 The weather finally broke last week and we headed over to Rockwell Beer Garden. We were fortunate it happened to be a Thursday so we could enjoy the Farmer’s Market as well. We had worked hard throughout the day getting our garden back in shape, so we opted to eat first. Our choice for our meal was the Sausage and Peppers pizza with the Companion Pretzels with house beer cheese. As we waited for our food, it was great fun to look around the area and see families arriving with board games for a fun night out. I could hear snippets of conversations from raising kids to politics. Talk about a gathering place for all! The food was ready and we jumped in to enjoy our delicious food followed by a little shopping at the market. Doodle dog was happy when we arrived home with a blueberry yak stick and mama was happy with the decorated cookies from @nillacookieco! It was the perfect day!
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 I can think of nothing finer than knowing I have kitchen-made marinara sauce on my shelves to enjoy going into the Fall. It is also terrific to know that I can make a fast meal since the hard work was done earlier in the season.
Big Guy was craving bolognese, so we stopped by @legrandsmarket to pick up Italian Sausage and Ground Round. We already had fresh ravioli from @digregoriosmarket, so putting the meal together was quick and easy. After browning the Italian meats and adding a few spices, it was a matter of adding our kitchen-made marinara sauce to the meat and ravioli for a summertime treat. The meal was put together in no time and the cleanup was easy. The perfect meal especially served with fresh bread and a lovely bottle of wine from @seanminorwines. Life is good!  Big Guy loves BBQ! He was in his glory days at the start of our marriage as both of our families were ready to grill good food for the major holidays.
We unfortunately do not have these family meals as often as we did in the past. We, of course, are fortunate to have great BBQ places in St. Louis which we will visit from time to time to satisfy that yearning for a proper meal without the work at home. This time; however, Big Guy decided he wanted to make his own brisket. Thanks to our butcher @legrandsmarket, he was able to purchase a smaller brisket. It was fun to watch him experiment with his flavors with spices and marinades as he cooked the meat “low and slow.” He served the brisket with potatoes, green beans, and bread. We were rewarded with an excellent meal with enough leftovers to savor on another day. Win! Win! THE JOY OF VINTAGE COOKBOOKS
I love cookbooks. It’s a bit of a thing with me. I love new cookbooks, but the old cookbooks open my heart. The vintage cookbooks. The classics. The timeless, worn-out favorites that once belonged to someone else and now I get to treasure it as well. We are antique hunters and I always stop at the old books section. Looking for that one special cookbook that was loved almost to exhaustion. Those well-worn pages. The favorites of someone else who loved and cooked these timeworn recipes. You can find recipes online. For goodness sake, we have recipes on our website. But there is something wonderfully nostalgic about an old, vintage cookbook that splattered with previous meals. These cookbooks were loved. There is history and family in these pages. The books are filled with love.  Big Guy and I were talking about comfort food with Chicken Pot Pie coming up in our conversation as one of our favorites. We even talked about how my mom, despite her aversion to cooking, made a good one cooking dish deconstructed pot pie. We decided to do a similar style. Big Guy was in the mood to cook so I stepped back and watched the magic. He roasted off the chicken and sauteed the onions, carrots, and celery in a pot. He added chicken stock to the pot along with the chicken and peas, then made a rue to thicken the sauce. He added biscuits to the oven and dinner was just about ready. The serving touch was to add the mixture to a bowl and top it with the biscuits. It was delicious and certainly continued the conversation about whether we did my mom proud!  Dear Sweet Lord! We have been growing heirlooms in @carondeletgarden for the past six years and we have never had a bumper crop like the crop of 2026. The crazy part is Big Guy decided to only plant two varieties, Black Crim and Cherokee Purple, and the bounty is insane. Gardening is a science of observation, and we can only assume two things. The less plants the more space to create strong foundations. The other is the planting of marigolds around the entire plants. It is not keeping the squirrels out, but it seems to have slowed them down. Thank goodness our neighbors anticipate our tomatoes every year as they, and their families, are enjoying this shared crop. I am already dreaming about the summer meals to come over the next month!  |
AuthorJust a super cool old couple who love to cook and eat and drink in their Carondelet Kitchen in South Saint Louis, Missouri! Archives
August 2026
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