This is an adapted recipe from a cookbook. Theirs was a little too formal for me. Excellent flavor and ridiculous savor makes this one a real winner.

3lbs. pork sirloin
a few twists sea salt
a few twists ground pepper
2 onions, wedged
3 12oz. bottles Saranac Root Beer (or other non-diet root beer, I suppose)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Heinz chili sauce
6-7 dashes Tabasco sauce

Preheat a large iron skillet under high/med-high heat. Trim the loin, rubbing down with fresh ground sea salt and pepper. In the skillet, brown loin on all sides, grinding more salt/pepper as needed. Put pork, onions, 1/2 bottle of root beer, and garlic into slow cooker. Drink other 1/2 of root beet. Cook on low 8-9 hours, or high 4 hours.

With about an hour left on the pork, in medium/large saucepan combine remaining 2 bottles of root beer and chili sauce, and boil slowly, stirring regularly for about 30 minutes. Stir in Tabasco sauce.

Take pork out and put in glass serving bowl, shredding with two forks. Dump in sauce from saucepan, mixing well, and optionally onions from cooker (I serve the onions separate). Serve with toasted burger buns.

Serves 4-6. Prep time about 15 minutes before cooking, and about 15 minutes after. Cook time 4-9 hours (temperature depending).

Tiger Lily is a precocious 13 10 -month week-old blue tick hound/walker hound mix “rescued” from the local shelter. She is incredibly shy until she sniffs you to death, and then she licks you to death with love.

A typical hound, she’s ruled by her nose and really dislikes joggers. Loves cheese and not so fond of peanut butter. While initially overly curious about Sunni the parakeet, she’s settled in and has completely ignored him since. Thus far, she also really dislikes sleeping alone at night – being in sight seems sufficient.

As shown to the left, yawning… and then napping, are her favorite past times. Everything leads to a nap. Eat… nap. Drink… nap. Pee… nap. Walk… nap. Chew… nap. Nap… nap.

She’s very much as snuggler, and will lounge in your lap or by your side for hours if you let her. While quite challenging to “train”, she is responding well to clear repetition and positive reinforcement. She’s all but stopped pouncing on me when she’s excited, instead sitting at my feet and wagging her tail vigorously- the reinforced behavior.

So… yeah. Life is a bit more complex now. So far, for the better.

UPDATE 7/13: She is totally rocking the crate now. Slept nearly 7 hours last night by herself, several rooms away, until she had to pee and started barking (a good thing!)

I used to make these all the time, but recently played them again. Fairly quick yet very satisfying. Serve alongside 2 cups of rice.

Marinade:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 lime, peeled and crushed well
pinch of curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin (ground)
several twists of black pepper from a pepper grinder
1/2 cup fresh cilantro (chopped fine)
2 large cloves garlic (chopped fine)
1 jalepeno or 3 serrano peppers (chopped)
2-3 drops Dave’s Insanity Sauce

Fajita:

1 lb. flank steak, or very thin sirloin
8 oz sharp cheese (shredded)
1 cup salsa
8 medium-sized corn or wheat tortillas (flour if you must)
lettuce, olives, other veggies as desired

Lay out steak in glass pan. Thoroughly mix all of the marinade ingredients in glass Pyrex container, pour over steak. Cover steak and allow to marinade in refrigerator for 1 to 24 hours.

To cook, get grill or cast-iron grill plate sizzling hot. Add steak quickly, cooking 2-3 minutes, flip, cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully cut into strips using knife and tongs.

To serve, add 1/8 of steak, cheese, salsa and other toppings to each tortilla, roll, and serve aside 2 cups white or jasmine rice.

Serves 4-6. Prep time about 15 minutes, 1 hour -to- 1 day marinade, ~10 minutes cook time.

Another perfection from college, when my myriad of omelettes were frequently-requested specialties, but refined slightly… Now with sea salt.

2-4 large eggs per person
1 tsp water per egg
1 drop Dave’s Insanity Sauce for every 3-4 eggs  (If you don’t have an even multiple of 3-4, round down)
several dashes of sea salt
little bit of butter or margarine
grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
several twists of black pepper from a pepper grinder
1 gallon orange juice

Crack eggs into Pyrex 2+ Cup measure or other glass bowlish-thing. Add one tsp water per egg, stir briskly with stainless steel fork (no wisk, please, thanks) until frothing and well-mixed. Carefully add  1 drop Dave’s Insanity Sauce for every 3-4 eggs, and sea salt. Coat large non-stick fry-pan with just enough butter or margarine to get it going. Pour in egg mixture and make a couple passes over it with a black pepper grinder. Cook  covered (with a cookie-sheet, if necessary) over medium heat until it looks “done”. From time-to-time, pop the “tumors” that will inevitably rise up with spatula, trying to keep things as even as possible.

When “done”, uncover, and add substantial gobs of cheese to exactly one-half of the omelette. You can, of course, add other things to the same one-half, but with Dragon Omelettes you’ll quickly learn that complexity is not your friend- cheese and large glasses of orange juice are. Fold the omelette with a spatula (or two, if necessary) such that the uncheesed half is flopped on top of the cheesed half. Make a brief pass with some sea salt and pepper grinder atop this gorgeous meal, and then cook covered over low heat for about 1.5 minutes, just to let the cheese melt.

Divide into appropriate portions, and serve with ample amounts of orange juice and breakfast pastries/English muffins/bagels/whatever.

Serves as many as you like (as long as you have a large enough pan), in about 20 minutes total.

Sweet and fruity, this succulent summer dish is one of the easier meals I make, and with absolutely no hint of spicy or peppers, one of the only low-temperature poultry dishes you’ll find me enjoying. Excellent aside fresh veggies and cous-cous or rice (brown is best, but whatever).

2 lbs boneless chicken
1 pineapple (cored, juice retained)
2 large oranges
2 sticks of cinnamon
4 whole cloves (optional)
1 tbsp ground cinnamon (fresh preferred but pre-ground okee dokee)

Squeeze juice from one (1) orange, into reserved pineapple juice, and ground cinnamon… Mix. If less than a cup of liquid, add water to make a full cup. If there’s more, that’s great- add it all. Add chicken and juice medley to medium-smallish pan (just large enough for chicken to cover), cook covered over medium or medium-low heat until boiling. While this is going on, chop up the pineapple into bite-sized pieces, peel and split the remaining one (1) orange into its perforated parts. Once boiling, reduce temperature to a simmer, add cinnamon sticks and cloves (optional), and allow to simmer (covered) slowly until chicken is done, ~25 minutes, flipping chicken occasionally. When done, remove and discard cinnamon sticks, serve surrounded with pineapple and orange pieces.

Serves 4, hopefully. Prep time ~15 minutes (not counting pineapple coring, which is an art). Cook time ~30 minutes.

Always a favorite. Great on the stove or grill.

2 lbs boneless chicken
1 cup barbecue sauce (I recommend Dinosaur BBQ Slathering Sauce, or Wango Tango (hotter))
1/2 cup maple syrup
4 assorted smallish hot peppers (quartered)
1 tbsp ground chipotle, habeñero or cayenne pepper

Mix syrup, ground pepper and sauce thoroughly in 2 cup measure. Cut chicken into chunks or bite-sized pieces. In chef skillet mix everything together. Cook over high heat for 10-15 minutes. Serve with rice, potatoes or cous-cous and a side of seasonal veggies.

Serves 4 usually. Prep time <5 minutes, cook time about 15 minutes.

A perfection from my college days. Quick, simple, and doesn’t need snobby cookware at all.

1 lbs boneless chicken
1/3-1/2 bottle Dinosaur BBQ Wango Tango sauce
3-4 assorted smallish hot peppers (quartered)

Cut the chicken in to strips, chunks or bite-sized pieces. In sufficiently large pot or pan combine, mix thoroughly, cook over medium-high heat until the chicken is done, 10-15 minutes. Serve with plenty of water and bread.

Serves 2. Prep time 2 minutes, cooks about 10 minutes.

Chicken vindaloo, a Portu-Indian favorite. Mine is slightly untraditional, but generally easier to make if you don’t have an Indo-Asian food store to buy some of the more traditional ingredients in. This recipe has been refined over about 12 years, and is one of my oldest loves.

3 lbs chicken (I prefer boneless, skinless breasts)
1 onion (chopped fine)
2 tomatoes (chopped well)
8-10 new potatoes (a rough pound)
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tbsp molasses
2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp mustard seed (ground, or dry mustard powder)
2 large cloves garlic (chopped fine)
4 jalapeno or green chili peppers (seeded for less heat, chopped fine regardless)
1/2 tsp crushed chili pepper
2 tbsp canola oil
Fresh cilantro

In a Pyrex dish (or other glass, I suppose) combine molasses, vinegar, turmeric, coriander, cumin, ground mustard seed, peppers (not the crushed) and garlic- mix thouroughly. Mix in chicken to coat well. Cover and allow to marinate in fridge 8-24 hours.

Get the potatoes cooking in a pot. In Wok or chef skillet (or pot, if you must), cook the onions and crushed pepper in canola oil, stirring frequently until onion begins to brown before adding tomatoes. Cook about 5 minutes to soften then add chicken soup from fridge. Cook on high heat, uncovered stirring well occasionaly for about 10 minutes. Cover, reduce to simmer for about 15 minutes. Halve the potatoes and add them, continuing to simmer another 15 minutes. Add cilantro just before serving.

Serves 6. Prep time about 30 minutes, 1 day marinade, ~1 hour cook time.

2009 – 1978 = 31.

I remember 10 years ago today quite lucidly- which isn’t normal for me. I miss an awful lot of things from back then. An awful damn lot.

To bed, and then into the mountains.

Roughly translated means: “you’ll cry like a baby grilled steak”. If you’re afraid of flavor fear not – all of the heat is in the dipping sauce which you can moderate at meal time. Try it, please. This does require some non-trivial prep and marinate time, but it’s one of my favorite Thai refinements. Steak can be cooked over a wood fire, charcoal grill, gas grill or on a stove top as desired. Goes great with rice, rice noodle or cous-cous (culinary faux paux, I know).

Sauce:

1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar (raw preferred)
3 tbsp kao kua
3-4 small green onions (minced)
1/4 cup crushed chili peppers

Steak:

2 lbs lean steak (thinner is better, but whatever)
2 tbsp sugar (raw preferred)
1/2 Cup soy sauce or Kikkoman Less Sodium Teriyaki Sauce

Steak prep: In a large bowl dissolve the sugar in soy sauce (stir). Add steak, cover and let marinate for at least one hour (overnight is great too), tossing about 3/4 of the way through. Go make the sauce while you’re waiting.  When ready to cook, get your heat hot: if cooking on a stove, an iron grill plate or skillet is suggested as opposed to non-stick cookware. Until it sizzles a drip of water, it’s not hot enough. Add the beef using tongs (bamboo preferred) quickly and sear meat, cooking to desired doneness. Generally best to get a medium to medium-well, ~5-10 minutes. Cooking it fast and hot is the key to keeping the flavor locked in.  Skip down to serve.

Sauce prep: In a bowl, dissolve the sugar in the lime juice and soy sauce (stir). Stir in onions, kao kua and crushed chile.

Serve: Meat should be plated immediately, and cut into thin slices or bite-sized pieces. Sauce should be divided into small bowls or mini-cups for dipping. There might not seem like “enough”, but a little nahm jeem goes a long way.

Serves 6-8. Prep time is an active 20-30 minutes in the midst of a 1 hour marinade, and about 10 minutes to cook.