Store Bought Is Better

dill weed

If asked, I'll bet most of you would probably say that anything home-made is better; better tasting, more appealing to the eye, and better for you. In the case of my home-made dill pickles, you'd be dead wrong.

I'm not exactly Suzy Homemaker, but I am a pretty fair cook... except for my attempt at making home-made pickles. They tasted like digits dipped in gasoline-gone-bad. I don't understand how I made such awful tasting cucumbers. Maybe it was the dill I grew in my garden or maybe I followed the recipe wrong or maybe someone left out something in the recipe on purpose, but the pickles were just awful.

Since the pickle escapade, I tried using the dill in a potato salad recipe and it tasted great, so I know it's not the dill. Good friends who share recipes are trustworthy, so I really don't think they'd leave out a key ingredient. Then I double checked the jars I put the pickles in just to see if anything in the jar was suspect. And there it was!

A spider the size of New York State was nestled in and around the dill weed. It was the worst looking thing you ever saw. It was big enough to emit an awful taste, but I don't think the spider was the culprit. It didn't matter.  I threw out all the jars of pickles and decided that store bought is better.

Three Bears and a Blond

Once upon a time there were three bears and a blond. Or was it three blonds and a bear. Maybe it was three bare blonds. I can't remember. Anyway, it's no wonder my generation grew up a bit off center. It's tough keeping all those fairy tales, kiddie stories, and adult novels straight.

Think about what would happen if we mixed it up a bit, incorporating the old with the new.  Hm-m-m, now lets see...

Once upon a time there were three bare blonds who decided to go frolicking through the woods to grandma's house in search of Prince Charming. Lo and behold Prince Charming who divorced Cinderella, Prince Charming who divorced Snow White and Prince Charming who divorced Liz Taylor were all looking for three bare blonds. What a perfect set-up! Or so one would think.

When they all discovered one another, they realized it was lust at first sight. The six of them danced the night away and then went, separately, on their merry way. All three Princes rode off on their horses to play polo, while the three bare blonds proceeded to grandma's place. However, when they got there, there were three wolves waiting for them.

Grandma fixed everyone homemade spaghetti and meatballs and a tossed salad for dinner. The three wolves and the three bare blonds fell in love with each another, and they all lived happily ever after.

Moral of story: Sometimes a wolf who likes spaghetti and meatballs is a better catch than a Prince who likes to horse around.

There you have it; a fractured fairy tale from the Horse Pucky Queen.

Grated Tomatoes

"Lightly", a regular reader of Horse Pucky, left a great recipe for a hot curry dish using chicken and all sorts of aromatic, flavorful, spices. The recipe can be found in the comments section of the Moisture or Oyster blog post dated February 25th.

His latest comment called for grated tomatoes. "How in the world do you grate a tomato?", I wondered. At first I thought he was full of horse pucky, but then I discovered there really is such a thing as grated tomatoes. In fact, it's quite an ingenious way to get rid of the seeds and the skin at the same time.

I've been cooking for eons, making my own sauce for pasta dishes, and never heard of grating a tomato. Now I will use this clever, easier way of getting rid of those pesky seeds and the skin at the same time. Or I may just throw the whole bloomin' tomato into the pot, skin and all, and hope for the best, depending on the frame of mind I'm in.

If you're totally turned on by learning how to grate tomatoes, just do a search for "grated tomatoes". The internet is full of all sorts of "How to Grate a Tomato" info, including videos. If I was really nice I would link the info here, but I don't feel like it because I'm getting ready to do some serious tomato grating.

Thanks "lightly", you always come up with something unique. How could I have ever doubted you?!