good food and lost causes?

Dear Blog Reader;

I hope this blog finds you doing well. I hope that you have found the appropriate way to eat your Halloween candy. Whether you plan to spread out the bounty of your haul and eat one piece a day for the next 3 months or if you plan to eat it in one giant orgy of exploding sugar and caffeine, I hope that you enjoyed or will enjoy it. For goodness sake, turn off the dentist warning loop dissuade you from the enjoyment that only 500 bite sized snickers bars can bring.

For those of you blogosphere denizens blessed with children, I hope that you took the opportunity to teach your children about taxes. When my kids were small, I instituted a candy tax on their Halloween haul. As a firm believer in the flat tax, I instituted a 25% levy. As the taxing authority, I was able to choose which 25% was turned over to me. No Smarties for me. I was the government. In Snickers and Reeses, we trust. What did the kids think? They hated it; exactly as it should be.

I had a unique opportunity two weeks ago. Grace has a college friend from Terre Haute. She knows of a restaurant that is staffed by the owner, head chef, and chief dish washer and they just happen to all be the same person. He has no coke or Pepsi products, no liquor license, and no credit card machine. If those aren't enough handicaps for a restaurant business model, he also has no menu, or published prices. You simple go in and let him know what you don't want and he will go back to the kitchen and make you something.

I was intrigued with the concept. It has hopeless cause written all over it. Bev and I had a day off in common a couple of weeks ago. We woke up and decided to go. I made a promise to myself that I would say yes to everything he suggested. It was wonderful. The black bean soup was the best that I have ever had. It was spicy and had a shredded beef in it. I also had this stuff that I am too much of a philistine to know its name, but it was served on a bed of spinach which was very good.

He went on to make four different entrees. They were all great. It was undoubtedly, some of the best food that I have ever had in a restaurant. I loved it all except for the sushi. Again, the inner-philistine broke out screaming cook the damned fish.

The afternoon was completed by a wonderful 45 minute conversation about kids, college, organic farming and being empty nesters with our host.

One of the really cool things is that he gave Bev a cookbook that she had looked at on his reading table. It had a recipe to make homemade Oreos. Who knew? I thought that they were made with magic. How could mere mortals make an Oreo in their humble kitchen? You can though and they are very good. Close your eyes and imagine a roll of butter (lots of it) and powdered sugar (lots more of it) waiting for you to cut it to double stuffed thickness. You can cut it and pop it into your mouth when the cook isn't looking. Oh the humanity, the goodness, the not having to mess with those dry, grainy, thin chocolate cookies.

Bev liked it. The food is good, but is unsure if it was worth the drive to Terre Haute. I on the other hand was able to enjoy good food and witness a lost cause. I loved it and couldn't wait to share it with you because I am sure that you will love it too.

Will you like it? Who knows? I just put it out there as a possibility.

http://harryandbuds.com/

Take care, and could you pass the salt? Ummmm.

Roger