We were pretty busy this evening. A woman whose project D supervised
successfully defended the whole shebang today, so we met her for
drinks and snacks at a local (make that THE local) Italian restaurant.
I had wine and an okay calamari appetizer. Two glasses of house merlot
(only the finest boxes served) later we hauled home to feed the dogs
and walk down the block to a neighborhood dinner we were invited to.

That's where the strangeness comes in. Have you ever felt like you
were in a rough draft for a Mark Allan Stamaty cartoon?
http://home.earthlink.net/~copacetic...edsDonuts.html Or
an early rehearsal for one of those ramblingly endearing Robert Altman
films of the 70s?

First, aside from some irritating students in the rent house across
the street, we appear to be the only non-retired people on the block.
Geezerama. And I say this with the full knowledge that I'm 75%
geezer, myself. (See student observation above.) Several of the
revelers are looking 90 dead in the eye. Then there was the curious
buffet laid out on a ping pong table--if it ain't fried, it ain't
food. Well, there were watermelon chunks and potato salad, too. And
the huge living room with three -- 3 -- upright pianos in it. The
hostess lives alone. Three pianos?

Oddly only one of them was played by the three women who in succession
served up hymns, standards, boogie, and more. Tonight I found myself
singing along with a geriatric chorus to "The Tennessee Waltz," "Waltz
Across Texas With You" (Can't beat Ernest Tubb, try as you might),
"Great Balls of Fire," "Your Cheatin' Heart" (Okay, Hank beats Ernest
by some counts), "Amazing Grace," and Lord knows what else. "Honky
Tonk Angels" crept in somewhere. The retired librarian to my right
asked at one point what the song was, and my only reply was that it
wasn't Dylan. I must've done pretty well, though. I was invited to
join the Methodist choir before the night was done.

Being neighborly and supporting young scholars got me a little food,
but I believe I'll need a snack before bed. Here's my plan. I have a
little leftover grilled sirloin in the fridge. Together with some
shredded baby romaine, some shredded cabbage and carrots, some roasted
peanuts, some sliced cucumber, and some sliced red onion, it'll become
a salad. Dressing will be nuoc mam, lime juice, minced serrano chile,
brown sugar, olive oil, black pepper, and minced fresh herbs like mint
and basil. Hell, I might boil some soba noodles for it all, too.

As I sleep, I'll dream of Methodist choirs and Hank and Ernest. It
was deeply strange. Truly.


modom

modom wrote:

> Here's my plan. I have a little leftover grilled sirloin in the fridge.
> Together with some shredded baby romaine, some shredded cabbage and
> carrots, some roasted peanuts, some sliced cucumber, and some sliced red
> onion, it'll become a salad. Dressing will be nuoc mam, lime juice,
> minced serrano chile, brown sugar, olive oil, black pepper, and minced
> fresh herbs like mint and basil. Hell, I might boil some soba noodles for
> it all, too.

You don't happen to have any rice paper wrappers around, do you? No boiling
required.

Bob

On Fri 30 Sep 2005 08:55:08p, modom wrote in rec.food.cooking:

> We were pretty busy this evening. A woman whose project D supervised
> successfully defended the whole shebang today, so we met her for
> drinks and snacks at a local (make that THE local) Italian restaurant.
> I had wine and an okay calamari appetizer. Two glasses of house merlot
> (only the finest boxes served) later we hauled home to feed the dogs
> and walk down the block to a neighborhood dinner we were invited to.
>
> That's where the strangeness comes in. Have you ever felt like you
> were in a rough draft for a Mark Allan Stamaty cartoon?

<truly weird evening description snipped>

It was, indeed, strange. Even nightmarish! :-) I've been to a couple of
odd gatherings, but nothing quite so odd as this one.

> Being neighborly and supporting young scholars got me a little food,
> but I believe I'll need a snack before bed. Here's my plan. I have a
> little leftover grilled sirloin in the fridge. Together with some

You had leftover grilled sirloin? How'd that happen? That probably
wouldn't have even had a chance to get cold around here! :-)

> shredded baby romaine, some shredded cabbage and carrots, some roasted
> peanuts, some sliced cucumber, and some sliced red onion, it'll become
> a salad. Dressing will be nuoc mam, lime juice, minced serrano chile,
> brown sugar, olive oil, black pepper, and minced fresh herbs like mint
> and basil. Hell, I might boil some soba noodles for it all, too.

I absolutely steak salad, yet I've never made it. In fact, I rarely make
any type of salad at home because I'm the only one who would eat it.
Needless to say I try to dine at restaurants that have good salads!

I used to frequent a hotel restaurant back in NE Ohio that served a superb
steak salad. In fact, I think that's the only thing I ever ordered from
their menu, apart from appetizers. Your version sounds terrific!

> As I sleep, I'll dream of Methodist choirs and Hank and Ernest. It
> was deeply strange. Truly.
>
>
> modom
>



--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
_____________________________

http://tinypic.com/dzijap.jpg

Popie-In-The-Bowl

Wayne Boatwright > wrote in
:
>
> I absolutely steak salad, yet I've never made it. In fact, I rarely
> make any type of salad at home because I'm the only one who would eat
> it. Needless to say I try to dine at restaurants that have good
> salads!

Now, I'm often the only one who eats salad (Rob's not big on vegies, and
although he'll eat a little salad, he wouldn't necessarily eat what I
will), but I often make it. I find most salads are quite easy to make for
one, or if I make a little more I can throw it in a container and take it
to work for lunch the next day.

Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

"modom" > wrote in message
...
> We were pretty busy this evening. ...
> Being neighborly and supporting young scholars got me a little food,
> but I believe I'll need a snack before bed. Here's my plan. I have a
> little leftover grilled sirloin in the fridge. Together with some
> shredded baby romaine, some shredded cabbage and carrots, some roasted
> peanuts, some sliced cucumber, and some sliced red onion, it'll become
> a salad. Dressing will be nuoc mam, lime juice, minced serrano chile,
> brown sugar, olive oil, black pepper, and minced fresh herbs like mint
> and basil. Hell, I might boil some soba noodles for it all, too.
>


That was a strange evening...and a great snack! Thanks for the
report...I will keep this in mind next time we have leftover steak. It
sounds awesome, and I think even my husband (who doesn't do salad
entrees) would like it.

Chris

On 30 Sep 2005 23:21:02 -0500, "Bob Terwilliger"
> wrote:

>modom wrote:
>
>> Here's my plan. I have a little leftover grilled sirloin in the fridge.
>> Together with some shredded baby romaine, some shredded cabbage and
>> carrots, some roasted peanuts, some sliced cucumber, and some sliced red
>> onion, it'll become a salad. Dressing will be nuoc mam, lime juice,
>> minced serrano chile, brown sugar, olive oil, black pepper, and minced
>> fresh herbs like mint and basil. Hell, I might boil some soba noodles for
>> it all, too.
>
>You don't happen to have any rice paper wrappers around, do you? No boiling
>required.
>
>Bob
>
Excellent suggestion. No such thing is to be found in this county,
but I'll be in Dallas sometime soon.

modom

On 1 Oct 2005 06:58:37 +0200, Wayne Boatwright
> wrote:

>You had leftover grilled sirloin? How'd that happen? That probably
>wouldn't have even had a chance to get cold around here! :-)

Huge steak. Enough meat for four. Two diners.


modom

oh, modom
that sounds like a wonderful salad
-sorry, my shift key is on the fritz -
the radisson hotel here used to make a fabulous steak salad.
when it first appeared on the menu it was five or six slices of very
rare smoked tenderloin/filet on a bed of mostly dark greens including
spinich.

the menu said they smoked the tenderloin especially for the salad and i
believe they did . . . at first.
the meat and greens were accompanied by half a dozen marinaed -fresh-
mushroom caps, some nicely pickled baby corn and a couple of piles of
shredded smoked gouda cheese. this all came to the table on a big
dinner plate with a sauceboat of warm mustard bacon sauteed onion
dressing.

i adored that salad and ordered it every first saturday of the month
when i went out to lunch with the girls. it cost eight dollars -way out
of my budget but it was worth saving up for.

gradually over a year or so, the salad began to change - it was sad,
like watching a really spiffy neighborhood go downhill. i gave up when
the tenderloin/filet deteriorated to some lackadaisical julienne of
well done pot roast.

damn . . . i miss that salad and i'd kill for the dressing recipe

lynn in fargo=DC

On 1 Oct 2005 21:36:42 -0700, "Lynn from Fargo" >
wrote:

>oh, modom
> that sounds like a wonderful salad
>-sorry, my shift key is on the fritz -
>the radisson hotel here used to make a fabulous steak salad.
>when it first appeared on the menu it was five or six slices of very
>rare smoked tenderloin/filet on a bed of mostly dark greens including
>spinich.
>
>the menu said they smoked the tenderloin especially for the salad and i
>believe they did . . . at first.
>the meat and greens were accompanied by half a dozen marinaed -fresh-
>mushroom caps, some nicely pickled baby corn and a couple of piles of
>shredded smoked gouda cheese. this all came to the table on a big
>dinner plate with a sauceboat of warm mustard bacon sauteed onion
>dressing.
>
>i adored that salad and ordered it every first saturday of the month
>when i went out to lunch with the girls. it cost eight dollars -way out
>of my budget but it was worth saving up for.
>
>gradually over a year or so, the salad began to change - it was sad,
>like watching a really spiffy neighborhood go downhill. i gave up when
>the tenderloin/filet deteriorated to some lackadaisical julienne of
>well done pot roast.
>
>damn . . . i miss that salad and i'd kill for the dressing recipe
>
Yeah, it's a pain to see something good decline like that. On a
smaller scale here in Cow Hill, I watched a Chicago-style hotdog joint
go from using Nathan's franks to the odd idea of putting two ordinary
dogs on their delux hotdog. It changed owners and closed soon
afterward.

I wonder if experimenting with what you know and remember of the
dressing might prove a worthy project. You know, fry up some bacon
and then brown some onion dice in the grease. Add that to a mix of
Dijon mustard and some sort of creamy dressing. Adjust proportions as
taste dictates. It might work and the research could prove enjoyable.


modom