Holiday Eats

The older I get, the more willing I am to set out holiday-appropriate dishes.  I've always had the winter favorites - turkey for Thanksgiving, ham for Christmas, but now I'm getting interested in summer.  I lump Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day into the box marked  PICNIC/BBQ FOOD and go forth accordingly. 

Last night we ate jalapena potato salad, baked beans and Tyler's sliders.  "Tyler's?" you ask?  We became aware of Tyler's when the late Huell Howser did a show on Palm Springs and mentioned the place.

Tyler's is in what used to be the Palm Springs bus station and to get there is easy:  Come in on I-10, exit on Hwy 111 and keep going; 111 will turn into North Palm Canyon Drive in the city itself.  Turn left at the bronze statue of Sonny Bono and there you are.

Tyler's classic sliders are:  hamburger (round - as if you smashed a meatball before you cooked it) with Swiss cheese and grilled sweet onion on a toasted slider bun (Van Kamp makes them) with mayo on it.   That's it. 

Jalapeno potato salad simply means that the first ingredient to hit the steaming hot potato cubes is the juice from a jar of Mt. Olive Jalapena Slices.  Otherwise, make potato salad the way you usually do.  The Mt. Olive jalapenos are very mild and anyhow, potato salad was designed to be "barely-flavored."  Usually what you taste in potato salad is the mayonnaise. 

I opened a can of Bush's Original Baked Beans, added Liquid Smoke, maple syrup, a lashing of garlic powder and a dusting of habanero chili powder.  Sweet and hot is umami enough for me...

Now I'm getting hungry for the 4th of July...