Caribbean Eats!

I was flipping the channels the other day and I ran across a new 4 part series that is being aired on The Food Network -- Feasting on Waves -- and it caught my eye. Alton Brown, the amusingly nerdy but adventurous chef, is sailing across the Caribbean, in search of all the delicious local cuisine that the region has to offer. And the cool thing is, he is not just going to restaurants, but also to local dives, roadside stands, farms etc. to really learn about the local ingredients and flavors and get an idea of what food the locals enjoy on a daily basis. I wonder if they will delve into the intracacies of roasted/fried breadfruit, ackee, and guinep along the way?



Check for show information and schedule here.

Some of the best microwave-steamed vegetables ever!

I have been a big fan of the microwave steamed vegetables that they sell in the frozen food section and have been for a while. It is a quick and easy way to get something really close to fresh without having to worry about spoilage.

I have noticed that this segment has really taken off and there is more variety, especially since Bob Green tagged some as "Best Life" products.

The last time I was in the store, I noticed that Birds Eye had created another line extension of these vegetables called "Steam & Serve" that comes in a black oval serving dish. I decided to buy a couple varieties since they seemed a little different from what I normally buy. They are all medleys with a light sauce. The first one I tried was a variety called Beans with a Twist. It is a combination of green and yellow beans, carrots and cranberries (yes, cranberries) in an herbed butter sauce. Can I say that this medley is to die for! They have about 4 or 5 other varieties as well that are very good but this one is by far my favorite.

So, next time you are in the grocery store, think about picking one of these up!

Cloudy Coffee Town!

I got sent on my first business trip this past week to .... Cloudy Coffee town! (You can probably figure out where I am talking about....)


The flight there was not too bad, although it was delayed about an hour since they decided they needed to switch us to a different plane right after we started boarding. The more dramatic thing for me though was the temperature when we landed! It has been unseasonably warm here and apparently it has been unseasonably cold there so when I landed I was confronted with a temperature that was 50 degrees colder than where I left!!! A bit of a shock but I got out my jacket and rolled with it.

Most of the time I was in meetings while I was there. We did get out for a couple vendor sponsored dinners (gotta love that!) and had some great food but I didn't get out of the suburbs until my last afternoon.

My last afternoon I had a rental car and a few free hours before I would meet a grad school friend for dinner so I got the opportunity to go to the famous Pike Street Market! As I was strolling the market I couldn't help thinking how much fun it would be to do grocery shopping there..... The flower markets are so beautiful and the fresh fish, produce, pasta, nuts etc. are like a culinary dream.
These are about the biggest lobster tails and crab legs I have ever seen!

And of course, what is Cloudy Coffee Town without......salmon!

And of course, some one had to get their picture taken catching a fish....

Then I walked over to the original Starbucks, just to take a peak -- I actually don't drink coffee (shhh! Don't tell them!) and on the way I stopped that this bakery called The Confectional.
Now, I pride myself on my cheesecake. I even seriously considered opening a wholesale bakery specializing in cheesecake. So, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to try some of the interesting flavor combinations that this little bakery offers.


I decided that I needed to taste 4 flavors so I tried Mexican Chocolate (chocolate with a hint of cinnamon and cayenne pepper -- Spicy!! Quite an unusual sensation), Quadruple Chocolate (dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate and....??? I don't remember!), Coconut Cherry Chocolate (surprisingly the yummiest of the 4) and Caramel (eh, too sweet in my opinion.) It was decadent to have all these different cheesecake tasters, especially for a cheesecake-lovin gal like myself.

Then, I went to meet up with my friend in International City ( or Square or something) at this Vietnamese restaurant called Tamarind Tree for dinner. It was yummy! We ordered this lemongrass beef platter that you make your own spring rolls from. They also had, oddly, some of the best mojitos there.

It was a nice end to end the trip!

Want to know how your produce is grown?

Months ago I posted about Ideal Bite and have been getting their daily emails ever since. Here is an interesting tip to help you tell quickly if the produce you are buying is conventionally grown, organic or genetically modified.

Look for the labels stuck on your fruits and veggies:

• A four-digit number means it's conventionally grown.
• A five-digit number beginning with 9 means it's organic.
• A five-digit number beginning with 8 means it's GM.

Thanks Ideal Bite!

New Year traditions

So, for some reason, maybe in an attempt at comfort, I decided on a whim to make black eyed peas this year. This is funny because 1) I have never made them before and 2) I never really liked them when I was a kid and I don't think that I have ever had them since then. Also, I decided to buy 2 1 lb bags of beans. Maybe subconsciously I figured, the more good luck the better! So now, having convinced myself that I could make them taste good, I have a 9 qt stockpot full of peas and you know... they really taste good! I think the difference is that I cooked them in chicken stock instead of just water.

So the New Years tradition with black eyed peas is that you are supposed to eat them on New Years Day for good luck but I was talking to a friend of mine and she mentioned something her mother told her about not washing clothes or dishes on New Years Day because that would be bad luck --- something about washing away good fortune or something like that. Have you heard of this tradition? What other New Years traditions do you know about?

Giving thanks....

So it is Thanksgiving time and you know I had to do some cooking. In fact, somehow, I ended up cooking the entire dinner, save about 2 things this year! Oh, and we ended up having 12 people.

After coordinating all the grocery lists etc. with my parents, I headed up to their house on Wednesday, complete with the other things I needed from my house to cook for dinner, and my dog. One Thanksgiving emergency was averted when I realized that I had left the hosue without all the brine that I had prepared for the turkey. Luckily, I was just about to pass an exit for a mall, the last one for another 100 miles, that had a Williams-Sonoma in it. It was right at 10am so I rolled up to the store right when they opened and bought some new brine. Whew!

My normally 3 hour trip ended up taking about 6 hours however because of what turned out to be a tractor trailer accident that blocked off the entire road. In true high tech fashion, while waiting in traffic for about 2 hours, I checked my email, IM'd Brunsli, and, when I couldn't take it any longer, searched for a traffic website that would tell me exactly what the problem was with the traffic! That was how I learned that there was a tractor trailer that had decided to fold itself in half across the highway about 4 miles up from where I was, spewing cardboard all over the place. After 2 hours, 20 miles, and a sorely needed bathroom break (it was touch and go there for a while!) I was able to continue cruising down the road at a regular clip.

Then it was crunch time. My mother, who had gotten more and more OCD about cleanliness as she has gotten older, has decided that she wanted her kitchen to be clean and most of the dishes clean and put away by the time guests arrived and had called me about 6 times over the course of the week prior to me coming to bug me about various aspects of the meal preparation. I finally had to tell her to "stop micromanaging my Thanksgiving cooking!" Here is what was on the menu and what I had to prepare:

• Brined Cranberry Glazed Turkey
• Stuffing with Duck & Cherry Sausage and Porcini Mushrooms
• Smoked Corn and Grape Sauté
• Collard Greens with Golden Raisins
• Triple Cherry Pie
• Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie with Wheat-flavored crust

My mom made Monkey Bread, a holiday tradition, and other guests brought macaroni and cheese, baby artichokes and green salad (a green jello salad with pineapple, pecans and cream cheese, Yum!)

After the guests left, with all the cooking....and eating, I had to take about a 2 hours nap! It was a good day!

My test pie....

I settled on the pecon pie recipe that I was going to make for Thanksgiving -- a Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie with a Wheat-flavored Crust. A friend of mine convinced me that I really needed to make a "test pie" and bring it over for a taste testing. Since, I don't have much experience with homemade pie crusts, I decided to comply and I have to say, this pie was great! The crust turned out well too -- almost looks professional!

I am actually not a big fan of pecan pies, although I love pecans. It is something about the gooey unabashed sweetness of the sweet layer that is just too much. But this pie was different. It has maple syrup and brown sugar that gives it a real depth of flavor that is so yummy! I can't wait to make it again for Thanksgiving!

A sumptuous feast!

So this weekend I got inspired to cook!....

And I went to good ol' Whole Foods to get some provisions (and get rid of a lot of my money!) But I came out with some really great and delicious stuff! Of course, I went to the regular store for the basic stuff.

So after I got home from grocery shopping on Saturday, I made myself a great dinner that I think I will have to add to my regular repetoire of special occasion meals. I took this thick NY strip and seasoned it with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. I cooked it and also blanched some asparagus. Then I made this balsamic cherry reduction and drizzled it over both. The result was YUMMY!

Then Sunday was the big cooming day! I made, what one friend of mine lovingly refers to as "brazzle" (don't ask me why, I honestly don't know and I am not sure he does either!), which to most other folks is Olive oil poached halibut. Some may remember that I have talked about this dish before. It occurs to me that I should probably explain it a little. You basically cook the halibut in enough olive oil to completely cover the fish (a lot of olive oil, I know, but so worth it!) at a temperature of about 200 degrees or just warm/cool enough to dip your finger in and place a dot on the back of your hand and it be pleasantly warm. You cook the fish for about 10-12 minutes. Because of how it is cooked and at what temperature, the fish is not oily at all (hard to believe, huh?) and the fish a flavorful and light.

This time I placed it on bed of creamed leeks and spinach accompanied by an heirloom tomato goat cheese pasta and some asparagus in a lime vinegrette.

Then for dessert I made an apple pie with a crumb topping with some homemade whipped vanilla cream and garnished it with some amaretto caramel sauce that I made on a previous occasion.

The Stinkin' Rose.....

After a little shopping on Melrose, P and I met up with Q for a couple drinks and then went to dinner at this place that P had once done a little publicity for called

that specializes in food with garlic in it! We sait in one of these tent booths on the right.

Not sure it is a place I would recommend to take a date, although, if you are both eating garlic maybe it doesnt matter that much....

The food was actually pretty regular. I ended up getting the prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes adn creamed spinach.

P got some appetizers and garlic fries, and for some reason, don't ask me why, Q ordered the Portobello mushroom ( I know, is this role reversal or what??) He really is not a vegetarian, y'all!

And then, just because we had to, we shared an order of the garlic ice cream! (I know, I know!) This is what P thought of it.....

I actually thought it was pretty good, in a weird sort of way, especially with the caramel mole sauce and proceeded to polish off the rest of the bowl....

The birthday boy....

It was my friend Q's birthday yesterday, so I rustled up the folks to go to this place called Koji's for a little sushi and shabu shabu. What is shabu shabu you might ask? Well, the easiest way for me to describe it is the Japanese version of fondue.

So, that might not quite clear it up for you either..... When I say fondue, I don't mean the melted cheese or chocolate kind but the kind where you have meat, fish and/or vegetables and you cook them, on the little skewer forks, in either hot oil or hot boullion. So image this concept but the cooking is done by dipping thinly shaved pieces of beef and vegatable in boiling hot water to cook it.

We had a blast, even with a snafu with our table... I think the dirty martinis and Sony harddrives helped! (I still dont know what was in those things!) And I am pretty sure that the birthday boy enjoyed himself too!

Tea for two....

Brunsli and I went to tea yesterday at these nice gardens in the area. I am sure that proper English folks would probably turn their nose up at the California version of tea. There was an option for iced tea and there were folks in jeans, tennis shoes and flip flops there. (As well as a woman with spikey pink hair and a tattoo on her arm!)

But it was fun to endulge our girlie sides. (which I do much more rarely than Brunsli, as you can tell!) and dress up in our sundresses and eat little sandwiches, although I was much more interested in the desserts! Brunsli commented on the proportion of dessert to other items on the buffet so we think most of the other folks came for the dessert too!

Afterwards, we walked around the gardens and let our food digest! The gardens were beautiful and it turned out to be a very nice day!

And then, in keeping with the good vibes, we went to a yoga class in a small local studio. It was really great and my shoulder, which had been bothering me for the past 3 weeks, now feels no pain! I think I am going to incorporate yoga into my daily "get your mind right and find a job" routine.

Harnessing a bad habit... a little experiment...

So, I have decided to embark on a little experiment inspired by two things -- a recent deep dive into my monthly budget and the fact that my freezer is overflowing. I am trying to go a month without making anymore major grocery store purchases. I am only allowing myself to buy, if needed, more fruit and vegetables and perishable drinks, like juice and milk.

I have a bad habit of going to the grocery store more regularly than I need to and then putting stuff in the freezer and never cooking it. So, I want to stop the cycle. It is also a waste of money. So, the buck stops here! I am also going to try to limite to amount of times I buy lunch out during the week to 1 as well as the number of times I eat dinner out.

Now, this doesnt mean that I will be stuck eating ground beef and chicken breast for a month. As I mentioned before, I am adept at grocery shopping and I love food so I will be fine. I just need to force myself to cook it and plan ahead a little. Let me give you just a little snapshot of the contents of my freezer (actually, it is more like freezers, since I inherited a spare refrigerator when I bought this house. That freezer is almost full too, although some of it is bags of ice.)

• Chicken Breast
• Catfish filets
• Pork Tenderloin
• Buffalo Burger
• Filet Mignon
• Duck
• Green Beans
• Stir fry vegetables
• Edamame
• Lean Cuisine meals
• Homemade Turkey Stock
• Fruit prepackaged for smoothies

So, honestly, I think I will be okay. But it will be a good exercise for me. The way I buy groceries you would think that I am buying for a family of three or something. Maybe this is a hold over from growing up, or I am just practicing for the future. But I really need to right-size for the present! Wish me luck!

(P.S. This post was penned while sitting on my screened porch after a nice refreshing humidity-breaking morning rain. Ahhhh!)

Blame it on Whole Foods!

I had the yummiest dinner tonight. I blame it on Whole Foods. I stopped by there today and was reminded of a recipe I had seen on Food Network last week. Also, they were giving out samples of this cheese I had never heard of before. It was really good and the guy there told me about a really good accompaniment. So, as a result of this little trip, I had:

Olive oil poached Halibut on a bed of haricot verts (thin green beans)

accompanied by Nevat and Cotswold cheeses on water crackers and flatbread

with Portuguese Tomato jam

Nevat is a really light spanish goat cheese that tasted really delicious with the tomato jam which is made with tomatoes, sugar and cinnamon. Cotswold is a favorite of mine, an English cheddar cheese with chives in it.