The Last Two Questions

Well, gotta say:  this whole thing has felt like a school assignment, LOL!  More proof that I only want to do what I want to do, when I want to do it :-)  Anyway, here are the answers to the two questions I left unanswered yesterday.

My friend Cyndi asked this:  "I'd like to know why you don't put recipes on your blog. I know you have some great ones to share."

Here's some background.  Cyndi and her husband and son are friends of ours from St. Louis, although none of us live there now - we moved here and they moved to Portland, OR.  But when we all lived in St. Louis, we spent quite a lot of time together, and it often revolved around food :-)  Dinner at our house, cookouts at their house.  And my favorite:  picnics at some of the local wineries.  It may surprise you to know that there's a hilly, wine-growing region just west of St. Louis, and lots of the wineries have outdoor patios where you can bring your own picnic and buy some wine, then have a nice meal looking out at the beautiful hills.  So much fun, and such great memories.  


Stef (who I had the pleasure of meeting the spring before last) asked:  "Do you cook any recipes passed down from your mum or a close relative? If so, what?"  Stef's on a blog break at the moment, but if you scroll back through her pages, you'll see lots of mouth-watering photos of food.  But she's still pinning great recipes on Pinterest, and I've found plenty of good ones through her.

Here's the thing, Stef:  my mom has never liked to cook.  She still doesn't.  And my dad was a pretty picky eater.  So we grew up on a mostly meat & potatoes, hot dogs and hamburgers type of diet.  And casseroles of course - it was the '70s, after all :-)  So I don't have a lot of family recipes.  But there is one.

My mom makes the BEST potato salad in the WORLD!!  And here is her recipe. 

Billie's Potato Salad

5 lb. potatoes
2 lb. bacon
1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
dill pickles, chopped, and some of the juice from the jar
salt
pepper
garlic powder
paprika

Boil the potatoes in their jackets until done, about 45 minutes - 1 hour.  Drain then allow to cool.  Peel off the skins and slice the potatoes into a large bowl.

Chop all the bacon coarsely and brown in a frying pan.  Add the chopped onion when bacon is almost cooked, and continue cooking until caramelized.

Pour the bacon and onion mixture, along with a bit of the bacon grease, over the potatoes.

Add in mayonnaise or Miracle Whip and pickles to taste, along with some of the juice from the pickles.  Add in seasonings to taste and mix well to combine.
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Now, I should probably admit that I myself have never made this recipe.  But Mom made it for many family gatherings, and I always stuffed myself with as much as I could!  If any of you try it, let me know!

And I'll go back to Cyndi's question to wrap it up:  I'm not really sure why I don't post recipes!  I never really thought about it, I guess!