Caesar Salad

I never thought I'd like a Caesar Salad since I knew it had anchovies in it and I never cared for anchovies before. Oh, I really liked the kind you make that comes in a box. All you add is the Romaine lettuce. (Linsey makes the Et Tu Caesar Salad Kit available at the grocery stores. If you try it the "original" is best, the "light" is not so good.) However, when I was faced with a glut of lemons and I was trying to find out different ways to use them I decided to give the homemade Caesar a try.

I got out our trusty Betty Crocker's Cookbook (Golden Press, 1986) and followed the recipe. It wasn't very difficult, and it tasted great! I found a new favorite salad. Over time I've tweaked the recipe just a bit to suit me better and it has not hurt the flavor at all. Below is my version.

The ingredients are: 2-3 minced garlic cloves; 6 mashed up anchovy filets (you could probably use the paste that comes in a tube but I haven't tried it yet); 1/3 C olive oil; 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard; 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper; 1 large or 2 small heads Romaine lettuce, washed and cut or torn into bite size pieces; 1 egg; 1 lemon; 1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese.

Mash the anchovies in a large bowl, add the minced garlic.

Add the olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard. Be careful with the mustard because too much will give it a bitter flavor. Mix well.

Add the lettuce and toss. Break the egg into the bowl, squeeze the lemon into the bowl (try to catch the seeds) and toss again. I like to use my fingers to make sure everything gets equally coated. Add the Parmesan cheese and mix again. You can check for seasoning when you lick your fingers. :)

I'm not real big on croutons but you can add them after you put the salad on your plate. That way they'll stay crunchy.

Roasted goose with Caesar salad.

If you prefer a creamy Caesar dressing it's just as easy to make. Simply put the ingredients (sans lettuce and oil) in a blender and whir it up until everything is mixed. Then with the blender on a medium speed, slowly add the olive oil. Pour over the lettuce.

NOTE: You can substitute 1 - 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard for the dry mustard in both versions.

CAESAR SALAD

6 anchovy filets

2-3 cloves minced garlic

1/3 C olive oil

1 t Worcestershire sauce

1/2 t salt

1/4 t dry mustard

1/2 t ground pepper

1 large or 2 small heads Romaine lettuce

1 egg

1 lemon

1/2 grated Parmesan cheese

croutons, optional

Place anchovies in a large bowl and mash with a fork. Add minced garlic cloves. Add olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, salt, mustard, and pepper. Stir well until mixed. Cut or tear lettuce into bite sized pieces and add to bowl. Toss to coat with mixture. Break egg into bowl, squeeze lemon into bowl, toss again. Add Parmesan cheese, toss again. Serve with croutons if desired.

A Bird In The Hand

...is torture for the bird dog.

An old friend once swore that if a bird flies against your window then someone you know will die. I don't hold much stock in that old wives tale myself. In fact, when I looked for anything on the subject on the internet answers ranged from you're getting a visit from a friend, good luck, death of a relative, to the more obvious the bird was confused by the reflection of the sky.

In my particular case I think it was a case of the bird mistaking the reflection for the sky and being in a bit of a panic when the bird dog decided to pounce. Fortunately the bird only stunned himself and recovered shortly thereafter and flew away, presumably to a safer locale.

Just in case though, I think I will buy a lotto ticket, tell all my family I love them, and clean the house in case someone visits.

Airplanes

Just for fun today, and in recognition of the upcoming Warbirds In Action air show in nearby Shafter, I took a couple of pictures I had of airplanes and enlarged them as much as I could. I know some people get all excited about different types of planes, just like some people like locomotive trains, etc. Just to let you know, I'm not one of them. My husband and son have enjoyed going to some air shows in the past where I would just as soon pass them up.

Also, remember I am not a professional photographer, even though some of my shots may look that way (just kidding!). Here's what I did with these photos. The first picture will be the original. Then I used my "trim" feature on the camera to enlarge the picture in the camera and create a new, somewhat larger picture. Then I took that larger photo and using my Nikon PictureProject computer software I was able to enlarge the photo even more. Of course, the larger the photo, the grainier it becomes, as you will see.

This is a B-17 that was flying around about a week ago. You could actually take a 20 minute flight for the mere cost of just over $400. It flew over our house a few times. I'd rather use my $400 for something else.

Here you can see some detail.

Here's the same plane at a slightly different angle.

Here's a slight enlargement. I guess you could get a magnifying glass if you wanted to see more detail.

Here's the most dramatic enlargement (to me). It's a commuter plane high in the sky. In the original you can barely see the plane shape.

And here in the enlargement you can see the shape and even the colors of the plane.

Don't ask me why the borders of the photos aren't all the same size. I don't really know. But I do know I have fun with this.

I love digital photography!

Flower Update

Roberta, the blogger from Life at a Boarding Stable, tried unsuccessfully to leave a comment on the maroon wildflower from Tuesday's blog pictures. You know, the maroon wildflower that I didn't know what it's name was. She suggested it might be a California Jewel Flower (caulanthus californicus), and I think she may be right. At least the photos look very similar. I blew my picture up so I could see a little more detail.

Click here and you can see a picture from an "official" website. If mine isn't a California Jewel Flower then it most certainly is in the same family.

Thanks, Roberta, for the info! I think it's pretty cool how we bloggers and our readers keep each other informed, regardless of the subject.