Uncle Lou's Kitchen

#100Days (Day 8/100)

Today is random stream of consciousness day. I have no particular topic to write about, so I'm just writing. On days like this, I'm happy to get 750 words or more on the page.

We have friends visiting for the weekend, Marnie & Lou, from the Toledo area. Michele has known Marnie since grade school and they grew up together. Lou and I obviously became friends through that relationship after Michele & I started dating and eventually got married. They are some of the few friends we still get together with on a regular basis, at least a few times each year. They either come to stay with us, or we go to stay with them.

So it's currently 6:38am on Saturday morning, and I'm the only one awake in the house. Well, except for cats and probably the dogs. Marnie & Lou brought their dog, Gage, and I'm sure he's probably awake laying on the floor of the guest bedroom with his nose pressed against the bottom of the door. He's trying to pick up a scent that will tell him what's going on in the rest of the house.

I figure this is the only time I will have for some quiet writing time. Once everyone wakes up, we have a day planned. Marnie & Lou will probably make breakfast, they always do. Then we're going to the Athens Farmers Market to look around and get some produce and grass-fed steaks. After that, we might be going to one of the parks for a short hike. Lou has bad feet so we need to keep the hikes short & easy.

Marnie & Lou are what I like to call, "Cookin' Fools". They are always cooking something. When they come to stay with us, they always bring a ton of food & snacks. Once they unpack, one of them typically whips up a tray of hors d'oeuvres, and the other one starts prepping for the next meal.

Yesterday was no different. They showed up at our house around 1:30pm. I was still working downstairs in my office, but I went upstairs to greet them. Within a few minutes, the food started appearing all over our kitchen counter.

I had to keep working, so I left everyone to fend for themselves for a while. Eventually, they all left and went for a drive around Hocking Hills. Lou loves to go sightseeing and take in the beauty of the area we live in.

It was getting close to dinner time and Lou started working on some of his famous fish. He brought a bunch of Walleye and Perch from Lake Erie. He has a special way of making Walleye on the grill with onions, green peppers, spices, and beer. Yes, beer. He spreads the fish out on a foil covered pan, covers it all with salt, pepper, garlic and other secret spices. He cuts up a bunch of onions & peppers that get mingled among the fish, and then he dumps beer over the entire thing until there is enough to cover the fish. Then it goes on a grill until all the fish turns from pink to white. It's the only way Michele will eat Walleye. She doesn't like fish if it actually tasks like fish. 🤔 Lou's grilled Walleye special is amazing, and doesn't taste fishy at all.

Aside from the Walleye, he also breaded a bunch of Perch and jumbo shrimp and fried those in a pan. There was so much fish & shrimp last night, we didn't know what to do with it all. Well, I figured it out pretty well... I'm the one who ended up killing ALL of the remaining shrimp & perch. I just kept going back and picking at it all evening until it was gone.

We all sat around talking last night for hours. It was a beautiful night, so Lou and I sat on the front porch next to the propane fire pit for a while and enjoyed a couple drinks and lots of laughs. I felt like I was literally going to burst from all the food I ate. It wasn't just the fish. I also tore into the mini-Snickers bars they brought, and then Marnie even made up a plate of Doritos with cheese melted on top. I would have needed a stomach pump to feel any better. 🤢 Ya ever wonder why we do this to ourselves? Ugh!

I'm pretty sure Lou could open a restaurant and be very successful at it. He's like a wizard in the kitchen. I've never seen him actually follow a recipe either. It's all in his head, and he has a natural ability to just figure it out on the fly. He grew up cooking. I think his parents ran a restaurant at some point too. So I tease him all the time that he should start a restaurant or get a food truck and start going to events.

He could call it Uncle Lou's Kitchen, and I guarantee it would be a huge success! I would eat there every chance I got. 😋 He doesn't seem interested in my great idea.