For Emily a poem by Daigneault

For Emily

a poem by Daigneault

I read the words

Your quiet heart

And spent a rainy day

From my sickbed

An easy walk

That land so far away

The time not mine

And eyes not yours

But time, and vision still

A glimpse of truth

These simple words

The world could drink its fill

And you alone

Said, “burn them all”

Our eyes were not to see

But saved they were

So saved were we

Who to pay this fee

Red Hot, South Texas, Shrimp en Escabache

Red Hot, South Texas, Shrimp en Escabache

Although this is a great appetizer we love it on butter lettuce with a few slices of avocado, warm bread and a good crisp sauvignon blanc!

1 Lemon, sliced

1-cup celery tops

½ cup crab boil

1 ½ Tbl. Kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper

2 ½ Lbs raw medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 medium white onions, sliced thin

12 bay leaves

1 ¾ cups canola oil

2 cups white vinegar

1 ½ Tbl. sea salt

1 Tbl. Crushed red chile

2 tsp. Pink peppercorn

1/3 cup capers, brine

¼ cup celery seeds

15 cloves garlic, cut in half

2 sprigs fresh thyme

8-10 pickled bird peppers or 2 pickled Jalapeno chiles, cut in quarters lengthwise

5 dashes Tabasco sauce

1 tsp. White pepper

1 tsp. Black pepper

Fill a stockpot half way and add the lemon, celery, crab boil, kosher salt and black pepper.  Bring to a rolling boil and then add the shrimp.  Stir well and then remove from heat.  Allow shrimp to stew in the hot liquid for 10 minutes and then remove shrimp and plunge in ice bath to stop cooking. Drain the shrimp well.  In a glass bowl layer the shrimp, onion slices, and bay leaves.  Emulsify the oil, vinegar and salt, either with an electric hand whisk, or in the blender.  Then stir in remaining ingredients.  Pour over layered shrimp.  Cover and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours, stirring every 6 to 8 hours. 

Serves 8 as an appetizer,

Easy Taco Sauce

Ever wonder how that great taco sauce, form the authentic Mexican restaurants is made?  Great with any Mexican dish or chips, it's easy and you can make it!

Spain

Spain

I'm quite perplexed! I keep a good eye on my stats and for the past several months Spain has been the number 2 location in the world for hits to our blog. And the number of hits is growing every week. So why Spain? Hmmmm; if you are following this blog and located in Spain please send a message telling us how you found us and what drew you to this blog! We are very interested in this type of information from anywhere on the planet so if you live elsewhere, by all means talk to us.

Oh, and thanks.

Warmly,

Mad Coyote Joe

Who are you in 2012?

Who are you in 2012?

One of the great things about writing this blog is access to the statistical analysis, which the blog program tracks. It tells us; who is reading this blog, how long they stay on, where they are from, and which post they are reading.

Let’s take a look at the numbers. Below are two charts from my blog statistics page. The first is a chart showing the majority of page views over the two and a half year life of this blog. Our page has had, combined total number of 16,908 views. That’s an average of 528 views a month and 17 a day. But if we look at last month’s numbers, 1561 we have now grown to little over 50 hits a day.

If we look at the first chart, we have had 134 visits from Spain, 86 of which have happened in the last month. This begs that question what has happened to cause the rise in views from Spain. If you are following this blog and living in Spain please send a message and let us know what we are doing to attract your attention.

Another curious fact is, whenever I post poetry, I get several hits from Hungary. Someone there likes my poetry1

Our most read post is not about food or cooking, but about, Conex Box, also known as Shipping Container, building which as had 451 hits. Most of which are from Australia.

Once again we ask for you to tell us what attracts you to our site. And as always we’d love to answer any questions that you might have.

All Time Stats;

United States	12,032
United Kingdom	639
Canada	406
Germany	397
Russia	246
Australia	238
Malaysia	201
Slovenia	190
Spain	134
Latvia	112

Stats Dec. 2011

United States	1,070
Spain	86
United Kingdom	82
Germany	66
Russia	44
Australia	29
Canada	24
India	16
France	12
Netherlands	9

Youtube A Twenty First Century Goldrush!

We are standing at the doorway to the largest transfer of information in the history of mankind. Our access to the web provides an audience of several billion people. Who or what ever we decide to share, we can now share with the entire world. And more importantly the only filter is our willingness to deliver. Gone are the days of some executive deciding what is good or current or marketable. In true democratic fashion the audience it’s self will decide to share or forward. And unlike TV the work is on 24-7, not just this weeks episode, all of the work. For many years I wanted to be a part of the national discussion of cooking in the Southwest in the world of Television food. For me that has all changed, I’m now convinced that I need to focus on all the things that make up our life here in this beautiful Sonoran Desert, the food, the cactus, the tequila, mesquite grilling, our music, the town of Cave Creek, green building, wood fired ovens, adobe building, our cooking school, the list goes on and on!

We will be taping cooking demonstrations but we will also be doing videos on everything else that we are involved with. With the net there is no cost to add another video to the list. Before we had to buy film or tape, today’s cameras cost about 10% of what they cost when I was first on TV and basic editing can be done on a Mac. A friend recently said to me, “I feel like we are living at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and own a mechanic’s shop!” So start a blog, or start doing Youtube videos, twitter, facebook, my space, become someone or something that you’ve always wanted to be. Write a book or poetry or music and launch it. Trust me, sooner or later, someone will figure a way to be the gate keeper to this amazing internet, but for the next few years the doors are wide open… now is the time and this your chance. Don’t miss this centuries gold rush!