Bean's Mediterranean Burger

Burgers, Vegetables, and Fries

We found a free grill on the roadside this weekend, and today bought a propane tank. Tonight we tried it out! Rare burgers accompanied by peaky asparagus and mushrooms and garlic in foil.

I did the grilling, which is most unusual; inside, Bean fried up some potatoes. Things he would like to share:

1. The secret to frying foods is: fry them once....and then fry them again.

2. Frying in olive oil is possible (and delicious).

Moving, and Burgers.

Today we moved the first of our things into a giant, beautiful colonial.

And it ended with a (finally) rare burger!! Perfect with corn and a glass of Cabernet.

Summer is nearly here.

Goat Cheese Burger

Tuesday grilling!

Burger with a goat cheese & pesto spread, specially mixed by Bean. On the side; grilled mushrooms and spinach, with olive oil and garlic and salt, and a dill pickle from Panera that Dear Morg did not desire.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

A Rare Burger (Finally)

Red meat? It never occurs to me until times like this -- a beautiful sunny (thunderstormy) day where there are lots of friendly mouths to feed. We sped to the grocery store on the moped but got drenched unexpectedly on the way back.

:D

And since there are so many people to feed (Nick, Paige, Mike, Ma'am, Morgue, Simon and I) my burger, being smaller than the rest, suffers a terrible fate -- that of being cooked all the way through. So this time, Simes and I waited until minutes after everyone else's burger was grilling to add ours. And finally, mine was wonderfully red and juicy, oozing out over the toasted Saloio bread roll and Fontina cheese.

On the top: pea sprouts and mushrooms, grilled in foil with olive oil and Italian spice. I cannot tell you how good...

And a special study in martini-bound olives:

Spring Grilling

Spring's first grilling! Ears of corn wrapped in foil with onions, butter and garlic, and a burger with cheddar on fresh bread....

What could beat that?!

We can grill again!!

Ma'am is gone for this week, and so we determined to use the ground beef she left in the refrigerator. There was Bean and Nick and Paige and Mike and me. We made eight burgers; but with hugely disproportionate buns, I used a quarter for mine.

Those wimps prefer well-done burgers, though -- so what turned out the best to me was a hump of quartered mushrooms and cherry tomatoes, drizzled in olive oil, oregano and basil.

Summer Grillinz

My ever-cheery coworker brought in summer squash to share from her garden. I don't normally like squash too much, but grilling it seemed like a grand idea when Simon suggested we make burgers. I mixed up some olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, thyme and basil, and soaked these in it for a while before plopping them on. The oil caused the flames to shoot up, producing this slightly charred look (and a gloriously smoky flavor). They were tasty, guys!

With them I had a burger on sourdough bread with provolone cheese, and some cape cod potato chips. Summer, I think, is here...

Mushrooms in Red Wine

There were a lot of mushrooms in the refrigerator threatening to topple into the realm of undesirability, so I cooked up a few for myself in:

butter

red wine

garlic

lemon juice

rosemary

thyme

They came out delicious. No one else in the Sarris house except Dearest Mother enjoys them, though (wimps!).

We also grilled burgers marinated in soy sauce and some other things of which I am unaware, and they were beauteously done.

HIKING

Finally a beautiful day; finally nothing to do. I mapped out a route through the Catskills, and here is what I found:

10 miles of hiking

5 1/2 hours

1 protein bar consumed

3 water bottles quaffed

1 tin salmon + 1 Reeses cup given to somewhat starving bearded man with large pack and very slow shuffle

1 old couple met

(25*9) - 3 = 222 pictures taken

1 diner visited

1 feta burger, 1 million fries, and 1 diet coke digested

$10.64 spent

11 truck-driving songs heard

1 stomach a'rumbling at the end

2 calves very tight

1 forearm bruised (how?)

1 shin scraped

2 socks filled with mud

1 head of hair irreversibly mussed

It was the perfect day...

Back-to-School Burgers

tiring joyous weekend

love everywhere

but still

happy back.

This was a burger made from Greenland Farm's ground beef; Moth was reluctant about giving me a package but!

Mixed into the burger were:

soy sauce

oregano

salt / pepper

and adorning it:

Simon's homemade bread

Gouda cheese

spinach

Quite nice.

Nana's Birthday

Dearest Nana gets so touched every year when we all gather with our foods and our cards and our gifts and hugs to celebrate her birthday. We lug everything up the huge hill, light a fire, grill grill grill and play ball games until Nana feels the touch of the first bug. Then it's time to go home for presents and dessert; all eyes on Nana until she's done or else. But it's always a time that I love so...

This is the typical fare (home-grown burgers and store bought cheesecake):

Cookout

Meg wanted to have an apartment cookout, so we dragged the grill and some chairs and a guitar outside, and invited Ryan over to partake in the sun and shine. But halfway through, the charcoal got cold, the sun went down, and the burgers did not cook. So, merrily enough, we lugged everything back upstairs and continued the festivities there. Meg made some delicious concoction of broccoli + gluten-free crackers + cheese, and the burgers came out pretty good; we put some interesting curry sauce on the top for flavoring. All in all it was a good meal, beginning and ending with some cheap wine and good budsies who I see far too rarely...

Buuuuuuuuuurgers

The day after brush-burning there was a Farmer's Market at the Williamsville Chapel (Hubbardston), so I went to say goodbye to Mother and Father. They were there selling beef and volunteering all over the place, since it was put on by the Hubbardston Historical Society and they are involved in everything, somehow. While I was there I bought some goat cheese from Westfield Farm, and Mother gave me a pound of ground beef from our precious cows. On the way out, Fath bought me a birthday quart of pistachio almond ice cream, much of which I had to eat on the drive back to New York because it was melting all over.

So! This was my birthday dinner! We mixed in some soy sauce and oregano with the ground beef, and fried it up; spread goat cheese and spinach on fresh sourdough bread, and.......