21 days

It's been 21 days since the most recent surgery. Sounds a little like "bless me father it's been 21 days since my last confession" no offence meant to the Catholics out there, I used to be one.

All in, it has been a success. I am so glad I have accomplished as much as I have in 3 weeks. I need to heed the directions of the doctors both of whom said that I should continue to "take it easy".

And I will continue, I am more than half way through "The Book of Negroes" and I wouldn't say I am enjoying it. I am unsure how one can enjoy some of the details that Hill has placed in the story. But as disturbing as the story is, it helps me with taking it easy. In addition, I have numerous cookbooks at my fingers, or at least on my dresser and then there's The Food Network.

I have spent some of my time watching some shows discovering and stealing recipes. Well, not really stealing, I prefer to call it harvesting, that's a pretty good one I think. Well, that's it, time to change position.

New years eve 2008

The sun is shining and it's cold out there today. I finished up all my shopping earlier this morning for tonight's dinner and the kitchen people are here putting their finishing touches on our kitchen.

We're hosting dinner tonight with our close friends and it looks like it will be a great evening. The kids have places to go and we will celebrate the year and God's goodness tonight with an amazing dinner. It will be an interesting time discussing this year, however we are alive and that's a good thing.

It's almost time for me to start prepping. I'm responsible for the prosciutto wrapped shrimp on the barbeque, the grilled vegetables and the pork roast with sherry/red currant jelly gravy. My beloved is making my brother in laws amazing Caesar salad and the guests are bringing the wine and the rest of the meal. 

I have everything timed so that we will start to eat at 7:15 and should leave the table at about 10:00 p.m. Lots of time to have cappuccino and wait for the ball to drop. Traditions are so important, but they are not as important as the reality that we need to bring to our friendships.

Happy new year. 

Steak, shrimp and a glass of wine

What a wonderful dinner we had tonight. I went to Brady's to visit Rob and picked up a Black Angus striploin for Jo and I to share. Prior to the steak, I barbequed some large shrimp in a tomato marinade as an hors douvres. They were great. The steak, as usual was medium rare and yes Josh there is some left over, you just need to drive 12 hours to get it.  We also had a very nice baked potato, an Irishman never has a meal without potatoes. Did I mention the wonderful glass of wine we had to go with the meal? Jo had a glass of some Spanish red called "red guitar" and I stuck with my standard Vidal. You know, I will never become a wine snob, I know what I like(there's an awesome Genesis song in there) and I enjoy it. 

For some reason, I cannot sleep. I'm more than exhausted and imagine that when I put my head on the pillow I'll be gone for at least 7 or 8 hours, however for now, I'm awake. Oh well, It's time to crawl back into that warm bed, goodnight Mrs Calabash wherever you are. 

Chez Robert's BBQ and Grill is open again

Thanks to Kevin P. I can bbq again. I appreciate the simple things that people have done over the past 8 weeks to help me out. I have a list of all the things that many of you have done to help us out in this journey of recovery. For example, today Kevin our friend and Pastor came by and took both my bbq tanks to be filled. A great act of service. Now I can cook again, Brady's steak anyone?

A bbq'ing cardinal sin

I'm not sure how many of you realize that we live right beside Cardinal drive, but that has nothing to do with this post. It's just a trivial geographical thing.

I was in the middle of bbq'ing a "Brady's" Angus Beef NY Strip cut personally by Mr. Rob Brady himself for us and to my utter horror I heard the sound that told me that the tank was now empty. I purchased two new tanks this year to make sure that this did not ever happen. Unfortunately, I have lapsed and both tanks are now empty. I kept thinking of asking one of my many visitors to take the empty tank to get filled and never did and now they're both empty. A cardinal sin in the bbq'ing world I'd say.

Well, I have all these new pots and pans and having watched innumerable cooking shows over the last 7 weeks I figured I could cook the rest of the thing on the stove. You know what, it turned out ok. It was medium rare, just the way we like it and everything else was cooked properly.

I have two tanks to fill tomorrow, the problem is they are too heavy for me to lift. Alex has some heavy lifting to do tomorrow that she doesn't know about yet.

I love bbq'ing and will be back at it tomorrow. Somehow, I feel like I've been to confession, bless me father.

We cooked up a storm

I had the distinct privilege of being asked to prepare and cook a rehearsal dinner meal for some very close friends. Jo and I had so much fun doing all the prep work and visiting specialty shops to get the perfect prosciutto and the perfect shrimp and other things too.

We created a timeline to get all the hot food ready in several waves so the brave souls who were delivering the food could get it out to the wedding party and assorted invitees. It worked, I couldn't believe how much food we cooked, but I can tell you that the BBQ was started at 6:00 p.m. and wasn't turned off until 8:30 or so. Food was being cooked in the oven and in the kitchen. When I was cooking either he chicken, sausage or shrimp there was no room on the BBQ. I should have taken pictures, but I was too busy cooking. I made sure to have my trusty 4 wheeler beside me so that I could sit and wheel around and not spend too much time on my feet.

As far as I can tell, everyone loved the food. Sorry Kevin, no leftovers. I'm quite confident that no one went home hungry. I left at about 9:15, I was done like dinner. My daughter came to pick me up, as Jo was still working in the kitchen. I basked in the glow of being given a challenge and accomplishing it. We started off with a plan and we executed the plan the way we expected.

Thanks to Steve and Rosanne a good portion of the last two weeks of my recovery was filled with planning this event and this certainly assisted me to maintain some sanity. It was so nice to have a responsibility and then "work" to make it happen. I miss my job significantly and this was a small way to feel like I do at work when I have accomplished my duties sucessfully.

I'm glad it's done and I'm so happy that everyone enjoyed themselves and the food.

Dinner for Thirty Eight prepared at Chez Robert

It's not really dinner in the formal sense of the word, but it is a meal for thirty eight people. It's primarily finger foods, like chicken on a skewer, sausage with little coloured tooth picks and the piece-du-resistance is shrimp, drizzled in an amazing sauce, then wrapped in Parma Prosciutto and then barbecued. There is also warm artichoke dip, Jo's awesome bruschetta and veggie, fruit and cheese trays. Our good friends Steve and Rosanne knew I needed something to look forward to and called a few weeks ago and asked if I would consider creating a menu and cooking for the rehearsal party for their sons' wedding.

I immediately said yes. I love to cook and began scouring cooking shows on TV and recipes on the web and in due time we came up with something to present to Steve and Rosanne. They approved and yesterday Jo and I began all the prep work, making marinades, cutting chicken, preparing for "braided chicken" and all sorts of other stuff.

Almost everything is ready with exception to the shrimp which must be prepared last minute before going on the BBQ. This has been such a great tonic(no gin, I hate gin) for me as I have had little to look forward to over the past four weeks. We're in the final stretch and I am so excited to see how it looks and more importantly how it tastes.

I may take some pictures and upload them in case anyone is interested.

Bon Appetit.