Nurse Ratchet and a Spiedie Fest

I headed off for Fargo yesterday morning to pick up my brother, Kurt, at the airport.  He flew in from Mesa, AZ, to be my traveling companion on my fall trip down to Arizona.  His plane was actually early in arriving, but I still managed to get there with time to spare.  I did notice while waiting that I was about the only one not electronically connected to something.  I guess I’m sort of a dinosaur.  I never even thought to bring my new I-pad with me.  I just people watched while I waited for his flight to arrive.

While we were in Fargo, I had to make one more stop at the Sponge candy store and the Bread Smith store.  Who knows when I’ll have a chance to pick up these favorite things again?  I also needed a loaf of crusty Italian bread for a Spiedie Fest that I was planning.

‘Nurse Ratchet’ arrived without his Red Cross hat this time, and wore a ball cap instead.    This morning, I gave him the royal tour of the refuge and asked him to pose on the bridge over the Otter Tail River for the obligatory blog photo.  Coming from triple digit temperatures in AZ, he is suffering a bit (and not silently) about the cold windy weather here.

If some of you are wondering what a Spiedie is, I’m going to tell you.  It’s a regional dish that comes from Binghamton, NY.  I lived near there for 18 years and always enjoyed Spiedies.  John and Bridget had never heard of them, so I told them I would fix some before I left.  Time was running out, so tonight was the night.

There is a special sauce that you make, and marinade the meat in it for a couple of days.  This time I used boneless, skinless chicken thigh chunks.   Originally lamb was used, but any kind of meat can be used. It is put on skewers and grilled, and always served on a crusty slice of Italian bread.  You just put the slice of bread in your hand and wrap it around the Spiedie and pull the skewer out.  No condiments are added.  It is delicious.  (Can you see the remnants of my ‘Mohawk’ hair cut?)

Of course, no Spiedie dinner would be complete without salt potatoes to accompany it.  I asked Brenda to fix those.  You boil new potatoes in a ton of salty water, squish them down on your plate, and drizzle with melted ‘real’ butter.  We had to eat pretty fast as you can see we are quite bundled up and a cold wind was blowing.  Emma’s nose was working overtime, and she was a willing crumb picker for any dropped morsels.

Recently arrived volunteers, Ward and Pat, provided fresh made Cole slaw and brownies alamode for desert.  We sure didn’t have to worry about the ice cream melting.  Good friends, good food, and rousing conversation… a great time!

Tomorrow, everything gets packed away for our departure on Monday morning.  I hope it’s a little warmer outside for that work.  I’m ready to move on, but will miss my good friends here on the refuge.

As for Nurse Ratchet and me, we have agreed that I will do the cooking, and he will do the dishes.  Hey!  I haven’t had a dishwasher in eight years.  No more dishpan hands for me!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

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