The Scent Of A Woman

As women choosing a fragrance that compliments our individual body chemistry is one of great importance. We match our shampoo to our hair type; our make-up must blend to match our skin tone depending on whether we are fair, medium or dark. Then their is the whole color palette thing for hair, eye shadow, blush....are you a pink or an earth tone, a blond, brunette or redhead? It can be exhausting always trying to look and smell our best working with and accentuating what God gave us. We do this not only as a form of vanity but as a way to embrace our womanhood, femininity and as a way of recognizing that girly girl inside all of us.

This feminine mystique doesn't stop at humans it can also be highly exhibited in our four legged family members. By this time, I am sure all of you are familiar with my very dear friend Christine. Christine is very much a girly girl in the very best sense and it would stand to reason that she would have a dog who reflects those same girly girl qualities. When you see Christine's dog Lena, there is no mistaking that she is female, from her long flowing silky blond hair down to the gentle sashay of her hips when she walks. As a female, Lena is meticulous about her grooming. That is also why she has always gone with very specific fragrances to enhance her natural womanly beauty; Eau De Spring Air, Eau De Flowers, Eau De Summer Breeze, Eau De Crisp Winter, Eau De Falling Leaves and Eau De Fresh Cut Grass. These fragrances have always worked well with her natural chemistry and have kept her feeling feminine and attractive to others. Unfortunately Lena decided to throw caution to the wind (literally) and go to a new perfume counter to experiment with something different. The girl behind the counter seemed nice enough with her long flowing black hair and that striking white stripe down the center of her back. Lena's curiosity to try something new drew her closer to that girl allowing the girl to take her atomizer and give her a little spray. Lena being immediately horrified by the smell asked;" What on earth do you call this, it makes a compost heap smell like a field of gardenias".

The girl politely replied; it is my own personal scent sugar, I call it Eau De Skunk now you have a nice day Darlin' and please don't come back!

                                                                               Lena

Funny......well not so much for Christine or Lena for that matter. Happily the smell is finally starting to go away.

A stinky story deserves a stinky recipe and the very first thing that comes to mind.....Limburger Cheese of course!

Limburger cheese is undoubtedly one of the worst smelling cheeses in the world! Limburger actually smells far worse than it tastes. For many people though, the aroma is both the beginning and the end of the acquaintance.

I did not muster up enough courage to try Limburger until I was 37 years old but I must say I absolutely love it. Once you get past the smell it is one of the freshest tasting cheeses on the palate....hard to believe but true.

Limburger Cheese Sandwich

2 slices rye bread (dark, light or pumpernickel)

Prepared brown mustard or butter, I actually prefer the butter.

Limburger cheese, sliced

Thick slices of sweet onion

To assemble sandwich, spread mustard on rye bread slices; layer with limburger cheese and sweet onion slices.

Serve with your favorite beer.

Makes 1 sandwich.

                                                                                                      

Caution! This is not a perfume atomizer.

It's Really All About The Sandwich!

Su-Lin/Flickr

The basics of a good meat loaf seem simple at best but through the years and many a meat loaf later I can honestly say that there are some people who can take the humble meat loaf and make it taste like.....you know! Sadly my mother was one of those people, she was a really good cook with everything else but her meat loaf would make me shudder. To this day I still feel she put way too many onions in it. My mother was the queen of onions and in other recipes that was just fine but in meat loaf, not so great. My mother's meat loaf was three parts chopped onions to a little over one part ground beef. You couldn't cut a slice of this meat loaf if your life depended on it. Each slice would just fall apart; there was not enough ground beef to hold it together. I guess if she was serving some recipe called "Onion Loaf" this would have been great but when having meat loaf, I find that the meat part of the recipe should be the headliner.
I realize that I am extremely fussy when it comes to meat loaf, it is just one of those foods that I tend to be quite judgmental about. To be fair, I have even made some meat loaves that I wouldn't eat.
My mother liked topping her meat loaf with ketchup and bacon which is pretty common. I don't mind the bacon but I am not real big on the ketchup.
I actually prefer meat loaf with brown gravy or no gravy at all as long as the meat loaf is moist. I have had a couple people who have served me meat loaf and I have actually enjoyed it and gone back for seconds, my grandmother being one and the other being my dear friend Christine.
The funny thing is I could really care less about the initial meat loaf dinner, what I truly look forward to, obsess over and dream about is that meat loaf sandwich I am going to make with the leftovers! I am surprised by the number of people that feel the exact same way. I guess when it comes down to it meat loaf is less about dinner and more about the sandwich!

A Simple Loaf

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground veal
1/2 lb. ground pork
2 eggs
1 cup of sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 or 4 slices bacon
3/4 c. bread crumbs or bread cubes
1/2 c. parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp. of onion powder
1/2 tsp. of garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place all ingredients except the bacon in a bowl. Briefly blend well and form into a loaf. Place the loaf on a rack in a 10" baking pan and cover with the bacon slices. Bake for 1 1/2 hours until the meat loaf is firm and the bacon browned. Let the meat loaf rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

Neat Joes

This post is dedicated to someone very near and dear to me, her name is Christine. Chrissy as I more lovingly call her who has been a part of my family for many years now.
Chrissy helps me to unlock some of the many memories that I have stored deep inside of me. One day when we were having one of our infamous conversations she had brought up my grandfather whose name is Joe “Peepa” as I lovingly call him. As we talked about my grandfather for awhile I was remembering what a neat man that he was and Chrissy said that’s too bad cause then you could have written a post about Sloppy Joes. Then I remembered that he actually did like Sloppy Joes. So I thought even neat Joe’s eat Sloppy Joe’s we both had a good laugh.
So here is to all the neat Joe’s out there, my Peepa who is watching me from up above and to Christine my earth bound angel.

Sloppy Joes For The Not So Sloppy

1 lb. hamburger
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green or red bell pepper
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
1 Tablespoon mustard
1/4 tsp. of garlic powder
1/4 tsp. of onion powder
1/4 cup brown sugar (add more or less to taste)
1/4 cup ketchup
Salt and Pepper to taste

Brown your hamburger add onions and green peppers. Drain off grease and add remaining ingredients and simmer slowly to desired thickness and flavor.

FYI- The thicker you make them, the neater they are to eat!

Manzo Italiano

You’ve got your Arby’s roast beef, you’ve got your Philadelphia cheese steak, you’ve got your local steak bomber …….and then you’ve got the Godfather of them all; The Italian Beef”! The Italian beef is different from all the others because it cooks all day long. The beef becomes quite tender while absorbing much of the cooking liquid, leaving the meat loaded with flavor.
Too time consuming to make at home you say; fuggetaboutit. We can either do this the hard way or nice and easy like the recipes says….Capisce?

Italian Beef

3-4 lb. beef roast (inexpensive cuts work well with slow cooking such as chuck roast, bottom round or flank)
2 cans beef broth
1 packet Good Seasons Italian dressing (Zesty gives more flavor)
1- 16 oz. jar of pepperoncini’s (may put in whole or halved length wise, just remove the stems and seeds).

Mix all together, including brine from peppers. Cook all night or day if you prefer in oven set at 200 or in crock pot set on low for 7 to 8 hours. Chill to skim off fat (or feel free to leave the fat and enjoy right away), if chilling just reheat then slice or shred beef and serve on buns or a good hearty French or Italian style Bread (do not forget to drizzle some of that broth onto the bread or dunk it just like you would a French Dip sandwich with au jus).
Tastes great just as is but if you need to dress it up here are some suggestions.

Topping ideas:

Cheese (any)
Giardiniera (Italian pickled vegetable mix) you’ll find in next to the pepper
Roasted bell peppers
Fried onions
Condiments

Photo/iancarvell/flickr

Me at My Absolute "Wurst"

It was the best of times, it was the wurst of times, it was the age of mustard, it was the age of pumpernickel rye, it was the epoch of thinly sliced onion……..okay now I’ve just gone way too far. I am sure that Charles Dickens would greatly appreciate me turning “A tale of Two Cities” into a parody about liverwurst. If blame must go to anyone then by all means blame my mother for planting thoughts of liverwurst in my brain.
Each week I bring her something special to eat (of her choosing). During a visit with her yesterday she said that she had a request, she said the next time that I come she would like a liverwurst sandwich on rye with mustard and sliced onions. Then it hit me how long it had been since I had a liverwurst sandwich. I hated liverwurst until I was in my late teens, then later developed a taste for it. So needless to say my mother will not be the only one getting a treat next visit.

I really didn’t think that anyone needed a recipe for a liverwurst sandwich so I perused the web for a nice recipe that has liverwurst as an ingredient, hope it’s good, if not just make the sandwich.

Liverwurst Dip (This actually sounded pretty good)

1 lb. liverwurst (any)

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup finely chopped green onions

1 teaspoon of beef bouillon granules, diluted in 1 cup of warm water

Mix all ingredients together well.

Serve with bread or crackers