Hurricane Food & Marlene's Tzatziki Sauce

Well we survived the hurricane..or tropical storm as it became. It was pretty dramatic. We were scheduled to have shows Saturday and Sunday night, and we had to cancel. Then Chako and I rushed home with my parents who were seeing opening night, moved all of our furniture away from the big old windows, threw all our dirty laundry into large bags (it had been weeks), and put the cats in their carriers and whisked the whole family off to Connecticut to hide out from the storm in a house that was less likely to leak and was definitely stocked with cheese, capicola and a full case of red wine. Literally, this was what they had.

We basically sat around for 2 days and ate and drank. I went food shopping in the morning to stock up on "hurricane stuff", or to cook a giant a feast. I made homemade ricotta, a few different kinds of bruschetta, manicotti, and a new one...a KEY LIME PIE!!! it was super tasty. Unfortunately, in our haste to get out of the apartment I didn't think to bring the camera, so no shots from the pie making party. I will make it again to post the recipe soon, it's Chako's favorite dessert, which is why I wanted to try it out, so I'll be sure to make it again as a treat for him. This one came out a big too tart, so next time I'll use slightly less key lime juice, it'll be even better when I post it. It is a good use of stuck in the house because of bad weather task...squeezing 2lbs of key limes.

We made it home after the storm, my parents ended up losing power several hours AFTER the storm, and it looked like they wouldn't get it back for a week! So many huge trees came down around Connecticut and took down a ton of power lines. Driving back to the city was really bizarre. My parents are flying to Puerto Rico for a month tomorrow, AND they had no power, so we were able to get basically everything from their fridge and freezer! Yay! Fully stocked! So much meat!  We just wanted to hang out once we got back to our own space, and the cats were beyond thrilled to be home. Since we enjoyed it so much, my dad sent us home with an incredible italian cheese, not really sure what is is, like a very soft parmesan, sharp and addictive. Thanks Pops! We just watched some TV, laid around and ate cheeeeese.

My mom also gave me a really beautiful cheese plate and cutting set, only one of the knives is pictured here. I'll have to make a fantastic cheese plate to show you the whole set.

For dinner, I made some long time favorites. Pork chops marinated in Worcestershire Sauce, garlic powder and Adobo, basmati rice, my mom's tzatziki sauce and a sweet salad.

The  yogurt sauce is one of my all time favorites from childhood, my godmother and her husband used to  make it and my mom started and we eat it with EVERYTHING! White rice, pork, chicken, steak, spanish rices, vegetables...you name it. You only need a few simple things, plain yogurt, cucumber, garlic power, adobo, dried parsley.

The salad was baby spinach, dried cranberries, crumbled goat cheese, walnuts with oil and vinegar with a little bit of oregano and sugar.  All together, a classic, simple week night dinner. 

Marlene's Tzatziki Sauce

You'll Need...

Plain yogurt (I used low fat), 1/2 of a large container

A Cucumber, peeled and diced

Garlic Powder

Adobo

Dried Parsley

THERE ARE NO MEASUREMENTS!! Mix it all together to taste! Easy peasy