Three things in My Top Ten (all of them are good cold)

It is rare for me to catch any Red Wing's Hockey these days.  They are not doing well this year, and I don't live in Hockeytown (my heart does, of course).  I was lucky to see that they were broadcast nationally on NBC and at a time that I could record them.


So, nap time for the little one, a new DVR (we got for Christmas), and a cold beer (I am drinking Oskar Blue's Little Yella Pils, a GABF gold medal winner (from a can no less)).  What is necessary to make this perfect?  Kielbasa.  


  If you know me, you know that I have a weakness for almost any sausage including all beef hot dogs, breakfast links (and patties), brats, knacks, chorizo, italian, pepperoni, salami, smoked, game meat, dried, raw, even a little kieska (blood sausage)....if the meat is good, it is usually good for me.  Although I need to admit that kieska is good in only the smallest amounts.


I have never found a good Polish meat market or butcher with anything near good sausage here in Denver.  Every time I hear about something, the place has been closed for six months before I got there.  While traveling in San Francisco for business, I happened upon a traditional Polish meat market (a big Polish Eagle painted on the side of the building brought me over 3 lanes of traffic despite being late for my flight).  I talked to the guy for a half hour and spent $20, and walked out of there not only with an armful of 4 or 5 different sausages (made by hand by this guy and his family for the last 80 years), but also a quarter of a pan of cheesecake that was just like my grandmother used to make.  I ate nothing but sausage and cheesecake for three days.


The Kielbasa that I bought for myself today is the crappy Hillshire Farms turkey stuff from the grocery store.  The meat is not tightly packed, and it only faintly resembles the good stuff I have had all of my life.  But it is enough to remind me of childhood.


I didn't even cook it.  I just nibbled on it cold; with a cold beer, and ice hockey....cold heaven.  Too bad my team lost on the last shot of the shootout.