I ain't got nothin' on Hormel...

Nossirree bob, I don't have a thang on Hormel. How do I know that? Well, last night I tried to made corned beef hash. I tried to make it like my dad did when I was a kid, I shoulda known better. First of all, Daddy used Hormel Corned Beef Hash in a can. Then he would mix it with a buncha stuff and fry it in a pan til it was all golden brown and crispy. I remember loving those suppers or breakfasts when we got hash. Yummyyy. Anywho, my version was a teensy bit more "gourmet", if you will. Finely chopped onions, small diced potatoes and nice chunky bits of corned beef that C~ cut up for me like a wunnerful hubby. Well, he was making fritters for himself so it wasn't a HUGE stretch to keep on cutting more meat.

So, I poured a bit of oil into a hot skillet, then spread out the onion and potatoes so they would sizzle until nice and brown in all their goldeny goodness. Once that was done, then I tossed in the meat, a liberal dash of worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Fry a little more, then voila! All done....I just topped mine off with 2 artery clogging fried eggs for old times sake.

Yes, my corned beef hash was good. Was it as good as my Daddy's? Heck naw. Nothing is EVER as good as I remember it being when I was a kid. I do have to tell you that I finally mastered my Mama's potato salad this past Thanksgiving. I'm nearly 38 and I finally did it! Yay me! LOL.
If you only knew just how long I've been trying to get that right ya might understand the enthusiasm. It's one of those recipes that someone makes from memory and it's never the same twice, but it's ALWAYS excellent. So, yeah I'll probably never get it right again...but at least I can say I did it once. Which reminds me....I need to start planning our 4th of July stuff soon.

I love food holidays and here in Australia not many people get together with family and friends for holidays with tons of food. It seems to be BBQ's and such. I miss cooking for a crowd, even if the main portion of a meal comes off the grill. The coolest thing about being a multi-national couple is the holidays we celebrate. We live here in Oz so of course we celebrate all the Aussie hols, like Anzac Day and so forth, but since I'm American we also celebrate American hols too ~ Sawwweeeeeeetttttt! More food, woooohoooooooo!!! Of course, some DO coincide, like Easter, Christmas, etc, but there is no Aussie Thanksgiving. Now if you're wondering like many, including my Mama, you must ask yourself, "Why wouldn't Aussies celebrate Thanksgiving?" Well...there were NO Pilgrims here, not to mention NO Indians! *giggle* That's correct, no pilgrims or indians, hence no first thanksgiving dinner. Same with no Fourth of July, too...it's a different country that has never declared it's independence from England. The Queen is still their Notion of Head of State. Ohhh I almost forgot, Australia has 10 Gazetted Hols where everything is pretty much closed down. Not closed in the American sense where all the restaurants and stores are open having big sales and stuff, I mean CLOSED completely! Everyone stays at home or goes out to parks for BBQ, or whatever.

10 Holidays where almost everyone is off work. Back home there were only 5 official hols. I think my favorite time here is around Easter, because of Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Easter Monday. Lotsa time off to go and play, the weather is generally nice and breezy, even if weird that it's Autumn instead of Spring, but in Queensland the weather is generally beautiful.

Ahhhhhhhhh, things to be thankful for. Life is good.