Food & Dining

Grilling Weekend

And here’s the stickers on the grill:

We’re running out of room on the cooler places of the backyard grill for decals identifying us as an Arizona Redneck – LOL. At any rate, it is a beautiful weekend with temperatures finally below 100°F. Very nice grilling weather. Today, we enjoyed a grilled pork loin filet drizzled with honey mustard sauce. Damsel prepared sides of broccoli salad and braised (in bacon drippings) Brussels sprouts (Rose Cabbage in some cultures). Delicious!

Tomorrow’s faire will include Beef Steaks – Hers a Filet Mignon and mine a Tri-tip. Damsel will prepare a green salad on the side. I may update this post with photos after tomorrow.

Click on either image to open the image viewer for larger size.

UPDATE: Steaks on the Grill.

Labor Day 2024

For us here at Casandro Castle, AZ, we’re celebrating Labor Day this year with a simple cookout of grilled Cheeseburgers on Keto Buns (thank goodness and Oroweat™ for those low carb buns). These photos are from a previous cookout, but I’m confident that Damsel will be able to repeat her past performances.

Click on either image to enlarge.

Labor Day for us, is in recognition to the hard workers that made this country what it is today; we’re talking about the pioneers in the industrial revolution, the pioneers who built villages and towns from hand-hewn lumber, the inventors of technologies and advanced concepts for better living and the hard-working Americans who funneled their industry and hard work to set America on the path to becoming the greatest Nation in history. We are specifically NOT talking about labor unions and the damage that they have done to our Nation in the 20th and 21st Centuries. (Thanks, in part, to Jimmy Hoffa, et al, where ever they may be.)

As we head into the fall and the imminent political season of a presidential election year, may we all be inspired by the men and women who made this country great and to Make America Great Again.

If you are a gun owner or a firearms enthusiast in Arizona (or anywhere else) get registered to vote, and then vote for candidates that will vote to keep the second amendment intact.

May God bless the true laborers in our Great Nation and keep them free and secure. Amen.

Keep your EDCs handy and watch your six over the next few months.

Lughnasadh 2024

Today, we celebrate the Gaelic Cross-Quarter Feast of Lughnasadh, which, in ancient times, marked the beginning of harvest season. We’re going to celebrate with a traditional feast consisting of Corned Beef (Round Cut) and Cabbage with some lower carb vegetables (Squash, Turnips, Brussels Sprouts, etc.) to keep closer to our Keto diet.

As in past posts about Celtic celebrations, we issue the disclaimer that we are not bound by Wiccan or other Heathen religious traditions since we are Christians and practice the only true religion in our daily lives. We only celebrate their traditions since our ancestors were mostly Gaelic and Celtic. The feasting is awesome.

The weather today here in Wickenburg is much the same as yesterday, with thunderstorms over the mountains east and north of here, but still dry here. We have a 20% chance for showers before 8 PM. We could use a little gentle rain.

OK – time to go and slice the entrĂ©e for the feast. Enjoy your Sunday — the Lord’s Day!

Update: we’re getting some of that rain now. Big drops far apart but covering the ground and soaking in.

Cinco de Mayo —
  Southwestern Feast Day

Today, Cinco de Mayo, is the second of the two nearly concurrent feast days we tend to celebrate in early May. Like in yesterday’s post, the image above is an AI-generated picture with the suggestion of “Cinco de Mayo Buffet.” Also, as in yesterday’s image. I added the 3D text overlay. You may see the original AI image here.

Today’s feast consisted of a Southwestern New Mexican Pork Stew, which was very good. This is another of Damsel’s recently discovered recipes. At this hour, we’re all content with the feasting weekend now behind us.

As a disclaimer, we’re of Celtic ancestry, but not Latino. We celebrate because of the food and culture for both events. As for us, we are Christian, Patriotic Americans and celebrate the appropriate religious and patriotic events and feasting as they occur.

Beltane — Celtic Feast Day

This is the weekend in May where we celebrate two nearly concurrent feasts. Today is the first feast in celebration of the Celtic Cross-Quarter day of Beltane, or, the beginning of the summer season. I will post about the other feast we celebrate this weekend tomorrow.

The (clickable) image above is a scene generated by Microsoft’s Copilot AI image creator. I suggested a pastoral Irish Festival scene and this is what it came up with. I overlaid the Beltane text using an old 3D graphics program by Xara. The original AI-generated image without the overly can be seen here.

Our feast today consisted of “Guinness Meat Stew” from a recipe the Damsel found on-line. It was indeed a feast.

Camping — Junction, TX

We’re camped in Junction, a little town just off of I-10. The town is located a hundred miles or so west of San Antonio. It’s a pleasant rural-ish RV park alongside the Llano River. We’re staying here for a couple of nights just to relax for the weekend. We have already had our dinner and are settled in watching TV and surfing on the internet.

The ride out of San Antonio was even more of a nightmare than the arrival last night. It took us a full hour to just get of the urban area and head west on I-10. Traffic was backed up horribly due to freeway and other construction. The departure was very annoying and tedious. I recommend staying out of San Antonio until they finish their road projects.

On Monday, we will continue west and probably stay another night in West Texas before heading back into New Mexico. We’re going to have to be home by late in the week to take care of some appointments, etc. there.

We thank the Lord that we have been safe thus far, and pray that He will continue to bless us.

Imbolc – 2024

Imbolc Cross-Quarter Day

Celtic Feast today: Irish Beef Stew with Soda Bread. The stew had low-carb vegetables (i.e. Turnips, not Potatoes, Butternut Squash, not yams, etc.). The Soda Bread was made with Keto-friendly ingredients. The feast was delicious and served with an Irish Coffee on a cool, windy day. Click on the image to open in the image viewer.

About Imbolc:

Celts celebrated Imbolc as the beginning of Spring. Imbolc corresponds more or less to Groundhog Day in the USA, February 2, when tradition has it that if a sleepy groundhog creeping out of its burrow at dawn sees its shadow, there are 6 more weeks of winter. (If not, we surmise, only 42 days remain.) Christians celebrate this holiday as St. Brigid’s Day.

Spam Filter

When we upgraded this blog to later versions of WordPress a couple of years back, we also upgraded our Spam Filter to Askimet. The package does a pretty good job of filtering spam while allowing normal comments. Thus far, (since the upgrade) Askimet has stopped over nineteen thousand spams. I note that most of the spam seems to be trying to sell pharmaceuticals. There are also some Russian-language spams and a few others promoting p0rn and such. Fortunately, none of that seems to get through.