Close to Nowhere

One of my favorite techs (Diego ) at dialysis is a foodie. He’s originally from Ohio, so I have to excuse his ideas on a lot of food things. We were discussing barbecue the other day, and he thinks slaw on a barbecue sandwich is gross. He doesn’t like slaw at all.

He did make a suggestion I can't wait until fall to try out. When he makes chili, he adds whole kernel corn to it. That sounds so good.

Fortunately, he has a Southern girlfriend and she’s slowly educating him on the right way to eat.

He was telling me what he had cooked for dinner one night, adobo, and I had to come home and find a recipe for it. It sounds complicated but he says it’s not. It involves chunks of pork or chicken thighs marinated overnight in a blend of spices, soy sauce, canola oil and vinegar-- lots of garlic is a must. You serve it over rice. I’ve never tried it, but I can’t wait to.

We both made beef stroganoff last week. He puts mushrooms in his. I’m probably the only person in the world who doesn’t like mushrooms. It’s not just the texture, but they all taste like dirt.

My oldest granddaughter loves mushrooms and broccoli and raw onions and Chinese food. When she was twoish her grandfather Pop and some of his friends would take her to a fish house and she would entertain the waiters by eating slices of raw onion. My brother Dennis and I would take her to a lunch buffet and she would fill her plate with broccoli. And the waiters and even the owner of Ruby’s Chinese in Oxford would love to see her coming. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t eat, including hot and sour soup.

My youngest granddaughter and her husband are raising their one-year-old son right, also. Before he even had teeth they were letting him chew on barbecued turkey bones. Now, he won’t eat baby food. He loves tomatoes and barbecue, in fact anything his parents are eating. His paternal grandfather is a world class griller, and Link (the baby) loves everything he cooks. And if you want to see a really happy baby take him to a Chinese or Mexican restaurant.

My great-grandchildren in Colorado are regular eaters – pizza, chicken and dumplings – real food. My granddaughter says that health food is all there is to eat in Colorado and when she cooks real Southern food their friends line up and beg to eat with them.

Now I’m hungry so, I’m going to have some leftover spaghetti while I start some beef stroganoff for supper.