Boy this blog is going well.

We did grill out yesterday. We did pork ribs with a new sauce "Tony Stewarts" he is a NASCAR driver and since it's race week it was a fitting choice. Here in the south racing and bar-b-q as you will find it written on most signs are sacred. The sauce was good I must say not too sweet with a mustard undertone.

I am waiting on the rains to stop so I can wander around outside and see the blossoms.

Barbecue Time is Amost Here

Nothing brought out the imagination of the foodies of the fifties quite like barbecue. Feast your eyes on what passed for side dishes to that barbecue.



I am unsure exactly what the white pasty stuff is I'm guessing that it's potato salad. The purple thing the olives and cheese is sticking out of well that's any one's guess. My favorite side dish for a barbecue is my mamma's English Pea Salad. I must admit it doesn't photograph well either.

Mama's English Pea Salad

• 4 hard boiled eggs diced
• 2 cans sweet peas - drained
• 1 small onion chopped diced
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup mustard
• salt and pepper to taste - I am heavy on the pepper
• bacon bits

Mix the first six ingredients together in bowl, sprinkle bacon bits on top. Refrigerate for minimum of one hour, covered.

Italian Potato Soup

When I cook I don't usually use a recipe, I use recipes for baking cakes, and desserts but never for entrees. I start with an idea of what I want to eat and go from there. So when people begin asking me for my recipes I didn't have any. Mostly I just go in the kitchen and cook something. It works, usually. The problem is I don't have anything written down. So I decided to start the blog to write down my recipes, talk about recipes and food, food from the past and food from the present.

Now don't get me wrong just because I don't use recipes everyday doesn't mean I don't love them, I read old recipes, I collect old recipes, I collect old food photos and clip art. I watch food shows and cook-offs.

Being a child of the garden party I use both scratch and "store bought" products when I cook. That was the way of the Garden Party take a store bought box add a few items and make it into something unforgettable. Notice I didn't say great, I said unforgettable. Not everything made this way was great, most wasn't, but it was unforgettable. More on that later.

Italian Potato Soup

• 2 pounds of Sweet Italian sausage - loose ground (I use Johnsonville)
• 1 bag of baby Dutch potatoes, washed; if you can't find the baby Dutch use very tiny new potatoes.
• 6 cups of Swanson's chicken broth
• 12 oz. of sliced fresh mushrooms
• 4 medium celery stalks- diced
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp Lawry's season salt
• 1 and 1/2 cup Ricotta cheese

Put chicken broth on to boil in large stock pot. Form sausage into small meatballs; add to boiling broth. Add celery, garlic, season salt, and pepper. Bring back to boil, reduce and simmer for 1 hour. Add potatoes and mushrooms bring back to boil and reduce to simmer until largest potato is thoroughly cooked. Blend in Ricotta cheese to taste.