Konza Hillsides

Dusk falls on the great Konza Prairie in SW Riley County, Kansas.

Not Your Father's Meatloaf Sandwich

Chile verde meatloaf & slices of homegrown tomatoes.

With a slice of cheddar, on fresh bread with mayo.

If this ain't a $20 sandwich, there ain't no such thing!

Don't Fence Me In

Ancient native limestone fence row in the Kansas Flint Hills ~ thunderhead building in the distance. This is my Kansas ~ vast expanses of tallgrass prairie, big sky, fresh air ... 50 miles of elbow room. My roots run deep here.

Chile Verde Meatloaf

Made a great meatloaf today, with fresh ground chuck & pork (4:1) and the meatloaf also has about 1 cup of homemade green chile sauce in it ... additionally, I made a glaze with more of the green chile sauce. Sided up with sliced tomatoes and cottage cheese.

The meatloaf with the green chile/brown sugar glaze baked on.

This is what the glaze looked like ~ about 1 cup of homemade green chile sauce and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Very good stuff.

Ain't Nothing In The World That I Like Better

Yeah, big fat ripe homegrown beefsteak tomatoes ... dat's what I'm tawkin' about!! I'm going to my BLT happy place now ~ game on!

Smoky Mountain Smokers Chipotle

Smoked beef bbq, tossed with Smoky Mountain Smokers Chipotle

Is it the best bbq sauce on the planet? You be the judge.

There's lotsa different *genres* of bbq sauce out there ~ varies greatly from region to region. I like them all ~ different sauces on different kinds of bbq ... but in the *thick/sweet tomato base* genre (which is probably the most popular genre in the country) this Smoky Mountain Smokers bbq sauce is about as good as it gets, IMHO. It's made by Joe Amore down Tennessee way ... and just when I think it can't get any better, Joe rolls out his chipotle flavored sauce. Dial up ol' Joe on dat dubya dubya dubya thang, and git yerself a case or two of this sauce ... you'll thank me later!

Polk Salad Annie

The Train I'm On

Tony Joe White ~ The Train I'm On

If you see the train I'm on
Wave to me goodbye
But don't you shed
No tears on account of me
You know I hate to see you cry

Sometimes a train sounds lonesome
Sometimes it sounds soft and low
But everytime I hear an old train whistle blow
It always makes me wanna get up and go

If you ever think about me
Now should I ever cross your mind
Remember I'm a-coming back for you
Oh it's only a matter of time

If you see the train I'm on

But don't you shed no tears on account of me
Oh, I hate to see you cry...

Common Taters

Garden fresh baby new potatoes, red bliss and golds ... tossed with evoo, seasoned simply with some thyme, fresh cracked black & a lil' coarse sea salt then hot roasted with some green peppers. Simple perfection ~ sometimes a tater ain't just a tater.

Plated up with a sprinkling of shredded asiago cheese ~ the humble lil' tater is the belle of the ball, eh?

Kansas Flint Hills Haiku

Dappled in shadow
Morning comes to consciousness
Across prairie skies

Strange Bedfellows

Boneless pork chops baked tender in homemade green chile sauce.

Garden fresh warm "harvard beets" in thick sweet/sour sauce.

Baby new potatoes ~ smashed with lotsa butter, horseradish and sour cream. Now, these three things don't typically go together (I would never serve them on the same plate in a restaurant setting) ... but this ain't no restaurant, and I ain't yer typical cook. Why then, you ask, did I eat them together? Because that's what I had on hand, dat why. Besides, I'm an old geezer & easily confused.

Kansas Wheat Field

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And the waves gave place to the wheatlands
Myriad-touched with gold
Then my soul felt century-weary
And untold aeons old....

From "A Wheat-Field Fantasy" by Harry Kemp

Farm Fresh Eggs

Went out to my farmer's veggie stand yesterday, and they were also selling fresh eggs ~ so I hadda make an omelette w/dem fresh eggs & some garden peppers/onions ~ threw a lil' ham & cheese in the mix and we'll call it a western omelette...sided up with a couple scratch catheads & gravy ~ good eatin'.

Hot out the oven ~ fresh baked buttermilk cathead biscuits.

Homemade blackberry jam on a warm, buttered biscuit ~ just damn!

Beans & Taters

More great veggies from the Perrydize garden ~ 2 kinds of baby new potatoes (Red Bliss and Colorado Golds) boiled with fresh green beans, bermuda onions & bacon. If that ain't eatin' retro country old-school, I'll kiss yer grits!

Vessel In Vain

Bill Callahan/Smog ~ Vessel In Vain

I can't be held responsible for the things I say
For I am just a vessel in vain
And I can't be held responsible for the thing I see
For I am just a vessel in vain

No boat out on no ocean
No name there on no hull
And it's not a strain at all to remember
Those that I've left behind
They're all standing right here beside me now
And most of them with a smile

My ideals have got me on the run
Towards my connection with everyone
My ideals have got me on the run
It's my connection with everyone

Such free reign
For a vessel in vain...

Green Chile Sauce

Made a batch of green chile sauce yesterday: hatch chiles from the Perrydize garden, bermuda onions, green tomatoes, a few serranos, fresh garlic cloves, oregano, salt & pepper, chicken stock and a splash of fresh lime juice. Mighty tasty stuff ~ will make some dandy smoked chicken enchiladas or/and green chile & pork stew for some cold football weekend this fall. Short slide. <---click

Peter Rowan

Peter Rowan

Bread & Butter Japs

I put up a few quarts of bread & butter jalapenos today ~ added some serranos also, just for snits & giggles ... onions, lemon, fresh garlic, etc. in a sweetened brine. I always put a lil' tumeric in my bread & butter brined pickles, so that's why these have a yellow tint to them. Love these peppers with pizza, mexican food & bbq. Tomorrow, gonna put up a few quarts of homemade green chile sauce ~ for makin' green chile/pork stew this winter.

Ice Water Garlic/Dill Chunks

Well, my buddy Rob came by today & brought me all kinda good veggies from the Perrydize Garden ~ cucumbers, 2 kinds of new potatoes, hatch chiles, serrano chiles, jalapenos and more ... so I hauled off and made a few quarts of pickles. Gonna put up a few pints of bread & butter jalapenos tomorrow, and soon as I can score some homegrown tomatoes gonna use those serranos to make a batch of homemade picante sauce.

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Hazel Dickens/Alice Gerrard ~ When I Loved You

Yet Another Pasta Salad

What can I say ... it's summer, and I love pasta salads.

Pork Chops Au Poivre Ala Wooster

Boneless pork chops, seasoned with simply kosher salt and cracked black pepper ... pan seared & oven finished ~ topped with pan sauce made by deglazing pan with a couple TBSP of Worchestershire sauce and a knob of butter. Simply fantastic. Sided up with some homemade potato salad and a saute'd medley of fresh veggies.

Fresh green beans blanched and shocked, then saute'd in a lil' EVOO with fresh garden zucchini & yellow squash. bermuda onion, green pepper and fresh garlic slivers ~ seasoned with cracked black, thyme and oregano, finished with a knob of butter & a spritz of fresh lemon juice and kosher salt at the table. I woulda eaten more veggies as a kid, if mama had fixed'em like this, ah garrontee.

Medley of fresh veggies ~ mice in place fer the hot saute' pan.

Allman Bros/Dickey Betts ~ Blue Sky

Smoky Mountain Smokers

I've been a fan of this sauce ever since I tasted it a couple of years ago & just stocked in this case of it ~ should git me thru the summer. It's made by my friend, Joe Amore' in Tennessee and it falls in the *sweet tomato-based* genre of bbq sauces ~ but don't let that moniker fool you ~ this is a very good bbq sauce, well balanced sweet to heat, just the right thickness, etc. I haven't tried the new chipotle sauce yet, but if it's as good as the regular I'm sure it will be a big hit on the bbq trail. If you wanna check out this excellent sauce, give ol' Joe a holler here. <----click

Fresh Peach Cobbler

Nothing says "Sunday" like a fresh peach cobbler coolin' on the kitchen counter. This is so good, and so easy to make ~ if you ain't makin' peach cobbler when peaches is in season ... shame on you!

Pork Chop Sandwich

Also known around the midwest as a pork tender sandwich ~ I made these with some boneless pork loin chops, pounded them out, breaded & deep fried ... on a soft potato bun, dressed with a lil' garden bermuda onion and homemade pickles.

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Marshall Tucker Band ~ Searching For A Rainbow

Eddy's Cafe - Home Cookin'

This was my Mom's lil' country restaurant "Eddy's Cafe" in Havensville, Kansas. Mom had the restaurant from 1963 (the year Dad stopped farming) until 1970. It was a busy, thriving little restaurant when Mom owned it ... but she didn't make much money ~ and you will know why when you look at the menu below. Mom never turned away anyone who was hungry ... if they didn't have enough money to pay for their meal, she fed them just the same, and told them to "pay me when you can" ~ no records were kept, no IOU's were issued. The tabs were always paid. I took the picture above in 1985 ~ 15 years after Mom closed the restaurant. Today nothing remains ~ just an empty lot where the restaurant once stood.

This is an actual menu from Eddy's Cafe. I can remember my Dad typing these menus on his old Underwood typewriter, and Mom had 12 menu covers so he had to type 12 of them (because there were no Kinko's around in them days either). After a few years, an executive decision was made to raise prices ... so some of the breakfast items went up a whole nickle!! LOL When is the last time you went to a restaurant and got a hamburger for thirty cents? Mom's daily "Blue Plate" lunch special was $.95 ~ beverage included. I've never been able to figure out the logic behind the $.12 pricing of the cinnamon roll.

The cafe was open for breakfast and lunch only ... and on Sundays it was only open for lunch, to get the after-church crowd. Service was family-style on Sunday, and was always pan-fried chicken, swiss steak, real mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans, corn and hot homemade dinner rolls. On Sundays the crowds were so big that we had to rent the American Legion building next door, and set up tables & run food over there. We served homemade ice cream (vanilla & maple nut) and fresh baked homemade pies.

Creamy Mac & Cheese

Tillamook cheddar, asiago, heavy cream, thin sliced serrano chiles..

I grilled some pork chops for supper last night, and sided it up with this mac & cheese and some sliced homegrown tomatoes. I didn't go to bed hungry....

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Gram & Emmylou ~ A Song For You

Cold Chicken Salad Plate

Homemade pickled beets, ice-cold watermelon, kaw-cajun caviar & chips, homemade ice water pickles, pepperoncini pepper, sliced homegrown tomatoes and homemade chicken salad in the middle. Everything on this plate was great, but my favorite thing was the pickled beets - outstanding.

Can't You See

Hot Weather ~ Cool Eats

And don't be puttin' no dang grapes or raisins, or almonds, or any other kinda funky junk in my chicken salad, ya'heah ~ keep it real. Here's a few more pics. <---click

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Pearl & Carl Butler ~ Don't Let Me Fall

Business Is Good

Couple young whippersnapper businessmen in Arkansas were sitting down for a break in their soon-to-be new store. As yet, the store wasn't ready, with only a few shelves set up.

One said to the other, "I bet any minute now some ol' geezer is going to walk by, put his face to the window, and ask what we're selling."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when, sure enough, a curious senior walked to the window, had a peek, and in a soft voice asked "What are you fellas selling here?"

One of the men replied sarcastically, "We're selling a$$-holes"

Without skipping a beat, the old timer said, "Well then, you're doing well ... only two left."

Breakfast From The Coonass Garden

Big ripe homegrown tomato, seasoned with a lil' kosher salt & fresh cracked black, then topped with some herbed asiago bread crumbs & drizzled wit a lil' EVOO and into hot oven for about 10 minutes ~ broiled tomato.

Continuing the *tomato-themed* breakfast ~ fluffy 3-egg green tomato/bermuda onion & cheese omelette.