A Man A Can A Plan

I am NOT a good cook. Let’s get that straight. But I like to play with food and I LOVE cookbooks! I have tons of cookbooks which makes everyone laugh when they see the shelf in our kitchen. But it’s the culture, language, history, social-psych thing.

Tonight I made a meal from one of my favorite “weird” cookbooks. I have a whole category of weird cookbooks: The Beet Cookbook, The White Trash Cookbook (quite extraordinary in every way) and today’s pick, a cookbook called: “A Man. A Can. A Plan.” This is a cookbook for men who can’t cook—bachelor of a certain era, divorced guys, it’s written very guy—explains what utensils are—“grab one of those big spoons with holes in it”. And it’s made of that very thick, shiny cardboard, the kind of paper used for books for babies. But the cool part is that the recipes are based on food that comes in cans. Yes my dear friends who only eat organic or local or vegan will DIE. So die. There is good food in this book—Think Grandma. Think church supper.

Tonight’s yummy casserole was “Spaghetti Western”:

Two cans of Spaghetti O’s. One can black beans. Half pound ground round, two chopped scallions, 2T grated cheddar, 2T chili powder. Cook all in one pan. Six minutes tops.

Add nice salad: Baby spinach, Bibb leaves, a tomato, salt & pepper, juice of half lemon and olive oil.

Dinner was ready in under ten minutes and it was delicious (And there are leftovers)

One serving: 500 calories and 14 grams of protein. Which means I can have biscotti and ice-cream while we watch another episode of “To Serve Them All Our Days.”

Everything Works (plus recipe)

Yesterday I got my hair cut. I have gone to the same lovely spa and salon for many years. Jean, The owner, is French is wonderful at connecting with his customers. When we learned about John’s cancer and chemo I told Jean and asked if he could do something for John—thinking he’d need a much shorter hair to get ready for losing it. The day John came for his special spa haircut all the stylists and their assistants were checking him out. He is very handsome, but it turns out that they all wanted to watch because the gal cutting his hair was giving her first haircut! So there was plenty of audience to cheer her on and to cheer John up.

Because of that Regine, the woman who cuts my hair, knows the story and the situation. When I see her we always talk first about John—his hair, his chemo and how he feels. So yesterday as she’s running her hands thru my hair and we are talking about the color and whether I need highlights again—she is telling me, “You won’t believe this…” Her best friend has just started dating a man with Colon Cancer. Her friend is in her 50’s and the new man is in his 50’s and he has colon cancer and has just completed his chemo. He is happy and they are happy etc. etc.

Then Regine leans closer to me and says in a soft voice, “My friend says everything works.” Pause. Then “You know what I mean? Everything works.” I pause. And then I get it. Her friend told her that sexually—with the new boyfriend with cancer—“everything works.” I laugh. She adds quickly, “Not that it’s everything but it matters, no?”

Yes it matters, I’m glad too that “everything works”.

Recipe:

Regine suggested this recipe for cooking salmon. I made this last night and it too works supremely well:

Marinade salmon filets for one hour in a mixture of half maple syrup and half teriyaki sauce. Bake at 375 skin side up for ten minutes. Turn them over and pour remaining marinade on top. Bake five more minutes at 400. The maple will caramelize on the salmon. Serve with mashed potatoes and asparagus or broccoli.