My favorite dinner and memories...

The love of memories is often coupled with a good, homemade meal.  At least it is for a true Southerner :).  There is something about the smell, the sight, and the taste that can just take you back!  For me, this simple dinner does it!  We always called them "hobo" dinners- usually had around a campfire, but an oven or grill works just dandy too!  Here's the simpleness:

some ground beef- whatever type and fat  your preference is: we love angus, low fat

some onions

maybe some carrots, not in my photos

and spices- could be just salt and pepper, or fancy- I use McCormicks Steak Seasoning when I'm in a hurry :)

Break up the hamburger and chop the onion.  When using carrots, I leave mini carrots whole, but chop larger carrots in smaller pieces.  Put all in foil and heap on the spices!

Wrap tightly with foil and place on hot grill/oven till meat is cooked.  The veggies will be done by default ;).  Open and devour, SLOWLY, enjoying every bit and morsel of yumminess!  Makes good memories, you can count on it!

End of Summer Heaven

At least once every summer, I treat myself.  To what you may ask??  Well, the answer may seem silly, but it's been part of my summer as long as I can remember!  I grew up in the South, the Deep South, where tomatoes are deep red, juicy, all the way down your chin, and you eat them like apples!  Ahhh, the good ole days :)  Now I live in the West, the dry, not "Southern" tomato West.  Yes, they grow tomatoes here, but they are NOT the same.  Every once in a blue moon though, I find a dear someone who grows tomatoes CLOSE to the ones like home :).  I found that this week, and this was my treat...

Bread.

Mayo, just a titch.

Salt, a titch and a bit.

Pepper, load it on, baby!

And,,,,

big, huge, gigantic slices (as in, at least an inch wide) of 

TOMATOES!!  (as close to "southern" as you can find)!

Serious heaven, I tell ya!  Doesn't get any better- see, half the sandwich is already gone before I could even snap the photo :)  YUMMY!  That's good eatin'---  hmmm, maybe I can eat an early lunch today ;)

Herbal Ice Cream??!!?

Ok, we found the most yummiest Mexican place around last week!  Oh my tastiness!  It is absolutely incredible!  It's in an industrial part of town so being a gourmet restaurant makes it pretty unique.  What a fun atmosphere and great feeling though!  I had a chili stuffed with all sorts of goodness- pork, nuts, sauce, more walnut sauce on top, then some pomegranate seeds to give it some zing :).  There was also some asparagus and spinach dyed cilantro rice- ouuuu, yumm!  I don't often splurge, but that night was an exception.  

The thing that surprised me was the dessert.  I had narrowed it down to two and couldn't decide so I asked the table next to us- they had tried several (it was a bigger group).  They said, hands down, what their favorite was, so we ordered that.  Why not be adventurous, especially since it sounded so unusual and wasn't even on our narrowed down list?!  :)  I didn't get a photo because it was gone so quickly! hehe!  Talk about wonderful!  Here's what it was...

A strawberry rolled cake with a cream filling, next to some cream sauce, and BASIL ice cream, yes, as in green basil!!!  It sounded so bizarre and wasn't too tasty alone, but mix a taste of each thing on the plate, and you had a mouthful of heaven!  Moral of the story- even though it may sound odd- if you are ever at a gourmet Mexican restaurant, in an industrial part of town, order the basil ice cream and strawberry cake for dessert.  You won't be disappointed!!  The end. :)

Debbie has the Yummiest Table

I have been following my friend-blogger Debbie for quite some time.  She is an incredible quilter- you MUST see her hidden bindings- she has a gift!  On Tuesday of each week she has a segment called Tuesday at the Table.  Talk about incredible food and ideas for cooking!  I drool each week and have a growing list of wonderful recipes from her posts.  So since today is Tuesday, I wanted to tell you about a wonderful dessert she mentioned this week- pavlova.  I had never hear the history behind this delicious treat and thought it was really interesting.  I love the chewy meringue with the mixed berries- just eat my heart out!  So head on over if you like treats and see the yumminess over at her blog.  She is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and talented in so many things!  http://aquilterstable.blogspot.com/2012/05/table-tidbit.html