I started a few posts, never finished them. I had a surgery to fix a perforated eardrum over the winter and was drugged up for awhile. New Year's Eve was a narcotic haze. Ear surgery is particularly painful. And laziness is encouraged as part of the healing process. No heavy lifting. Sleeping upright. No straining. It's the third time in as many years and I think it's finally fixed. I'm looking forward to swimming this summer. And actually getting in the water at the beach.
Winter does not agree with me anyway, so being lazy was alright with me. I drink too much wine (when I wasn't taking narcotics) at night and watch stupid stuff like American Idol and Survivor and fall asleep at 8:00. I eat too much junk and don't exercise enough because I can't stand the cold. I hate a beach that is windblown and sand gets in my eyes. I also hate gyms, so that's not much of an option for me. I wear sweatpants and baggy, ratty t-shirts to exercise in and nobody at the gym wears those anymore. I can't buy the new gym wear pants because even the XXL's have a low ride waist. That is really stupid, you know? Why would someone wear low ride waist pants if they have to buy XXL? Do you know how that looks? Bad. Really bad. Even if you wear a big T-shirt over it so the muffin top doesn't show, as soon as you bend even a little, the waistband folds over and that baby belly is falling out. But that's all over now.
Because, IT'S SPRING!
I'm walking, yes indeed I'm walking....every morning. Every evening. This week jasmine is blooming. Everything is right with the world when you can smell jasmine. The gardenias are all just starting to open, so that's next week's gift. I love flowers, especially smelly ones. (Smelly good, not smelly bad). Plumeria will be popping in about a month. It's called Frangipani sometimes. Say that word out loud and don't tell me you didn't smile when you said it. I have one yellow and one yellow/hotpink. They are beautiful and smell divine. Here is a picture from a couple of summers ago. Yes, my toenails match!
My tomatoe plants are bursting with green tomatoes right now. I've gotten a few ripe ones, but come a a week or so it's going to be BLT city. I also like a Mater and Mayo sandwich. Gotta have Sunbeam white bread lightly toasted. Later in the summer it will be Mater, Mayo and Vidalia Onion sandwich. And Vidalia is properly pronounced vEYEdaylia.
Have you ever had a wedge salad? It was popular back in the 60's and 70's. When I was growing up, sometimes in the hot of the summer we would have a quarter of a head of lettuce right out of the icebox slathered with mayonnaise. That's it. No tomatoes, no nothing. Didn't even bother to make a dressing, just mayonnaise right out of the jar. Wasn't very filling or nutritious, but it was cold and crispy and wonderful. Iceberg lettuce nowadays has as much respect as frozen TV dinners in the foil trays and canned fruit cocktail. And you know what? I could give a hoot. I Love Iceberg Lettuce. When it's hot out, it just hits the spot. And down here in Florida, by August, it's pretty damn hot. A Wedge Salad usually has a iceberg lettuce topped with blue cheese dressing and crispy bacon bits. I've made it with the addition of a couple of tomato slices and avocado.
I'm a foodie and follow lots of food blogs. I am so excited that I am not the only one that feels this way about iceberg and I really like this recipe for Wedge Salad at: http://www.sevenspoons.net/
I never had the hot sauce on the wedge salad, but I'm going to try it, because I really like Frank's Hot Sauce. We buy it by the gallon jug at our house and refill a retro ketchup squeeze bottle that I think is very cool. It's red and has a picture of an old timey looking waitress on it. I have the mustard one too. But we don't buy mustard by the gallon, so it just sits in a drawer. I don't think putting anything else in it will make it useful because, let's face it, mustard yellow is just not appealing. But I won't throw it out because it's part of a set.
So, here is my recipe for my basic buttermilk dressing. I never buy bottled dressing. If it can keep for months in your refrigerator, imagine what it can do to your insides. I use it for a base dressing and add to for ranch or blue cheese. It is a bit on the tart side, because I'm a bit of tart myself. If you think it's too tart, ease up on the lemon juice and red wine vinegar. It's great in a macaroni salad. Notice I said macaroni not pasta. Because Macaroni Salad is to Iceberg Lettuce is what Pasta Salad is to Baby Organic Arugula and Watercress La-De-Dah Lettuce.
Buttermilk Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise (here in the south is Hellman's or Duke's, but so long as it's not low-fat)
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 teaspoon fine sea salt, or more to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For Blue Cheese Dressing add as much crumbled blue cheese as you like.
For Ranch Dressing add as much of the following dried herb mix as you like:
Dilly Dip Mix
I buy these herbs/spices in bulk, mix them up and keep them at the ready. I've made big batches and put them in pint sized mason jars with a home-printed label for the recipe and included them in Christmas gift baskets.
Equal parts: dried dill, dried parsley, dried onion, celery seed (I use half part celery seed, it's a little strong to me) You can also use celery salt, but I don't like a lot of salt in anything.
Mix into half sour cream and half mayonnaise for a simple dip or topping for baked potatoes.
Buttermilk leftover is a good thing. Make pancakes from scratch. You won't be disappointed. http://knol.google.com/k/buttermilk-pancakes I like his philosphy on pancakes and buttermilk. And this recipe doesn't make a huge batch so a small family can eat them all up of a Sunday morning. I add a scant 1/3 cup of buckwheat flour to his recipe as well as cinnamon and it works for me.
Now get outside and smell the flowers!
