said...: Jayne and Lynne, Yep, I think the marinade would totally rock tofu! And I'm with Lynne--it's gotta be the firm kind.; 7:47 AM
Carla Neggers said...: Love these recipes! I spent the 4th Nashville with my husband and in-laws, then watched the fireworks in Nashville. I hadn't seen such a display in a long time. I love fireworks. :-); 6:52 PM

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Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Belated happy 4th!

13 Comments: