National Baked Bean Month

I’ve never been much of a fan of baked beans. I think there’s just something about them that screams Chef Boyardee to me, which is synonymous with vomit-inducing. But all I’ve ever tried are the canned beans—you know, the ones with the talking dog.

You can actually make your own baked beans, which I hear are far better than the canned varieties. You’ll need a bag of navy beans, a cup of molasses, an onion, a cup of maple syrup, 2 cups of ketchup, a teaspoon of mustard, a teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and half a package of bacon (if desired).

Pour the bag of beans into a pot and cover them with water. Presoak the beans by putting the pot on the stove and bringing it to a boil. After it starts boiling, turn of the heat and let the beans sit for an hour. Then, cook them on the stove for about an hour and a half, boiling them on medium until they pop open. Drain the water out of the pot, and add your ingredients (dice the onion and chop the bacon first). Finally, continue cooking them for another hour and a half on low, and then you’re finished.

Aside from this basic recipe, there are countless variations to making your own baked beans. Try:

  • Soy sauce, garlic, olive oil and crushed tomatoes for a less-sweet taste
  • Salsa, peppers and the spicy sauces of your choice to create a fiery flavor
  • Cook them in barbecue sauce for a side when you’re grilling
  • Try beans on toast, a traditional British meal—add an eg, tuna, and grated cheese for “Beans on Toast Deluxe”
  • Stew your beans with pork or pork fat for traditional pork and beans
  • Cut up some hotdogs and add to your beans for “Franks & Beans”
  • Cook your beans with duck or goose and sausage in a covered container for a traditional Southern France dish called Cassoulet
  • For the Feijoada, the national dish of Brazil, cook some black turtle beans with salted pork or beef and at least two types of smoked meat, and serve with rice and collard greens
  • For a Latin American twist, substitute black or pinto beans
  • Add some fruit—such as apple or pineapple chunks—for a sweeter taste

Above all, baked beans are supposed to be a personal taste, so play with them for a flavor you like. I’ll be searching for a taste that pleases my palette, too.

Pel' Meni

On night when I'd stayed up quite late writing and was suddenly ravenously hungry, I discovered Pel' Meni.

It was, in fact, very late—after midnight, and there really wasn't much open. I noticed a little narrow, hole-in-the-wall sort of place with a line of people trailing outside the restaurant. By about 10 PM, Pel' Meni is doing a brisk business and it continues to do a brisk business with the after drinks and late-night-starving-students-writing-a-paper until about 2 or 3 AM. After an enthusiastic endorsement by people in line, I decided to try my luck. Inside I found a scattering of tables, and a curved counter, beyond which were two large steaming vats of boiling water. Off to the side was a refrigerated case of bottled soda and water, and the line moved very briskly because Pel' Meni only serves one thing: Dumplings, in either potato or beef.

Pel 'meni are a traditional Russian dumpling (technically, they're from Siberia), and Bellingham, Washington's Pel' Meni (at 1211 North State Street) is owned by a couple who opened their first Pel' Meni in Juneau, Alaska. The Pel' meni are hand-made locally, with fresh local ingredients, then frozen. A single serving is a bargain at about $6.00. Traditionally, they're served with a bit of butter and curry powder, but I suggest trying them with sour cream first, then trying them with the slightly sweet, slightly spicy vinegar. The sweet chili sauce is lovely, but a little can go a long way if you underestimate just how spicy it is. There's a reason for that piece of rye bread.

You order either beef or potato or a mix, the frozen hand-made dumplings are dropped into the vats of boiling water, and about eight minutes or so laer, you're handed a small styrofoam box with a spoon, and containing a piece of rye bread and a dozen or so steaming hot dumplings sprinkled with a special curry power, a sweet chili sauce, and a bit of fresh Cilantro. You add slightly spicy vinegar, or hot sauce or butter or sour cream to taste, then devour your pel' meni. The potato pel' meni are slightly spicier than the beef, but both are quite wonderful, especially when you're very hungry—or have been drinking for several hours. In Russia, you would go have Pel' meni first, before a night of drinking, but mostly I noticed the opposite.

4th of July Pasta Salad

Looking for something tasty to cook up for the 4th of July without having to really cook?  Maybe you are going to a party and need to bring a dish, going to the beach and taking a picnic with you or simply want to keep it easy.  You can make this meal a day ahead of time and put it in the fridge for your party or lunch or dinner. This recipe makes about 4 servings, so you may want to double it if you are taking it to a party or having friends or family over.  I love having pasta salad for a summer meal (i.e., 4th of July), because it is refreshing and delicious.   

What you will need:

Dressing

2/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/3 Cup Red wine vinegar

1 ½ TBS Sugar

1 TBS Grey Poupon Dijon mustard

2 tsp Minced shallot

1 tsp Lemon juice

1/2 tsp Dried thyme

1/4 tsp Dried parsley flakes

1/4 tsp Garlic powder

1/8 tsp Salt

1/8 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

1/8 tsp Dried basil

1/8 tsp Dried oregano

Dash of onion powder

Pasta

4 Quarts water

1 pound Rainbow rotini (red, white and blue if you can find it)

1 to 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large or 2 medium tomatoes

1 green onion

1/4 Cup minced cucumber

Salt

To make the dressing, in a large mixing bowl combine the extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar,  sugar, Grey Poupon Dijon mustard, shallot, lemon juice, thyme, parsley flakes, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, basil, oregano and onion powder.  With an electric mixer, mix on high speed for about a minute until the dressing becomes thick and creamy.  Put the dressing into a sealed container and store in the fridge until you are ready to toss it in with your salad.

Next, in a large pan, bring your 4 quarts of water to boil over high heat and then add in your uncooked noodles. Cook for 12 to 14 minutes or until tender and drain. Gently spray cold water over the pasta to help cool it down, and then drizzle the olive oil over the pasta to prevent it from sticking together.  Gently toss the pasta and then put it in a covered container for about a half hour in the fridge to cool.

While the pasta is cooling in the fridge, prepare your vegetables.  When you cut your tomatoes remember to remove the seeds and some pulp from them.  When you cut your green onion, use only the green part.  Make sure to cut your cucumber into tiny pieces.

Once the pasta is chilled, add in the freshly cut veggies and sprinkle it with salt to taste.  Put them back in the fridge to chill.

Once you are ready to serve the pasta, you can either add the dressing to the pasta and toss or you can spoon out the salad and each person can individually add the dressing (if they choose to use it) themselves.

Enjoy this refreshing and yummy 4th of July Pasta Salad!

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)

Once in a while, I get a craving for KFC's Original Recipe. Once in very great while, I give in, and indulge myself.

I've been wanting it for a couple of months, and last week, I gave in. It's been over a year since the last time I sinned indulged, so it's not too horribly unhealthy. There's just something about the whole idea of just cooked KFC chicken; it's not just the fried chicken, which is reliably tender and tasty, but the mashed potatoes and gravy, and the slaw (or the other sides; most of which are not bad). There's the convenience of it being already cooked, and ready to eat, without any need to wash dishes even. And while fried chicken isn't the healthiest meal in the world, it is awfully good—and for those of you wishing something less calorie-laden, there are alternatives, like the much-advertised grilled chicken, which I admit, I'm not even interested in trying. Just give me a piece of breast, original recipe, with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy, and one of slaw. I used to love the biscuits, but since KFC replaced the packets of honey with weird rather vile corn syrup packets, I'm less enamored of the biscuits. The gravy, though, is still pretty fabulous—I have a friend whose "secret gravy recipe" for Thanksgiving requires going to KFC the day before and buying a quart of their gravy to go. She's been doing this for over twenty years now, and I think I'm the only one who knows her "secret recipe."

For those of us consumed by the desire to know exactly what we're ingesting, KFC provides a fairly complete breakdown of the nutritional values of its entire menu, with some decent suggestions about eating, if not healthily, at least with less of an invitation to coronary disaster. They're no longer using oils with trans fats for cooking (they now use soybean oil), which is much healthier, and there is even a useful printable exchange list here, for those on restricted diets based on food exchanges.

While KFC is a franchise (YUM! Brands owns KFC, A&W Restaurants, Long John Silver's, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell), it's an international one, and there's a surprising amount of leeway regarding the menu both here and abroad. According to the nutritional breakdown, somewhere other than New England, Washington, or California, there are KFCs offering greens as a side. I am envious. There's a KFC in South Carolina, near Charleston, that has hushpuppies that are incredible, red beans and rice, and roasted battered potato wedges that are fairly spicy, but those are very much not a standard menu item. On Maui, you can get sides of Hawaiian potato salad (it includes macaroni) and Mahi mahi sandwiches. The international KFCs, so I'm told by globe-trotting friends, offer various sorts of kebabs, including chicken and beef-based kebabs. For any other hungry bloggers out there who just want an almost home-cooked meal, there are KFC coupons here.

The Problem with Drivers/Driving in the Seattle, Bellevue, and remaining Puget Sound Region

All day long, I drive the I-5 corridor for work. Sometimes it makes me want to rip my hair out. I have to schedule my appointments around traffic because if I want to go anywhere in a reasonable amount of time, it requires planning and knowing the streets. There are many types of drivers in the Puget Sound area piss me off, so here's a few I would like to share with you.

1) Rushing to Work Guy
What he looks like: He's driving kind of slow, and you keep seeing him bobbing his head up and down.
Why he's dangerous: He's late for work because he partied too late the night before, and he's trying to check up on emails and chat on his Blackberry at the same time.

2) I do my make-up while I'm driving Girl
What she looks like: I once saw a woman in Tacoma, WA who was actually brushing her hair while driving. Now, I understand a quick brush through at a red light to get a tangle out, but this girl literally brushed her hair for about 5 miles.
Why she's dangerous: She only has one hand on the wheel, and her mirror is pointed down at herself so she can look at herself while she is driving/doing her hair. She's so not paying attention.


3) We're from the suburbs Family
What they look like: They're in a mini-van with those annoying little family stick figure stickers on the back window. They more than likely are sporting one or more "my child is an honor school student" bumper sticker.
Why they're dangerous: They only drive into the big city on special occasions or on the weekend, and they always forget to get their asses into the HOV lane.


4) Big Rig Trucker Passing Through
What they look like: A big trucker
Why they're dangerous: They're impatient, and ride your ass.

 

5) Whoops, I forgot where I was going guy
What he looks like: He's in the far left lane during rush hour and then tries desperately to work his way over to the right lane for the next exit in 1/4 mile.
Why he's dangerous: He isn't paying attention to where he's going, and can easily cause an accident because no one else is paying attention to where they're going or where he's going.

6) I never learned how to merge Man
What he looks like: He's they guy on the on-ramp to the freeway who is still going 30 MPH as he approaches the merge point.
Why he's dangerous: If he doesn't move his fucking Prius out of the way, I am going to ram into him.... because I know that as you are merging onto a freeway you are supposed to accelerate to match the speed of traffic.

7) I didn't tie my load down correctly Dude
What he looks like: A truck with shit flying off the back
Why he's dangerous: He can kill you.

 

8)  I'm not from around here,
in fact, I'm from  California
What he looks like: A foreigner, as in someone not from Seattle.
Why he's dangerous: He doesn't quite grasp U.S. driving etiquette, and could quite possibly cause road rage.


9) I think I can drive fast in snow Guy
What he looks like: He's the guy spinning out in front of you on the road, or following his GPS and crashing into the freeway
Why he's dangerous: Seattle has hills, it's dangerous and he's a dumb ass and doesn't know when to slow down. He could also cause a major mid-winter pile up. Also, use your brain, don't go down an icy hill in the winter, unless you want to tempt fate.

10) Driving the wrong way on the Freeway Guy

What he looks like: Scott Noble, King County Assesor
Why he's dangerous: He's drunk driving, and he's serving in public office. Thank God he didn't kill someone. Asshole.

 


Recommended for further Bad Driver reading:
Washington State Drivers License Guide
One Man's Blog
Seattle Driving Ettiqutte

A Feva for the Flava

When my friend Sarah once told me that fried chicken and okra was soul food after I professed loving them, I stood before her, perplexed. I finally admitted, “Sarah… I hear about ‘soul food’ all of the time but I don’t really know what it means!”

She laughed so hard, slapped her hand on her hip, and said something I’ll never forget: “Girl, you don’t know what soul food is? It’s when you get your feet in there, and your arms in there, and everybody’s in that food!” I remember being delighted with her answer. The only food that I knew of like that was spaghetti, and that’s just because it was so messy it always got all over you.

When I looked it up on my own, I got some really vague answers. Perfunctory definitions included “food traditionally eaten by Southern African-Americans,” and “food such as chitterlings, ham hocks and collard greens.” Not only did these not seem like enough information, they further confused me (what the hell are chitterlings?).

June is actually Soul Food Month—likely because Juneteenth, or June 19, African American Emancipation Day, is this month. So I decided to do a little more research into this mysterious but magical culinary phenomenon. Here is what I discovered:

“Soul” became a connotation for anything that went along with Black culture in the 1960s. But soul food is actually much older than that. It started in Africa, with foods such as sorghum, okra and rice, which are all common West African foods. When slaves needed to cook filling, hearty meals with what they had on hand, they developed recipes for things like chicken fried steak, Hoppin’ John (a rice and beans dish), and yes, chitterlings—which are pig intestines.

Like my friend Sarah said, soul food is all about creativity—making whatever you can out of whatever you’ve got.

Other common ingredients used in making traditional soul food are chicken gizzards and livers, ham hocks, fish, black-eyed peace, different sorts of beans, sweet potatoes, corn bread and cabbage. Though today’s soul food is usually condemned by the medical community because it’s so unhealthy, it’s still a tasty treat we can indulge in sometimes.

So this month, I say we salute soul food and the amazing food creations and inventions the Black community has given this country (peanuts, rice cultivation and sugar refining, anyone?) by eating up some delicious soul food. My family is going to try to cook some Hoppin’ John; what will you be doing?

Burger King's 7 Inches

So, Bacardi wants girls to get even uglier girlfriends to look better by comparison. Now, Burger King wants girls to "put seven inches in our mouths"? This does not appear to be a joke, either. So, yet again, I find myself asking the same question again and again, "What crack pipe are they smoking?"

The picture is bad enough, so I don't really think it needs to accompanying caption: It'll Blow Your MInd Away. Has the whole advertising world gone topsy-turvy and given themselves the morals of Maxim Magazine? Sex, apparently sells, but I really wonder who this ad is targeted towards. Is it aimed at young women, young men of a certain persuasion or the population at large? Regardless, I can't believe this passed the muster and I do not in any way consider myself to be a prude.

What's next? Is Subway going to steal the ad campaign for their foot-longs? Is Dunkin Donuts going to suggest new and lewd uses for their pastries in order to appeal to our latent sexuality and hidden desires?

Appetizing Pizza Sticks

This is one of my favorite all time things to eat when I am craving pizza.  Since I like to eat small amounts of food at a time, and I like to have my individual smaller portions, I love that this recipe makes individual pizza sticks.  This recipe serves between 6-10 people (depending on how much you eat), so you can always cut it down to a smaller portion for yourself or you can serve it as an appetizer for a party.

What you will need:

Dough/Pizza Sticks

1 10oz Tube of instant pizza dough

3 Cups of Vegetable oil for frying

1 ¾ Cups grated mozzarella cheese

1/4 Cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp caraway seeds

1/4 tsp garlic salt

Marinara Sauce (my favorite)

1 8oz Can of tomato sauce

1 tomato, chopped

1 TBS diced onion

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp dried basil

Preheat your oven to 425° F degrees.

Marinara Sauce:  In a small saucepan on medium-high heat, combine tomato sauce, tomato, diced onion, sugar, dried oregano, salt and basil.  Stir mixture and bring the sauce to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low, cover, and let the sauce simmer for a half an hour.

Pizza Sticks:  Open up your can of instant pizza dough.  Roll out the dough, flattening all the edges so that it makes a long rectangle.  Use a pizza cutter to cut down the middle of the dough (length wise), so that you end up with two long rectangles each measuring around 4-5 inches in height.  Take your pizza cutter and slice the dough (shorter length) up and down, making each slice about 1 ½ to 2 inches wide.  This should produce between 20-24 ‘sticks’.

Place the dough onto a greased cookie sheet about ½ inch apart from each other and bake for 3 minutes.  It is okay if you have to use more than one cookie sheet.

Heat your vegetable oil in a deep frying pan or deep fryer (350° F degrees).  In your frying pan, the vegetable oil should be at least ½ inch deep (and of course more if you are using a deep fryer). 

Fry between 4-6 (depending on the size of your frying pan) pizza sticks for about 1 minute on each side, or until they are golden brown.  Remove from the oil with tongs and place on a cookie sheet (with a paper towel beneath for the oil to drip on).  Once they have cooled, pat them with a paper towel to drain any excess oil.

Preheat your broiler.

Once all the pizza dough has been baked and fried, arrange them onto the cookie sheet.  You can place the pizza sticks close together, which will make putting on the ingredients easier.  Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese evenly over the dough.  Then sprinkle the parmesan cheese evenly over the mozzarella.

In a small bowl, combine the oregano, basil, caraway seeds, and garlic salt.  Mix the blend together, then sprinkle the spices over the cheese.

Broil the pizza sticks for about 2 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Serve hot with your marinara sauce and enjoy these yummy appetizing pizza sticks!

Nachos Con Carne

Hungry for a delicious pile of nachos con carne?  Look no further!  This recipe feeds 2-4 people and is a great snack with a group of friends or an appetizer for game night.  

What you will need:

1/2 lb Ground beef (you can also use ground turkey)

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Dried minced onion

1/8 tsp paprika

2 TBS water

10 large corn tortilla chips

1/2 Cup refried beans (or black if you prefer healthier)

1 ½ Cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1/2 Cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

1/4 Cup diced onion

1 large green or red jalapeno pepper, sliced

Extra Dipping Ingredients:

Sour Cream

Guacamole

Salsa

Preheat your oven to 375° F degrees.

In a skillet over medium heat brown your ground beef (or turkey).  Use a spatula to crumble your meat into small pieces as it cooks.  When the meat is fully cooked (no pink), drain the grease.  Add the chili powder, salt, dried onion, paprika, and water.  Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.

Heat the refried or black beans in a sauce pan on low heat.  Mix the cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses together in a small bowl.  Arrange the tortilla chips on a baking sheet or an oven safe ceramic plate.  Spread 1 TBS of refried beans or black beans on each chip.  Sprinkle a couple of TBS of ground spiced meat onto each chip.  Carefully pile a small handful of cheese on each chip.  Sprinkle a tad bit of diced onions over the cheese.  And for the “cherry”, place a slice of jalapeño on top of each chip.

Bake the chips for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.  Serve with your choice of sour cream, guacamole or salsa on the side.

Enjoy this delicious appetizer!

Note - If you are making this delicious appetizer for guests, you may want to place it on bright orange, blue, red or yellow plates and serve each chip as an individual appetizer.  You can make it over 10 individual chips as stated above, or you can also add more chips and spread the ingredients over in kind of a messy nacho way and people can eat the chips as finger food.  This may be better for a more relaxed environment, and the individual chips for a party type environment.  Either way, individual or messy, these Nachos con Carne are a great hit!

Masala of India and Mirch Masala in Seattle

Some of my fondest childhood memories take place in true hole-in-the-wall restaurants in the now defunct Greek Town neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan. These were the eateries where dinner was a four hour event with multiple courses and kibbutzing with the owners. The food was fantastic, the service was no less than loving and the atmosphere was more akin to a good friend's dining room than business. Hungry Seattleites looking for a similar experience, albeit with a different ethnic spice, should head straight for one of Sanjay Sharma's two Indian restaurants in the greater Seattle area.

Sharma opened Masala of India in the Northgate neighborhood nearly a decade ago and has since established a second location, Mirch Masala, in the heart of Capitol Hill. Though it's now officially a chain, the Masala brand has stayed within the family and it has retained all of the quality and charm that made the original restaurant so famous.

The key to Masala's success is size. Both locations are cozy, allowing the staff to provide the personalized service that is so essential to this kind of dining experience. Their interiors are respectable but not fancy, with just enough cultural paraphernalia to not be overbearing. I was personally treated with the cordiality and can-do attitude I haven't seen since those by-gone days in Greek Town.

As for the food, it truly does taste homemade. That term gets thrown around a lot in the restaurant business and it's almost never true, but my meal at Mirch Masala had what I can best describe as a "kind" flavor. My Kashmiri Chicken was generously spiced and naturally savory. It had an especially aromatic tinge to it thanks to the unmistakably fresh herbs that rounded out the complex flavors in this entirely unpretentious dish.

The Vegetable Samosa is a must-have for every meal. Large, crispy and especially good with a sweet curry sauce, these pastries really pop. For a slightly spicier, bite-sized experience, definitely go for the Pakora, available in vegetable, chicken, fish, and cheesy Paneer varieties.

Masala also has a full range of Tandoori dishes, from lamb and chicken to a variety of seafood variations. Naturally, they also have an extensive vegetarian menu with creative selections like Vegetables Jalfrazi, a fresh saute with spices and special house sauce.

The desert selections are all equally tempting. Basmati makes some of the most elegant rice pudding in the world, though it's difficult to pass up other traditional sweets like milky Rasmalai or a few Gulab Jaman. These hot Summer months lend themselves to the Mango Ice Cream and the chilled yogurt Lassi beverage, served in both sweet and salty varieties.

The Masala restaurants are fairly easy on the wallet, especially considering the quality of the food. Expect to spend approximately $20 per person for a full dinner, including an appetizer, drink, entree and dessert.

Masala of India in Northgate and Mirch Masala in Capitol Hill are certainly excellent choices for those looking for a go-to Indian spot in Seattle. They do dine-in and carry-out, as well as delivery and catering. These restaurants get my highest recommendation.

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