There is a derecho of sorts sweeping through the world, knocking the old order aside and leaving some astonishing wreckage in its wake. As part of that, I wanted to make a couple corrections. An alert reader tried the Bloody Mary recipe from 02 January of this year. I don’t know why it took that long for him to get around to it- but I inadvertently had a typo (Imagine, a typo in The Daily!) that specified “2 oz. Tobasco.”

This is just wrong. He was not injured, at least not critically, but I strongly urge you to change that to “two teaspoons.” This is offered as a public service to prevent injury due to chemical weapons.

The other one was of the photo that accompanied the recent story about the collapse of the Iraqi Army against the insurgent Loony Sunni forces of ISIS. As it turns out, it was not the dirtbag terrorist I was talking about. It was some other dirtbag terrorist. Sorry. Truth and integrity are important here.

Anyway, we had a minor derecho event last night. It was not as spectacular as the line of wind and rain that smacked us in June of 2012. I was still confined to bed then after the accident, and was disoriented when I rose with the power out. I was lucky the blast of wind did not rip the door off the hinges- that happened shortly after I bought the old unit and not having a door is just damned inconvenient.

The Big Derecho two years ago killed 22 people and left millions without power, so thank heavens for small things. Much smaller things.

Willow had been fun- The Second Greatest Fighter AI in the world (SGFAI) stopped by and the Master Chief and his Trivial Pursuit Partner Deb showed up to join Old Jim and New Steve and Jerry the Barrister at the apex of the Amen corner. It was a fun evening after a long hot day, and you can imagine that we talked about the astonishing intrusion of the US Patent and Trademark Office into our local sporting franchise.

I think the name probably is a slur, and the five people who take it as an offense, and went to the trouble to file suit are just making everyone say it a lot. Old Jim cursed and said he could think of a new name that was much more offensive than that, and he said it. I think maybe we got more attention than usual.

Barrister Jerry lives out by Leesburg someplace, so he normally gets something to eat when he visits. This evening he enjoyed the pork tenderloin, which looked spectacular:

SGFAI’s got the Fish and Chips, and I confess my mouth started to water uncontrollably:

The shrimp, haddock and calamari have a sort of tempura thing happening and I adore the house-made tartar sauce. I think they base it on Duke’s mayo, which is just a superb way to start.

I have been fooling around with sauces. A speedy faux tartar sauce I throw together for my fish-sticks starts with a big dollop of Dukes, sweet relish and finely diced Vadalia onions to do some texture with a sprinkle of fresh dill. The other is a not-bad fresh Thousand Island dressing with basically the same thing, less the onions and substitute catsup to taste. There is nothing better on a Rueben, or a spoonful on the side of a nice garden salad.

I got back to Big Pink with enough time to take an exercise-free plunge- I was proud of myself, since I had actually done the work-out earlier. The cute little gal from upstairs had Bart firmly in her sights- he is the tall, athletic Pole with the Clark Kent glasses, chisled abs and mop of tousled brown hair. Kamil is the stockier guard who splits duty here- another guard from a busier pool was hanging out, waiting for closing time.

We all splashed for a while and then Eileen and I cleared the pool gate to let the young men go on about their evening.

I took the iPad and half a nightcap back to bed after trying to watch the second episode of this season’s Longmire- an endearing Western series with solid characters, even if I can’t really follow the plot that late in the evening what with trying to clear the office and personal email, cook something simple in the skillet and go about my ADD-influenced affairs.

This morning I rose to discover that 7,000 Dominion Power consumers in Alexandria and another few thousand Pepco consumers were out. Nature is powerful- the illusion that mankind can do much to influence her willful ways strikes me as being sort of out of touch.

Of course, there is a lot of that going around these days. But I am tired of talking about it.

Oh, alert reader MS contributed something that he deems works quite nicely, and it is going to wind up in the “Cloak and Dagger Cookbook” as soon as I take it for a test rive. With sweet corn on the verge of showing up in the Saturday Culpeper farmer’s market, I thought you might be interested:

Ingredients:

For the Dressing:

1 small clove garlic

Pinch salt, plus 2 teaspoons

Juice 1 1/2 limes (about 3 tablespoons)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

For the Salad:

1 cup fresh corn kernels (from about 2 ears)

1 orange bell pepper, diced

1/2 small red onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 small hass avocado, halved, seeded and diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, leaves and stems

Directions:

Make the dressing: Smash the garlic clove, sprinkle with a pinch of the salt, and, with the flat side of a large knife, mash and smear the mixture to a coarse paste. Whisk the garlic paste, lime juice, salt and chili powder together in a bowl. Gradually whisk in the olive oil, starting with a few drops and then adding the rest in a steady stream.

For the salad: Cook the corn, bell pepper, and onions in the olive oil until beginning to brown over medium-high heat in a skillet. Toss in the black beans and cook until warm. Add the dressing and toss to coat evenly. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and gently fold in the tomatoes, avocado, and cilantro. Serve.

Recipe copyright (c) 2004 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved.

Daily Fulminations copyright 2014 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303