September 4, 2021

WEEKLY MENU 09.05.21

Our Weekly Menu 09.05.21 will make you look like a wise owl! Smart and easy, dinner for the family every night plus a celebratory Labor Day meal~

Why is there an owl on the Weekly Menu 09.05.21? Because they are so cool! I was sitting on the patio having a glass of wine with a good friend the other night when a blur of movement caught my eye. It wasn’t crazy late, probably 9:00, but it was fully dark. (Here comes autumn, guys! Sorry Bert.) I pointed out the owl to my friend and moved ever so casually to trip the motion sensor light. There on the peak of the garage next door was a huge owl. I have no idea what type of owl it was beyond the fact it was big and gray. We couldn’t even see it clearly enough to decide if it had horns or was plain skulled.

I looked away for a second and the owl was gone when I looked back.

We didn’t hear A THING! It was crazy how quiet such a big bird could be. No flapping, no wind movement. It was just gone.

Their silent flight is accomplished because the flight feathers of these birds have serrated edges. The feather design allows for muffling of the flapping of the sound coming from their wings in flight. Because nearly all their hunting and flying is done at night, the owls’ hearing is excellent and essential to them. Nature has provided the owls with another amazing built-in feature which helps them survive in the dark world of night. It is the strange location of its ears.
Most owls have asymmetrical skulls which have the actual ear openings located at two different levels on the skull. In most cases, the right ear is high up on the head, and the left ear is situated low on the skull. This allows them to get a very accurate answer as to where the sounds from small prey come from. The sound traveling to the ears arrives at a slightly different time, and in effect, the owl’s brain uses this information to gauge the exact location of the sounds it is hearing.
Owls: Silent Birds of the Night

Closeup of an owl for the weekly menu 09.05.21

What did I say? Crazy cool.

Now I want to spend every evening out on the patio with my eyes pealed. And a glass of wine, naturally.

With fall coming, there can only be one more summer holiday to enjoy: Labor Day is a welcome three day weekend this year, even though it’s not coming together to be a huge holiday like Memorial Day or July 4th. Maybe because it signals the end of summer, but Labor Day is more of a slow slide day. Years ago we spent the day watching the Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon, but even that finally slid away. You can check out our big Labor Day Menus from years gone by here:

LABOR DAY

LABOR DAY MENU 2019

The Labor Day Menu 2019 even highlights Jerry Lewis – so if you’re looking to review your youth, take a look at that. Our Weekly Menu has a little different take this year. We’re using the new kettle grill. (Affiliate links precede and follow – see Disclaimer Page for Details.) We’re having a bit of a “meat-out” and smoking both a turkey breast and a ham. Really, it’s more of a warm up/smoking as both pieces of meat are already cooked. The kettle grill has been a new thing for us this summer, and it has been a real learning experience for us all!

On Wednesday we’re using the (anticipated) leftover turkey to make a Pittsburgh classic from back in the day: Turkey Devonshire. It’s cooked turkey on toast points. (Can you guess which decade this classic hails from?) The turkey is topped with a tomato slice then a creamy cheese sauce. And bacon. Of course! We’re matching this diner ready sammie with mashed potatoes and peas, naturally.

Friday sees the ham pressed back into duty with a summer corn chowder. Hope the weather stays a little cool so we’re not sweating into the bowl.

WEEKLY MENU 09.05.21

The Beer Cheese Dip is from Smile Sandwich. We found the Baked Beans on Pure Wow. The utterly fabulous, Ooey Gooey Butter Cake is from This Grandma is Fun! Calabacitas are a Mexican side dish with corn and zucchini. We found it at Chili Pepper Madness. The chowder we’re going to beef up with some fresh corn is via Spicy Southern Kitchen.