7.06.2012

I'll say it again: FIRE EAGLE

Only one BA dish for you, but it's a three-parter and also the cover photo, and also there was a NATIONAL HOLIDAY that required I spend all day being obnoxious on Twitter, so quit yer whinin' already. BA#35 Slow-roasted salmon with BA#36 cherry tomatoes and couscous.


I am going to be slightly harder on this dish than the others, because I feel that as the cover photo it is emblematic of the 60 RECIPES and, by extension, of summer itself. First quibble: "slow-roasted" is not a phrase that I associate with summertime cooking. Don't get me wrong, I loooooove long, slow cooking methods, even in inappropriate seasons. But I am not an extremely popular cooking magazine! I need guidance on how NOT to have my oven on all afternoon when it's 100 degrees outside, because that's what I ridiculously revert to much of the time.

Second quibble: uncooked Israeli couscous, at least the whole wheat version,  looks and smells somewhat like those fish pellets you can buy at the zoo.

Counterpoint: that makes it more of a theme dish, which I like.
Third quibble: it all tasted fine, but also lacking. I really think it could be improved by the addition of something, but I'm not sure--OH WAIT maybe the BA#37: yogurt sauce that I made ahead of time and then forgot about.

A more conscientious recipe writer would add a reminder at the bottom to make sure you have not abandoned any elements of the dish in the refrigerator, is all I'm saying.
This year I on America's birthday I learned that I have not yet mastered grilling.

Wait, the most-cooked thing wins, right?
Obviously pretty disappointing. This is Dan's fourth.


The afternoon was redeemed by the Americanist-looking beer I could come up with.

I just think FIRE EAGLE bears repeating here.
We also spent some fun time at "Fourthfest" at our local park! I won't bother listing all of the child-oriented activities that were offered, since Anna's face says everything you need to know.

She was especially unhappy about being offered a wedge of watermelon.
It's not like she didn't have any fun, you guys. There were wood chips, after all.

And pants to put them in!
Anna used to be unimpressed by the level of the competition at the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, but now that she actually eats hot dogs I think she's coming around.

Wait until she gets a load of the bear. (H/T Elizabeth, that video made me prouder of America than anything else all day.)
And how was your first Fourth, Ivy? I know you're pretty low-key about holidays.

(Adds "independence" to Ivy's List of Exciting Things.)