Cuisine & Screen: Home Edition, Part 15

I’m back to the bird posts, y’all. Here are some shots of my dad's hummingbird feeder, that has attracted male and female Goldfinches like crazy! We love spotting little Goldie!

Such a striking bird!

Going for a dip!

CUISINE
I wanted to revisit a childhood favorite this week - My Dad's Hamburgers. Everyone has their preferred burger seasoning, method of cooking, toppings, bun, etc. But this has been mine since I was in 3rd grade. My dad flexed his culinary muscle when he came up with his signature marinade, back in 1995 when we were living in Greenville, SC. 

-1 pound ground beef
-Store bought teriyaki marinade
-garlic salt
-onion salt
-pepper

Score the meat to make 4 patties. Shape and flatten, but don't overwork the meat (that makes a tough burger!) Pour the Teriyaki marinade on each patty, then pour more around the patties, directly onto the plate. Don't skimp on this! The beef will absorb the flavor and it is sensational. Sprinkle one side of each patty with garlic salt and pepper, then flip them, and add a little more Teriyaki if it doesn't look wet enough. Then sprinkle that side with onion salt and pepper. Let these sit covered in the fridge for about an hour. 

If you have a grill, by all means, go for it, but I like to cook my burgers in a skillet on my stove, and use my meat thermometer so I can control the heat and retain the moisture and fat in the pan (otherwise it drips down into your grill and you lose all that flavor!) When the burgers are cooked to your liking, top with a good melting cheese, cover and let the cheese melt a minute. Top with any condiments your heart desires (I'm a mustard-ketchup-pickle kind of gal) and serve it on a good bun like a potato roll or buttered, toasted brioche bun. Serving it with the Pickletown Dill Pickle Lager is the right move here. One bite of this immediately transported me to when I was 8 years old. It's crazy how food can do that.

Word's Burger.

One of my favorite summer desserts is made by using Bisquick (or Hungry Jack or any other pancake mix) to make Shortcakes. I follow this recipe for the shortcakes, but I skip the fruit macerating step (fruit this time of year is so good and ripe, it doesn’t need extra sugar.) Pro tip – don’t whip all of the heavy cream – save a little to pour just a bit directly onto the warm shortcake. It makes it super moist and it’s just delicious.

SCREEN
Ibiza: Love Drunk - A friend recommended this to me back when it was released on Netflix in 2018. It's a quintessential girls' trip story, and absolutely hysterical. It made me want to travel and go out and have fun with my friends, so you may want to wait and watch this when we're actually able to go out and do that sort of thing. It tells the story of Harper and her friends who take a life-changing trip to Barcelona. I've never wanted a mojito on the beach so badly.

David Foster: Off the Record – I didn’t realize how important of a producer David Foster is, until I watched this documentary about his life. He was an integral part of some of my favorite songs – Whitney’s version of “I Will Always Love You,” Andrea and Celine’s “The Prayer”, Celine’s “To Love You More”, and countless others, not to mention discovering Michael Bublé and Josh Groban. He is clearly a workaholic, seems to lack empathy and at one point even describes himself as an a-hole, but this film isn't all about the man behind the music - it highlights the music, because of the man. Fascinating, especially if you're a music fan.