Dinner With Daddy

Last weekend the family and I took a much needed getaway to Mystic Connecticut. Many of you that were around in the 1980's maybe know of Mystic from the movie Mystic Pizza, starring a little known actress of the time named Julia Roberts. What many of you may not know is that Mystic is also the home of the Mystic Aquarium and the touristy Mystic Seaport. Mystic has been a family favorite since my first son, Sour Dough, was just a little guy. We frequent the joint, if you will. We live a few hours away so we like to go for a few days at a time to hit all of the sites. The problem, sometimes, with staying anywhere for a few days means you have to eat there, somewhere. Our family is a large one and as such a regular hotel room just won't do. We require a suite, a large one with two bedrooms and a pull out couch actually. Our hotel of choice is usually Homewood Suites or Staybridge Suites because they have the size room we require, and this weekend we stayed at Reside...

When I was just a wee tot, or as I like to say, Knee High To A Grasshopper , one of my favorite people in all the world was my Pop-Pop, or as you may call yours, my Grandfather. My Pop-Pop used to tell the best stories, the best jokes, and had all the best (and most creative) sayings. One of his favorite sayings, and subsequently one of my favorite sayings, was " Your Eyes Are Bigger Than Your Belly ", which meant you took more food than you could eat. The saying was meant to be half-hearted and somewhat funny but make no mistake, Pop-Pop did not take lightly to wasting food. As we got older, him a little faster than me, I called him Pop instead of the earlier Pop-Pop. I guess as he got older he just lost some of his pop. He did not however, lose his sense of humor, and Pop lived to the ripe old age of 92. The reason for that little anecdote was so I could establish my thought process for the story that follows. The other night for dinner I made one of the family favorites, P...

Last weekend Mini Buns, Sticky Buns and I went on an overnight camping trip with the Scout troop to Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. Battleship Cove is located on Mount Hope Bay directly under the I195 bridge. Though many of the other scouts in the troop had gone before, this was our first time attending the overnight camping trip.We knew we would be spending the night on the Battleship USS Massachusetts , but we h onestly had no idea what to expect. We were greeted at the gate and escorted into the belly of the ship, down corridors, past the galley, to our sleeping quarters, which were bunks stacked 4 high, suspended from the ceiling on the equivalent of swingset chains. At first glance you can't help but to wonder if the chains will support the weight of 4 boys, let alone 4 full grown men. (In my case a little more than full grown) Our bunk room was air conditioned, which was a good thing because the near 90 degree temperatures outside were multiplied inside the shi...

Last weekend I took Mini Buns to his friend's house for a birthday party. His friend's parents and I are acquaintances from school and Cub Scouts and they were gracious enough to invite me to stay as well. I'm happy about that too because it was a barbeque, and I'm always down for a good barbeque. I was introduced to the whole family, both sets of Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, everyone. It took about ten minutes before the entire clan made me feel like part of the family. In a matter of minutes I was included in all of the conversations, and food and drink offers were flying at me from every direction. I learned that one of the Granddads, Artie, made his own wine. I also learned that Artie , who is Italian, makes Arrosticini. Arrosticini, I soon found out, are traditional BBQ lamb skewers. I also soon found out that they are absolutely one of the best foods I have ever eaten off of a grill. While the skewers themselves are only four inches long and very small cubes, ...

The good folks at the California Raisin Marketing Board contacted me a few weeks back and asked if I would be interested in trying out a recipe for a grilling sauce. Being an avid griller and always looking for new and exciting recipes, I accepted. The recipe they sent was the Raisin Chipotle Grilling Sauce . When I looked at the recipe the first thing that came to mind was how simple it looked. Add some ingredients to a pot, simmer for a while, and blend? Sounded pretty easy to me, and it was that easy. The most difficult part of the entire recipe for me was finding tomatillos. It did take me a little longer because I also made my own simple barbeque sauce as well. One of the best things about this sauce is I know exactly what is going into it. I have made the sauce a few times now, adjusting the hotness for the little ones, and we are quite happy with it. The first time I made it I followed the recipe to the letter, using 2 chipotles. While I enjoyed it immensely, the rest of t...

A few weeks back the temperature outside soared to near 100 degrees.  It was actually too hot to grill outside, AND too hot to cook inside.  It was a perfect day for Chinese takeout. My children are very particular about what Chinese food they eat, usually opting for wonton soup, ribs, and rice.  My Beautiful Wife and I eat pretty much what the kids want, but we also get eggrolls. I like to use soy sauce on my eggroll while My Beautiful Wife prefers duck sauce. Sticky Buns was enjoying his ribs when my wife asked for a packet of duck sauce.  He turned to her and asked "Mom, what do they put in duck sauce?". My Beautiful Wife replied that she wasn't sure, but she thought maybe it was orange based. "Oh", he replied. Watching him we could see that he was still thinking about it, when My Beautiful Wife, without looking up from her eggroll, said, "No honey, there isn't any duck in it." His face visibly eased from the strain of thought, and wi...

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about the Zagat's Food Truck Frenzy. In that blog I had mentioned the La Cense burger and commented that it was "Heaven on a Plate". Tonight was Cheddar Buns' class appreciation night at school for the parents. There was music, crafts, yearbook signings and the like. There were drinks and snacks, and one of the parents brought in a chocolate fountain. That brought appreciation to a whole new level for Cheddar Buns. If you were to ask my little girl what her 5 top food choices were, chocolate would be at least the top 4. The PTA had put up a bulletin board with blank cards to fill out for the kids thanking parents and teachers for all they've done. Most were the generic "Thanks for feeding me", or "Thanks for being my teacher". Cheddar Buns had written "I appreciate you because: You Love Me!", and to her teacher: "Thank you Mr. Grace for being the best teacher EVER!". I could see just fro...