July 17, 2008

Four Foods on Friday #38

This week Four Foods on Friday is all about smells - the good, the bad and the ugly. If you want to play, go to the link above. Copy the four questions, answer them in a post on your blog, then post a comment to Val letting her know you’ve played. Make sure you give her a link in your post. She’ll return the favor when she does her round-up post on Friday.

#1. Fruits and veggies. Do you prefer them peeled or not?

No choice - I can’t digest peels at all.

#2. What’s your favorite fresh fruit or vegetable smell?

Fruit: fresh, crisp apples! Vegetables: baked potatoes!

#3. What’s the worst food smell you’ve ever smelled?

Without a doubt, noni (picture above.) That stuff is just nasty. A lot of my neighbors grow it. It’s been a staple in many Polynesian diets for centuries and has a lot of medicinal uses. It’s gotten very popular in the health food industry in recent years, primarily as a juice. It’s usually mixed with grape or other strong-tasting and strong-smelling juice to disguise it’s disgusting nature. One of the neighbors gave me some noni paste to use on my foot when I had a bad burn a few years back. It did seem to speed up the healing process, but I was afraid to go around people when I had it smeared on. The smell penetrated multiple layers of bandages and was really nauseating. To make the paste, put some noni fruit in a jar and let it rot. Smash it up and keep in the jar, tightly sealed, in the fridge. Warn everyone before you open the jar - they’ll want to be far, far away! They don’t call it vomit fruit for nothing!

#4. Share the recipe for the dish that you love to smell cooking in your oven.

Tough question! My first thought was the whole Thanksgiving dinner thing. Does anything smell better than the combination of turkey, dressing, fresh veggies, pumpkin and pecan pies? I think not. But since you want a recipe, I’ll share what’s in the oven and smelling pretty good right now. It’s kind of muggy, so I didn’t want to do something that would keep me in the kitchen. I made up a meat loaf recipe that took about five minutes to mix. I’ve got the oven set at 350 degrees and the timer is set for thirty minutes. I’ve never made this before so I don’t know yet how it will taste or if it will be ready when the timer goes off. We’ll see. I think I’ll call it

Quick Italian Meatloaf

In a large mixing bowl combine:

1 &1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup bread crumbs
two eggs
1/2 cup of prepared Italian tomato sauce (I’m using Hunt’s)
1 small can of chopped mushroom
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste.

Mush it all up together with your hands until well blended. Shape into a loaf, cover with another half-cup or so of sauce and pop it in the oven. I’ll let you know later how it comes out.

Edit: It was pretty tasty! I’ll use half the oregano and basil next time to let the meat flavor come through better. Cooking time depends on the size of your dish or pan. I used a small, oblong casserole dish, so the loaf was pretty condensed - about three inches thick. I needed a full hour to cook it.

So - not my best creation, but good, moist, flavorful. A few adjustments and it will be better next time.

Technorati Tags: food, meatloaf, meatloaf recipe, noni, recipe

July 11, 2008

Four Foods on Friday #37

This week hass been so crazy that I forgot about Four Foods on Friday! I think there’s still time to submit, so I’m going to do just that. This week Val is asking about entertaining. I haven’t done that in years. I had a party for the office gang in my old rented condo before I bought the house. I think that was the last time, and I’ve been in the house for over twelve years. I’ll rely on old memories to answer the qestions this week.

#1. Cake. Buttercream, whipped cream or ice cream?

Cake must have frosting! Adding whipped cream and ice cream is optional, but always a winner. Hey, desserts are why diet pills were invented!

#2. When entertaining do you use real, paper, plastic or styrofoam dishes?

Depends on the crowd. For kids parties I always bought the party packs of paper plates. For adults, real dishes if we’re eating inside, plastic or styrofoam for al fresco. I had some rattan plate holders for paper/plastic plates, but I haven’t seen them lately, so maybe they’ve gone away.

The ex and I, sharing an al fesco afternoon back in the eighties, at a pest control association picnic.

#3. When hosting a party do you cook, have it catered or go to a restaurant?

Trick question, right? What’s the catch? I cook!

#4. Share a recipe that you frequently serve when having a party.

This is so easy and so good that your friends will call you a kitchen goddess:

Center a block of cream cheese on a plate (it’s prettier if you buy the tub instead of a block, and the lite version of the spread works fine.) Cover with Pickapeppa Sauce. Lay a knife or spreader on the edge of the plate and put it on the table next to a platter or bowl of crackers. I especially like it spread on a Ritz. Prepare for a lot of “gee whiz” questions and compliments.

Technorati Tags: blogs, entertaining, food, food blogs, party recipe

July 3, 2008

Four Foods on Friday #36

It’s time to talk about food again, folks. This week Four Foods on Friday is all about describing the personality of our cooking. You can join in the fun, too. Answer the questions in a post on your own blog. Post the link in the comments below Val’s post and she’ll do a round-up of all of our answers on Friday.

#1. Name your biggest cooking influence.

That would have to be my mom. She was an adventuresome cook, making up most of her recipes out of her head, the way that I still do. If she heard of a dish that sounded interesting & didn’t have a recipe, she imagined what she thought it might be like and made it. Nero Wolf fans, anyone? The dish Pork Chops and Sour Cream was mentioned in one of his stories. I have no idea what his version was like, but I still make the dish she created with only the name for inspiration.

#2. What is your ultimate comfort food?

Any potato dish, but especially potato soup! I shared a recipe a few months back in my answers to FFoF#15. It’s warm and filling and very “down-home” feeling.

#3. Name one must-have tool that you think every kitchen should have.

Wooden spoons! Give me some wooden spoons, a decent knife and any old pots and pans and I can cook. I love all of my kitchen gadgets and tools, but I must have my wooden spoons!

#4. Share a time saving tip.

Keep the big bags of frozen, boneless, skinless chicken pieces in the freezer. Chicken is so versitile that you can always whip up a quick meal when you have it on hand. I always try to keep some Holy Trinity ready to go, too. That’s the onion, celery and green pepper that are so basic to the New Orleans kitchen. I chop up big batches and then freeze it in portions - about a half-cup each - so I can just grab a chunk or two out of the freezer when I want to make jamblaya or dirty rice or a sauce that calls for it.

Technorati Tags: cooking, food, meme

June 27, 2008

Four Foods on Friday #35

Four Foods on Friday this week is all about inspitation. Val wants to know where we get our cooking ideas. You’ve got some kitchen stories you want to share, don’t you? Post the answers to the questions below on your blog, then get on over to Val’s place and let her know you played. She’ll talk nice about her participants later and give us all a little linky-love, too.

#1. Name one cookbook, cooking website or food blog that you frequently use.

When I was a kid our grocery store carried little paperback cookbooks on a variety of topics. I think I remember that they sold for 25¢ apiece. Mom would buy one whenever she had a little grocery money left over. I remember the one that had 101 recipes for ground meat, and one that was all cakes - that’s where she first found the recipe for the 1-2-3-4 Cake that I still love. Years later she found a decades-old bound copy of the whole collection of cookbooks in a used-book store. It was in bad shape even then, but served her well even after she duct-taped it to keep it together. It’s still my favorite cookbook. It’s got all of the basics - the mother sauces, how to handle and cook each type of meat and to know when your produce is just right for consumption - plus spectacular entrees for holiday dinners and showy desserts and snacks for when you’re entertaining. It’s the Culinary Arts Institue Encyclopedic Cookbook and it’s still available today, much revised since my 1948 edition was published. I really should buy a new one and retire Old Faithful, don’t you think?

#2. Do you watch any cooking shows on tv? Which ones?

I love-love-love all of the cooking competition shows. Top Chef and Iron Chef America are my favorites, closey followed by America’s Next Food Network Star. Oh, and Bobby Flay’s Throw-Downs and the cake guy and the national cookoff championships for everything from cake decorating to chili.

#3. Are you in a cooking rut? Name a food or dish that you’d like to find a recipe for.

My mother’s old-fashioned chess pie! It doesn’t have fruit and nuts like some recipes I’ve seen. It’s more like a creme brulee in a pie shell.

#4. Share a recipe created by somebody else that you haven’t tried but would like to.

Unfair question! There are so many recipes I want to try. I’ve copied a couple of dozen from FFoF participants and bookmarked some favorites on the Top Chef and Iron Chef sites. Since I’m supposed to pick one I did so, arbitrarily. It’s Richard’s Coffee Braised Pork from Top Chef, Season 4. The link will take you to a video of Lee Ann Wong preparing the dish. I don’t want to post someone’s copyrighted recipe, so go there to check it out please!

Technorati Tags: cookbooks, food, meme, recipes

June 20, 2008

Great tragedy

What a week it’s been. First I whacked a hole in my hand, now my Friday night is ruined. There are four things I never run out of: coffee, tea, ice cream and fudge sauce. Well, actually there’s a fifth - toilet paper - but let’s just deal with kitchen staples. I can’t believe I totally forgot when I went out today that I needed to stop at the grocery store on the way home. I just ate about two tablespoons of Kona Coffee Ice Cream and a smear of hot fudge sauce. That’s not enough to satisfy my Friday evening routine. They didn’t have the good French Vanilla last time I shopped for ice cream. The Kona has been wonderful, but I was looking forward to enjoying some French Vanilla this evening. Now I’m gonna go to bed cranky.

Note to self: it doesn’t do any good to write notes to self if you’re gonna leave them on your desk when you go out.

Technorati Tags: deprivation, food, ice cream, snacks

June 19, 2008

Four Foods on Friday #34

Gather round, foodaholics. It’s time to play with our food again for Four Foods on Friday. Val has posted four questions on her blog. If you’d like to particiapate, write a post on your own blog answering the questions. Put a link to your post in the comments below Val’s post (linked above.) She’ll write nice things about all of us, discuss our answers and give each of us a little linky love when she does her round-up post. Here are this week’s questions:

1. What is one food that is grown, produced or made near where you live.

Most of the produce that is grown here can grow year-round, so we have plentiful supplies of fruits and vegetables. I try to do as much of my shopping as possible here on my own Waianae Coast and to buy Waianae products whenever I can. There are quite a few farms out here in the country, so I can get fresh-fresh stuff that’s never seen a shipping contianer. I’m looking forward to a farmers’ market that will be held this Saturday, and to a new line of organic Waianae produce that will begin appearing at my local market tomorrow.

Hm, I’ve forgotten. What was the quesitons? Oh, yeah - papayas!

2. What is one food from another location that you haven’t had anything like anywhere else.

I’ve mentioned it before but it’s what always comes to mind when I think of stuff I can’t get here, so - New Orleans French bread. It’s not like French bread from any other place and I really miss it!

3. What is your favorite food from somewhere else?

Same as above - and the po boys made on New Orleans French bread. I should organize my expenses with budgeting software and start saving for a trip back to my roots so I can have me a good old roast beef po boy.

4. Share a family, ethnic or international recipe.

Kalbi Ribs

This is a really popular entree on the plate lunches we buy at drive-ins (which you can’t drive into anymore, but they’re still called that.) It’s a local version of Korean barbecue beef short ribs. The ribs are a peculiar cut, but you can get your butcher to do it for you. Ask for a flanken, but across the bone into thin cuts, about a quarter of an inch thick. Our grocery stores carry them already cut this way. If there’s an Asian market near you, try there. I made up my own recipe for Kalbi Ribs based on what I thought I was tasting in them and have used it for several years. For purposes of FFoF I thought I should look up an “official” recipe. Turns out all of them are different from mine, but similar. The one below is from RecipeZaar, which has a fabulous collection of recipes (you probably already know that.)

2-3 lbs short rib of beef
3/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
3 inches piece fresh ginger, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients and marinate ribs for 4 hours.
2. Broil or barbecue to desired degree of doneness. Most of us over here cook them until there’s a slight char on them but they’re still a little pink inside.

I’ve never put sugar in mine. I put sesame seeds in the marinade if I’m sharing the meal, but leave them out if it’s just me (seeds are tough on my ailing tummy.) Some of the recipes I found online called for a little mirin (sweetened Japanese rice wine) in the marinade. I’ve never tried that, but will next time. Sugar, though? Meh! I don’t think so!

Technorati Tags: food, kalbi ribs, kalbi ribs recipe, meme

June 14, 2008

Eating fruit

I don’t eat fruit. I have a condition called short bowel (or short gut) syndrome. That means that I don’t have enough intestine to process food normally. My food goes through me very quickly and is not in my system long enough to break down so that I can absorb all of the nutritional goodness (or junk) that goes in my mouth. Rough textured and fibrous things are the worst. They don’t break down at all and cause me a lot of cramping and pain. I can handle vegetables that are cooked until soft (thus robbing them of nutrients,) but no raw fruit or vegetables, seeds, nuts, beans - all of those things cause me serious grief. Oh, I cheat sometimes, but only when I know I have at least a half a day I can lose to non-functionality due to pain and frequent bathroom visits. I susbsist mostly on defatted or low-fat meats, starches, soft vegetables and some dairy. I took nutritional supplements and vitamins for years, but apparently don’t absorb them, either, because they didn’t make a bit of difference. They’re expensive and their benefits were wasted on me, so I gave them up. The good news is that I seem to have lost the lactose intolerance that I had for a while after my gut surgery, so I gradually added more cheese other dairy products back into my diet. The bad news is that this has been going on for almost fourteen years and there’s no cure. I’ve lost a lot of teeth, my hair and skin are dry, my nails split and tear off easily and my bones and joints hurt - a lot. The overall state of my health is … well … crappy. Since the lactose intolerance faded, though, I’ve decided to try fruit again. Maybe I’ll be able to eat it and maybe I’ll absorb some of the good stuff. I started yesterday. I ate a half a banana on toast.

I don’t like foods that have a slimy texture. Cooked or canned fruit - bleh! The texture is so disagreeable it makes me gag. Yeah, like I’ve needed another dietary limitation all these years, hm? Seriously, I think it’s a genetic thing. My son has it worse than me - his avoidance extends to things that are creamy. He quit eating anything slimy, creamy or mushy as soon as he was off of strained baby food and rice cereal. He’s never eaten Jello or pudding. I eat those, and cooked cereals and yogurt and lots of other things that he won’t, but slime - no way! I just can’t do it. Bananas are slimy, but if you mix one with peanut butter it becomes creamy instead, with just a hint of slime. Today’s breakfast was much more agreeable than the half a banana I ate yesterday.

So okay, this wasn’t bad at all. I could see myself eating banana and peanut butter on toast every morning. I like it, but wouldn’t say it’s my favorite food. I don’t “love” the slice of dry whole wheat toast I eat right after I get out of bed every morning, but I “like” it okay and it’s part of my routine. It helps with the extreme nausea I have each day when I get up. It’s kinda like having morning sickness for fourteen years without having a baby to look forward to. Nausea is a background feature in my life all the time, but it’s really bad when I first wake up, thus the toast. (Yeah, those are my flabby thighs in the photos. I meant to edit before uploading, but I’m not gonna go back into my photo editor, crop each shot, delete the originals from Flickr and upload the cropped versions so I can switch them out on my post. I’ll live with the humiliation instead!)

Family tradition: Lance gets the last bite of pretty much everything I eat. This is the first time he’s had banana with his peanut butter. I think he likes it.

When I was in the hospital they made me eat papaya with every meal and they encouraged me to drink a lot of papaya juice. Papaya contains a digestive enzyme that is good for everyone and especially recommended for folks with screwed up guts like mine. The ancient Hawaiians knew that and the Western world discovered it with the invention of Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer. The main ingredient is papaya (or it was - Lawry’s owns it now and papaya is not listed on the label anymore.) I resisted the papaya a little at first, but by the time I’d been eating it several times a day for a week it had become a part of my routine - a part I didn’t like at all. I liked the taste okay, but had had enough to last a lifetime, or so I thought. Tomorrow, or maybe tonight with dinner, I’ll have papaya again for the first time in fourteen years. Wish me luck! I hope I love it because it needs to be a part of my life for a while, at least until I find out if I can eat it without (literal) gut-wrenching pain.

And now for a brief editorial statement: Are you opposed to stem cell research? I hope you will look at the issue from as many sources as you can, instead of just what you hear from the pulpit, which might be based on something other than scientific reality. I’m not asking you to abandon religious convictions, just to take a look and see if there is a valid conflict with your beliefs and what actually goes on in stem cell research. No one is getting pregnant just so they can abort and make some money on stem cells. It’s not happening and is not going to happen. The materials needed for stem cell research are readily available though abortions performed for all of the usual dreary reasons, so there is no market to lure anyone into planning pregnancy and abortion to satisfy supply and demand. The supply is already there, but most of it is being discarded as medical waste instead of being used to help people. Is that what you really want?

Why do I care about stem cell research and want to encourage you to take an educated look at your opposition? Because it will some day make all the difference for people like me. Notice I said will, not may. It is inevitable that scientific discovery will go forward, with or without opposition. Opposition just slows it down and makes already-expensive research cost more. Someday, probabaly not in my lifetime, but maybe while my son’s generation is still kicking, people will grow their own new guts from implanted stem cells engineered to grow guts. There will be new spleens for people like my vet, who lost his when he got kicked by a cow and who lives with his own medical nightmare. People on dialysis will get fresh-grown kidneys and no longer need to be tethered to machines and clinic schedules, greatly improving and extending their lives. Organ rejection will no longer be a problem because the new organ will be grown from the body of the person who needs it. I expect to be dead, probably as a result of something related to nutritional deprivation, long before that happens, so I have no vested interest in the state of research today. My support of stem cell research is based on a wish for future generations, that they might have healthier more funcitonal lives even after their bodies throw them a curve ball.

Technorati Tags: diet, food, food and nutrition, fruit, short bowel syndrome, short gut syndrome, stem cell research

June 12, 2008

Four Foods on Friday #33

Our gal Val is scaring me a little this week. Instead of asking her participants in Four Foods on Friday to answer four questions she’s … well, see for yourself:

I’ve written down the first four letters of the alphabet, and two foods that start with that letter. I’d like everyone to post a recipe or menu idea based on at least one item from each letter. I think it might be fun to see the different answers you all come up with when dealing with the same foods.

D - dressing, dumpling

I wasn’t real clear on what she was asking us to do, but someone beat me to the question. If you go to the link above you’ll see Val’s answer in the comments below the post. If I’m understanding correctly (I’m still not 100% sure that I am) we’re to take one item from each pair above, then combine the four of them into a single recipe or menu. Why do I suddenly feel like a contestant in a quickfire challenge on Top Chef? I’m pretty sure I’d be called in to the judges table with the bottom three because the list is not stimulating my creative genius. Entering into the spirit of the thing, though, I could see making some plump, juicy applesauce dumplings with cinnamon and maybe a pinch of nutmeg to wake up the flavor. (Dumplings are kind of a boiled bread, right? So I’ve got four items covered, one for each letter.) I don’t have a recipe for plump, juicy applesauce dumplings flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg. If I ever decide to make them (which I’m pretty sure I won’t) I’ll take notes and photos as I go so I can share it with you.

I’d suggest that it be served as dessert following a savory chicken and asparagus with zesty balsamic vinegar dressing.

Technorati Tags: food, meme, menuu suggestions

June 5, 2008

Four Foods on Friday #32

Yeah! I’m posting my answers to Four Food on Friday early enough this week that you’ll see it in time to join us! Yay for me! You do want to join the fun, don’t you? All you have to do is copy the questions below and answer them in a post on your blog. Put a link to your post in the comments for Val’s post, given above. She’ll gather up all of our questions, make some acerbic comments about them and give us all a little linky love sometime soon - probably late tomorrow. It’s very easy to join in - you won’t even need your Papermate pens - just your keyboard and an appetite!

Are you ready for the questions? This week it’s all about movie food:

#1. What snacks do you eat at the movies? Do you buy them there or bring your own?

Hee! The last time I went to the movies was when Star Wars Episode 1 was released. Episode 1 was the one where all of the theaters had to install new sound systems & stuff, right? Anyway. I was in Dallas and took my son and the two nephews to see it. 1999, I think? I watch my movies at home these days and eat … whatever I want. The kitchen is right there and the pause button is so handy, you see!

#2. What’s your favorite food movie, or movie that shows a lot of food?

Soylent Green Actually, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, because isn’t chocolate the whole point in living?

#3. What food or meal do you wish was available at the movies and why?

I don’t plan on going any time soon, so I’ll leave it up to the rest of you.

#4. What’s your most favorite way to make popcorn? Hot, cold, buttered, air, microwave, chocolate, caramel, you get it.

I love old-fashioned, pan-popped with real butter and parmesan cheese, but I usually settle for microwaved stuff with fake butter, or with no topping at all.

Darn! I had to pop a bag for the picture. Guess I’ll have to go take a movie break now!

Technorati Tags: food, movie food, popcorn

May 30, 2008

Four Foods on Friday #31

I wanted to post my Four Food on Friday questions and answers yesterday. I couldn’t. We’re dealing with a very serious subject this week, and that requires some groundwork on my behalf. I haven’t finished my preparations, but I’m far enough along to do what needs to be done. I hope to add a couple of extra pictures after I finish preparing my dinner tonight. Today we’re talking about barbecue. I hope that the subject will encourage some men to join in on the fun, because we all know that men love to grill!

#1. What is your favorite food that is cooked on the barbeque?

Meat. Any kind of meat.

#2. What veggies, if any, do you cook on the barbeque?

I love to roast corn on the cob over a fire. I’ve been known to do kabobs with potatoes, onions and mushrooms sandwiched in between chunks of meat. Oh, and pimentos! I’m not a big tomato fan. The pimentos add color and flavor.

#3. Tell us a little about your barbeque habits. Who grills, how often, what months, etc.

Who? Me, of course! How often? As often as possible! What months? Year-round. Don’t you wish you were me?

#4. Share a barbeque recipe.

I quit using bottled sauces and commercialy-prepared rubs a while back. It’s easy to make your own and you can control the flavor better when you pick and choose the ingredients. I’ll be having spare ribs tonight (with lots of leftovers to get me through the weekend.) Here’s how:

Skeet’s Special Ribs

Put meat in a shallow dish and cover with balsamic vinegar. Turn the over and around a few times to coat evenly. Cover tightly and put in the fridge. You can marinate for a few hours or even a couple of days. Turn every couple of hours.

When you’re ready to cook, mix up a rub. Mine is slightly different each time, depending on what I see when I open the pantry and what mood my stomach is in. I’ve already made my rub for tonight:

Measure out enough brown sugar to coat all of your meat. This time I’m using about a cup. Add your favorite seasonings. Above you see: one tablespoon each of garlic powder, minced onion and onion powder, a half-teaspoon of dry mustard, three or four tablespoons of chili powder and a half teaspoon of hot red pepper. Amounts are approximate because I don’t actually measure. Work it gently with your finger to break up the brown sugar lumps and mix thoroughly. You’ll end up with a grainy rub.

While the fire is getting ready or the grill is pre-heating, rub your seasoning mix all over every surface of the meat. Place the meat on the grill over a medium flame. I try to keep my meat slightly to the side of the fire to avoid flares when juices start dripping. How long the meat needs to cook depends on the temperature of your grill and the type and thickness of the meat. I’ll try to remember to watch the time tonight so I can tell you how long my spare ribs take. Ooops! Forgot, but it was about twenty to thirty minutes, I think. Felt like a few hours because I was really hungry.

Cheat: if the weather is not cooperative and you want to have barbecue flavor year-round like I do, you can use the same preparations to cook in the oven. Drizzle a few drops of liquid smoke in the bottom of your pan, put the ribs in it and cover tightly with foil. Cook at 350 degrees for about an hour or until done. This method will give you very moist meat with lots of sauce.

While my ribs were cooking I picked a few fresh herbs to toss in some pasta for a side dish.

I added a couple of small pieces of garlic bread and my dinner was good to go. It was pretty good, even if I do say so myself!

There’s still time for you to play Four Food on Friday if you hurry. Answer the questions in a post on your blog, then give Val your link in a comment on her post. She’ll do a round-up later and you’ll get some good linky-lovin out of the deal. Join us?

Technorati Tags: barbecue, barbecue recipe, food, grilling, meme, recipe, spare ribs