A Father's Day to Celebrate
By: Shannon Smith | Category: Restaurants | Issue: June 2020
June is one of my favorite months of the year. I was born on June first, which means I get to celebrate the entire month. And, I get to celebrate Father’s Day, which is even more meaningful to me this year. My father is 79 years old, and he was one of the first to contract COVID-19 in Oklahoma. He lives alone and was convinced he didn’t have the virus, but after a lot of prodding from my sisters and me, he went to the hospital in Norman and tested positive for the virus and pneumonia. After six days in the hospital, he got to go home, and three weeks later he got on his bicycle and rode 25 miles. He felt so good, he rode again the next day and the next.
My dad has been bicycling for nearly thirty years, and his goal each year is to ride the total miles of the number of that year. So, this year he will ride 2,020 miles. Nearly every year he drives to Wichita Falls to ride in the Hotter’N Hell Hundred, where he usually finishes the hundred-mile ride with a few of his buddies.
I didn’t acquire my dad’s love for bicycling, but I did learn the importance of physical fitness and setting goals. He and my mom were married for fifty years before my mom passed away, and although he misses her dearly, he continues to live a very productive life. He has more friends than most men I know, which was proven with all the calls and texts during his illness. He has a sense of humor that everyone loves, even though he tends to tell a few of the same jokes over and over. They’re still funny each time because it’s clear he gets so much joy from telling them.
One thing I did learn from him was how to grill a steak. He mixed a concoction of sauces and spices to marinate the meat before they hit the grill. Then he poked them with a long fork until he deemed them perfectly done. My mom, however, would ask him every time, “Did you cook them long enough?” She was terrified of undercooked meat, and if the steaks were a little pink, they were not cooked long enough. Back then, I didn’t know that steak was supposed to be pink, and now I wouldn’t eat it any other way.
This Father’s Day will be extra special in my family as we celebrate the man who survived a terrible virus and recovered remarkably well. He’s still telling the same jokes, and we’re still laughing at them. But maybe this year we’ll laugh a little bit longer.
If you’re firing up the grill, try my own concoction for saucing up a steak.
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Salsa Verde - Makes 1 Cup There are a lot of variations for Salsa Verde, and this is one of my favorites. In the summer when I have an abundance of fresh mint I add it to the mix. If you’re in a hurry you can make the salsa in a food processor, but just pulse it so it doesn’t become smooth. My favorite way to use this sauce is on a grilled steak, but it’s delicious on fish. Serve it with fried potatoes and some grilled tomatoes and onions for a beautiful plate of colorful goodness! |
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Ingredients:
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In a bowl, whisk together all the ingredients, adding salt and pepper to taste. Alternatively, if you don’t want to finely chop all the ingredients, put coarsely chopped ingredients into a food processor and pulse until a thick sauce develops. |
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About Author Shannon Smith
I’m Chef Shannon Smith, creator of chefshannon.com, a website where I share my travel adventures, cooking experiences, jewelry creations, life stories, world travels, recipes, cooking classes, and jewelry art. In the past ten years, I’ve traveled to 52 countries, and I hope to add at least that many more over the next ten years. In every country, I am blessed to meet interesting people, learn new cultures, and try all kinds of delicious food. I take cooking classes, join food tours, meet with chefs, and often dine with people in their homes or restaurant kitchens. I’ve lived in Tulsa for over 30 years, and I love teaching people how to cook, especially dishes learned while traveling around the world. Some of my favorite cuisines are Indian, Moroccan, Turkish, Israeli, and Italian, although Indian is the cuisine that makes me the happiest. I’ve collected numerous recipes and methods for making delicious food, and I share those recipes on beadsandbasil.com. I teach classes several times a month when my travels allow. Those classes are advertised on the website but are almost always filled within hours after posting, so I also occasionally teach cooking classes to private groups. My readers and viewers get to learn about my cooking adventures, utensils and appliances. At last count, I have eight grills, two tagines, 22 knives, and ninety-four thousand serving dishes - at least according to my husband. My refrigerators are filled with nuts, cheese, and dried fruits I’ve brought from other countries. And my spice cabinets contain a menagerie of exotic and odiferous seeds, pods, and dried herbs that I use so many ways. Jewelry art is my other favorite activity. I create jewelry from beads and trinkets collected on my travels, including amber from Russia and Estonia, glass from Murano, Italy, paper beads from Rwanda, and old Yemen prayer capsules from Israel. I have an Indian friend who has some of the most beautiful semi-precious stones that he cuts into beautiful shapes. Several times a year, I attend national bead and jewelry shows where I search for unusual items to complete my creations. Many more adventures are planned for the future, and I’m excited to share them with you in my monthly column in Values Magazine, including recipes, cooking tips, interviews with my favorite Tulsa area chefs, cookbook recommendations, travel stories, my favorite local food trucks, and ways we can give our time and talents to our fantastic community of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Connect with me on Facebook and Instagram at Chef Shannon.
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