Skip to main content

The Joy of Cooking...Pops Style!

Most of my friends know that I have a young friend, all of 20. He's adopted me as a surrogate dad , of sorts, and he calls me "Pops".

Throughout our adventures in ukulele playing, psychology, culture, humor and semi-fine dining, he has found that this old man knows how to cook. And dude loves my cooking! It's become a bit of a routine for me to take him dinner at work a few times a week. His tastes run pretty similar to mine, so its even easier for me.

Yesterday, I was trying to decide what to make. I had just made gumbo a few days prior and that was going to be a tough act to follow. (if you've had my gumbo, you know this) I had some leftover peppers, so there was a start. I thawed out some chicken thighs and picked up some fresh onions....now what?

Let the creativity begin!

I sometimes just make up a dish as I go along. I'll take an idea from one dish or other, mix it up, add some things, change some things, just to see how it goes. I've been cooking long enough to know what usually works together. This was no exception.

I decided on a shredded chicken dish. When I lived in Ohio, there was a little joint that sold shredded chicken sandwiches. I loved them, so I figured it was as good as start as any. So I boiled and shredded the chicken.

I chopped up some onion, fresh garlic, and cubanelle and red sweet peppers. I mixed it all together, over low heat. It was coming together. Now to season!

I could have gone with just a plain old spice session. Some salt, pepper, blah blah blah. This needed something special, so I opted for unusual. Sure, the aforementioned spices were good but it needed more. I added in some yellow curry, tumeric, 7 spices,cayenne pepper and some paprika. If'd have stopped right there, it would have been fantastic on it's own. But I wasn't done. Not by a long shot.



It's summertime. That means BBQ! So I added in a sweet and spicy Memphis-style sauce. This took it to whole other level! The sweet and spicy mixed with the other spices was just a whole mouthful of WOW! But was I done? Nope. Knowing my target audience, I went a step further!



I made up some boxed cornbread stuffing, knowing how much he likes cornbread. I then spread the shredded chicken into a small casserole dish, added the stuffing on top and about a cup of chicken broth and threw it in the oven for about 20 minutes.




Who cooks like this on a 90+ degree day? ME! That's who! And it was soooooooooo good! #1 SemiPseudoQuasi Adopted Son agreed. This recipe is a keeper. Oh yeah...I made some honey butter biscuits too.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Clearing up the Great Gretsch/Rockabilly Sham!

I've had a long-standing friendly argument with a couple of friends about guitars. This has gone on for 20+ years. We're all pickers, and we're all usually lumped under the rockabilly category too. They both love Gretsch guitars. I can take them or leave them. Rockabilly fans have asked me many times why I don't play a Gretsch, which is often associated with rockabilly music.   First, I point out that what I play ain't exactly rockabilly. Sure, there's a definite rockabilly influence...but there's also blues, jazz, surf, garage, punk, country, Tex-Mex, and even some Gypsy & African influences in my music. A Gretsch just ain't gonna cut it. Don't get me wrong, Gretsches have their place and their own, unique sound. But...for a picker who is coming from the afore-mentioned influences, a Gretsch just ain't gonna cut it.   The new Gretsches, mostly reissues, are well-made guitars. MUCH better made than the original ones, which tended to ...
14 comments
Read more

Since they changed YOUR life, how about YOU changing someone else's?

The recent deaths of Lemmy and David Bowie have caused a mighty ripple through humankind. People that I never would've guessed to be "fans" have shown their true colors. An old lady I know, it turns out, is a huge Motorhead fan. Folks I work with, who seem much more at home listening to bland modern country, have vocalized their lifelong love of Bowie's music and movies. These two musicians changed a lot of lives for the better. Both died of cancer. As a two-time cancer survivor, as well as being a musician, their death hit home with me...and hit hard. I was lucky enough, both times, to not only survive but to also have decent health insurance at the time. My out of pocket costs were minimal. Many aren't so lucky. With Obamacare we're all forced to pony up for affordable health insurance...or be fined. For many, it's just not feasible. One of the groups hardest hit by the US health care nightmare is musicians. Professional musicians make their liv...
5 comments
Read more

Colin Hardy: We'll Meet Again

 2026 has been off to a rough start. Not even a month in, and I’ve already lost a few friends. Now, before anyone reaches for the tiny violins and assumes I’m whinging - relax. I’m not. Yes, it always hurts to lose someone, but I’ve learned to use moments like these to lean into the good memories: the reasons we got along in the first place. This morning, I found out my old buddy Colin Hardy passed away over the weekend. Col hailed from Stoke-On-Trent (which I always jokingly called Stoke-On-Rye ). He was a working-class bloke through and through, but we shared a deep love of music — especially the old-school rockin’ variety. We first crossed paths on a music-sharing site and immediately began raiding each other’s collections. This was back in the dial-up days, when downloading a single MP3 could take half an hour if the phone didn’t ring. Eventually, we started emailing instead. Col sent me tracks by the likes of Crazy Cavan, Freddie Fingers Lee, and others. He was always hungry f...
Post a Comment
Read more