Hello there! I know I have not written anything in an embarrassingly long time. My excuse: I was on vacation with my husband in Belize. I had hoped to have a full recount of all the amazing Belizean food that we ate while we were down there, complete with pictures no less, but the truth is, we stayed at a resort that seemed to cater to American tourists rather than stay true to the dishes that make up the culinary traditions of the tiny, Central American country. Now, to be fair, they did have a couple of things that are staples of the Belizean table (and bar, for that matter) that we became so enamored with, that we bought and brought home with us as our "souvenirs".
The first is Marie Sharp's Habanero Pepper Sauce, which we purchased in its "mild" version. What is interesting about this stuff is both the incredible heat it packs, and also the fact that carrots are included in the ingredient listing. Carrots, you say? Oddly enough, I found that the cooks in Belize were apt to throw carrots into just about any dish that showed up to tempt our palates: from tuna noodle casserole (I told you it was Americanized food) to the incredible conch ceviche (which may or may not have given my husband violent food poisoning) that we snacked on in the bar one afternoon. In any case, for a pepper sauce that is manufactured in Belize, having a carrot base for the fiery condiment makes more sense than not. The sauce is tasty - really, really spicy, but flavorful as well. It does not seem to have the same acidity that a vinegar based Tabasco sauce does. Don't get me wrong, I like Tabasco sauce, but this is a more subtle flavor - maybe tempered a little by the sweetness of the carrot base. The heat...well, the heat is kind of "burn your face off" heat, as opposed to the lower burn of a Tabasco hot sauce, but it is delicious and definitely something I have been adding to soups, quesadillas, fajitas.....well, pretty much anything that needs a kick.
The second staple that we transported home, is Kuknat Coconut Rum, also made in Belize. Now, my sister informed me, upon our return to the states, that we have coconut rum here as well, but, typically eschewing rum myself, I had no idea. It was not until we were on an island vacation, drinks made with local booze included, that we actually tried this clear and delightfully scented rum. (Just as a side note here: I love the smell of coconut. It is one of those things that I like the scent of more than I do the actual flavor of the raw product.) In any case, the coconut scent and flavor of the rum is light, but definitely perceptible, even when combined with Coca-Cola to make a most venerable tropical mixed drink - Rum and Coke or even, with a lime twist, Cuba Libre. Like I said, we liked it so well that we decided to bring some home - thinking all the while that we had found a new, as yet undiscovered by our non-Belizean traveling friends, liquor.
Ah, well - so I am not a great bar tending adventurer. No matter because our mixed drinks will have the essence of the Belizean tropics while our mouths feel the fire of a typical table side Belizean condiment. No matter that we did not enjoy traditional Belizean fare while we were there either. I mean, what is having a chef in the family worth if not to research and attempt to recreate the cuisine of a underdeveloped Central American nation? Not to mention the fact that we will probably go back. When we do, I am sure great culinary delights shall await us. Until then, habanero pepper sauce and coconut rum will suffice for giving our Texas food and drinks a taste of Belize.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Yoga Diet - The First Week Part Deux
Ha! See, I told you I would have more posts coming on the "Yoga Body Diet" recipes! So, last night we tried Chicken and Zucchini Quesadillas which is supposed to be served with a mango-jicama salsa. Well, because I had planned to serve the quesadillas with a salad anyway and because I didn't really get the idea of a "salsa" lacking any spicy components, I decided to add the salsa ingredients to my salad. I did make the quesadillas as directed by the recipe....well, more or less that way. I used whole wheat tortillas, chopped zucchini, sliced poached chicken, reduced fat cheddar cheese (in lieu of the mozzarella written in the recipe) and added about a pinch of adobo seasoning to kick the flavor up a notch. (Oh, my God. Did I just quote Emeril? Is that even how you spell his name? I apologize - I really couldn't think of anything else to write right there. I won't do it again. Promise.) The quesadillas were sprayed with cooking spray and baked in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes. The result was a crispy exterior with a juicy, gooey, cheesy interior that boasted perfectly cooked zucchini chunks (still bright green and crisp-tender) and a minute level of savory spice that satisfied my ever-cooling taste buds. (I still miss my peppers - don't get me wrong.) The salad was pretty incredible as well. I combined butter lettuce with fresh, homegrown tomatoes, ripe mangos, avocado, sweet and crunchy jicama, dressed with an exceptionally light lime, soy and agave vinaigrette. Damn tasty and freaking fresh. It made great leftovers for lunch today as well.
Tonight's dinner was the "Yoga Body Diet" version of pad thai, a dish that I often make, both from written recipes as well as new creations straight out of my own head. This one featured tofu and rice noodles, both of which I have managed to find products that were made right here in Texas! If I geek out about anything (science fiction, British science fiction, books - okay, I geek out about a lot), it is finding local food products in my local grocery store that can supplant items made in far off lands that previously represented my only choices. Anyway. So, this pad thai recipe had the noodles, the tofu, the egg, the lime, the fish sauce, the cilantro and even....a teeny bit of cayenne pepper! Oh, happy day! The tofu was just chewy enough, the noodles were slightly starchy, even retaining some al dente texture and the sauce was tart, slightly sweet, bright, fresh, piquant and herbaceous. All in all: a good pad thai in my book. (My kids, despite the multiple attempts at this dish, still are not Thai food eaters. I am still not willing to give it up. I will broaden their little palates, so help me God!)
Current score: two more tasty dishes! Tomorrow, if I feel up to it, I may attempt the intriguing Cherry Basil Granita for dessert following something called, "Tasty Tacos". Until then, my friends, bon apetite! (See, I left Emeril out of it - you can't go wrong with quoting Julia, after all.)
Tonight's dinner was the "Yoga Body Diet" version of pad thai, a dish that I often make, both from written recipes as well as new creations straight out of my own head. This one featured tofu and rice noodles, both of which I have managed to find products that were made right here in Texas! If I geek out about anything (science fiction, British science fiction, books - okay, I geek out about a lot), it is finding local food products in my local grocery store that can supplant items made in far off lands that previously represented my only choices. Anyway. So, this pad thai recipe had the noodles, the tofu, the egg, the lime, the fish sauce, the cilantro and even....a teeny bit of cayenne pepper! Oh, happy day! The tofu was just chewy enough, the noodles were slightly starchy, even retaining some al dente texture and the sauce was tart, slightly sweet, bright, fresh, piquant and herbaceous. All in all: a good pad thai in my book. (My kids, despite the multiple attempts at this dish, still are not Thai food eaters. I am still not willing to give it up. I will broaden their little palates, so help me God!)
Current score: two more tasty dishes! Tomorrow, if I feel up to it, I may attempt the intriguing Cherry Basil Granita for dessert following something called, "Tasty Tacos". Until then, my friends, bon apetite! (See, I left Emeril out of it - you can't go wrong with quoting Julia, after all.)
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Yoga Diet - The First Week
So, I am now a little over the first week through the Yoga Body Diet that I was telling y'all about the last time I wrote. Although I was not technically scheduled to begin cooking from the book this week, I decided to eschew the traditional principles and advance myself to the point where I was allowed to begin eating foods designed for my pitta dosha. A quick review of the dishes this week will soon follow. Here are a couple of things that I have learned this week: first, although I would not have thought it possible, I have kind of managed to keep my food cravings in check. What I mean is that I usually crave salt, sugar, and spice (not necessarily in that order and often with the addition of alcohol to one or all of those three flavors), but I did not really have a problem with that this week at all. In fact, last night, as my husband was enjoying his weekly beer ration, I thought about having some chocolate - a couple of tablespoons of chocolate chips to be exact. At first, I decided that I really did not want any, but then gave way about halfway through the movie we were watching. I ate the chips, relished them even, but afterward, felt kind of empty. I was not upset with myself for breaking the diet, but I realized that, in fact, my initial instinct was correct: my body actually did not want the chocolate at all. Huh. Second, before I get to the actual food, I have also realized that being slightly hungry at the end of the day is not a bad thing. I actually feel more ready for sleep in that state (rather than overstuffed discomfort) and have actually slept better this week than several previous. Again: huh.
Okay. So, the burning question here is: how is the food and do the recipes work? The answer is: pretty good and yes, they do, for the most part. I started the week by making homemade granola: baked oats, heavily laden with cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla, augmented by pumpkin seeds and unsweetened coconut. It smelled incredible - a gorgeous combination of sweetness and spice, one that I thought would taste as good as it smelled for sure. Result: it tastes okay, but is nothing compared to its baking smell. If I could eat that scent - well, damn, I don't think I would need anything else for the rest of the day. That day, I also made Chocolate Chip Cookies with Oats and Coconut. This one was interesting - not a lot of ingredients, dry or wet, but the batter came together quickly and actually turned into something that closely resembled real cookie dough. Again, I baked these cookies which were spiked with cinnamon and coconut, and relished the scent alone. Fortunately, although slightly dry (especially four days after baking), they taste almost as good as they smelled. They are chewy, with a light crunch from the oats and coconut and have almost enough chocolate to be truly satisfying. Yum.
I have not really done anything as far as lunch goes this week, but dinner-time has been pitta specific all week long. We started off with Cream of Broccoli soup, made with (get this) goat cheese instead of cream. Oh. My. God. That was gooooooood. I actually don't care much for cream of anything soup (well, unless you count that cream of asparagus soup that I had - more than once in more than one country - when we traveled across Europe in the Spring of 2002. Incredible.), but this was tasty. My kids didn't care for it too much - my youngest held her nose the entire time she, literally, choked it down, but I thought it was heavenly. It was a pureed soup, so it retained a little of the grainy-ness inherent to broccoli florets, but the goat cheese mellowed the flavor and gave it just enough of a tart edge to make it really interesting. The second night was Fried Rice with Pineapple and Coconut: starring one of my dosha "power foods": tofu. Now, I don't mind tofu at all, but I do prefer it when the rest of the dish it is in creates a flavor palate that shines aside from its bland nature/texture/flavor. Despite the addition of fresh, gorgeous, juicy, sunshine-in-a-bowl, pineapple, this dish was, at best, blah. It featured short grain brown rice which had a chewy, satisfying consistency and called for snow peas (for which I subbed fresh green beans) which added an interesting level of crunch. Ginger and garlic provided the only means of seasoning on top of some shredded cabbage and toasted (which I lazily didn't do) coconut. "Meh" is about all I can say about that one.
Finally, for this post at least, we tried Roti Pizza. The book defines roti as a sweet-tasting Indian flatbread, but based on the fact that it is made from whole wheat flour, water and salt, I was not holding my breath for this "pizza" to turn out as anything besides edible. I am pleased to admit that I was incorrect: the dough came together quickly in the food processor, was fairly easy to roll out and, when topped with tomato paste, various delicious "power" vegetables like asparagus and artichoke hearts (two of my personal favorites), reduced fat mozzarella cheese and finished with fresh basil from our garden....well, it was, in fact, pizza! It was delicious pizza! The crust was chewy and, despite its humble beginnings and my extra low expectations, it held up very nicely to all of the toppings.
So, the score is: meh, tasty, yummy, blah and surprisingly delicious. More to come very shortly on more "Yoga Body Diet" Recipes.
Okay. So, the burning question here is: how is the food and do the recipes work? The answer is: pretty good and yes, they do, for the most part. I started the week by making homemade granola: baked oats, heavily laden with cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla, augmented by pumpkin seeds and unsweetened coconut. It smelled incredible - a gorgeous combination of sweetness and spice, one that I thought would taste as good as it smelled for sure. Result: it tastes okay, but is nothing compared to its baking smell. If I could eat that scent - well, damn, I don't think I would need anything else for the rest of the day. That day, I also made Chocolate Chip Cookies with Oats and Coconut. This one was interesting - not a lot of ingredients, dry or wet, but the batter came together quickly and actually turned into something that closely resembled real cookie dough. Again, I baked these cookies which were spiked with cinnamon and coconut, and relished the scent alone. Fortunately, although slightly dry (especially four days after baking), they taste almost as good as they smelled. They are chewy, with a light crunch from the oats and coconut and have almost enough chocolate to be truly satisfying. Yum.
I have not really done anything as far as lunch goes this week, but dinner-time has been pitta specific all week long. We started off with Cream of Broccoli soup, made with (get this) goat cheese instead of cream. Oh. My. God. That was gooooooood. I actually don't care much for cream of anything soup (well, unless you count that cream of asparagus soup that I had - more than once in more than one country - when we traveled across Europe in the Spring of 2002. Incredible.), but this was tasty. My kids didn't care for it too much - my youngest held her nose the entire time she, literally, choked it down, but I thought it was heavenly. It was a pureed soup, so it retained a little of the grainy-ness inherent to broccoli florets, but the goat cheese mellowed the flavor and gave it just enough of a tart edge to make it really interesting. The second night was Fried Rice with Pineapple and Coconut: starring one of my dosha "power foods": tofu. Now, I don't mind tofu at all, but I do prefer it when the rest of the dish it is in creates a flavor palate that shines aside from its bland nature/texture/flavor. Despite the addition of fresh, gorgeous, juicy, sunshine-in-a-bowl, pineapple, this dish was, at best, blah. It featured short grain brown rice which had a chewy, satisfying consistency and called for snow peas (for which I subbed fresh green beans) which added an interesting level of crunch. Ginger and garlic provided the only means of seasoning on top of some shredded cabbage and toasted (which I lazily didn't do) coconut. "Meh" is about all I can say about that one.
Finally, for this post at least, we tried Roti Pizza. The book defines roti as a sweet-tasting Indian flatbread, but based on the fact that it is made from whole wheat flour, water and salt, I was not holding my breath for this "pizza" to turn out as anything besides edible. I am pleased to admit that I was incorrect: the dough came together quickly in the food processor, was fairly easy to roll out and, when topped with tomato paste, various delicious "power" vegetables like asparagus and artichoke hearts (two of my personal favorites), reduced fat mozzarella cheese and finished with fresh basil from our garden....well, it was, in fact, pizza! It was delicious pizza! The crust was chewy and, despite its humble beginnings and my extra low expectations, it held up very nicely to all of the toppings.
So, the score is: meh, tasty, yummy, blah and surprisingly delicious. More to come very shortly on more "Yoga Body Diet" Recipes.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Gearing Up
So, this week, I will begin cooking from my new book, The Yoga Body Diet. I received the book in the mail last week and read it, cover to cover, in about three days. I took the assessment test and discovered, much to my own surprise, that my dosha, or personality(ish) type, is pitta. Pittas are associated with the element fire and the summer season. They are typical "Type A" personalities with a fair amount of drive and ambition. Now, I can't say that I fall completely into this category, especially because the test indicated that I am also fairly close to the kapha, or earth dosha, but a lot of the pitta characteristics seem to apply to me.
Why am I writing about this right now? Mainly because, as a pitta, I am supposed to (essentially) cook from summer's bounty and limit the amount of spices that I use in my cooking. I am good with the fresh fruits and vegetables that abound with this season - in fact, summer is really my very favorite time/season in which to cook. Summer produce is incredible and the flavors are made even more amazing by eating everything at the peak of ripeness. (Anyone who has ever been suckered into buying summer fruit -watermelons, strawberries, etc. - during the winter knows what an extreme disappointment they usually are. Trust me - been there and done that just because I have been jonesing for a bite of summer on a cold winter day.) I love the beautiful, ruby-red strawberries and the way their flavor brightens my entire mouth. I adore fat, fuzzy peaches and their sweet-tart juiciness that feels like a dose of sunshine itself. Summertime, homegrown tomatoes are to die for - plump, earthy, explosively warm tomato flavor in a riot of colors. All kinds of peppers are amazing - some scorching and some sweetly piquant - picked at the peak of ripeness, and can enliven just about any dish. I also love the cooking techniques (or lack thereof) the hot weather brings - cold and crisp dinner salads, savory meats grilled outdoors, fresh fruits and vegetables that need no further embellishment than a sprinkle of salt or a twist of black pepper. Ahhh......I can almost taste it all now.
I started by saying that I can deal with the pitta perspective of a diet based on fresh fruits and vegetables and that is, in fact, the truth. I think the only issue I might have is with limiting the spices, although I think my children will thank me for it (not big fans of spicy anything, unless it is a sausage of some sort). True to my predominantly pitta nature, I LOVE spicy foods and would pretty much eat them any day and any way. As a Central Texan, I adore Tex-Mex, but I don't limit myself to the cuisine of chips and salsa. Oh no, I am international in my spice consumption - Thai, Indian, Italian and so on, each hold at least one heavily spiced dish that is near and dear to my heart (and the subsequent burn). Ah well, much like the alcohol that I have overindulged in the past couple of weeks, it is not going to hurt me to give it up for the next few weeks. It should facilitate the re-balancing of my dosha and the deepening of my yoga practice (which is a surprisingly good workout - trust me, I am pretty hard core with my exercise and I was astounded by how difficult holding various poses actually is). I am menu planning this afternoon and should have more posts this week as I attempt to adhere to an Ayurvedic, pitta-specific diet. Wish me luck....or perhaps send me a "namaste".
Why am I writing about this right now? Mainly because, as a pitta, I am supposed to (essentially) cook from summer's bounty and limit the amount of spices that I use in my cooking. I am good with the fresh fruits and vegetables that abound with this season - in fact, summer is really my very favorite time/season in which to cook. Summer produce is incredible and the flavors are made even more amazing by eating everything at the peak of ripeness. (Anyone who has ever been suckered into buying summer fruit -watermelons, strawberries, etc. - during the winter knows what an extreme disappointment they usually are. Trust me - been there and done that just because I have been jonesing for a bite of summer on a cold winter day.) I love the beautiful, ruby-red strawberries and the way their flavor brightens my entire mouth. I adore fat, fuzzy peaches and their sweet-tart juiciness that feels like a dose of sunshine itself. Summertime, homegrown tomatoes are to die for - plump, earthy, explosively warm tomato flavor in a riot of colors. All kinds of peppers are amazing - some scorching and some sweetly piquant - picked at the peak of ripeness, and can enliven just about any dish. I also love the cooking techniques (or lack thereof) the hot weather brings - cold and crisp dinner salads, savory meats grilled outdoors, fresh fruits and vegetables that need no further embellishment than a sprinkle of salt or a twist of black pepper. Ahhh......I can almost taste it all now.
I started by saying that I can deal with the pitta perspective of a diet based on fresh fruits and vegetables and that is, in fact, the truth. I think the only issue I might have is with limiting the spices, although I think my children will thank me for it (not big fans of spicy anything, unless it is a sausage of some sort). True to my predominantly pitta nature, I LOVE spicy foods and would pretty much eat them any day and any way. As a Central Texan, I adore Tex-Mex, but I don't limit myself to the cuisine of chips and salsa. Oh no, I am international in my spice consumption - Thai, Indian, Italian and so on, each hold at least one heavily spiced dish that is near and dear to my heart (and the subsequent burn). Ah well, much like the alcohol that I have overindulged in the past couple of weeks, it is not going to hurt me to give it up for the next few weeks. It should facilitate the re-balancing of my dosha and the deepening of my yoga practice (which is a surprisingly good workout - trust me, I am pretty hard core with my exercise and I was astounded by how difficult holding various poses actually is). I am menu planning this afternoon and should have more posts this week as I attempt to adhere to an Ayurvedic, pitta-specific diet. Wish me luck....or perhaps send me a "namaste".
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
A Couple of New Things
This one is gonna be short, folks. I thought, what with finishing school and getting through wedding season and all, that I was going to have mountains of time in which to write witty/inspiring/laugh out loud (I refuse to use text-speak)/delicious word pictures of the many foods that I try/buy/make/consume. Sadly, I was incorrect in the respect that I have lost all sense of discipline over the past week and a half, and I have found many other things (TV! Fictional novels! Sleep!) with which to occupy my time.
In any case, here are a few quick thoughts: first, after renting a margarita machine for my graduation party this past weekend, I have decided that I am officially tired of margaritas (or "margarinas", as my six-year-old was calling them). I currently have about 1/2 a gallon left in my freezer. (No way were we going to waste good booze by turning it back over to the margarita machine folks!) I am guessing that I am not officially tired of alcohol because I continue to consume all of the post-party goodies in my fridge as well - goodies as in beer mostly.
Second, just as soon as it gets here in the mail (or however it is being delivered to my house), I am planning to try a new diet called, "The Yoga Body Diet". (Wow, Mom! I can hear you rolling your eyes from here!) I am not doing it so much for the weight loss (although, hell, who I am kidding? That would be a nice side-effect), but more for the assessment tests and yoga moves to support health, weight loss and general relaxation. Despite my undisciplined post-culinary school state these days, I still feel kinda stressed, so I figured, ancient discipline based on centering yourself to achieve a calm relaxation? What could it hurt, right? Also, I am pretty excited about getting some new recipes (the book has about 75 of them) added to my already fairly extensive repertoire. I will definitely keep (all four of) you updated on how those recipes and the diet program itself stacks up.
That is about all I have for now and, really, based on my level of anti-productivity these days, that is pretty dang good, if I do say so myself. More to come soon....
In any case, here are a few quick thoughts: first, after renting a margarita machine for my graduation party this past weekend, I have decided that I am officially tired of margaritas (or "margarinas", as my six-year-old was calling them). I currently have about 1/2 a gallon left in my freezer. (No way were we going to waste good booze by turning it back over to the margarita machine folks!) I am guessing that I am not officially tired of alcohol because I continue to consume all of the post-party goodies in my fridge as well - goodies as in beer mostly.
Second, just as soon as it gets here in the mail (or however it is being delivered to my house), I am planning to try a new diet called, "The Yoga Body Diet". (Wow, Mom! I can hear you rolling your eyes from here!) I am not doing it so much for the weight loss (although, hell, who I am kidding? That would be a nice side-effect), but more for the assessment tests and yoga moves to support health, weight loss and general relaxation. Despite my undisciplined post-culinary school state these days, I still feel kinda stressed, so I figured, ancient discipline based on centering yourself to achieve a calm relaxation? What could it hurt, right? Also, I am pretty excited about getting some new recipes (the book has about 75 of them) added to my already fairly extensive repertoire. I will definitely keep (all four of) you updated on how those recipes and the diet program itself stacks up.
That is about all I have for now and, really, based on my level of anti-productivity these days, that is pretty dang good, if I do say so myself. More to come soon....
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Post Wedding Burgers
Meh. I said (or rather, typed - on Facebook) that I wasn't going to write today, but I changed my mind. I have been doing too much of nothing (or would that be too little of anything) lately. So, while my children are occupied by their hour of "screen time", i.e. the grand old dame of electronic babysitters, television, I shall quickly post something new.
In my last post, I mentioned what a crazy whirlwind my life has been the past couple of weeks and last weekend was kind of the pinnacle of wonderful chaos for me. I graduated from culinary school last Thursday and then my children acted as flower-girls in the wedding of a very dear friend of mine, so we had wedding-related activities Friday and Saturday as well. After the wedding ceremony itself on Saturday, we headed to downtown Austin for the reception at a fairly swanky hotel. We ate dinner, drank ourselves (read: mostly my husband) silly at the open bar and ended up, after cake and dancing, in the lobby bar around 10 pm. After having another round of drinks with which we toasted the bride and groom again, a group of us decided to hit the entertainment district in search of.....a hamburger. Yep, you read that right. In our defense, it was purported to be one of the city's best: a 3/4 pound hamburger with all the trimmings at an Austin bar called Casino El Camino.
So, there were six of us, three of which have been friends since we were children plus our respective spouses/significant others, and between us, we ordered five of these mammoth burgers. (Now, I say "mammoth", but it was a bar and it was REALLY dark, so I had to rely upon my sense of smell, taste and touch, rather than my eyesight in these circumstances. Really - the only light came from the street outside, the scattered neon on the walls and the TV over the bar which was unfortunately playing the last half of the movie, "Deliverance". Good times.) In any case and, hopefully, needless to say, I was not really hungry, especially since I had already eaten a full meal only a couple of hours before, but I decided I could handle the burger on my own. (One of my friends did the intelligent thing and split a burger with her husband.)
I have to say, right here and now, that I am no burger connoisseur, so if you are, please do not be offended by the next part of my post. The burger at Casino El Camino was good. It was good and it was huge, so if you are starving and in desperate need of a hamburger, this sucker is for you. It smelled amazing - full of grilled, ground beefy goodness, punctuated by the pungency of raw onions, the sweet earthy tomato slices and the toasted-yeasty scent of the bun. It tasted pretty good, too - hot, rich, juicy, savory meat with the light acid of the tomatoes, fresh crisp of the lettuce and sharp bite of the onions. I ate half of the hamburger completely naked - mostly because I couldn't make out more than a vague hamburger shaped blob sitting in a basket in front of me and also because our somewhat grouchy waitress didn't offer any condiments. The french fries were also fairly tasty - just hot and crisp enough and with only a light dusting of salt. I wanted to finish the second half. Honestly I did, but I figured that if I continued to cram food into my already full stomach, I would not be happy with the results. So, I offered the second half to my equally full husband who was more than pleased to help finish my meal. Like I said, I am no burger expert, but I was not completely blown away by the burger at Casino El Camino. It was good, but fell a little short of great. Blame it on my own slight intoxication, the late hour, the level of food fatigue I was already feeling - what have you - but I probably won't be making a trip back to Casino El Camino for the burger. Now the Bloody Mary, on the other hand.....well, we may just have to see about that.
In my last post, I mentioned what a crazy whirlwind my life has been the past couple of weeks and last weekend was kind of the pinnacle of wonderful chaos for me. I graduated from culinary school last Thursday and then my children acted as flower-girls in the wedding of a very dear friend of mine, so we had wedding-related activities Friday and Saturday as well. After the wedding ceremony itself on Saturday, we headed to downtown Austin for the reception at a fairly swanky hotel. We ate dinner, drank ourselves (read: mostly my husband) silly at the open bar and ended up, after cake and dancing, in the lobby bar around 10 pm. After having another round of drinks with which we toasted the bride and groom again, a group of us decided to hit the entertainment district in search of.....a hamburger. Yep, you read that right. In our defense, it was purported to be one of the city's best: a 3/4 pound hamburger with all the trimmings at an Austin bar called Casino El Camino.
So, there were six of us, three of which have been friends since we were children plus our respective spouses/significant others, and between us, we ordered five of these mammoth burgers. (Now, I say "mammoth", but it was a bar and it was REALLY dark, so I had to rely upon my sense of smell, taste and touch, rather than my eyesight in these circumstances. Really - the only light came from the street outside, the scattered neon on the walls and the TV over the bar which was unfortunately playing the last half of the movie, "Deliverance". Good times.) In any case and, hopefully, needless to say, I was not really hungry, especially since I had already eaten a full meal only a couple of hours before, but I decided I could handle the burger on my own. (One of my friends did the intelligent thing and split a burger with her husband.)
I have to say, right here and now, that I am no burger connoisseur, so if you are, please do not be offended by the next part of my post. The burger at Casino El Camino was good. It was good and it was huge, so if you are starving and in desperate need of a hamburger, this sucker is for you. It smelled amazing - full of grilled, ground beefy goodness, punctuated by the pungency of raw onions, the sweet earthy tomato slices and the toasted-yeasty scent of the bun. It tasted pretty good, too - hot, rich, juicy, savory meat with the light acid of the tomatoes, fresh crisp of the lettuce and sharp bite of the onions. I ate half of the hamburger completely naked - mostly because I couldn't make out more than a vague hamburger shaped blob sitting in a basket in front of me and also because our somewhat grouchy waitress didn't offer any condiments. The french fries were also fairly tasty - just hot and crisp enough and with only a light dusting of salt. I wanted to finish the second half. Honestly I did, but I figured that if I continued to cram food into my already full stomach, I would not be happy with the results. So, I offered the second half to my equally full husband who was more than pleased to help finish my meal. Like I said, I am no burger expert, but I was not completely blown away by the burger at Casino El Camino. It was good, but fell a little short of great. Blame it on my own slight intoxication, the late hour, the level of food fatigue I was already feeling - what have you - but I probably won't be making a trip back to Casino El Camino for the burger. Now the Bloody Mary, on the other hand.....well, we may just have to see about that.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Memories Overlaid
Based on the fact that I have started quite a number of my posts with an apology (more to myself than to anyone else), I am not going to do that today. I would indeed be remiss if I didn't at least say that I wish that more time had been available to me the past three weeks so that I could write about some of the many things that have been going on. It has been a whirlwind of cakes, baby showers, bridal showers, school work, bachelorette parties, moving assistance, kids, marriage, life - I have so many things to say about all of that, but today I wanted to write about a couple of other things. If you all will indulge me a little, just for today, I am not going to write about food directly. I know this is a food blog and all, but I wanted to write about a journey that I have been on for the past several years. Here goes and, I promise, next time it will be back to good food/cakes/products as per the usual around here.
I know I have mentioned before that I am a culinary student and I am proud to announce that today is my very last day of culinary school. In addition to being gifted the joy that is scrubbing the kitchen this afternoon, I also am attending my graduation ceremony tonight. (Man, do I wish I didn't have to pull a Clark Kent and change in the ladies room at school this afternoon. That is NOT fun.) Today is the culmination of three years of hard work, juggling school and home life, and I am pleased that those years have paid off for me in so many ways. I have learned so much about myself and I have made a lot of great friends, so despite my ecstatic exclamation that I AM GRADUATING, I will actually miss school and all that entails.
Now, many of you may not know this about me, but I am a numbers/dates freak. My family routinely makes fun of me for remembering random dates and happenings, but something about keeping track of my personal history and important days in my mind is soothing and logical to me. I love it when I can plan major life events around that personal history - somehow imbuing the new event with weight and meaning before it even occurs. For instance, our tenth wedding anniversary is next week. We chose that day, originally, to fall close to my grandfather's birthday and were really excited when we realized that my husband graduated college five years ago on that date, and I began working at the store where we would eventually meet on that exact date as well. Both events led to us meeting and, eventually, getting married. (Did I forget to mention that my husband is almost as bad as I am about this kind of stuff?) In any case, May 13th is yet another of those dates for me.
Six years ago, at almost this exact time, I was lying on an operating table having a craniotomy to remove a massive brain tumor. I was 25 years old, had an 8-month old daughter and was not sure if I would wake up to the knowledge that I had brain cancer, major neurological impairments, a massive change in personality or even at all following the surgery. Fortunately for me, my surgery was about as successful as neurosurgery can be. I was still the same person (albeit with a massive scar and a really wicked haircut), I was completely cancer free and, best of all, I was alive and healthy. Everything changed for me after May 13th, 2004 and my life would not be what it is today without having had that experience.
Fast forward about three years, another beautiful baby girl and lots of amazing life later, and I was facing down the first day of culinary school. Now, for those who don't know me, I am a worrier and I mean in the extreme sense. Although it was not unusual to see me running through the neighborhood on a daily basis, (and still is not), it was a little unusual that I had woken up well before the break of dawn that first day of culinary school and was so full of nervous energy that I had to channel it in a positive manner or run the risk of making myself completely sick. So, I ran. I ran as hard as I could, all the while thinking to myself, "you CAN do this. You CAN go back to school and you CAN learn to be a professional chef." I remember thinking these exact words, "you have survived BRAIN surgery. You can do THIS. Showing up for class is easy compared to that." I made it through the run and through the day, only to feel like I was going to hyperventilate the moment I stepped onto campus that evening, but I plunked myself down in a chair and, ultimately, kicked ass in that class (Viticulture and Enology - where my incredibly near-photographic memory allowed me to earn my first of all "A's" in culinary school).
So, tonight when I walk across the stage to accept my second college degree, an Associates of Applied Sciences in Culinary Arts, I will be thinking about not only how I survived brain surgery six years ago today, but also how I survived culinary school for the past three years. Like I said, I have learned so much about myself - my confidence is fairly unflappable and those little voices of self-doubt have long since quieted down. Here's the long and short of it: I learned, through brain surgery and through the gauntlet that is learning how to be in a professional kitchen, that I am a bit of a badass. I was once nervous about even walking into a commercial kitchen and now I know that I belong in one. I once didn't know how I was going to bake/transport/set up 200 cupcakes and now I create amazing custom cakes whose designs rival those of some pretty amazing pastry chefs. I used to take my health, my brain, my memory, my scholastic aptitude all for granted and now, I am in fantastic shape, graduating with a 4.0 GPA and am profoundly grateful for every day I am given. My children, my husband, my family and my friends should all share this accomplishment with me. You all were there when it was a matter of life or death and you were all there when it became a matter of following my dream. I would not have been able to accomplish any of this without your love, faith and support and for that, I am deeply, humbly grateful. Thanks to everyone out there for indulging me this post and look for new items regarding my food-life after culinary school very soon.
I know I have mentioned before that I am a culinary student and I am proud to announce that today is my very last day of culinary school. In addition to being gifted the joy that is scrubbing the kitchen this afternoon, I also am attending my graduation ceremony tonight. (Man, do I wish I didn't have to pull a Clark Kent and change in the ladies room at school this afternoon. That is NOT fun.) Today is the culmination of three years of hard work, juggling school and home life, and I am pleased that those years have paid off for me in so many ways. I have learned so much about myself and I have made a lot of great friends, so despite my ecstatic exclamation that I AM GRADUATING, I will actually miss school and all that entails.
Now, many of you may not know this about me, but I am a numbers/dates freak. My family routinely makes fun of me for remembering random dates and happenings, but something about keeping track of my personal history and important days in my mind is soothing and logical to me. I love it when I can plan major life events around that personal history - somehow imbuing the new event with weight and meaning before it even occurs. For instance, our tenth wedding anniversary is next week. We chose that day, originally, to fall close to my grandfather's birthday and were really excited when we realized that my husband graduated college five years ago on that date, and I began working at the store where we would eventually meet on that exact date as well. Both events led to us meeting and, eventually, getting married. (Did I forget to mention that my husband is almost as bad as I am about this kind of stuff?) In any case, May 13th is yet another of those dates for me.
Six years ago, at almost this exact time, I was lying on an operating table having a craniotomy to remove a massive brain tumor. I was 25 years old, had an 8-month old daughter and was not sure if I would wake up to the knowledge that I had brain cancer, major neurological impairments, a massive change in personality or even at all following the surgery. Fortunately for me, my surgery was about as successful as neurosurgery can be. I was still the same person (albeit with a massive scar and a really wicked haircut), I was completely cancer free and, best of all, I was alive and healthy. Everything changed for me after May 13th, 2004 and my life would not be what it is today without having had that experience.
Fast forward about three years, another beautiful baby girl and lots of amazing life later, and I was facing down the first day of culinary school. Now, for those who don't know me, I am a worrier and I mean in the extreme sense. Although it was not unusual to see me running through the neighborhood on a daily basis, (and still is not), it was a little unusual that I had woken up well before the break of dawn that first day of culinary school and was so full of nervous energy that I had to channel it in a positive manner or run the risk of making myself completely sick. So, I ran. I ran as hard as I could, all the while thinking to myself, "you CAN do this. You CAN go back to school and you CAN learn to be a professional chef." I remember thinking these exact words, "you have survived BRAIN surgery. You can do THIS. Showing up for class is easy compared to that." I made it through the run and through the day, only to feel like I was going to hyperventilate the moment I stepped onto campus that evening, but I plunked myself down in a chair and, ultimately, kicked ass in that class (Viticulture and Enology - where my incredibly near-photographic memory allowed me to earn my first of all "A's" in culinary school).
So, tonight when I walk across the stage to accept my second college degree, an Associates of Applied Sciences in Culinary Arts, I will be thinking about not only how I survived brain surgery six years ago today, but also how I survived culinary school for the past three years. Like I said, I have learned so much about myself - my confidence is fairly unflappable and those little voices of self-doubt have long since quieted down. Here's the long and short of it: I learned, through brain surgery and through the gauntlet that is learning how to be in a professional kitchen, that I am a bit of a badass. I was once nervous about even walking into a commercial kitchen and now I know that I belong in one. I once didn't know how I was going to bake/transport/set up 200 cupcakes and now I create amazing custom cakes whose designs rival those of some pretty amazing pastry chefs. I used to take my health, my brain, my memory, my scholastic aptitude all for granted and now, I am in fantastic shape, graduating with a 4.0 GPA and am profoundly grateful for every day I am given. My children, my husband, my family and my friends should all share this accomplishment with me. You all were there when it was a matter of life or death and you were all there when it became a matter of following my dream. I would not have been able to accomplish any of this without your love, faith and support and for that, I am deeply, humbly grateful. Thanks to everyone out there for indulging me this post and look for new items regarding my food-life after culinary school very soon.
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