1. I started my day in the kitchen, preparing tonight's family dinner, by making a small batch of tahini. I poured a bunch of roasted sesame seeds in the food processor and as the machine pulverized them, I poured oil down the chute into the processing bowl. By mistake, I realized too late, I used sesame oil instead of olive oil. My knees started to shake with trepidation as I dipped a spoon into the sauce and within seconds I felt a warm bath of relief. The tahini tasted awesome made with sesame oil.
I cleaned the food processor, reassembled it, and put a can of chickpeas and a quarter cup of chickpea liquid in the food processor along with garlic cloves, fresh squeezed lemon juice, olive oil (I got it right this time), tahini, and salt. I ran the food processor and within minutes I used a spatula and transferred the hummus to a bowl.
Earlier, I had purchased sesame seed and plain bagels at Beach Bum Bakery and later in the afternoon I cut one of each into bite-sized pieces to be dipped into the hummus as an appetizer.
2. I decided to make a simple Greek cucumber salad. All I did was peel and slice two cucumbers, halve a heaping handful of grape tomatoes, cut up some Kalamata olives, put it all in a bowl and added a generous sprinkle or two of crumbled feta cheese. I dressed the salad with a combination of fresh squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, and oregano.
For tonight's side, I made Greek rice. I chopped a white onion and a couple cloves of garlic and cooked them in olive oil in a sauce pan for over five minutes. I added long grain white rice and cooked it with the onion and garlic for a few minutes. I poured a couple cups of chicken broth and the juice of a couple of lemons over the rice, put a lid on the sauce pan, brought the liquid to a simmer, and then turned the heat on low and once the rice was cooked, I added a some fresh rosemary to the rice and fluffed and stirred it.
3. I bought inch thick pork chops at Costco Saturday and Sunday evening I made a marinade of fresh squeezed lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper.
I took out the chops a while before cooking them so they'd warm up to room temperature.
I turned the heat up to medium high under both cast iron skillets for about five minutes. I poured vegetable oil into each hot pan and then put three chops in each pan. I seared one side of the chops for about 3-4 minutes and then turned them over and put both skillets in the oven at 400 degrees. I roasted the chops for about 6 minutes or so, plated them, and covered them with aluminum foil and let them rest for about five minutes.
In between fixing the rice and the pork chops, I got out our carafe and in it I mixed vodka, ouzo, and fresh squeezed lemon and orange juice. The cocktail is called a Greek Doctor and everyone enjoyed it, meaning that all of us enjoy the anise, licorice-y flavor of ouzo.
I had a blast preparing this dinner and everyone said they enjoyed it.
We all sat at the dinner table for quite a while -- were we there for two hours? -- and talked about school, children, the Salmon River, Monk, our mothers, Mother's Day coming up, and a host of other things. By the end of our yakking and laughing, the bottles of wine and the bottle of ouzo were empty and the vodka bottle was pretty well dented, too.
We had a mirthful and merry time. Yes, some serious subjects came up and so did a lot of funny stories and numerous wise cracks.
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