$266 Million Winning Lottery Recipes - L & L Hawaiian Barbecue Cookbook - Memorial Day

Date I made this recipe:  May 29, 2017 – Memorial Day

$266 Million Winning Lottery Recipes – L & L Hawaiian Barbecue Cookbook by Eddie Flores, Jr.

Published by L & L Franchise Inc.

ISBN: 10: 1-56647-988-6; copyright 2012

Purchased at Hilo Bay Books, Hilo, Hawaii

Recipe:  Macaroni Salad – p. 119

"On May 6, 2010, Gilbert Cisneros bought a lottery ticket at the L & L Hawaiian Barbecue Restaurant in Pico Rivera, California and won $266 million dollars, one of the largest mega million lottery jackpots in history."

What McDonald's is to the mainland, L & L Hawaiian Barbecue is to Hawaii which is to say that it is everywhere, space permitting.  Yet despite the fact that it is everywhere,  it took us until our last trip there (2016) to finally get around to trying it while we were out roaming around the Big Island.  I can't recall exactly where except I believe we were down around the southern tip which puts us somewhere around Naalehu. 

I'll just say this about that:  our bad. 

The thing about fast food places in Hawaii is that they are often customized to include local favorites.  Years ago, for example, on my first trip to Hawaii, a friend and I stopped at a local McDonald's and were amused to find sashimi on the menu.  Sashimi is raw fish or meat that is sliced into thin pieces.  That McDonald's also carried sushi long before it became all the rage.

Similarly, L & L's carry a mix of everything you could ever want to eat in Hawaii:  barbecue (Hawaiian style), saimin (similar to ramen), a loco moco (white rice, beef patty, and a egg that is topped by brown gravy – we love this), and a Hawaiian plate lunch.

A plate lunch is a somewhat hilarious platter of two scoops of rice, one scoop of macaroni salad, and a fried or grilled protein (fried fish, grilled beef, etc.).  Never ever would I have thought of putting that combo together (or the loco moco, for that matter), but it works for us.  It is said to have evolved from the Japanese bento box and that makes sense when you think about the rice and the fish or meat, but not necessarily the macaroni salad.  Still, who am I to argue with tradition!

Although I cannot recall what we had that day at L & L, what we had was surprisingly good for fast food.  When it came down to choosing a recipe from this cookbook then, it was really challenging because I was hungry for everything.  In the running was the "Hawaiian Huli Huli Chicken" (p. 31), "Kalua Pork (p. 57) and "Hawaiian Barbecue Sauce" (p. 103) until I settled on the macaroni salad.

Your table of contents is pretty extensive and let me just say right now that if you are in the mood for SPAM®, and why wouldn't you be, it's in there as SPAM® Musubi in the Pork Category.  Musubi is barbecued SPAM® served on rice that is wrapped in nori (seaweed).  Yes, I know, it may sound horrible to some of you and it's not like I tried it but Hawaiians love their SPAM® and I mean LOVE and so it should not surprise anyone that it shows up on menus and in island cookbooks.

Should you not like SPAM®, here are other categories that might interest you:

• Chicken
• Beef
• Pork
• Seafood
• Vegetables
• Healthy Plates
• Soup & Sauces
• Others (fried rice, macaroni salad)
• Desserts

Okay then, let's talk about the macaroni salad.  This recipe is likely not what you were expecting but this recipe, or one that is similar, is a staple of the plate lunch and so there it is.  It calls for very few ingredients of which shredded carrots is the main one and so it's easy to prepare and serve. As far as taste though, it leans toward being a little bland so you may want to amp things up a bit and add some other seasonings besides salt and white pepper. I rather liked it but then again, I am a sucker for a plate lunch macaroni salad.

And now, without further ado, I give you a plate lunch macaroni salad.

Macaroni Salad – serves 5 to 6 people

½ gallon of water

1 pound macaroni

½ cup of onion (diced)

½ cup of carrot (shredded)

3 cups of mayonnaise

½ teaspoon of white pepper

2 teaspoons salt

1 small can of oil based tuna (drained)

Put water into a pot and bring to a boil.  Put macaroni into the pot and boil for 12 minutes or until cooked.  (Ann's Note:  It's probably easier to follow the cooking times on the box.)

Drain water and cool macaroni thoroughly.  Combine all remaining ingredients and chill for at least one hour.

"Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese Cookbook - 100th Anniversary" - Garden Macaroni Salad for Flag Day

Date I made this recipe:  June 14, 2015 – Flag Day!

The Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese Cookbook – 100^th anniversary by The Kraft Kitchens, Consumer Affairs Department

Published by:  Kraft, Inc.

© 1981

Purchased at BCPA – Bloomington Crime Prevention Association – annual book sale, June 2015

Recipe:  Garden Macaroni Salad – p. 45

Yesterday was Flag Day and I know you all know this because your calendar likely told you so.  And this is a good thing because otherwise, many a holiday would fly under the radar, unnoticed by one and all.

Andy and I don't have a flag to fly for the occasion (my parents did though, and I think at last count when I cleaned out their house was four – impressive!), but in my book, we had the next best thing:  a Philadelphia cookbook, from Philadelphia Cream Cheese, to honor the only, the only, the flag-sewer herself, Betsy Ross who hailed from Philadelphia. 

I sincerely hope that high school history classes cover Betsy Ross and her flag, but in case they didn't, here's a little tutorial:  Betsy (Elizabeth) Griscom, born January 1, 1752 in Philadelphia, died January 30, 1836, in Philadelphia, is credited with creating the American flag although according to Wikipedia, no concrete proof exists to show she did.  Well, let's just give her the benefit of the doubt, shall we?  I mean, we can look out our windows and see flags everywhere so somebody figured out how to sew them and if not Betsy, then who?  Exactly.

Surprisingly, Betsy was married three times  and whoa! -  I do not recall getting this information in any of my history classes! Husband number one was John Ross – thus her last name – and their marriage turned out to be controversial in that she was a Quaker and he was an Anglican.  The Quaker religion did not want its members marrying outside the Quaker faith and she was expelled from her family and her friends.  Seems a tad harsh but she got the last laugh when she and John Ross started and ran upholstery business which is how she likely acquired her valuable sewing skills. (By the way, I could not type "John Ross" without inserting the last name of "Ewing" from the TV show, Dallas. I can't help it, my brain just goes there.)

After John Ross died in 1776, she married husband number two, Joseph Ashburn, but alas, he died in 1782.  So onto husband number three she went, John Claypool, who managed to last 34 years with Betsy before dying in 1817.  Good heavens.  Betsy though, lived until the ripe old age of 84, and so thank goodness for that!  Men did not fare all that well in the early years of this country's founding.  (The source for most of this information came from Biography.com)

As to the flag, it was rumored to have been created after a visit by George Washington, or at least that's the story that's told at the Betsy Ross house in Philly.  Hey, it works for me.

Given that I seem to have a cookbook to mark every occasion, I am sad to report that I didn't have anything for flag day nor did I have – like I thought I had – a Philadelphia cookbook.  I could have sworn that I had one from the Philadelphia Museum of Art but it turns out the cookbook was from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  Well – oh-so-close, am I right?  

Left without a good, bona fide source, I turned to Martha Stewart, who had she been alive at the time, might have instructed Betsy on how to sew the flag together because Martha is like that you know.  In fact, Martha has probably sewn her own flag, but only after dyeing the fabric she probably wove with her own two hands into red, white and blue, using fruits like raspberries and blueberries grown on her property in Maine.  Actually, I am sure she would have left the "white" fabric alone as that is how it would have been done back then and our Martha is a stickler for detail. 

Anyway, the best recipes I could find befitting a Flag Day observance were from Martha's American Food cookbook (as yet unused) .  Up for consideration was a Chicken Pot Pie (very colonial) as well as a Mile-High Apple Pie (very American) but the making of each of these would have had me in the kitchen for days on end and so I passed.  I mean, not to whine, but for the pot pie, I would have had to capture and pluck a chicken cook the chicken separately and then all the vegetables separately and then make a crust separately and...and...and....zzzzzz.  Same with the pie; silly Martha wanted me to peel 5 freaking pounds of apples for this mile-high pie.  I should think not.  Still, it was my only hope until....

...I spied The Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese Cookbook I had set aside for the 4^th of July.  Screw that!  We needed a Flag Day-related recipe and we needed it now.  This was a Code Red if we ever saw one.  And so I made the Garden Macaroni Salad recipe on Flag Day, bought a rotisserie chicken from Kowalski's to go with it and ta da – dinner!

Now if you've read my last two blogs, you are probably thinking that I was all kinds of crazy to make yet another dish with cream cheese but folks, the third time was the charm.  This was easy and delicious.  And although I had my heart set on making this salad, everything else in the book looked awesome, most especially, and I know you will laugh, the Frosted Sandwich Loaf found on p. 35.  I remember seeing these sandwiches in many a cookbook while I was growing up and loved them because they were just so pretty!  My mom may have made them for a bridge party once or twice although I can't recall for sure.  Yet another mystery – like Betsy Ross' flag-making – that will go unsolved.

I don't think you can go wrong with any recipe in this book – well, except for Peppermint Cheesecake (p. 124) but that's because I hate peppermint – but I will surely double back come the holiday season to make some of the cookies and bars for my annual holiday party – yum!

So here you go and unless I find another Flag Day-related cookbook for next year, this may be it folks so make it and enjoy it!

Garden Macaroni Salad – 6 to 8 servings

2 cups (7 oz.) elbow macaroni, cooked, drained

1 cup chopped cucumber

½ cup chopped green pepper

½ cup radish slices

2 tablespoons chopped onion

½ teaspoon salt

1 8-oz. pkg. Philadelphia Brand cream cheese

¼ cup Kraft mayonnaise

¼ cup sweet pickle relish

1 tablespoon Kraft Prepared mustard

Combine macaroni, cucumber, green pepper, radishes, onion and salt; mix well.  Combine softened cream cheese and remaining ingredients, mixing until well blended.  Add to macaroni mixture; mix lightly.  Spoon and gently press into lightly oiled 6-1/2 cup ring mold; chill several hours or overnight.  Unmold onto serving plate.  Garnish with cucumber slices and radish roses, if desired.  Variation: Substitute lightly oiled 9-inch springform pan with ring insert for ring mold.*

*Ann's Note:  Or, you could pull out the ring mold, in this case my mother's, look at it, decide it's too much work to oil (!) and just leave the macaroni mixture in the bowl you mixed it in. 

"The Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant Seafood Cookbook" and "Zabar's Deli Book" - Pan-Fried Oysters and Macaroni Salad

Date I made this recipe: June 18, 2011

The Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant Seafood Cookbook – Introduction by Jerome Brody
Published by: Crown Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 0-517-54907-7; © 1977
Recipe: Pan-Fried Oysters – p. 17

Zabar’s Deli Book by Susan Katz, with Murray Klein, Saul Zabar and Stanley Zabar
Published by: Hawthorne Books
© 1979
Recipe: Macaroni Salad – p. 82

So today is Father’s Day and it’s the first one without my dad who passed away in March.

That said, it didn’t seem odd to me that he wasn’t here for the occasion. Maybe it was because he lived in Michigan and I live in Minneapolis, or maybe it’s because (sadly) Father’s Day isn’t celebrated to the extent that Mother’s Day is. (I mean, we’re talking, what, maybe one rack of FD cards to every 4 for mom???).

Earlier in the day, my husband and I went to nearby Stillwater, MN, to watch a pro-am bike race (as in bicycles) where there were tons of dads with their young kids, trying to make their way through the sizable crowd that gathered. As to the bicyclists, well, hats off to every single one of them who roared up one of Stillwater’s hills that is 20% grade. And they did it 20 times. Just recently I stood in some killer (as in cute) heels for two hours at my dad’s memorial service and had rubber legs the minute I sat down. Clearly some conditioning is in order.

At any rate, I think my dad would have liked watching the race with us. That man was a regular Charles Atlas; he hunted until he was 85 (he died at age 87), cross country skied, swam in Lake Superior every summer (something I won’t even do anymore) and went on an African safari with my brother and sister-in-law for his 87th birthday. You know what? This wears me out evening writing it.

And so onto the food. My dad was born in Manhattan and age three, the family moved to a farm in New Jersey, not all that far from the Jersey Shore. And after New Jersey, he moved to Michigan where I was born and raised. My dad had a fabulous garden, fabulous fruit trees and bushes and access to the freshest of lake (Superior) fish, and yet he practically salivated all the way back to New Jersey on family vacations, just waiting to have raw clams and oysters. He and my aunts and uncles and cousins would down these mollusks with lightning speed whereas my brother and I held back for many years before venturing toward the big metal tub to select our appetizers. Just like a martini, raw seafood is an acquired taste!

So I thought it fitting that I make a dish for dad on Father’s Day straight out of The Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant Seafood Cookbook.

Lo, though I have been in and out of Grand Central numerous times in my life, I never once stopped at the Oyster Bar. My bad. This cookbook is pretty comprehensive as to fish recipes and a not-too-shabby selection of sides.

After hemming and hawing for days (weeks?), it came down to oysters or clams and I went with oysters because they are meatier. In fact, some of the oysters we bought (from Coastal Seafoods) were pretty darned big.

I would be remiss (and totally out of character) if I did not take issue with something in the recipe or instructions and today is no exception. The directions were to coat the oysters in the flour and bread crumb mixture, then dip it in the egg wash, and then back into the flour and bread crumb mixture…and then fry! Right. Nooooooo! This was definitely not a Top Chef moment…or even Next Food Network Star moment. I had flour everywhere. Who.knew?!

That aside, the oysters were great and made me want to get in my car, stat, to get to the Jersey Shore for more!

So every oyster has to have an accompaniment, and today’s was out of the Zabar’s Deli Book. For those of you who don’t know, Zabar’s is a fabulous deli on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. I’ve been buying my coffee beans from them for years. Not only does it taste good but it’s far less expensive than buying it locally, even with shipping (which I almost never pay because I buy four pounds at a time and so get the shipping for free).

When I’m actually in NY, as I will be in a few weeks, I love going to Zabar’s to find the latest food items I can’t find anywhere else. They also have one of the most compact but fun housewares departments I’ve ever seen. It’s all good.

Many of you might be familiar with Zabar’s from watching the movie, You’ve Got Mail. There’s a hilarious scene that rings fairly true where Sally finds herself in the Cash Only line and has to be bailed out by Tom Hanks. Let’s just say the people in line as well as the cashier were not amused that she tried to pay with a credit card.

I had my own hilarious moment at Zabar’s years ago when I was buying coffee. I was in a hurry as I had to get to the airport, and this woman tried to line-jump in front of me. So we mixed it up right then and there in the coffee bean section of the store arguing about who was there first. (She said she was and she was SO lying!). At any rate, I finally said “I was here first and I have a plane to catch” and so I won and that was that. As my father always said “First fender in….” (The semi-New Yorker also came out in me years ago at the airport when some little chickie poos in stiletto heels tried to jump the cab line at LaGuardia. Let’s just say that I and a Korean man who was sharing the cab with me prevailed that day as well. It’s a jungle out there….)

Anyway, as to the deli book, this one is fun as it gives a little food history, a little Zabar’s history and some awesome recipes. My dad wasn’t especially fond of macaroni or potato salads but he would have appreciated NY deli food. I mean, what’s seafood without a deli accompaniment??

So eat and enjoy. And Happy Father’s Day dad! You don’t need to be here to be appreciated.

Pan-Fried Oysters – serving size not noted
1 pint (approximately 28 oysters) oysters, shucked and drained (reserve oyster liquor and set aside for another use)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup fine bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp. light cream
1 tsp. salt
Generous sprinkling of freshly ground white pepper
8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter

Drain oysters and pat dry with a paper towel. Thoroughly mix flour and bread crumbs in a bowl. Beat eggs with cream and salt and pepper in another bowl.

Roll oysters in crumb and flour mixture, then in egg, and then in crumbs again, coating thoroughly. (As noted above, good luck with that!).

Heat butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat until just sizzling.

Fry oysters until nicely browned on one side, 3 to 5 minutes.

Turn carefully with tongs, and brown on the other side for 3 to 5 minutes.

Drain on paper towels. Serve with lemon wedges or favorite seafood sauce.

Macaroni Salad – serves 4-6
4 cups cooked, drained, cold elbow macaroni (8 ounces uncooked)
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
½ teaspoon celery seed
1 tablespoon grated onion (or more, to taste)
1 cup celery, chopped
½ cup parsley, minced
¼ cup pimiento, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Mix mayonnaise with vinegar, mustard, celery seed, and onion; pour over macaroni, and toss to coat. Add remaining ingredients and toss again. Chill thoroughly for 2-3 hours.