Gourmet Snacktime

Dressing up the classics

Adulthood means something different to everyone. It's especially complicated in college, when you're legally a full person but spend most of your time like a preschooler. It allows you to delay the inevitable for a year or four if you're the stereotypical spoiled student who doesn't actually have to work to pay for college like a lot of people do. Ideally, young adulthood is a time when you can figure out what exactly adulthood means to you. Personally I feel the most like an adult when I'm drinking craft beer with an entire box of Kraft Dinner. 

I get an incredible satisfaction from dressing up the things I used to like as a kid and eating them like they're real food. Maybe it's a sense of nostalgia, or maybe I liked all those things because they were really damn delicious. My palate's evolved enough to allow me to enjoy my former enemies, like spinach and broccoli, but I never quite graduated from the foods of my American childhood. Luckily there are plenty of ways to prepare these relics so that you can still feel all grown up while you're devouring them.

I've seen the PB & J laid out as a party snack, but I'll still eat it as a whole meal if I'm rushed for time. It's an easy one to upgrade; lightly toast two slices of sourdough (or whatever "artisan" bread you've got) and glue them together with peanut butter and preserves. I'm partial to black currant, but any congealed berry will do so long as it's actually fruit and not just sugared purple gelatin. Granted, my taste in peanut butter hasn't evolved with the jelly. I'l still slap on Jif beside my all-natural fruit-goop. I can't help it. I've tried the peanut butter with the liquid film on top, the kind you have to keep in the fridge once you open it, and I just can't do it. It's too grainy and it hardens when it's cold, so you have to let it warm to room temperature before you use it. Seems more trouble than it's worth when my artificially infused pseudo-butter remains tasty and spreadable no matter the temperature. 

Admittedly, I like grilled cheese sandwiches a lot more than I did when I was a wee one. I was a picky eater for a long time; thankfully that stage has passed by now. I recently came upon a recipe that elevates the grilled cheese to a level I never thought possible. It takes a little longer than the standard six minutes but it's well worth it. You make your own onion chutney, then slather it on whole wheat sandwhich bread along with Dijon mustard. You layer aged white cheddar and slices of granny smith apples in the middle, and then you grill the whole thing in butter as per usual. I can eat ten of these in one sitting. I know because I've done it. They go best with tomato soup and an aged vanilla stout. 

I wasn't kidding about the Kraft, either. There are ways to make real person mac and cheese, stovetop or baked, but if you're short on time or resources I find it's perfectly acceptable to make it out of a box. Throwing in supplements can help make it feel like you're really cooking, and they also make the whole affair even more delicious. Caramelized onions are my favorite, though they do take their sweet time. Sauteed mushrooms, steamed broccoli, and sundried tomatoes are all great additions. You'll even be getting some honest-to-God vitamins out of them. If you're really in a pinch, stirring in some Tabasco sauce is always a good bet.

I probably won't grow out of any of these, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Might as well incorporate them into our adult cooking repertoire. After all, we're big kids now. 

(Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/qmnonic/123431456/)

Shadows of Obsession


Shadows of Obsession, An erotic novel that cautions us that sometimes one touch, one taste of undulated ecstasy, or one chance encounter, is all it takes to become the object of someone's affection, or the desire to become someone's obsessional affliction

  An erotic psychological thriller that sets the heart racing, and the pulse pounding

  An intimate romance that indulges your wildest and illicit fantasies

  

Just Show Me What's in the Damn Peppers, Macaroni Grill

A recent e-mail from Romano’s Macaroni Grill had me pretty darn excited because I love Italian food, I love tapas, and Mother’s Day is just around the corner, which is the perfect excuse for me to enjoy both. So what better thing to do than eat tapas at an Italian place, which now seems to be serving them? From friend mac and cheese to meatballs to stuffed peppers and more, it looks like they’ve got a menu of tapas from $3 to $6 that’s definitely worth checking out.

I went to the website to get the details and to see what ingredients are in the tapas—since I can’t stand onions, if they’re present it’s just not gonna happen—but Macaroni Gill insisted that I click to another page to find out more. So I click just to be redirected to a stupid Facebook page, of all places—and since I’m on a secure connect, it won’t let me view unless I “temporarily” switch to an unsecure connection. “You will return to a secure connection the next time you log in,” I was reassured. Yeah, no thanks.

Really, Macaroni Grill? You can’t make your own stupid jump page to list specials and new items so you have to do it through Facebook? I suppose it would be cheaper, but that’s super annoying. I’m sure your Facebook-free audience wouldn’t appreciate it much, either; they do exist, you know.

Next time, invest in a designer for a quick specials page. It wouldn’t cost much—especially with the way you peddle wine—and it would be much more user-friendly.

Food is the best part, lasting remembrance of colonization in Indonesia

  

       

          With 17,508 islands spread throughout the sea and housing a diverse array of over 258 million people, it’s no wonder that the world’s fourth largest country, Indonesia, has a vast array of cuisines.  Colonized for much of its long history, Indonesia's culture and food heritage is influenced by Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern and European preparations, spices and ingredients.

            Staples of Indonesian cuisine throughout the country are rice, maize, yucca and other tubers. Spices of Indonesian origin, including nutmeg, turmeric, galangal, coriander and tamarind, have made their way throughout the world. Like in other countries of Southeast Asia, coconut milk and peanut sauce are common bases and flavorings for Indonesian food. Indonesian dishes, such as satay (meat and vegetables on wooden skewers) and beef redang (a spicy curry dish) have been assimilated into Malaysian and Singaporean cuisines, as well as into restaurants throughout the world. 

            As is to be expected, Indonesian food varies from place to place, based on colonization patterns and location. Here is a guide to typical Indonesian dishes throughout the country.

            --West Java: The specialty here is karedok, a salad made with long beans, bean sprouts, cucumbers and a spicy sauce. Other dishes include Colenak, a roasted yucca with sweet coconut sauce, and soto Bandung, a beef and vegetable soup with daikon and lemon grass.

            --Central Java: Unusual combinations of sweetness and saltiness abound in Central Java. Prime examples including Nasi liwet which is rice with coconut milk, unripe papaya, garlic, shallots and either a chicken or an egg and kelepon, which are green rice-flour balls filled with palm sugar.

            --Madura: A saltier region than Java, this northeastern coastal island is the origin for dishes like Sate Ayam Madura, chicken satay with peanut sauce and Soto Madura, beef soup.

            --Bali: The tourist town of Bali has popularized the famous dish of Babi guling, a pig stuffed with chili, turmeric, garlic and ginger and then roasted on a spitfire grill.  Also worth a try in Bali is Bebek betutu, duck stuffed with spices, wrapped in banana leaves and coconut husks and cooked in an ember pit. 

            --West Sumatra: In West Sumatra, the unusual ingredient of buffalo is used in replacement for chicken, beef or fish used in the rest of the country. For example, Ampiang kampiun, which is buffalo yogurt with palm sugar syrup, coconut meat and rice, is a popular dish here.

            --South Sulawesi: Here, in the culinary center of Indonesia, seafood aficionados have found their niche. A popular dish here is Coto Makassar, a starch soup mixed with intestine, liver, lungs, heart, tripe or cow brain.

            --Nusa Tenggara: Pulling on resources found in more abundance here than in the rest of Indonesia such as corn, taro and yucca, the people of Nusa Tenggara feast on ayam taliwang, roasted chicken with peanut, tomato chili and lime dip. Other dishes include sepat, shredded fish in coconut and mango sauce. Spicy sauces abound in this region and include pelecing, a sauce often mixed into chili, shrimp paste and tomatoes and sares, made from chili, coconut juice and banana palm pith and then mixed with meat.

            With foods that vary from island to island and are so inspired by the cuisines of Indonesia’s conquerors, Indonesian cultural heritage truly marks the diversity of this island nation and the many dimensions of its colonized past. 

MSG probably won't kill you

   

    Anyone who has ever watched the popular Internet short, Teen Girl Squad, the rather sadistic cartoon about various ways that the teens die (pecked to death by a bird, etc…really, it’s not as morbid as it seems) knows that one of the ways to die is to be MSG’d! I’m moving to Thailand next year and have been warned that one of the most common staples of cuisine is the dreaded MSG.  Since I don’t want to die like a cartoon stick figure or fall asleep after like I do when I eat MSG-flavored cheap Chinese food, I thought I would learn about the health risks of this well-known, but little understood, food enhancer.

            MSG, or Monosodium glutamate, is a naturally occurring amino acid, more specifically a sodium salt and a glutamic acid.  Traditionally made from wheat gluten, MSG is now made by bacterial fermentation. In its pure form, the substance appears as a powder of white crystals and is used in the same way as table salt is used on foods.

            Today, MSG is produced by fermenting starch, sugar beets, sugar cane or molasses and is marketed as a flavor enhancer. In the United States, MSG is most commonly associated with Chinese food restaurants, but is also used in commercially processed foods including the foods hocked in most fast food restaurants. Flavored beef jerky, potato chips and condiments like salad dressing also include MSG. 

          Other fermented products like soy sauce, steak sauce and Worcestershire sauce have levels of glutamate similar to those of foods with added MSG.

            MSG wasn’t used in any types of cooking when the amino acid was isolated by scientist Kikunae Ikeda in 1907 and then patented by the Japanese company, Ajinomoto Corporation, in 1909. In East Asian cooking, MSG became an instant and natural substitution because this type of cooking had long used seaweed extract that contained concentrations of glutamic acid similar to those of MSG. MSG was introduced in the United States in 1947.

          Originally dubbed the “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome,” the “MSG symptom complex” was introduced to popular vernacular when scientist Robert Ho Man Kwok recorded the symptoms of people who consumed American Chinese food. Symptoms in Kwok’s study, including migraine headaches, food allergies and hyperactivity in children and obesity, have been attributed to MSG in popular culture ever since.  Although Kwok suggested other possibilities for the eaters’ symptoms, such as alcohol or sodium used in the food, MSG was pegged as the culprit. 

            Despite being the blame of many of these problems, most studies have found MSG to be safe for consumption.  In 1995, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) concluded that MSG is safe for most people when eaten in reasonable doses.  However, based on anecdotal evidence, the Federation also postulated that some people have an MSG intolerance that causes the “MSG symptom complex,” or the symptoms that Kwok described, as well as a worsening of asthmatic symptoms. In addition, author and food writer Harold McGee says that toxicologists say that MSG is harmless for most people even when eaten in large doses.

           Based on this evidence, it seems that MSG has a bad rap for no reason and certainly won’t be killing teenagers, Asian food enthusiasts or me anytime soon.

 

Sources and further reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate

Thai Open Markets are for everything and more

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   Thailand is a country with boundless natural resources—some of them being the abundance of fresh foods and delicious cuisine.  The coming together of these two elements can best be found in Thailand’s open air markets, some of the largest in the world.  In Bangkok, Phuket and Samut Songkhram, the open air markets stretch for blocks and blocks, allowing visitors to buy produce, crafts and other wares, sample homemade cuisine, and soak in local flavors.

            Open markets are ubiquitous throughout Thailand and sell a staggering number of goods, from small Buddha statues to fresh fruits and vegetables to Thai dining staples.  Haggling is a part of shopping at open markets or other small shops, but it is not taken too seriously.  A smile or a joke can get you far in getting a small discount—and any attempt at Thai will always be appreciated. Fake goods, ranging from designer handbags to copied CDs and DVDs, run rampant in the markets. The authorities have held numerous crack downs on illegal copies, but they keep returning to stalls throughout the country.

            At many markets, the acronym OTOP will be highlighted at certain stalls. OTOP stands for One Tambon One Product, a Thai government sponsored program that tries to encourage small, local industry in districts around the country.  The government provides packaging, distribution and marketing assistance for this type of small business.  Typically crafts, clothing, wines and dried fruits, OTOP products are reasonable and are a way of supporting local Thai business.

            Bangkok, the country’s capitol, houses one of the largest open air markets in the world, the Chatuchak market.  The market is only open on Saturdays and Sundays beginning at 7 am-- visitors should get to the market no later than 9am, as much of the best produce will be gone not long after. The market houses between 9,000 and 15,000 stalls (no one knows the actual number) and can attract a jam-packed 300,000 people every weekend.

           With that number one can tell the market is extremely crowded; large groups are recommeneded not to travel together because they are likely to lose members. Chatuchak market is full of antiques, clothing, jewelry and housewares, along with a long list of many other things. Some stalls will not negotiate or haggle, but some will-- hagglers should start at a 50% cut of the price originally offered.

            In the beachside town of Phuket, open markets are often found in the form of beachside stalls.  Mall items, fake designer goods and copies of media are common. These beachside shops are for tourists, so the prices are much higher than in other places—opening prices may be up to four times what vendors are willing to accept.  An OTOP market is held in Patong, near Phuket, but most of the merchandise is fake OTOP.

            70 kilmomters southwest of Bangkok is the province of Samut Songkhran, which houses a unique open market.  This market has quick-footed vendors that sell produce and other goods, but pull their goods aside for the train as it passes eight times a day.  The train doesn’t stop for stalls in its path, so visitors and vendors must be cautious not to get caught in the train’s path.

          Open markets are a must-see anywhere in Thailand--and may be one of the best ways to get a crash course on Thailand's cuisine, produce and surprising (and surprisingly cheap!) treasures.

Resources and further reading:

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/the-railway-track-market-of-mae-klong/14139

http://phuketportal.com/phuket-videos/phuket-thailand-open-market/

http://www.asiatraveltips.com/ChatuchakMarketBangkok.shtml

http://www.knowphuket.com/shopping.htm

 

Return of the Banana Slug

At an average length of between 6 and 8 inches, the Pacific banana slug is the world's second-largest slug. (The world's first-largest slug lives in Europe, and is an average of 12 inches long.) The banana slug hibernates through the coldest weather of winter, emerging in spring - now - to begin its slugly duties.

(It also hibernates in summer if the climate becomes too dry.)

This hibernation allows it to reach its impressive length. Other slugs die every year, and thus don't have the opportunity to keep growing. But a banana slug can live for up to seven years. Every year, each slug can lay a shocking amount of eggs - 75 per clutch, and they lay year round. Slugs are hermaphroditic, so in order to mate, they simply need another slug. This makes things a bit easier for the banana slug, since - unlike many other species of slug - it is something of a loner.

All of which is to say, there's no point moaning about it. The banana slug is here to stay.

Banana slugs are a mottled yellow, or a color charitably described as "greenish." They are native to the Pacific Northwest, unlike the dark brown and smaller slugs which are an invasive competitor. Although slugs are notorious destroyers of gardens, it is the invasive brown slug which does much of the damage. The banana slug is much more interested in debris, and although it can be found throughout your compost heap and leaving silvery trails across your driveway, it is less likely to bother your seedlings.

(Speaking of seedlings, which also emerge around this time of year. Slugs cannot bear copper. It creates an electrolytic reaction with their slime - so I have been told - and gives them a mild electric shock when they try to cross it.

Copper tape is sold in the gardening stores, and is one of the few truly foolproof anti-slug measures. I have relatives who successfully garden by cutting the bottoms off yogurt cups, wrapping them with copper tape, and setting them over their seedlings like a protective collar. You have to be sure there are no gaps that allow the slugs to avoid the copper by squeezing under, around, or between.

There are many other substances and household items which people claim will repel slugs. They do not.

A traditional beer trap works best, assuming it can be placed where dogs cannot sneak over and drink the beer. Corry's Slug Pellets are another traditional, if non-organic, favorite. )

Another unheralded feature of the banana slug is that it will eat dog poop. I have seen this happen. It is disgusting, but very useful.

Slug slime is hydrophilic, which means that it loves water. If you get slug slime on your hands, it's no use trying to wash them off. Instead, wipe the slime off your hands with a paper towel.

As a final note, if you are thinking about getting chickens because people say that chickens eat slugs? They don't mean OUR slugs. They mean those tiny little slugs they have everywhere else. I can tell you beyond a doubt, chickens may devour tiny half-inch slugs, but they want nothing to do with an eight-inch monster.

Photo credit: Flickr/A. Poulos (lya)

Funny-Looking Gnocchi and White Sauce

My Gnocchi: Funny-Looking, Just Like Steve Buscemi

Since I’ve been on my own, I’ve been mostly eating my own cooking, which is not as easy as you might think. Of course, I do have a cooking handicap so far in that none of my spices have arrived yet. It seems that I declared my deep and undying love for a certain spice store a little prematurely; I ordered my spices what seems like a decade ago but was probably only last week and they aren't here yet.

 

I’ve been getting by on some pre-packaged food from Trader Joe’s and have tried out a few things. (My big success was pork chops and corn flakes.)

 

I also tried make a white sauce.  (I got it wrong the first time, so I had to do it again.) All I needed was butter, milk, flour, and parmasan cheese. The recipe I followed also called for salt, which I forgot to order at the time. The first time, my white sauce didn’t come out so great—I took the butter off of the burner as I was adding in the flour when I should have left the butter on the heat. It seems like a minor error- a rookie mistake, but the sauce was slightly lumpy.  I did, however, make white sauce again last night, and actually followed the directions in the cookbook, which made it much better.

 

I also made gnocchi last night. Not everthing went according to plan. First, I needlessly spent an extra two minutes peeling the potatoes—I thought the potatoes were going to boiled instead of baked. The potato peels somehow disagreed with my garbage disposal, which then decided to go on strike. I put the potatoes in the oven without peels and baked them for about 70 or 80 minutes on 380. The skin then created a hard peel-like skin around the potato and I was able to scoop out the insides. I mixed the potato with the flour and egg; rolled out the dough, and made the gnocchi pieces and put them in the fridge overnight.

 

I’m not really sure how my gnocchi turned out.  I’m guessing that even the not-so-discerning Olive Garden would hire me yet. My gnocchi pieces weren’t even. They tasted ok, but there really wasn’t anything special about them; like most of my fine cuisine the gnocchi looked a little funny. (Kind of like Steve Buscemi looks a little funny.)

 

I’m looking forward to my spices arriving so that I can expand my repertoire.

 

The Problem With Extreme Couponing

In A Word: Liquidity

TLC has recently turned a one-off show into an ongoing series. And in the time between the first "Extreme Couponing" aired and this latest season, the problems with this behavior have really been brought home to me.

Last January, a family member died. And it turns out that he had been something of an extreme couponer and a hoarder of new items himself. I have been helping with the ongoing effort to clean out their home so that his wife can sell the house, and it has been a real eye-opening experience.

The problem with extreme couponing comes down to one word: liquidity.

I'm sure this family member thought he was providing for his family by buying (e.g.) 40 compact fluorescent light bulbs. He no doubt found them on sale, and bought as many as the terms of the sale allowed.

Then he died.

What do you do with 40 compact fluorescent light bulbs? Given that each bulb supposedly lasts for five years, that's 200 years' worth of light for one lamp. Or 20 years' worth of bulbs for one household with ten lamps. You get the picture: it's a lot of dang light bulbs.

Unfortunately, the sales market for light bulbs is, shall we say, a little weak. We may be able to sell them at a garage sale for pennies on the dollar. More likely they will end up being given away to various friends and family members, or donated to charity.

A charity deduction on the taxes is good, don't get me wrong. But you know what his widower would much rather have? Money.

It's become clear that he spent a whole lot of money on all of these purchases over the years. The cabinets and closets crammed full of "new in box" household items (toothpaste, laundry detergent, deodorant - the list goes on) represents thousands of dollars in cash. I can tell you that if his widower moved a pile of paint cans to find a few bundles of $20 bills, she would be ecstatic. Moving a pile of paint cans to find another hoard of hand lotion? Not so much.

The truth about life is that the unexpected happens. This kind of hoarding behavior is seen by the hoarder as a hedge against bad times. Unfortunately, it is just the opposite. If he had saved all that money in an interest-bearing savings account, it's possible that his widower might not need to be selling their house right now.

Even if you discount the possibility of a sudden death (car accident, heart attack, cancer), everyone can experience a sudden change in their situation. If you lose your job, or have to move across the country, or have a baby, or your house burns down, you would be sorry to have sunk all of your money in 50 boxes of Life cereal.

Liquidity - such as money in a savings account - can be used to buy groceries OR pay the rent. You never have to worry about how you're going to re-sell it. It's always there when you need it, and it's portable as all get-out.

Using coupons is great, and I wholeheartedly encourage it. But if you're stockpiling more than about six months' worth of something, you are making a big mistake.

Culinary Adventure: Try a New Pear

Recently we took an amazing culinary adventure in our house. We didn’t have to travel to Asia or South America; we just headed over to our local grocery store and picked up a few different types of pears.

We grabbed an Asian pear, an apple pear, and a few other types that I honestly don’t remember—but that’s probably because I didn’t care for them very much! The Asian pear was the best. It was bursting with juicy flavor; in fact, it was so juicy it was almost like drinking a glass of juice while we ate them.

The apple pear was too apple-y for me. It’s texture just wasn’t pear-ish enough, and it wasn’t all that juicy at all. Of course, we did let them sit on the counter for a while before we cut them up, so they might have been too ripe, or spoiled, or otherwise ruined. Even so, all the better reason to buy them again and try it out while they’re fresh!

What was really special about this, besides the fact that we were finding new healthy snacks to try, was that we were spending time together as a family doing something new for all of us. We spend a lot of time introducing our daughter to new things, so when we all have the opportunity to do something new together, it’s even more special.

The next time we try out some new foods, I think we might go for different types of apples. We’ve had granny smiths, golden delicious, and red apples—but there are many more out there for us to explore in our culinary adventures!

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