Food and Family…

The following is a mish mash of food experiences interspersed with family photos… It’s been a quiet summer so far and our focus has been on family and good food in social situations with friends.

However I thought that I’d start with one of our favorite ‘salads’.  This was Laurie’s heirloom tomato with basil, (herbs from our deck planters), sided by Mayfield Dairy small curd cottage cheese.  Laurie loves this cottage cheese, eschewing all others!

To learn more about Mayfield Dairy, which is based in Athens Tennessee, you can go to http://www.mayfielddairy.com/.

While I like cottage cheese and a summer treat like heirloom tomatoes with basil, I always love a nice little grilled steak (medium rare).  Add a bit of crumbled blue cheese and I’m even happier.  We paired our steaks with fresh yellow string beans, aka wax beans.  Add a little butter, salt and pepper and I could eat 3 helpings of these summer time treats.

Laurie captured yet another great photo of one of our favorite visitors at our squirrel proof bird feeder.  Isn’t this female Red-bellied Woodpecker beautiful!

It had been awhile since we’d dined at Thai Bistro.  We started out with a Lucky Budda beer for Laurie and a Singha for me. ($4.50 each) Then we reverted to our usual appetizers…Crab Rangoon for Laurie and fried Pot Stickers for yours truly. ($6.00 each)

 

Then we strayed from our usual entrees to experiment a little.  The entrée pictured above was Laurie’s Chicken Masaman Curry. (Spice level = Hot) ($13.00) She loved her meal and said that she’d order it again!

It may be hard for some to believe, but despite the fact that we’ve dined in many Thai restaurants over the years, I’d never ordered this staple…Chicken Pad Thai (Spice Level = Thai Hot!)

Bummer… I’ve missed this satisfying and tasty dish all of these years!  Now it will be at the top of my Thai meal list!  The spice level was perfect for me as well.  My head was sweating…a sign that they got it right.

Time for a family photo.  These 3 very cute children are Laurie’s cousins from Scotland.  Moir is in the front with Maura and Della in the back.  We were able to meet them for the first time when we vacationed in Scotland and Ireland last September. This is an older photo of them but Laurie & I just love it anyway. They still look about the same but taller!

Another day…another restaurant.  We recently returned to Pero’s on the Hill in Knoxville for dinner with friends Norm and Linda.

This was Laurie’s choice for dinner.  It’s the Parmesan Tilapia over orzo pasta and sided with Greek Potato Salad. ($13.15) Laurie loved this meal!  “Fortunately” for me, since we’d snacked on Tzatziki sauce with Pita Bread, ($8.10 normally but only $4.05 for early diners), and Fried Ravioli ($7.10/$3.55), she couldn’t finish her dinner.

For my entrée, I chose the Chicken Parmesan with Pero’s rich and flavorful spaghetti sauce. ($14.00) It was really good…excellent comfort food!

For more about Pero’s on the Hill, go to http://www.perosonthehill.com/.

As I mentioned before, I was very fortunate that Laurie couldn’t finish her Tilapia dinner at Pero’s on the Hill.  I decided that the leftovers would make a fine breakfast.  So I warmed the remaining filet and orzo in a frying pan with an extra dose of parmesan…

Once it was warmed up, I did what my breakfast mentor Big Dude at https://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com has taught me!  I topped it with a couple of over-easy eggs.  It was excellent…and Laurie was jealous because it smelled so good!

One more family photo.  This is our 17 year old grandson, David III.  He’s going to be a senior in high school this fall.  He’s about 6’5” and he’s not done growing.  Of course, he got his good looks and his intelligence from his grandpa…or at least I wish I could claim full responsibility for those traits!

That’s all for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave