Author Archives: rike52

… my wood pile.  That’s 6 face cords of hardwoods stacked 3 deep. Fireplace season is slowly drawing to a close, alas.  But those roaring logs look, see, feel, and smell pretty good on this sunny 35-degree Hash Bash Day morning.  My wood dealer Ken, whom I found randomly on Craig’s List, has kept meContinue reading “Behold…”

Cain’t help myself.  No, didn’t write this one.  When those come around, the post will be titled “shameless plugs”.  Anyway, yesterday, wandering into the M-Den after my haircut, I saw the bookshelf next to the jewelry case (looking for a money clip I’ve bought and lost at least 4 times).  There among all the booksContinue reading “my new book”

I’ve been aiming to compile all of my posts on food and drink into another book: Foodies. Not a cookbook per se, although there will be a lot of recipes in it.  More of a celebration of food and drink, especially as they have sustained us during the pandemic, as we sure did a lotContinue reading “fruit sauce!”

As I awoke to face this last (hopefully) wintry Sunday of the year, I was inspired to haul out my favorite recipe for a cold Sunday: lamb shanks.  Now this is no ordinary lamb shanks recipe, as the little lamb legs rest in a pot with 2 full cups of peeled garlic cloves.  The recipeContinue reading “shanks!”

Admit it.  We non-essentials locked into our homes didn’t spend all that secluded time reading the classics.  With the grocery store and the liquor store among the few allowed outings, we of course bought a few things for home use.  I thoroughly enjoyed refining my cooking skills and to this day Kathy and I rarelyContinue reading “I’ll drink to that”

Dontcha just love records?  Not those little CDs in their precious plastic jewel boxes that play on forever and surely not the mp4s you can buy for cheap (it seems) on iTunes, but those black (usually) 12 inch slabs of vinyl you scraped to get for $3.25 back in the day.  I’ve kept all ofContinue reading “Records!”

Just what do those old, retired couples do with all that time?  For me, in the 3 years that I haven’t answered an alarm clock or a clinic schedule, stuff to do just emerges.  Often, it’s stuff I’d never thought of.  But now there’s not enough time in the day to do all the thingsContinue reading “read on!”

I ran out of shallots again tonight.  They went in to accompany the onions in Chicken Yakhni Pulao, an epic venture as Indian recipes often are.  Began yesterday with a lamb leg bone to make the spicy stock yaknhi shorba and continued today as I searched all over town to find cassis bark, a relativeContinue reading “here’s to shallots”

Here listed are the references to the 2nd edition of Lost in the Ozone…Again! The Commander, his Boys, and Me.  50 years and Counting.  Going in sometime soon. The first addition came out on Amazon/Kindle last May. With the help of Bill Kirchen I have made many improvements and additions. There are many links, suchContinue reading “CC2 TOC”

It just seemed a bit much this year.  It’s not the high cost of beef.  I’ve got a 4 pound brisket in the freezer.  We’re nearing our limits again on available refrigerator space for leftovers.  I was drawn to another of my favorites.  Didn’t have any pie for pi day yesterday, so maybe this dishContinue reading “Éirinn go Brách”