By Dan Roark
Since I have looked for recipes online before, I am now getting emails with recipes. Some of them are variations of other recipes someone has borrowed and made their own and given stupid names. Under the misguided impression that calling it Barbara Walters bake will entice people to try it and other recipes of theirs so they can put out a cookbook that’ll look good in their kitchen, but won’t sell. They can show all their friends the book and sign a few copies, but they’ll fall far short of their cooking show goal.
One of the recipes I received earlier this week was for something called Cowboy Caviar. I couldn’t help but look to see what the hell it was. I think the name is still crap, but the recipe was close enough to the corn salad I have been trying to recreate from where ever the hell I had it once, or at least what’s in my head, to use as a base recipe.
Which is what Cyndy and I would ordinarily do when the same old same old becomes tiresome. We find a recipe to give us ideas and then do whatever we want – none of this, less of that, no way do I need to do that much work, type of thing.
This particular recipe called for white wine vinegar. Which sounded right for the result I was looking for so I bought some. We only had red wine vinegar.
I made the corn salad and it turned out rather well. It was not like the recipe I received in my inbox. Which made me all the more happy, because there’s no way I was going to vocalize the words, “Cowboy Caviar.”
But here’s the deal. I don’t think it would have made a big difference if I had gone ahead and used red wine vinegar. Now we have a bottle of white wine vinegar to add to our bottles of red wine vinegar, cooking sherry, and so forth that we only use once in a blue moon or even less often.
For one thing folks, it’s all freaking vinegar. Any sort of wine trace gets cooked out or fades out if used cold. The only way you could tell the difference is to drink it from the bottle. The dominant flavor would still be vinegar. The red wine vinegar might have more of a brisk flavor out of the bottle, but who wants to drink it out of the bottle?
Either way, I’ve got a corn salad recipe that’s pretty damn good. If I make it again, I’ve got both white wine and red wine vinegar, and I can use either one I want. I challenge anyone to tell the difference in the end result.
Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.
Peace be with you.
So I spent a good chunk of my birthday with Cyndy standing in line at Globe Life Field waiting to get in and get the Adolis Garcia replica ring. It was the last time this year we have to get the promotional item or theme night item for our youngest son, J.D. It was definitely not the first.
I also mentioned. The hitch was, we had to pay to park, and both of us had to get in line to get them, because both aforementioned sons wanted one. Their older brother, Conner – who’s in Iowa, got a replica World Series trophy when he was in town, so he’s good.
When I check into a hotel, ordinarily there is one remote by the tv. Granted, there are times I have had to take it to the front desk for new batteries or eventually getting a new remote. Which entailed holding the door of the room open while the desk clerk programed the new remote. But ultimately – regardless of the technical delay – it still only took one remote to operate the tv.
We had new siding installed at the house a while back. The picture is from the camera before they took it down and we were looking at the front lawn – that also had crap all over it. The ladder is over the front door. This went on for days. The back door was blocked as well.
I pulled into the parking space in front of the 
Chasing After Wind 