Friday, July 10, 2009

Potato Salad

For the last month I've been trying to make my mom's potato salad. It's a very simple recipe:


potatoes

eggs

onions (green onions are best)

mayonnaise

mustard (for color, jokes my brother Al)

salt

pepper


Amounts you do by feel/intuition, like she did.


This past weekend I came damn close. I used spicy brown mustard instead of yellow. And served it with polska kielbasa. Good dinner.


Growing up, on our birthdays, we could have for our birthday dinner whatever we wanted, including the variety of cake. i forget what my brothers' main courses were, but my sister's and my choice was always ringed baloney with fried potatoes and corn. My sister's cake was german chocolate, as was my oldest brother's. Jack, the middle kid, went back and forth from german chocolate to my brother Al's choice, chocolate cake with white fluffy frosting. That was my choice as well, most of the time. But I think for a few years I asked for angel food cake, to my family's dismay.


She sure did do a lot for us.


This weekend:


Pepper Place Farmer's Market first thing in the morning

summer twine fest 2009

mow/trim

prune the crepe myrtles shading the plants by the planter

go under the house (note to self: Take your phone! You never know!)

compost


That'll do for now. Have a great weekend, guys.

4 comments:

bright said...

You need some dessert, and I'm guessing cake might be a bit much for you. Try these:

Sara's Chocolate Chip Cookies.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 sticks salted butter (1/2 pound or 1 cup) at room temp.
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 t vanilla
1 large egg
2 bags (12 oz. each) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. In medium bowl, mix flour, soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In large bowl, combine room temp. butter, both sugars (and add just a bit more of each sugar) and vanilla. Add beaten egg until combined.
4. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Make "golf ball" sized balls of dough and place on non-stick cookie sheet.
7. Bake about 15-20 minutes.

NOTE: Follow this ingredient list exactly. Yes, really use a cup of real butter and yes, really use 2 bags of chips. Trust me. The only substitution I have ever made successfully is to use 1 bad of milk choc chips and 1 bag of semi-sweets. You can also make balls of dough and freeze for later if you just want one cookie every now and then. (Somehow that never happens at my house, though.) People beg Sara to make these cookies for potlucks and bake sales - they are fantastic.

bright said...

er, ... "to use one baG of milk choc...." yeah, I don't have any kind of Freudian food issues going on there. Sheesh.

David Marlow said...

I lost the sweet tooth of my youth. But dang those sound good.

Got 10 peaches at the farmer's market. Delicious. I think I'll make it a weekly routine. Felt therapeutic. All those folks in from the country. Quilts from G's Bend. Fellowship. I think I may have teared up a bit.

bright said...

Peaches have been so hit or miss lately. Well, anyway, when you get settled it's brightvirago at yahoo.