Letter from Key West, April 24 2020

A little bit of a catch up since I last blogged...

Today in Key West news the county (Monroe) have said the Keys will not be opening to tourists in May - it will likely be June 1.  I appreciate this decision has a huge economic impact. 

I am still nervous about when we do eventually totally re-open, and for going forward.  With key West being a tourist destination it will be very hard to identify and control people movement.  I see myself just being ultra careful with hand washing, wearing my mask and social distancing until the vaccine arrives....

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I cooked a dish for dinner the other night which was an absolute disaster.  Chicken, garlic, rice  and broccoli bake.  I used chicken soup in it and I simply did not add enough water/milk/liquid so the rice used it all up during the cooking and it was dry and awful.  I also used Panko breadcrumbs on the top.  I am only familiar with Panko from books and American recipes.  We do not have it at home in Ireland.  I can report it is awwwwwwful.  Weird processed, sweet (almost coconut flavor and texture???), NOT breadcrumbs, processed something or other made out of flour yock.

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I successfully cut a dress to a shorter length and hemmed.  It is a stretch jersey type of material so it was a pain to hem but I did it!

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Enid texted me yesterday evening and said quick go on InstaLive on Reece's Witherspoon's page.  I clicked in and joined a lovely conversation between Reece and Jenna Bush Hager talking about books.  It was a really enjoyable thing to watch and I liked the thought that my twin was watching it too at home in Ireland. 

That's it I think!  It's Friday evening and we are heading into the weekend woohoo!!!!

Stay well and healthy friends! Stay at home!

Omelet - garlic, ham and tomatoes

Do you remember the tale of the Thanksgiving Ham?!

Well, I was not lying when I said we would be eating it for the next while - and don't forget that half of it was put in the freezer for Christmas.

Tonight I made a ham omelet!

I don't know if this is correct or not, but I like to cook some of my ingredients on their own prior to adding to the omelet. Mmmm, garlic, cherry tomatoes and the ubiquitous ham!

Et voila!

Home made Pork and Cheddar Quesadilla

Today I had a craving for quesadillas.  Reason being is that I went to my bank to lodge (or deposit as my American compadres say!) a cheque (check!) and it is directly across from Bad Boy Burritos.  Bad Boy Burritos is pretty popular here in Key West and I really don't know why.  As far as I can tell they should drop the Boy and just call themselves Bad Burritos.  Aside from their Quesadillas!!!  OMG their duck quesadillas are divine. 

So I was craving a duck and cheese quesadilla.  But I also didn't want to spend any money on food. Lol.  I sound stingy (or cheap as the Americans say).  No seriously, there is a ton of food in my fridge at the moment, it would be a sin to eat out.

So I went home and pulled out some pork from the back of the freezer and stuck it on a pan - low and slow to keep it soft and moist.

Mmmm!

I then placed a tortilla on a large pan.  Sprinkled the tortilla with shredded STRONG cheddar cheese. And then the pork.  Topped with another tortilla, I flipped it over in the pan.

I don't actually know if this is how you make a quesadilla but look it worked for me today!

Yum

Yum

Yummmmmm

Barbecue Tales part 8 Surf n Turf

We're eating these steaks (and shrimp) quite a lot.  I am not sure what they are even called...they come in packs of 6 and are thin little guys - good everyday strip steaks I guess.  They are so thin, in fact they take literally 3 minutes to cook.  One could argue the little shrimp take almost longer than them!
But like I said, a good everyday steak. With the remnants of wine left over from the weekend and some broccoli, onions and tomatoes grilled in a little foil parcel, a lovely dinner they make!

Barbecue Tales Part 3 - Chicken

Firstly, apparently I spell barbecue wrong.  Thanks for that point out reader!

Reader. I have a reader! Woohoo! *Waves to reader*

Secondly, the culinary adventures continue.  Tonight on the menu was plain old chicken which turned out to be anything but.  In fact, it turned out AWESOME! Interested? Read on my friends, read on!

Here are of some of the essential requirements for Amy's Awesome Chicken:

1. Red wine...rioja...I was never much of a rioja drinker in Ireland, preferring an (even more) full bodied grape such as Malbec, Syrah or if I was feeling wild a South African Petit Verdoh..
2. Green salsa brava hot sauce purchased from the local Mexican shop for $1.39
3. A red pepper chilli from same Mexican shop - 29c
4. Pam oil for the barbeCUE. Yeah it's cheap, and a little bit nasty, God knows what is in it but it gets the job done
5. Only the best "BBQ" sauce in the whole world.  Not too sweet and nicely tangy - dare I say it, even with undertones of HP brown sauce at times - this sauce is incredible.  Keep an eye out for you on your next supermarket visit; Stubbs Original Legendary Bar-B-Q sauce.
5. Frontera (red) salsa sauce

That's a nice little bit of heat there as you can see.  Eating and enjoying food with a sizzle in it is a skill of mine I picked up in the Navy.  Ok I think you know I wasn't in the Navy.  That's something I just like to say for fun.  Hmmm, probably sounds better when spoken.  Moving on.

It's true though.  I love hot food.  It's a taste I started developing way back when my friend was going out with a fella who owned a couple of Indian restaurants around town.  We were aged 20 and penniless and ate there a lot. Some days we used to eat the staff curry which was blow your eyeballs out hot #goodtimeswithTara&Amy
A couple of years later I visited India, and ever since then, as cliched as it sounds, the hotter the better for me.

I like to assemble all my cooking ingredients and utensils on the bar for the cooking.  Yes I have a home bar. Yes it's outdoors.  Yes I am not using it for the purpose intended.  I know, I know, old Amy who used loved nothing better than hopping behind a bar and whipping up a cocktail (crafting, I believe they say these days) or pouring a pint, is probably turning over in her grave back in Ireland.  But such is life, time moves on and ones interests change.  No doubt some day this bar will be used for entertaining, but for the moment it is a food prep area. I posted this photo to show you where the barbecue is set up in context to the bar, and I think you might agree it's pretty perfect.

Side note. If you would like to try out my recipe for my very popular at parties caiproska cocktail click here.

3 nice flat (more on that below) chicken fillets, broccoli left over from yesterday's dinner (Chinese), and tomatoes. 

I noted above that these fillets are nice and thin.  Different to the fat plump ones in Ireland.  

These are perfect for the purpose of barbecuing.

I whizzed the broccoli around in a small bit of olive oil and garlic.

When buying the barbeque, we had hummed and hawed over a couple of different models.  The fact that this one has a side burner for cooking in a pan or pot was one of the deciding reasons that we went with this one.

That's lovely strong sharp cheddar melting on the chicken! Mmmm

Doesn't the charring on the chicken look nice?

Someone was a little more sophisticated than I and  hadtheir chicken on a Hawaiian bread roll (lightly toasted on the barbecue) with some guacamole, tomatoes and bbq sauce. Along with the side of garlic broccoli.

Chicken a la Amy

Whereas I just went lunatic and dumped every since sauce known to man (or to our kitchen cupboard at least) all over my chicken.  Yes, I ate that chilli too.  Did I mention I like spicy food?