Fat Tuesday and other such Cajon things.

 So I could talk about the history of Fat Tuesday and the celebration leading up to it, but this is a food blog. Well kind of...... Okay its a food, table, and what I'm working on at the moment blog.

Today however is Fat Tuesday. Last day of Mardi Gras. Its the one last big shin-dig feast day before Lent.  But that is tomorrow.  Ill keep this one short and give to you the gift of Black Beans and rice. On top of this you can pan fry oysters, shrimp, chicken, catfish, you get the point, if you can pan fry it or stew it for that matter this is the bead you want it to lay on.

Here is the quick and easy method. Real Cajon trust me. I have not know a lot of Cajon's that don't cook from cans. Summer is to hot to have boiling pots going all day.  If you do this from Dried beans be my guest but dry black beans can take 4-5 hours to cook so plan ahead.

2 cans of Black Beans.
2 cups of uncooked rice. Can use the fancy stuff or Minute Rice. If you use the fancy stuff cook it ahead
    If you use Minute Rice you can toss it in the same time as the beans.
1 Quart of chicken stock (for the rice)

1    teaspoon Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne (I like 1 full teaspoon, but thats just how I was raised)
1/4 teaspoon of Allspice
1 teaspoon of Paprika  (I know what your thinking but trust me it will balance the Cayenne)

1 onion diced
3 cloves of garlic minced or crushed to liking.
1 tablespoon of butter or bacon fat.

In a pan melt the butter or bacon fat and add onion, garlic and spices. Just cook long enough to get the onions to get soft. Now the rice goes in and depending on what rice you use will depend on how long it takes. Minute rice Takes 5 and put the beans in now too. Regular rice will take 20 so you don't put the beans in till the end or they will be overcooked and dry. Either way you cook it be sure to use chicken stock, Water doesn't add anything to the flavor, and if it doesn't add to it replace it.


Happy eating.

Pallets and Such, Part II

This is what we have made the first dining table out of. In its first life, it was a drum shipping pallet.  Very heavy and OAK!

  Here is the finished table - made from the pallet above. The two seats come from other pallets that were on hand. This one has had a lot more sanding and re-sanding and more sanding than the sideboard.  I also installed casters for easy moving and cleaning.

More Benches and tables to come!

Pallets and such

  From time to time I look out at the dinning area and think, what can I do to make it better. Sometimes its paint or some thing on the wall.  This time I decided that its the tables that are bothering me. Sure lifetime make a wonderful product ,but are they right for my little corner of the world? I finally decided that they will look far better outside after things get warm. So, I had better start thinking of a way to get some new tables! Of course we looked online and the table tops for dining tables would cost over $250 each! That just wont do at all.

   Then comes Nikki showing me all this stuff on Pinterest. It's like catnip for facebook posters. Just a picture with a caption and links. All these people where building things out of old (and some new) pallets. All of the sudden - I'm on Pinterest...but I digress...

There is a publishing company next door that gets a lot of shipments on pallets, but doesn't ship much out on them. So, they pile up.  Of course I asked first if we could get one or two, or even the odd size ones that most people never reuse. The answer: Sure, take them ALL.  

Thus begins the sauce table. I had two that looked like this and took them apart.

 Took a while and a lot of clamps, but I finally got a good base on it, and a square top.

 This is what came out in the end. This one has lots of coats of Polyurethane, and got left rather rough. A LOT of sanding will have to take place on the next one.  Be sure you have lots of good open space and/or work outside. If I had had a sander the job would have gone easier. (Little did I know, Nikki was planning my weekend with wood floors and the installing thereof, and had the tool list in mind - including said sander.) All said and don - it looks pretty good, and rustic, yes?