Happy St. Patrick’s Day….

I couldn't resist. She just seemed so festive and I love green.

Considered one of the more popular patron saints of Ireland, St. Patrick appears to have had a sacrificial life to say the least. Hardship and service. So, for all of you that find the occasion a celebratory excursion of pub crawls take a moment to study up on the more stoic life of Pádraig. And for goodness sakes be careful out there with the Jameson’s, Old Bushmills and the brews!!! Slán go fóill   LOTGK (a little freaky/sexist I would say; no offense to Pádraig and his devoted followers)

Yes, a more reverential, less sexist sort would have used this rendition of St. Patrick from St. Benin’s Church.

BBQ Rub Recipe

SAVEUR & Original Issue re BBQ

1 1⁄2 tbsp. kosher salt
1 1⁄2 tbsp. dark brown sugar
1 tbsp. sweet paprika
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. mustard powder
1 1⁄2 tsp. black pepper
1⁄2 tsp. ground coriander
1⁄2 tsp. ground cumin
1⁄2 tsp. dried thyme

1. Mix in a jar; store up to 6 months.

MAKES 3⁄4 CUP

Cowboy Caviar & Flanken Cut Ribs

• 1 (11 ounce) can small, white shoepeg corn, drained
• 1 can of black eye peas, drained
• 2 firm-ripe avocados, finely chopped
• 1 large tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• finely minced jalapeno peppers

Hot Summer night at the kid’s house. Cold beer, grilled, marinated Korean, flanken cut ribs, grilled veggies, the cowboy caviar; cold, cubed melons, chicken and burrrp….pie. 

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Liberty Day~Aunt's Flagpole (SwittersB)

Camera Battery Charger (Car/Cabin/Room)

More than once, my battery for my Pentax Optio W60 has died on a trip. Yesterday, with a dead battery and the original charger ‘borrowed’, I went looking for a replacement at a camera store. I found a charger unit for different Lithium batteries that not only plugs into the wall, but also the port in my truck. As I drove around on business, my battery recharged in no time. This will be nice in the field as well.

Wines: Serving Temps…No, Not Warm Room Temps

WINE SERVING TEMPERATURES…ENJOY

Recording Your Family Recipe Treasures

Recently, I received a piece about In Memory’s Kitchen
It is a poignant tome about a group of Jewish women housed in a concentration camp in Terezin, Cz. The women, starving, awaiting death pieced together recollections of family recipes. They wrote them down on propaganda leaflets and wrote them in a combination of languages.

Later the compilation found its way, decades later to a daughter, who had survived the camps. The book was released and as noted in many reviews is a testament to the courage and heart the women possessed. Most touching is they knew they were to die. They wrote there recipes down for what reason? In order to celebrate a past simple life…to offer a memory or record of what was? It is a touching book, not for the recipes, but for the courage and heart of women, who dined on scraps from the garbage heaps while recording their favorites.

So, from a personal point of view, I offer this also as an incentive to record any and all family recipes that are not already written on a note card or piece of paper tucked into a cookbook: my mom made the world’s best potato salad. I have never tasted a better potato salad. Yet, I never acquired the how to steps of preparing it. For, five months my mom laid in my home, in a hospice environment. I watched her slip away in a slow motion dance with death. Not once did it occur to me to ask her how she made that magnificent potato salad. It seemed inappropriate at the time. My daughter-in-law has come close in replicating it, but the recipe would have been nice….that secret combination of ingredients…that edge.

Ask your mom, dad, aunt, mother-in-law for the recipe for that special dish, sauce, rub or cooking technique. So many times it is up there in their head. It has been altered from the original many times over the years. That is ok, get the memory down and celebrate the sharing of a family treasure. Do it soon!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/strawberry_rhubarb_cobbler/

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

 

Happy Easter Weekend from SwittersB

I was going to do the sign from a Baptist Church for Sexual Abstinence that read: Easter Comes Once a Year, How Often Do You? I didn’t even look for the hot babe Easter theme…just inappropriate. So, in keeping with our love of pups and bunnies, I chose this pic from The Sodblog

 

Fly Fishing in Iran with Amir Salehi

I have had the pleasure, while writing a blog, to see the broad appeal of fly fishing around the world. Some parts of this world seem harder to explore than others, to gather a sense of fly fishing. One of these places was Iran. Iran is often overshadowed by ranting, fist waving leaders. In fact, Iran is an immensely beautiful country, full of expansive history, sophisticated culture and beautiful people.

Recently, SwittersB was fortunate to make the acquaintance of Amir Salehi, via Maryam Peigahi on Facebook. Currently, Amir lives in Sweden. However, he was so kind to provide information about his early fly fishing in Iran.

Mountain Stream by Amir Salehi (SwittersB)

Amir writes: “I worked as journalist for more than 6 years in Iran on a hunting and fishing magazine : “Nature Funds Courier” and wrote mostly articles on fly fishing and catch and release fishing to teach the culture to Iranian for being ethical while they fish.

The book “Mahigiri dar Iran ” which means “fishing in Iran ” is an encyclopedia of fishing in Iran and I wrote the fly fishing part of the book.    Some pictures from Lar my favorite place in Iran is attached.”

Further Amir writes: “In north of Iran there is a chain of maintains called “Alborz”. These mountains contain plenty of springs and rivers that support the water of cities as well.

Brown Trout is the purely native specie of Alborz Mountains, with its own specie type. The Lar area was one of the most important ones, which recently became national park. These mountain have variety of wildlife species such as Alborz Mouflon, Persian ibex, Persian leopard, wolf, Persian partridge, etc.  It was Iran kings hunting area and fishing area as well.

In 1860s sport fishing was brought to the country by diplomats from French, USA and Britain. Britain, and USA diplomats also had a special summer camp in Lar area. After the starting the Dam project in Lar, it became even more popular where Italian engineers, who were working there started to catch brown trout from Lar. Other rivers in Alborz also had the native Brown Trout. The record for a Brown Trout in Iran is for Karadj river, which was hooked and landed by an American diplomat in late 70s (The brownie more than 1 meter long).”

A special note, within the week comes the Persian New Year, Nowrūz, which transpires upon the vernal equinox. Read the attached link to learn the ancient heritage of this special event. I hope to learn more about Iran’s fly fishing from Amir. However, he may be too busy catching Atlantic Salmon and other species in Sweden.