No longer vegan... another reason to celebrate your birthday

Happy Birthday to our friend in Pierce County!

We know that you won't go culinary crazy with Duck Confit or Beef Bourginon. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't celebrate with some form of dairy... a medium cheddar, sour cream or a pint of Breyer's mint chocolate chip.

How about a queso dip... a gooey Mexican concoction of cheese and chiles? Television commercials will tell you merely to combine Velveeta -- a "processed cheese product" -- and a can of Rotel tomatoes zapped in the microwave. You can do better.

Roasted Anaheim Queso

• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 4 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1¼ cups milk (cooks will tell you to use whole milk, but you're likely to add 1% or 2% milk. No Soy Joy)
• 12 oz. grated Monterrey Jack cheese
• 3 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 large grilled or roasted Anaheim chiles, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. cracked black pepper.

Melt butter on medium-sized saucepan at medium heat. Add flour and cook for one minute. Add milk and whisk until the roux is slightly thickened. Remove from heat and add chiles. Stir in chiles, cilantro, salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl. Serve queso with blue, white or yellow tortilla chips.

Plus, a cocktail is definitely in order, perhaps the Lemon Cosmopolitan martini. Like you, it's kinda free, kinda wow.

Lemon Cosmopolitan Martini

• 2 oz. Absolut vodka
• 1 oz. Cointreau
• 1 oz. cranberry juice

Combine ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Strain into martini glass.

Garnish with lemon twist.

It's World Series time: What's your beef?

It's four days from Halloween so in the wacky timetable of Major League Baseball (MLB), it must be the start of the World Series.

Pitting the San Francisco Giants against the Texas Rangers, the 2010 World Series characterizes the blue-versus-red-state, liberal-versus-conservative conflict at its best. On one hand, you have the San Francisco: inner-city, Wagyu carpaccio with grilled blue corn cakes and tossed arugula, MSNBC, Bill "Spaceman" Lee, Woodstock Farms organic peanut butter, Free Tibet, Anchor Steam, Levi 501s, Former Governor Jerry Brown (and maybe future governor in January), alternative energy sources, National Public Radio, Puggle riding in a doggie car seat in a Prius. On the other hand, you have the Texas/Arlington: suburban, Taste of Texas T-bone steak with corn salsa and cole slaw, Fox News, Curt Schilling, chunky Skippy peanut butter, National Rifle Association, Lone Star beer, Wranger jeans, Former Governor George W Bush, big oil, ESPN network radio, hunting dog riding in the bed of a Chevrolet Silverado.

Somewhere in the distance lags the Seattle Mariners, who finished a dismal 29 games behind the American League (AL) West champion Rangers. If the Giants are Wagyu carpaccio and Texas are T-bone steaks, then the lowly Mariners are really no better than chipped beef on toast.

What is chipped beef? the younger set must be wondering. Chipped beef is a dried, salted, paper-thin beef slices that Hormel described as "an air-dried product that is similar to breasola but not as tasty." Old-time military types dubbed creamed chipped beef on toast as "s*** on a shingle."

As you watch the World Series and pine for next year, you might need a snack. In commemoration of the Mariners' 100-game-losing ways, consider chipped beef on toast. Unlike the Mariners' $84 million payroll with minimal results, chipped beef on toast is grotesquely economical and expandable like Stretch Armstrong by Kenner. Maybe next year Seattle will play in the World Series and personify Thundering Hooves Porterhorse steak with frites and stir-fried baby bok choy... but for now the Mariners are chipped beef, Betty Crocker Au Gratin Potatoes and carrot-and-raisin salad.

Creamed chipped beef on toast

• 6 oz. chipped beef, rinsed in cold water;
• ¼ cup butter;
• ¼ cup minced onion;
• 2 tablespoons of flour;
• 2½ cups milk;
• Salt and pepper;
• Chopped English parsley;
• Eight pieces of toast.

Shred beef into small pieces.

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté onion until tender.

Sprinkle flour into butter-and-onion mixture. Stir constantly until roux is smooth for two-to-three minutes.

Gradually add milk to roux until mixture is smooth for five-to-eight minutes.

Add chipped beef, salt and pepper to taste.

Serve on toast... a sour batard, a slice of Wonder Bread or Ener-G gluten-free, brown-rice loaf.

Off-leash dog park coming to Silverdale

Kudos for the good people of Silverdale, WA who joined together to create an off-leash facility at Gateway Park. Kitsap County Parks and Recreation provided the acreage in exchange for formation of a fenced, off-leash facility and the construction of additional parking spaces near the site.

The Gateway site marks the third off-leash dog park established in Kitsap County.

The creation of the Silverdale Dog Park offers another example of citizens joining together to create a play area for their canines. Through donations and fundraising events -- rummage sale, benefit at the Cloverleaf Sports Ball & Bill, sales of memorial plaques, advertising boards, donations -- the organization has collected more than $23K by late March.

Those living in or near Silverdale can show your love by eating the flesh of dead cows, pigs and chickens at Famous Dave's in Silverdale on May 3. Twenty percent of the sales from 5 pm to 9 pm will benefit the dog park. Download the coupon from the Silverdale Dog Park's site (see link).

You've got to eat, so why not put your meat consumption to a good cause? An appetizer, a couple entrés, two or three beers apiece, and dessert... and 20 percent of your tab ought to cover the cost of a package of Mutt Mitts for park use. Lots of protein. Real food for real people.

Perhaps the off-leash, dog park movement will expand to New Mexico, Arkansas... or maybe Jersey.

http://www.silverdaledogpark.com