The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Sports & Leisure => Topic started by: theinevitable on June 05, 2011, 12:25:38 am
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Listening to Summertime Clothes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxhaRgJUMl8) (oh god, this video is like something LFM would imagine existing...) and making my mom's salsa, as mentioned in the other thread. I love to eat it with fresh tortillas and pork and shredded cheese. On the side, some lemonade with lots of ice.
Lately I am also really into Mudslides. To the point that I accidentally drank one in the car because I forgot it had booze in it. Mudslide mix was on half-off sale, but now it is all gone.
What are your favorite refreshing summer dishes/drinks?
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I just made up a couple of gallons of sweet sun tea, which is fabulous. This is also the time of year when I start to crave my mom's weird recipe pasta salad, which goes like this:
Pasta Salad
1 lb provolone cheese, cut into 1" cubes
1 lb hard salami, cut into 1" cubes
1 lb tricolor rotini, cooked
1 recipe Good Seasons Italian Dressing (the kind that comes in a packet and you add your own oil, vinegar and water)
Serves: a small army
Mix it all together in a gigantic bowl and stick it in the fridge overnight to let the flavors blend. Mom also adds canned, drained black olives sometimes, but I don't care for them so I serve them on the side. It's wonderful, and since the dressing isn't dairy-based, it's great for picnics where you can't rely on the things in the cooler to stay as cold as you'd like.
I always make some for the 4th of July, as did my mother before me. The 4th is a huge holiday for me. I love fireworks and I never ever missed a year seeing them with my mother (who also loves them) until after I had been married several years.
We go out early (about 5ish) and park near the fairgrounds where we can see the fireworks from our parking spot. Then we spread out a blanket and set up some lawn chairs and tailgate out of the back of our minivan. We eat fried chicken or pulled pork and pasta salad, usually we have fresh fruit and potato chips and a cooler full of soda and sweet tea. We walk over to the fairgrounds and enjoy the carnival they have each year, Boyface loves the Taiko drumming demos and Girlface usually does one of the kid's crafts. Then we come back to our car and do sparklers, play games on the picnic blanket, listen to music, and generally run around outside and have a great time.
By the time the fireworks start, we've been there 4 hours, and the light show is just the icing on the cake.
Some contingent of my in-laws usually join us; my parents are usually in Ohio but this year they'll be here. The first year we did this, about 3 years ago, my parents-in-law thought I was nuts for wanting to go so early; now they've been a few times and they look forward to it and have adopted it as their own tradition, too.
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oh shit! this sounds similar to my old roomie's pasta salad. Actually, not exactly.
His was mozzarella, rotini, balsamic vinegar, basil. You throw the mozz in when the pasta is still hot from cooking, so it melts in and makes it all goopy.
Yeah, it is awesome and made my stomach extremely mad at me every single time. I was always interested to see his mom's version, because the way he did it it definitely seemed like a college man food. All scooping up clusters of oily pasta stuck together by the melted cheese.
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Dude, where is the meat? The salami is essential.
My aunt and cousin microwave their pasta salad so the cheese melts, but that is anathema to me.
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i have had that pasta salad, but with sliced pepperoni, instead of salami. i like the flavor, but i think diced pepperoni would be better. i prefer it without the black* olives, as well.
*(http://www.gifbin.com/bin/sw50sw8sw578.gif)
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You can't knock a salad that doesn't have a single vegetable in it.
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I love real potato salad, especially with eggs and uber-mayo - that's a food I associate with summer. It's rare for me to eat it other times of the year.
Also I am really serious about bison burgers hot from the BBQ, on a nice thin bun with lettuce and a ripe garden tomato slice. That is basically the perfect summer food. I like bison burgers so much more than beef.
Combine the two, and it's a summer-gasm meal.
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I couldn't think of anything that didn't sound boring and possibly pretentious - I mean, who really wants to hear about my quest for the perfect peach every summer - but Smells reminds me of potato salad. Which is something I make at most once a summer (and I think last year I missed it) because to be honest I have a hard time making an excuse for potatoes with mayo all over them at a time of year when I could be eating so many good seasonal fruits and vegetables - and then in the dead of winter when vegetables are hopeless, if you want a potato, you want it in some kind of hot dish.
But once a summer it is a special occasion:, red or gold potatoes with mayo and some olive oil and a bit of mustard, but then what really makes it worthwhile - tons of fresh dill, and a big dill pickle cut up into tiny pieces.
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Very fresh, very local ----->>>>
CORN. ON. THE. COB.
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Ugh, I am off corn on the cob because the last time I got some local-grown stuff it was full of green inchworms. That'll be the last time I buy it from the small street-corner farmer's market; I'll go to the official state-run one for it next time, but it'll be awhile.
I was pissed, because normally that'd be on my list, too. But pulling back the husk and having green wigglers fall into my lap (and I checked several ears, they were all infested) was so unsettling that it makes my stomach turn to think about it. I'm not usually skittish about bugs, either. That just put me off, big time.
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Can't hang when that happens. That's why I never eat halibut, ever.
I love potato salad.
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if someone makes a ron white joke, im going piss my ##### out of spite.
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if someone makes a ron white joke, im going piss my ##### out of spite.
I'm not a fan of the blue-collar comedy tour or whatever it is, but I think I heard that Ron White's ok? Or kind of ok? Or better than Larry, anyway?
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ron white was the funniest of the blue-collar comics. but he toured on old material, instead of doing it the hard way (aka the right way) and scrapping what he'd filmed for a new show. seeing him live was a real disappointment.
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my missus's dilled chicken salad is the best thing in the summer, especially with a nice tall gin & tonic for dessert:
some chicken breasts or thighs, all large diced
some mayo or miracle whip if you are a weirdo
some diced onion and celery
salt&pepa
basically all the dill you can get your mitts on
you will want to make a large batch and share it, it is that good. basically like a quarter of a small onion and like two stalks of celery and oh half cup of mayo per two chicken breasts (three thighs). add salt&pepa to taste; play "push it" while you stir. it scales nicely and can be easily adjusted for flavor and consistency.
i maintain that the bestest treat of all summer is a fresh tomato with a salt cellar nearby. you heathens that disagree? meh, more 'maters for me.
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making that salsa confirmed my hatred of nasty ol' tomatoes. The salsa tasted awesome, though. I was the only person who brought food, so I got a lot of praise.
How do you prepare a chicken breast to be turned into chicken salad? A recent experience has made me want to avoid chicken salad from a can.
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making that salsa confirmed my hatred of nasty ol' tomatoes. The salsa tasted awesome, though. I was the only person who brought food, so I got a lot of praise.
How do you prepare a chicken breast to be turned into chicken salad? A recent experience has made me want to avoid chicken salad from a can.
We normally just boil them, but you could sautee them in a pan or poach them in some white wine with rosemary, I'd think. Depends on what kind of flavor you're going for. If you're going to glop things up with a bunch of mayo and mustard and stuff, the prep of the chicken's probably not a huge deal. Note that I don't watch the food network so what do I know.
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I don't know if a chicken salad is a specific thing (I can't imagine how it comes in a can) but when I'm making my favourite warm chicken salad I chop the breast into decent sized chunks (say nothing smaller than my thumb), marinate it (usually in a mix of honey and dijon mustard that doubles as the salad dressing) and just sautee it in a frying pan on a medium heat. Maybe a chuck a lid on if I'm worried about keeping it moist. The sugar in the honey generally makes the chicken brown nicely.
Then just pour the chicken and any remaining marinade juices directly into the salad bowl and toss through. Usually my veggies are just lettuce, tomato, green beans and maybe a bit of capsicum that I tossed some dressing through before I add the chicken.
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Yeah, chicken salad is a thing here. It is different than salad with chicken. Usually fairly bland chicken in pieces about the size you described, maybe a little shredded with shit loads of mayonnaise and other random shit. Onions?
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Whoa how did I never notice that Doc is such a fancy man about the cooking?
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Because he isn't, you guys are just rubbing off on me.
The question makes way much more sense now, I was all 'You cook the chicken in the way you want to cook the chicken before you put it in a salad.'
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Doc, this is the summertime treats thread. Aren't you in Old Man Winter's clammy grip?
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Inev, the best way to prepare chicken for a chicken salad is to have some leftover chicken from something else. Pick up a roast chicken from the deli at work and eat some of it for supper with some bread and a vegetable one night, then shred the rest of the chicken off the bone with a fork and use it to make chicken salad.
Or, buy a pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and throw them on the grill. Leave two of them unseasoned and set them aside, then shred them up after they've cooled and you're good to go.
Sure, you could boil, sautee, or bake the chicken especially for this recipe, but why? You've got to make chicken for another meal at some point, just plan ahead and throw an extra breast or two on and it's really no extra work.
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boil it, grill it, roast it, doesn't matter so long as it's cooked. we just get the bag of frozen raw chicken breasts, thaw it, pat them dry, salt&pepper them, and toss them on the grill next to whatever's for dinner that night.
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I'll go to the official state-run one for it next time, but it'll be awhile.
In Soviet Russia, State farmer markets you!
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Doc, this is the summertime treats thread. Aren't you in Old Man Winter's clammy grip?
Yup, we're suffering here in Rockhampton with the thermometers registering a freezing 26 degrees Celsius. I honestly don't know if we're going to make it through, we might have to eat Pa.
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Yup, we're suffering here in Rockhampton with the thermometers registering a freezing 26 degrees Celsius. I honestly don't know if we're going to make it through, we might have to eat Pa.
Don't give me your crazy foreign mathematical jibber-jabber.
If I brought the missus and came visiting, would you show us the wonders of your fair city? I need a real vacation this year.
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Damn right I would. All y'all need to organise a road/sea/sky trip and come see what's going on down here.
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Dinner out in the country last night - Beer Butt chicken, taco salad and potato salad- eggy, with dill. There was originally plans for smores (there's a summer treat for you), but there was no graham crackers and despite the fire the mosquitoes were insane so we had to give up when the sun started going down.
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Are local cherries in season yet? I want local cherries with vanilla yogurt.
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i had some local cherries the other day.
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I've cooking on the grill damn near every night. I cooked up a batch of Korean-style beef ribs (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigfool/5784003731/in/photostream) last weekend, which are pretty much a summer requirement, as are traditional pork ribs with a rub and some sauce. I also have to make corn-okra-tomato pile-up every summer (I don't make it as often as I'd like since the missus is allergic to corn).
Drink-wise, I love me some caipirinhas in the summer.
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Damn right I would. All y'all need to organise a road/sea/sky trip and come see what's going on down here.
I can't promise anyone else, but I'm going to look into this. I promise I won't expect you to put us up for a week or anything. How far are you from Sydney?
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Google maps tells me 1,420 kilometres away, so, y'know, decently far.
That said I'd recommend you go to Sydney over Brisbane (which isn't where I'm living right now in any case but should be by the end of the year) there's more stuff around there. Brisbane is a cool place to live but really just a stop-over on your way up to the cool stuff in north queensland.
If you're going to come to Queensland you should probably go to Cairns, which is a bit of a bullshit little town but it's the place to go if you want to visit the Reef. And if you come to QLD and don't want to visit the reef then, I'm sorry, but I don't know you (shameful secret: I lived in North queensland as a child and have visited more than once as an adult and never gone scuba diving on the reef, never even went snorkelling till recently).
That said it all depends on what you're wanting to do, there's lots of cool stuff in Aus but a good deal of distance between it all so you've got to plan shit out. I've got mates who live in Sydney so if you're wanting info on something feel free to drop a line. And of course let me know when you're coming anyway. a trans-continental TOUAMBie meet up might just be worth the trip.
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Looks like 1500 of our "miles" from Sydney to Cairns. We'd probably only go for like ten days, because it's a pain to take extra time off. I don't think I would want to do that much driving in that short amount of time in country. It's about 1050 mi from Brisbane to Cairns. I would like to see the reef while we would be there - that would be cool. I will talk it over with the missus and cogitate.
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Oh yeah, if you're spending a holiday in Aus you sure as hell don't want to drive anywhere. You'll waste way too much time. If you book far enough ahead cheap airline flights are comparable to what you'll pay in fuel anyway.
Random list of things to see in Australia off the top of my head:
The Daintree (http://images.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=979&q=daintree&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g1g-s1g2g-s1g1g-s1g3&aql=&oq=)
Kakadu (http://images.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=979&q=kakadu&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g1g-s1g2g-s1g1g-s1g3&aql=&oq=)
Lake Eyre (http://images.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=979&q=Lake Eyre&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g1g-s1g2g-s1g1g-s1g3&aql=&oq=)
Great Barrier Reef (http://images.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=979&q=great+barrier+reef&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g1g-s1g2g-s1g1g-s1g3&aql=&oq=)
That's if your into out-doorsy stuff though and the issue is that most of that stuff is a fair hike from any decent cities. If you want to hang out in another city then you'll want to go to Sydney or Melbourne, I like Melbourne more myself (they have fairy penguins and cooler night life) but you're probably going to want to get a tourist shot with the opera house and so that would mean Sydney. The weather and the beaches are better there anyway. Also, it's cheesy as hell and I haven't seen it since I was a kid but I can confirm that Uluru at sunset or sunrise is just fuck*ng magical.
End tourism department pimping.
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I like Melbourne more myself (they have fairy penguins and cooler night life)
Now that's what I call a convincing sales pitch.
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Before you plan your itinerary you must watch Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Connolly%27s_World_Tour_of_Australia).