LINDSEY AND BIG LOU EAT THEIR WAY THROUGH AMISH COUNTRY AND OTHER PARTS OF NORTHERN INDIANA. Well, that's exaggerating a bit, but....since Bob was playing golf in CA and Brent was climbing Long's Peak in CO, Lindsey decided to bring her dog up and spend most of the weekend with ME. We stopped at my favorite Amish front yard produce mart for fresh strawberries (they'll have them until November, they tell me), then it was Jo-Jo's world famous pretzels at the Davis Mercantile in Shipshewana and a sample fest at Yoder's Meat and Cheese Shop. The sign said you were only allowed one single toothpick stab into each clear plastic container. We operated the best we could under those restrictive guidelines. We bought Swiss cheese, smoky horseradish cheese, porkburgers, summer sausage, and pecan crisps. We also got very excited over the fabric at Yoder's Department Store and may have gotten carried away with our purchases. Later we went into Fort Wayne and bought the spinach and asiago cheese chicken sausages at Sam's that Lindsey had been hearing about -110 calories. And, we picked up an order to go at Casa Grille - the house salad and six-layer chocolate cake. That night - we went through our box of fabric scraps and old patterns, and our books. Happy noises were made when we came across something we loved or forgot we had. It was fun.









Bonnie the Barbarian - aka The Mountain Goat, decided to get up on the pool table. Since we put new furniture in the family room, the blue wing back chairs have been temporarily relegated to the catch-all pool room and she used them to make her leap to the summit. Hey, climbing to the summit, just like you, Brent. What a scamp. Here's my cartoon dog reenactment of the event:





















Recipe of the Week: If reading about the smoked horseradish cheese in our refrigerator isn't enough to make Bob get on a Red Eye headed for home, then the knowledge that this creamed corn dish is also here waiting for him, surely will bring him back home again, to Indiana. This will be the last post about corn for the season, I promise, so - lend an ear. Ah, ha-ha.

John Schenk, executive chef of Strip House restaurants made this on the Today Show a couple of weeks ago, and Al Roker and I were both salivating over the ingredients. I had to try it. Here it is:



Creamed Corn

3/4 pounds diced pancetta or good quality bacon
1 cup small-diced Spanish onion
2 quarts corn kernels, cut off the cob
1 pint heavy cream
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup quick cook polenta (grits)
1 teaspoon chipotle chili puree (optional)
1 cup Parmesan cheese
Reserved pancetta/bacon fat
2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
Salt and pepper to taste

Render the pancetta/bacon crisp in a sided saute pan or small soup pot and remove 2/3rds of the fat. Reserve the fat. Add the onion to the pancetta and saute until golden. Add the corn kernels and cook until the corn is approaching tender. Add the cream and bring to a simmer. While gently stirring, add the polenta in several even scatterings over the corn-cream mixture to avoid any lumps. Cook for five minutes, until the creamed corn is thickened. Fold in the chipotle puree and Parmesan cheese. Add one half of the chopped parsley and adjust seasoning if needed.

For the bread crumb topping: Heat the reserved pancetta fat in a saute pan. Add the panko and toss until golden. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add remaining chopped parsley and remove from heat.

To assemble: Put the creamed corn mixture into a Pyrex glass cake pan or other serving piece. Sprinkle an even layer of panko bred crumbs over the top and place under the broiler to gently brown.


"If you ever go temporarily insane, don't shoot somebody like a lot of people do. Instead, try to get some weeding done, because you'd be really surprised." Jack Handey