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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels June 12, 2004 Pugh's Muse Coleslaw crowned outdoor king Lance Pugh As the seasons turn and we spring into summer, thoughts turn idyllic at the prospect of long, lazy weekends laced with outdoor meals near the grill, capped off with traditional salads that both promote and escort the entr�e as it appears, sizzling, over a mountain of mesquite. I could wax endlessly about the proper punch of a perfect potato salad or why three particular beans got together to steal the side-show, but I'll cut to the chase and present you with the King of the Summer Salads: the perfect coleslaw. I know that quite a few of you whisper breathlessly about some savory green mango/red pepper/serrano chili pompous predilection laced on Victorian handcrafted fine porcelain china. To you I say: Come, with me, back into the fold. Slip on some family eating values as easily as a Windbreaker and walk with me into the backyard, past the Tiki torches and the meats in marinade, there to cast your eyes upon the glow of the grill while reaching back through time with thoughts of the best barbecue of your young life. Coleslaw was there with you then and, with your acquiescence and slight embrace, will be again with you this weekend. Now that you have adopted the proper attitude, let's prepare a bowl of cole and take it outside, there to receive a dignified, yet warm reception, by both family and friends. The first step is to clean all the surfaces in the kitchen in a manner consistent with the continuation of life on the planet. This means to forget those "anti-bacterial" compounds that only permit the strongest of the strains to reproduce, resulting your own personal kitchen super-microbe that can bench press the refrigerator with one tentacle or claw, whichever you prefer. Although not intuitive to all, the correct background music is essential to get the necessary mindset locked in place. Most of you, by now, have concluded, correctly, that none other than the flag-waving, parade route weaving, and tuba toting sounds of John Philip Sousa will do. I crank up "The Stars & Stripes Forever," and march about the kitchen. If we're going to make this coleslaw together, I expect you to keep a straight back, look straight ahead and keep in formation. Missed cadence can ruin the salad. Now, confidently approach your cutlery block and smoothly extract your knife. Get your knife sharpener out and lay on a perfect edge, a skill that can be acquired with only a few years of totally focused concentration. This done, finely chop a red onion and both a red and green cabbage with a dexterous blur of the wrist and place the shredded succulents in a large bowl, there to be consoled by homemade garlic mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, celery seed, salt, fresh ground pepper. Hold it right there! I want to give you the basics, but not the inside secrets of a private recipe. So, from now on, you'll have to wear a blindfold and, if you give me any lip, earplugs. So, with just a few other un-named herbs, spices and liquids the whole is mixed to the general consistency of adobe and straw and spirited back into the refrigerators to get ready for a hot summer afternoon. It's as simple as that. When the cookout picks up speed, you can simply dash into the kitchen, kick the super-microbe between one of his eyes, wrestle the slaw bowl from his clutches and commandingly reveal your special salad to the eager eyes and tongue licked lips of those ready to do a high-dive through time, back to the best eats of your life. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams