Monica Kochelee

My kids have been telling me that they found a website that converts audio and video files from one format to another.  They said it is a new program that is quick and easy to use, and that the company is offering a free trial download of the program.  They lost me when they started talking about video encoding.  I’m embarrassed to say I don’t even know what video encoding is!  I feel so old!

The word is out that there is a Great American Seafood Cook off happening in New Orleans. The cook off is supposed to be using domestic sustainable seafood recipes.   This cook off is one of the most prestigious contests.  The winning chef will win the title of King of American Seafood.  I went onto the Internet to find out what I could about the contest.

I’m very excited about the event because it is featuring local, fresh food instead of something foreign, frozen or canned.  I think that promoting local seafood is important.   I’d love to be able to enter my Aunt Johnnie’s baked seafood recipe in a seafood cooking contest!

This is her recipe:

Aunt Johnnie’s baked seafood casserole

1 pound of fish (suggests scallops, shrimp, or crab)

2 T butter (or oleo)

2 T flour

1 c chicken broth

1/8 t nutmeg

salt & pepper

Parmesan cheese

Bread crumbs

To make veloute sauce:  In a saucepan, melt butter, stir in flour, slowly add broth.  Return to heat, stirring constantly until thick & smooth.  Blend in salt & pepper & nutmeg.  In a separate frying pan saute fish in butter for approximately five minutes.  Combine the fish with the veloute sauce and put all in a shallow baking dish.  Sprinkle top with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese and brown it quickly under the broiler.

This recipe does not specify what KIND of bread crumbs to use, whether to buy the canned seasoned bread crumbs, or crumbs made from fresh bread.  So I’ve tried it both ways and I think I like the the fresh bread crumbs version the best.

If you’d like to share your favorite recipe with me, I’d love to hear from you!  Feel free to leave a comment with your recipe in it!

The local newspaper ran a short story, contributed by some readers about a couple from Maryland who go to the grand openings of Chik-Fil-A restaurants around the country. (For those of you who may not know what Chik-Fil-A is, it is a fast food restaurant that sells chicken products, no beef products. Their advertising campaigns involve cows encouraging people to eat chicken.)   Their chicken sandwiches and nuggets, and their fries are very tasty, and I can understand people wanting to get free food from the restaurant, but this couple has gone to extremes!

They camp out in the parking lot the night before so they can be one of the first 100 customers. Chik-Fil-A gives out “free Chik-Fil-A for a year” coupons to their first 100 customers. This couple has gone to eighteen of these grand openings in the past year, and have decided that they can’t use all the coupons, so now they just go for the fun of it and give the coupons away.

I don’t understand what is so much fun about camping out in a parking lot to be one of the first 100 customers to get free food if you then give away the free food! I’m udderly confused.

My brother sent me an email, telling me how excited he is that his office is holding a party at the Wrigley Field Rooftop Club.  They have bought each employee a Cubs rooftop ticket for the employee and one guest each.  I had never heard of the Rooftop Club, and thought it might be some thing along the line of some tall building near the sports stadium selling tickets to people that can’t actually get tickets to the sold out games or something like that.  Boy was I wrong! 

The Wrigley Field Rooftop Club is located inside the stadium, down the right field line, only 454 feet from home plate.  The Rooftop Club is a new building that just opened this past spring.  The Rooftop Club facility has three levels with over 9,000 square feet of space, sectioned off into suites, so companies can rent out different areas for private parties that they want to hold.  

It is set up with a lot of amenities including comfortable tables and chairs, wide screen televisions, and restrooms.  Food and beverages are included in the price of the ticket, and the guests get to eat and drink to their hearts content (up to the middle of the seventh inning, then the alcohol is cut off.)  Sounds like a great place to hold a corporate party!

My youngest son is staying in Philadelphia this summer, doing a college internship job.  My oldest son has never been to Philadelphia and expressed an interest in living there someday.  So last weekend I sent him off to spend the weekend with my youngest.  He took the train to Philly, which worked out wonderfully well.  If I ever send him up there again I will definitely send him by train!  He went up Friday afternoon and came home Monday afternoon.  They saw some sights, ate some good food and watched a few movies.  They both said they had a good time, and I was glad to have them spend some time alone together.