Food for thought

My favorite food item this week is the kebob. Every night we’ve been putting chunks of bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and slices of kielbasa on skewers. Then we brush them with locally made Larrupin Red Sauce and grill them on the electric hibachi. Good stuff. Next week I think I’ll make the same thing, but with chunks of lamb or pork or something else. It’s also time to buy a whole pineapple. That’s good on kebobs and for snacking.

To go along with the kebobs, I created a special dish – jalapeno polenta. It’s a recipe that I improvised, and it tastes like it. I would describe it as “unpleasant,” “mushy,” “unevenly cooked,” “muy picante,” “sweat inducing” and “intestinally painful.” If you’d like the recipe, let me know.

A couple weeks ago I saw a commercial on TV for the Subway Bourbon Chicken Sandwich. A Madison Avenue advertising agency made it look mouth-wateringly delicious on TV, so I picked one up for my weekly drive to Smith River. Big mistake.

The chicken had a Gummy Bear consistency and the “bourbon” sauce was like some sort of thickened high fructose corn syrup substance – a cross between teriyaki sauce and catsup. It was nasty and as I drove down Central Avenue gnawing on it at about 7:30 a.m., a giant gob of sauce dripped on to the front of my shirt.

It was a bad way to start the day.

The sandwich was really unpleasant. I would have returned it, but that really wasn’t an option after I ate the whole thing.

I don’t typically eat sandwiches for breakfast. I prefer bagels.

My favorite is a Los Bagels garlic bagel. It’s dense, reeks of garlic and keeps the vampires away.

Almost as important as the bagel you select is what you put on top. I rotate several basic recipes.

One of my favorites is to slather the bagels with low-fat cream cheese and cover them with gobs of Mad River Farms Jalapeno Jelly. That stuff rocks. That’s probably more sugar than one should eat for breakfast, so I only eat this a couple times a month.

Or, I make the bagel with cream cheese, grated carrot, scallions and chopped olives. I cover this with a generous dose of Larrupin Mustard Sauce.

Other options include cream cheese/tomato slices/onions. or a cream cheese/pesto mix.

All of these bagels are washed down with a low sodium V8 spiked with Tobasco sauce and black pepper.

When I grow tired of the bagels, sometimes I eat what I call a “Chinese Breakfast.” It’s loosely based on what my parents said they ate for breakfast when they visited China in the late 1980s.

I make a bunch of rice the day before. Before breakfast, I nuke a bowl of rice. I toss in some scallions, peanuts, raisons, hard-boiled egg and soy sauce. Viola – Chinese breakfast.

Authentic? Probably not. But it serves its purpose.

More than anything, I’ve been ingesting a lot of water lately. Seems like when I’m not sitting behind the computer, I’m either cruising on the electric bike conducting business, or working on the garage.

It’s hot work. Which reminds me – we need to make some sun tea.