Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Taking Dinner to the Field

Travel with you meals are sometimes fun to make but get stressful for someone, like a farmers wife during planting or harvest, to keep ideas fresh and easy for those eating to handle. It is pretty well known that farmers like hearty meals and when they have been in the field and trying to beat the weather getting them to stop for 30 minutes to eat on the back of a tailgate can sometimes be impossible. Here are some ideas for unique in-the-field meal ideas for my friend Addie. 1. Triple Meat Burger with Crispy Bacon, thinly sliced ham and white cheese 2. Grilled Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches with Blue Cheese dressing 3. Cuban Sandwich - great because it is already wrapped up in foil - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Classic-Cuban-Midnight-Medianoche-Sandwich/Detail.aspx 4. Chicken Cesar Salad wrap - for a lighter appetite...or mix up your favorite salad and put it in a sundried tomato wrap 5. Calzones stuff them with favorite pizza toppings from anything to Italian sausage to pineapple to mushrooms - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Calzone/Detail.aspx 6. Pasties are basically a pot pie in a pocket of dough, again use your own variation - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pasties-II/Detail.aspx 7. Cold Fried Chicken make the chicken ahead of time, chill it and leave it for them in the cooler it is there when they need it 8. Grilled or Breaded/Fried Pork Tenderloins 9. BBQ pulled pork or beef brisket 10. Beef Empanadas Mix up the bread options that you put the sandwiches on and that will make the same meals seem new and exciting. Try different spices in your hamburgers use lemon pepper vs. just pepper or some smoked paprika to give a exotic flavor. If anyone has additional ideas or tricks for all the farm wives out there and especially Addie, please add them as comment. Traveling Cowgirl Code: The quickest way to a man's heart or his temper is through food or lack there of, so be wise and feed them!

Be a Kind Neurotic Christmas Shopper

With only 9 days left people get a little crazy, frazzled and just down-right mean when they are shopping for the last-minute treasures for their family, friends, co-workers or that last White Elephant/Ugly Christmas Sweater party that folks have to attend. So before you go out after work or this weekend people do me (and the rest of the world) take 10 minutes and MAKE A LIST so you know what you are getting and 1) don't over spend, 2) minimize your time on the road, stuck in traffic, in parking lots and in the stores and 3) don't forget anyone.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Airport Etiquette, Part 5 - Check-In

I realize that some of you who may not travel a lot do not know the rules, but I have consulted some of my frequent traveling friends and they agree with me so this isn't just me on my soap box this time... Note to all passengers, when there is an open kiosk in the Southwest check-in line and you are next in line please approach the empty kiosk and check-in like a good passenger should. If you want to be a Good Samaritan and the persons or people in front of you are sitting there staring into space or contemplating how awful this meeting is going to be that they are going to…gently remind them there is a kiosk open. If a gentle reminder isn’t working then use whatever extreme force is allowed by TSA.