The food of the Garifuna... (new foods 9-10)

So this weekend my homegirl Tania invited me to a wonderful Garifuna cultural affair in the Bronx. Tania is Garifuna and she was born in Honduras. Just a little history on the Garifuna, the Garifuna are mixed race people who are descendants of Carib, Arawak and African peoples. The Garifuna generally live in Central America along the Caribbean Coast of Honduras, Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua. I kind of thought that the Garifuna were like Black Hondurans.... I'm not sure that's 100% accurate, but the folks at the festival were definitely of African descent and the food was delicious and had definite African inspirations.

Given that it was Tania and I at this affair, obviously the first thing that we did was take a shot. Guifiti is a traditional Garifuna spirit made from rum infused with herbs, nuts and berries. Apparently alcohol was not allowed at this function because after we paid for our shots (actually a scary drunk man paid for them.... but that's another story) we were covertly handed 2 little cups and a half empty bottle of rum and had to pour the shots ourselves under the table while trying to disentangle ourselves (physically and socially) from the scary drunk guy... Anywhoo I have no idea what the rum was infused with, but it was strong and it was tasty. It had a bit of an anise taste to me... a little licorice-y. The guifiti went down fairly smooth, but I think I would like to mix it with something or at least have a chaser next time.

Machuca- The next thing we ate was this DELICIOUS coconut based seafood soup that you eat with a mash of green plantains called Machuca. We actually got to the Machuca right when they ran out, but Tania told her friend, who was making the food, that she wanted to introduce me to the Garifuna culture and I NEEDED to taste the Machuca so she scraped a bit more soup and plantain out for me. And I'm glad she did because it was tasty... coconutty, but not in a heavy way and had notes of cilantro and lime in it. There was only a bit of seafood in my portion, but the broth was nicely infused with seafood flavor. The plantain mash was actually pretty tasty. I'm not usually a fan of starchy mashes (fufu, etc), but the mash actually had a flavor of it's own...

Next on the list was also one of my favorites, Baleada. Baleada is popular street food in Honduras... it's basically a thick, homemade tortilla filled with refried beans and a slightly sweet cream. It sounds like it would be a bit odd, but it was really tasty. The cream tasted a bit like cream cheese or sour cream but it was a bit sweet. The refried beans were just refried beans, but together it worked. Yummm...

After the Baleada we got a couple cups of hot Atole. Atole is porridge like drink made with corn, coconut (or Carnation evaporated milk I was told... Do any people of African descent NOT love the Carnation?!?), hominy, and spices... i think i tasted nutmeg and maybe cinnamon. It was VERY sweet and heavy. I initially though that it was a soup because, despite the fact it was served in a cup, they gave us spoons, but apparently Atole is actually a drink. It was tasty, but it was so rich I could only have a couple spoonfulls.

Next on our gastronomic tour of Honduras we had some Tamales... They were very much like traditional Mexican tamales... chick wrapped in cornmeal and steamed in leaves. They were tasty, but not my fav.

Tania and I took a few sweets to go. One was a sweet called semitas that looks like a very large, puffy sugar cookie with a braided ring of dough surrounding it. The Semitas (I'm not sure if that's singular or plural :-/) were tasty... They pretty much tasted like sugar cookies... with some nutmeg. Blacks all over the diaspora love them some nutmeg... almost as much as they love the Carnation...

The last thing i tasted was the Garifuna Yucca Bread. It is pretty much what it sounds, like... "bread" made of mashed yucca. It was quite interesting... They cut it off of a big tray, and when I saw it on the tray, I kind of thought it was flan, or something similar... The inside of the bread had that kind of flan-like firm mush look. Upon tasting it, the texture was a little like flan, but much denser and chewier... i can't think of much to compare it with, but it kind of had the consistency of fufu... if you for some reason decided to chew your fufu. It was chewy, firm and kind of elastic. The texture was interesting, but definitely not unappealing. The bread tasted pretty good... it was very sweet and moist and tasted of.... you guessed it! Brown sugar and nutmeg... heh heh... yum..

All in all I really enjoyed my taste of Garifuna! I am going to count it as 2 new foods given the Machuca, Guifiti, Tamales and Semitas were not totally foreign to me. I think I am going to try and make machuca this month... it was really tasty. So look out for that :-p

Peace!

Shrimp Provencal... take 1

Last night I tried my hand at a re-make of the delicious shrimp dish that Saba had at Blue Ribbon Restaurant in NYC. I've actually been kind of trying to figure out what was in this recipe since last week (I'm a dork, I know), so making it yesterday was kind of exciting. I talked about the dish in detail in the last posting, so I won't do it again (trying to make these more succinct), but the overall flavor of the sauce was pretty interesting to me, and I really didn't have any idea what the components were so... Chall-ange!

The first thing I did was just do an Internet search for Shrimp Provencal recipe to see if anything came up. Hey! I didn't say I needed to create it from scratch... just figure out what was in it:-p No luck with that. :-p

The next thing I did was to do an ingredient search on epicurious and the food network site to see if I could find anything with the ingredients that I thought I tasted, shrimp, butter, cream and fennel and cheese ravioli. From that little search I initially thought maybe it was a sort of Mornay Sauce which is a Bechamel sauce with added cheese, but I didn't remember tasting any cheese in the sauce.. somehow through a random series of searches I came across a recipe for a Lobster Ravioli in a Chervil Nage. I'd never heard of a "Nage", but the picture looked very much like the shrimp Provencal sauce and the ingredients seemed promising. Saba was pretty sure that the primary herb was tarragon and that there was no cheese in the sauce. I asked my boss (who is very food knowledgeable, and shares an office with me) some questions about fennel bulb (which I rarely cook with), and she mentioned that fennel bulb tastes much like anise when cooked, which was one of the flavors that I initially thought i tasted. So it looked like I was making a Tarragon infused nage sauce. Yay! I actually found quite a few recipes for Tarragon nage sauces, so I figured I was on the right track, but Emeril's nage recipe seemed more complex so I figured I'd pretty much use that one, but sub the tarragon for the chervil. I decided against making homemade ravioli, because I just couldn't do all that on Saturday. I thought there was goat cheese in the ravioli, but Saba thought it was just ricotta... I found a goat cheese ravioli at Whole Foods that had Ricotta as it's first ingredient so I decided to just use those. Here is the recipe I decided to use...

1.5 onion
3 carrots
1 lemon, juiced
1.5 leeks (white part only)
1.5 shallots
3 sprigs tarragon
3 springs parsley
½ tsp coriander seeds
6 peppercorns (or 1 tsp)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 cup dry white wine
1 teaspoon salt
1 lb shrimp
1 bulb fennel fronds and upper stems reserved
3 tablespoons minced tarragon
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon lemon zest

I first made a "stock" out of all the the veges and spices (Onions down to Salt). I then threw the shrimp skins in with the veggies. The initial recipe called for the lobster shell to be simmered in the stock. I simmered that for about 30 min. I cooked the shrimp in a butter with only kosher salt and black pepper. I cooked the shrimp only until it started to get pink in the center and then set it aside. When the "stock" had simmered for about 20 min I strained all the solids out and then added the fronds of fennel and boiled it on high.... According to the recipe I was supposed to boil it until the gallon of water reduced to 2-3 cups... but I had a hungry friend over who was getting drunker, hungrier and more belligerent by the moment so I figured I needed to get some food on the table, STAT! I just took 2+ cups of stock out and started to make the nage. The instructions for the nage said to bring the stock to a simmer and add the chopped tarragon, cream, butter and lemon zest, stir and remove from the heat.

So... I finished the sauce and it looked REALLY watery and was kind of bland, so I decided to add some flour to thicken it up... didn't help much. I added more salt and pepper and it helped a bit, but it was still really watery. But my girl was hungry, so I put it all on the plate and we ate. This is what it looked like:

Honestly I really liked it. In terms of mimicking the flavor I recalled I give myself a solid C+ The flavor of the sauce was similar, but it wasn't nearly as potent/flavorful as the original. Also it was WAY WAY too watery. The sauce didn't stick to the shrimp or the ravioli.. They just sort of swam in the butter/cream.

Next time I think I'm going to start with a vegetable broth instead of water. Maybe use less than a gallon of veggie broth with the same amount of vegetables to make the stock and let it reduce down to the 2-3 cups to make a more potent broth. I will also let the stock with the shrimp shells simmer for a little longer 30-35 min and add a bit more tarragon and actually add the coriander. Made a cream of asparagus soup for Christmas that had a lot of coriander and I think that was really one of the flavors that was missing. Saba said she tasted rosemary... I'm not sure if I missed the taste of rosemary, but maybe next time I'll add some rosemary to the chopped up tarragon.

Also I have to figure out how to thicken the sauce... maybe I'll start with a roux? Maybe I'll just use less stock?

Also I discovered how useful shrimp shells are! I ate some of the boiled out vegetables and you could REALLY taste the flavor of the shrimp shells in the vegetables. I think I'll start saving my shrimp shells. I know people use them to start sauces for risotto, bisque's, etc. I never really thought of it, but it really does make a big difference to the depth of flavor.

So overall I give the entire dish a C/C+ I give it a C+ for overall flavor, a B+ for the shrimp, but a D+ for the wateryness of the sauce.

If anyone has any suggestions about thickening the sauce, please let me know. I'm going to try this again in a few weeks.... it's a bit too rich to be eating all the time. :-p

I LOVE the 90's- Chicken Cacciatore edition

I realized today that I haven't really made a new recipe since my holiday party last month, so I figured I'd try a few new things this week. I've been hunkering for home a bit lately (yes I said hunkering) so I was very pleased when I saw Giada De Laurentiis' chicken cacciatore recipe while I was browsing the Food Network site. I haven't had chicken cacciatore in YEARS, but I think it was one of those dishes that was really popular in the midwest during my elementary and middle school years.... Chicken Cacciatore, Salisbury Steak.... that nasty cassarole made out of chicken and cream of mushroom soup... All staples of a good midwestern home cooking. My memory of the cacciatore my mom made was a thick tomato-y chicken stew that she served over rice. (As I'm writing this I realize that maybe what she called "chicken cacciatore" might have been just regular Ghanaian chicken stew with a little orgegano... but I digress....). Here is the basic recipe:

Ingredients

• 4 chicken thighs
• 2 chicken breasts with skin and backbone, halved crosswise
• 2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour, for dredging
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 ( 28-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons drained capers
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves

Basically all you need to do is season up the chicken with salt and pepper, dredge (dip :-p) the chicken pieces in flour and brown the chicken in medium-hot oil. You then remove the chicken and sautee the onion/garlic/red pepper mixture in the oil until the onions are soft and then add the rest of the ingredients and let the mixture simmer until the chicken cooks through.

Super easy. I think the hands on part of the meal took about 30 min, and then I went out and walked Leroy for about 25 minutes while the stew was simmering. I didn't really make many changes to the recipe except I didn't add the capers and I added some olives and red pepper flakes. I would give the recipe, with my very minor changes, a solid B. It was tasty... comfort-y, butt the flavors weren't really that complex or exciting. I think this would be a great dish to make for company, especially guy company, as it is good, simple, comfort food. the next time I make it for myself I will make the following changes.

1- Use less onion. I used 1 nice large onion, but I think the freshness and the size of the onion imparted WAY too much sweetness to the dish.
2- Add some tomato paste to the softened onion mixture. I really missed the tomato paste-y taste of the chicken cacciatore that I remember. As I stated early, I have a feeling that my mom probably Ghanafied her chicken cacciatore by adding a bunch of tomato paste (Ghanian chicken stews are often very thick with lots of tomato paste), but I'm going for less authenticity and more homey-ness, so I think I'll add tomato paste next time.
3- If I'm making this for company with more complex tastebuds I'll probably add the capers. I felt like the dish was just too sweet and it was mising an element of savory-ness. I tried to fix it by adding the tomato paste and even though about splashing a bit of lemon juice, but I didn't want to fluck it up and figured I'd just add the capers next time.

I didn't really want to eat Italian food on brown rice, and I couldn't really justify to myself eating white rice, so I decided to pan fry up a little bit of polenta from Whole Foods and call it a meal. Here's a pic


I really need to learn how to take better pictures of food. My photographer friend Curtis told me that food needs lots of light... but for some reason I always turn off my flash when photographing food... I don't like the way the artificial shine looks in my viewfinder.... but I guess it looks much better when you actually look at the pictures:

I honestly might try Salisbury Steak next month...

:-)

Off to the pumpkin patch…

What up y’all…

Fall has fallen upon us… like a cold, windy, dreary brick… but never fret, what Mother Nature taketh away in terms of weather, she giveth back with a bounty of tasty fall produce! Heh heh I’m corny…

I have a few staple meals that I make a lot in the fall: butternut squash soup, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted vegetable soup, Asian yams… This fall I decided I should branch out a little bit more and try cooking with fresh pumpkin.

This fall was only my second time cooking with fresh pumpkin… much to the chagrin of my friends, and pumpkin connoisseurs, Janet and Curtis. The first time I cooked pumpkin was last year. I tried to roast some pumpkin and add it to my roasted vegetable soup…. Unfortunately I used a carving pumpkin... Carving pumpkins are not for eating... they have no taste, a really thick flesh, and are just all together nasty... The picture demonstrates how I felt about eating pumpkin after my first experience.



I think I mentioned my disdain for fresh pumpkin to Janet ‘I love pumpkins!’ Tang and she quickly schooled me on pumpkin types that were more suitable for cooking. Instead of buying the mammoth carving pumpkins, she told me to try the smaller pumpkin varieties because they have a sweeter flesh and are better for baking. I also learned that the “pumpkin” in canned pumpkin is actually not pumpkin! Canned pumpkin puree is usually made from one or more kinds of winter squash like butternut, Hubbard, or Boston Marrow, which are less stringy, sweeter and have a richer orange color…. But before anyone tries to get their money back from Libby’s for false advertising, there’s a pretty fuzzy line between what is called a pumpkin and what is called squash… so just calm down and enjoy them…

ANYWAY I digress… So I went out and picked up a little sugar pumpkin to make cookies with. Cooking with pumpkin, just like cooking with fresh butternut squash, is pretty labor intensive. You have to first roast the pumpkin, then scrape out the flesh and then puree the flesh. You use the puree the same way you would use the canned pumpkin. Janet had warned me about the pumpkin puree being more watery than the pumpkin puree you get in the can, and the excess water may affect the texture of the cookies. Fortunately I’m pretty lazy and let the roasted pumpkin sit in my fridge for a few days before I pureed it. By that time the flesh had dried out considerably and wasn’t watery at all.


One of the things that I noticed when looking up cookie recipes is that most pumpkin cookies call for oil or shortening instead of butter…. I just couldn’t write my brain around cookies made with shortening or oil, so I found this Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe on the foodtv.com that used butter only. The recipe called for chocolate chips, but I liked Janet’s suggestion of using butterscotch chips, so I used those instead. The batter for the cookies was REALLY runny and more like cake batter than cookie batter. The cookies baked up to be really soft as well, but they were tasty... it was just hard to keep them from sticking together.

The recipe called for a few spices, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, but I couldn’t really taste the spices too distinctly in the cookie. I took the cookies to my friends birthday party and people seemed to like them. Someone even asked me for the recipe. I made another batch of cookies for my friend, and fellow pumpkin lover, Curtis. He had been at my house when I was making the first batch and was mad that I only gave him one. He had mentioned that the ginger was a bit strong in the first batch so I cut the ginger down in this batch and upped the nutmeg a bit. He seemed to like them better that way, but I honestly couldn’t tell the difference.

All in all I give the cookies a solid B. They were a little soft for my liking... I like my cookies to be chewy on the inside with a bit of a crisp crust. I think they would make REALLY great muffins with a little recipe tweaking... maybe with a nice crumbly struedal topping... Oh well... I honestly don't know if I'd make these again for myself but other people seemed to enjoy them. Maybe I'll try one of the ones that use oil or shortening? Maybe the stability of the shortning will produce a denser cookie? I'll keep ya'll posted b/c I KNOW you're just as interested in this as I am. :-p

Amaranth Cakes with creamy mushrooms

Hey Ya'll...

It's time for recipe number 3 y'all! My friend Curtis came by tonight for dinner and our monthly Scrabble game. Curtis is a vegetarian, so it's always a bit challenging to come up with creative meals that aren't just a bunch of side dishes masquerading as an actual meal.

When I'm looking for veggie meals, the first place I check is the Vegetarian Times website. They usually have some good recipes and they aren't necessarily a rigid, super health conscious vegetarian site (ie they're vegetarian, but not hippy, dippy, crunchy granola)... it's more about the taste and using interesting and innovative ingredients. So I was looking through the site and stumbled upon this recipe for Amaranth Cakes with Mushrooms.

Amaranth is another one of those grains that most people don't really know about or cook with. Amaranth Grain (according to Wiki) is a very hardy grain that was a staple food among the Incas, Aztecs and other native peoples of Mexico and is also cultivated in Guatemala, Peru, India and Nepal. Amaranth grain is becoming more popular in developing nations because it is inexpensive, easily harvested and, much like quinoa, Amaranth is complete protein , and is a good source of fiber and a variety of minerals.

Ok... that's enough with the history of amaranth. .... You make the amaranth cakes basically the same way as polenta is made. You cook the grain down into a mush in a broth of mushroom juice, shallots and some spices and then you fry into like pancake type things.

In order to make the broth, you had to soak some dried mushrooms. The mushroom water would be used as broth and the reconstituted mushrooms were chopped up to be added to the amaranth mix before cooking. I was being cheap when I bought the mushrooms, so I didn't buy the dried porcinis that were $5.99 for like 2 ounces at Whole foods... instead I bought some Nameko Mushrooms... which were like $3.99 for a big pack. I actually had never heard of a Nameko mushrooms, but on the back of the bag it listed a website like, "www.greatporcinis.com" or something like that, so I just figured they were a type of porcinis.... i think I was wrong... I don't think they were porcini's, but they were definitely nasty. Bleh. I soaked them in boiling water for about 20 minutes and just tasted the water... it tasted like musky dirt... like bitter, musky dirt.... and you were supposed to cook the amaranth in the mushroom juice so that the amaranth cakes would take on the taste of the mushroom... Being that the mushroom juice tasted like ass, I wasn't too keen on cooking the amaranth in it or chopping up the reconstituted mushroom (which also tasted like ass) to go into the amaranth mix. I thought about cooking the amaranth in some broth, but I only had chicken broth on hand, which wouldn't work with a vegetarian meal... so I went ahead and cooked the amarnth in the smelly mushroom juice... I figured I could always just add some salt... salt makes everything better!

So while the amaranth/musky dirt water mix was simmering I went about making the mushroom topping. The Veggie Times recipe included the recipe for the mushroom topping, but I decided to use the topping from an appetizer I had made for a holiday party. The mushroom topping was basically shallots, garlic, lots of mushrooms, heavy cream, fontina and parmesean cheese. MMMMMHMMM! I also added some sherry, which is always good with mushrooms.

After the mushroom mix was done it was time to fry up the cakes... I tried the amaranth/dirty water mix... it tasted a little bitter, but not as bad as I expected, so I just added some salt and lots of thyme.. and little sherry. .. i wasn't quite as nasty then. The frying didn't quite go as planned... he cakes kept on falling apart in the oil, butI got a couple nice ones... I think next time I'll use a metal spatula.

I also roasted up some carrots and made a little zucchini to go with the mushroom cakes.

All in all it came out really well! Curtis seemed to really like it! The topping was delicious and the creamy, savory mushrooms were actually a really good compliment for the nutty/dusty flavor of the amaranth cakes. The only change I would make if I were to make it again would be to grind the amaranth before cooking them so the mixture would be more polenta like and less graand zucchini made the meal look better on the plate, but it would have been nice if theiny. I would also buy the right type of mushrooms, or maybe use some dried Shitaakes from China town... Also I think the mushroom/cake could use a little more color. When the mushrooms cooked down they looked like purple/brown mushroom mush... not too appetizing. The carrots re was even a small sprinkle of color in the mushrooms.

Overall I give the dish a solid B. I'm not sure if I would make it at home for myself, but with the above changes I think it would be a viable option for another vegetarian meal.

Heirloom tomatoes? What's so special about them?

So... as I mentioned on my 100 things you eat before you die posting, I've never had heirloom tomatoes. I LOVE tomatoes so I figured that would be a pretty easy thing to mark off the list. I picked on up when I was at Whole Foods tonight getting my stuff for the Millet Skillet.

According to Wikipedia there are a few different ways people define "heirloom". One school of thought bases it on the age of the seed, stating that the seed must be over 100 or 50 years old. Another way of defining heirloom is that an heirloom is a "cultivar that has been nurtured, selected, and handed down from one family member to another for many generations."....hmmm I'm not sure what the means. Another category of "heirlooms" are commercial heirlooms which were introduced a long time ago and the seed company dropped the line of tomato or went out of business...

I think my tomato fit the last definition because it was bland as hell! If I were a tomato producer I would have dropped that line too! The flesh of the tomato was quite dense and chewy... kind of like chewing raw zucchini, and it didn't have the vibrant taste of a beefsteak or vine tomato. Also the skin and the flesh right around the skin tasted kind of like the white part of a wedge of watermelon (is that the rind?). All in all it was bland and chewy and rindy. I can't say I "hated" it... I don't know if I could actually form the sentence "I hate a tomato", but I definitely wouldn't buy it to snack on.

I could possibly see how it could be good in a salad that needed a milder background flavor to showcase more intense flavors... I think they would be good in salads with mint or feta... but unfortunatly it was not good in my mouth this evening so I'll give the heirloom tomato a C.

Skillet Millet! Delicious, Nutritious AND Catchy!

What up everyone....

I made the 2nd of my 100 new recipes tonight- Chicken-Millet Skillet! I was having a serious craving for kale this afternoon, but I didn't want to just braise it like I usually do.... so I did a quick search of epicurious.com to see if I could find a some sort of recipe with kale. I couldn't find anything on epicurious that I hadn't made before and didn't contain sausage (apparently pork is the yin to kale's yang..), so I kind of gave up on the kale idea and decided to look at Whole Food's website to see if they had any type of in-store specials and the picture of the Chicken-Millet came up. EUREKA! I had some millet that I had bought a few years ago when I was on a grain kick (quinoa, amaranth, millet.. all that good stuff) and I had never used it AND the dish had greens in it. So I could mark the millet off of my list of foods I've never tried AND I could mark another new recipe off. YAY!

Millet, for those of you who haven't heard of it before, is a grain that is similar to wheat... before it's cooked it looks kind of like cous cous, but there are little holes in the center (like little cous cous donuts :-p). You cook it similar to cooking rice or other grains (I think it's 1 part millet to 2 parts liquid) and when it cooks it gets to a porrigey consistency. Actually I think I originally bought the millet for breakfast food on the advice of my sis. Millet is fairly high in protein (11% protein by weight), but it's not nearly as high in protein as my favorite grain, quinoa (which can have up to 18% protein by weight).

Anyway.... the dish was basically prepared by browning some chicken thighs, toasting the millet with onions, mushrooms and garlic and then cooking simmering everything in chicken broth, white wine, rosemary and thyme.

I have to say it was hella tasty! The millet aquired a bit of a creamy consistency (kind of like polenta) and really took on the flavor of the chicken broth and spices. I added some fresh corn, just because I thought it would be tasty, but other than that I made the recipe exactly as it was written. The only minor issues I had with the dish is that it could have been spiced a little more heavily... maybe some parsely and definintely more salt, and it could have used a little more color. The green from the wilted kale was nice (although the color wouldn't have been nearly as vibrant if I'd cooked it the 10 minutes the recipe suggested), but everythingn else was pretty beige. I think carrots or perhaps red pepper would be nice in the dish. Also I think it would have been better to use cut up chicken breast or boneless chicken thighs instead of the thighs with bones as suggested in the recipe. Anywhoo this is what the dish looked like.... I need to figure out how food photographers make everything look so tasty... I promise this tasted WAY better than it looked :-p

Overall I give this dish a solid A- It was healthy, really tasty and I will definintely make it again!

What do congealed pig blood, head cheese and sea urchin gonads have in common?

They are all "foods" that I've never eaten before. I just came across this list of 100 foods you should eat before you die... I consider myself a food connoisseur, and thought I'd have a hard time finding 50 new foods to try (goal 13)... but it seems I am not as food adventurous as I thought. I haven't tried 43 out of the 100 foods on this list... Looks like I got some eating to do... (the foods I haven't tried are in red)

100. Venison-I’m pretty sure I’ve had deer jerky before, but I’ll leave it on the “never had” list until I’m sure
99. Nettle tea-I’ve had lots of types of tea, but never Nettle…. It’s supposed to have some sort of medicinal value… I actually think I have some nettle in my medicine cabinet that I used for a hair concoction... I bet it’s nasty, but I’ll give it a try.
98. Huevos rancheros
97. Steak tartare- Raw seasoned beef…. Not sure if I’m going to be able to do this one.. it sounds hella nasty and a little dangerous.
96. Crocodile-”Crocodile meat is said to have a delicate flavor; some describe it as a cross between chicken and crab.” Sounds tasty to me! I wonder where in NYC I can get it?
95. Black pudding-Ok black pudding sounds extra nasty. How do people come up with these things? Pudding made out of congealed pig blood…. Get it together 17th Century British people. I won’t be trying this.
94. Cheese fondue
93. Carp
According to wikipedia “Carp is a common name for various freshwater fish. It is low in fat, firm in texture, and mild--though it can be muddy, especially the farm-raised variety--in flavor.” Muddy fish… that doesn’t sound too appealing, but I would be willing to try this…
92. Borscht
91. Baba ghanoush
90. Calamari
89. Pho
88. PB&J sandwich
87. Aloo gobi
86. Hot dog from a street cart
85. Epoisses- ”Epoisses de Bourgogne is a pungent unpasteurized cows-milk cheese. A washed-rind cheese (washed in marc de Bourgogne, the local pomace brandy), it is circular at around either 10cm or 18cm in diameter, with a distinctive soft red-orange colour.” I love Cheese. I’ll def try this…
84. Black truffle-Oooh truffles… I’ve never had those.. I need a truffle in my life. How can I be a true foodie/epicurious without ever having tried a truffle?
83. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
82. Steamed pork buns
81. Pistachio ice cream-I see this everywhere, but I never really eat ice cream that isn’t chocolate…. Maybe I’ll give it a try?
80. Heirloom tomatoes-Can you believe, as much as I love tomatoes, I’ve never had a Heirloom tomato?!? I will definitely be trying one of these before summer’s end..
79. Fresh wild berries
78. Foie gras
Another one of those things that my palate needs to experience before I can call myself a true foodie…. I don’t quite understand the concept though…. Liver of a force fed duck or goose? Again… who thinks of these things? Wht do you put Foie gras on? Accordint to the description it’s buttery…. Maybe it would be good on a biscuit? Popeyes perhaps?
77. Rice and beans (why is this on the list?)
76. Brawn, or head cheese-This sounds so flucking nasty… “Head cheese or brawn is in fact not a cheese, but rather a terrine of meat from the head of a calf or pig (sometimes a sheep or cow). It may also include meat from the feet and heart. It is usually eaten cold or at room temperature as a luncheon meat. Why would someone ever eat something like this? I’m not sure if I’m brave enough to go here yet….
75. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper-The Scotch Bonnet pepper is one of the hottest peppers in the world…. I’m not sure why anyone would eat one of these raw… it wounds like something an idiot frat boy in Indiana would do… incidentally, I have a really funny (if funny=tramautizing) story that involves a Scotch Bonnet pepper, bare hands and removing contacts…. I don’t think I’ll be trying this one… I’m sure it would be as uncomfortable coming out as it is going in. :-
74. Dulce de leche
73. Oysters-I think I’ve had cooked oysters… and oyster sauce (not sure if that’s made of oyster?) but I’ve never had a raw oyster…. I’ve heard they’re an aphrodisiac though… :-p
72. Baklava
71. Bagna cauda-I’ve never heard of Bagna cauda, but apparently it “is a warm dip made with garlic, anchovies, olive oil, butter, and in some parts of the region cream. The dish is eaten by dipping raw, boiled or roasted vegetables, especially cardoon, celery, cauliflower, artichokes, peppers and onions.” Ok I don’t know about the dippers, but I think it would make a great dipping sauce option for Papa John’s breadsticks.
70. Wasabi peas
69. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
68. Salted lassi-I’ve had mango lassi, but never salted lassi… I can’t imagine I wouldn’t like it though… water, salt, pepper and ice and spices… what’s not to like?
67. Sauerkraut
66. Root beer float
65. Cognac with a fat cigar-I’ve definitely had Cognac, but never with a fat Cigar… maybe something to save for my 30th birthday in a few years?
64. Clotted cream tea- Never had clotted cream tea, but I have had scones and clotted cream at my friend Anabela’s bridal tea. It was EXTRA tasty… I’ve also had tea before… so I think I’ll mark this one off the list.
63. Vodka jelly/Jell-O shot
62. Gumbo
61. Oxtail
60. Curried goat

59. Whole insects-Hmm… I heard they’re pretty good dipped in chocolate and stuck on a stick…..
58. Phaal-I thought I’d tasted, or at least heard of, all Indian dishes, but I’d never heard of Phaal… apparently it’s one of the hottest forms of curry regularly available, even hotter than the Vindaloo…. I’m down to try this one…
57. Goat’s milk
56. Single malt whisky-I’m not sure of this one…. I’ve definitely had whiskey, but I don’t know what the “malt” was…
55. Fugu-Oh lord… the infamous poisoning Japanese puffer fish…. Apparently the pufferfish is lethally poisonous if prepared wrong, and it considered a great delicacy in Japan. I wouldn’t mind trying this…. Maybe they have some at that ½ price sushi place in the east village?
54. Chicken tikka masala
53. Eel
52. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
51. Sea urchin- Hmmm I’m not sure if I’ve had sea urchin… I didn’t really know people ate urchins… unlike most sea creatures, the roe of the sea urchin isn’t what it’s harvested for… apparently people love to eat the golden gonands of the hermaphrodite sea creature. I have always been fascinated by the hermaphrodites…. But this might be too much…. Maybe….
50. Prickly pear-The fruit of prickly pears, commonly called cactus figs, Indian fig or tuna, is edible, although it has to be peeled carefully to remove the small spines on the outer skin before consumption. If the outer layer is not properly removed, glochids can be ingested causing discomfort of the throat, lips, and tongue as the small spines are easily lodged in the skin.
49. Umeboshi
48. Abalone- I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of Abalone… apparently it’s a mollusk that is considered a delicacy in certain parts of Latin America (especially Chile), New Zealand, South East Asia, and East Asia (especially in China, Japan, and Korea).
47. Paneer
46. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
45. Spaetzle-This is a German egg noodle or dumpling. I don’t really see how this one differs from any other noodle (it’s made of eggs, flour and salt…. ) but I’ve never really tried German food (except for the Americanized dishes) so maybe I’ll try it out.
44. Dirty gin martini- I love liquor. Maybe I’ll make one of these next Friday when I’m at home alone. :-p
43. Beer above 8% ABV- Beer is gross… and 8% alcohol still seems really low compared to wine and other spirits… I’m not really sure what the point is of this one, but for those of you who are interested the beers that have the highest ABV are Vetter 33 (10.5% abv), and Swiss beer “Samichlaus” with an abv of 14%
42. Poutine- French fries covered in fresh cheese curd and gravy…. Why haven’t I tried this?!?!
41. Carob chips
40. S’mores
39. Sweetbreads- LOL I really thought they were talking about dessert! Apparently sweetbreads are the thymus glands of lamb, beef, or pork. According to wiki “typically sweetbreads are soaked in salt water, then poached in milk after which an outer membrane is removed. Once dry and chilled, they're often breaded and fried until crisp.” I wonder if we’re going to start seeing these at the Indiana state fair… I think everything fried is fair game.
38. Kaolin- According to wiki, this isn’t a food, but a clay product that’s used in some cosmetics and stuff… I eat a lot of my cosmetics, so I’ll just assume I’ve ingested Kaolin at some point or another.
37. Currywurst-Wow the Germans have a curry dish? I’m starting to think curry should be the national dish of the world! (yeah I know that didn’t make sense…) Do any cultures NOT use curry? But then again I guess “curry” is just a word for a mixture of spices….anywaym surrywurst is a German dish consisting of hot pork sausage cut into slices and seasoned with curry sauce (ketchup or tomato paste blended with curry)
36. Durian- Never heard of this fruit, but according to wiki “the durian, widely known and revered in Southeast Asia as the "King of Fruits", is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. Regarded by some as fragrant, others as overpowering and offensive, the smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust.” Hmmm… maybe this is the source of the strange smells in Chinatown? I will have to investigate?
35. Frogs’ legs
34. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
33. Haggis- Yuck yuck yuckity yuck…. BLEH… sheep heart, liver and lungs minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, and boiled in an animal's stomach for approximately three hours.
32. Fried plantain
31. Chitterlings, or andouillette-Never had chitterlings…. Never even smelled them being cooked… but I think I’ll pass.
30. Gazpacho
29. Caviar and blini
28. Louche absinthe-I think absinthe was just re-legalized in the U.S. I don’t have any idea what absinthe tastes like, but the preparation of the drink sounds interesting. “Traditionally, absinthe is poured into a glass over which a specially designed slotted spoon is placed. A sugar cube is then deposited in the bowl of the spoon. Ice-cold water is poured or dripped over the sugar until the drink is diluted to a ratio between 3:1 and 5:1. During this process, the components that are not soluble in water, mainly those from anise, fennel, and star anise, come out of solution and cloud the drink. The resulting milky opalescence is called the louche. The addition of water is important, causing the herbs to "blossom" and bringing out many of the flavors originally overpowered by the anise.”
27. Gjetost, or brunost- ”Brunost is a brown Norwegian whey cheese, also popular in Sweden, where it is called mesost.” Whey cheese? I really didn’t think they used whey for anything other than muscle milk…
26. Roadkill- Really…. No… really? That’s just nasty…
25. Baijiu- Another liquor to add to the list “Baijiu is a Chinese liquor that is 80 to 120 proof, or 40-60% alcohol by volume.
24. Hostess Fruit Pie
23. Snail
22. Lapsang souchong- Another tea I haven’t tried…. I swear you can get half this list in Chinatown….
21. Bellini
20. Tom yum
19. Eggs Benedict
18. Pocky
17. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant- Aw sounds like a great date activity…
16. Kobe beef-I’m not sure if I’ve ever had Kobe beef… I need to rectify that…
15. Hare
14. Goulash
13. Flowers
12. Horse- Hmmm… does gelatin count? Isn’t that made from ground horse bones? Apparently horsemeat is still exported by the United States? I hope we don’t export it to China… you know it’s going to show up in a baby toy somewhere…
11. Criollo- Peru's coast and capital city of Lima are the heart of Criollo dishes, which are a combination of African, Spanish, Andean, Asian and Pre-Colombian influences.
10. Spam
9. Soft shell crab
8. Rose harissa
7. Catfish
6. Mole poblano
5. Bagel and lox-Hmm.. I’m not sure if I’ve had lox… I’ve had a bagel and smoked salmon, but maybe not lox. Looks like a trip to the upper Westside is in order…
4. Lobster Thermidor-Sounds tasty, but never had this either…
3. Polenta
2. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee
1. Snake

New Recipe 1- Shrimp with Roasted Tomatoes, Basil and Feta

Hey Ya'll...

Falls here! Yay! I can start cooking again. My summertime "cooking" is usually relegated to salads, sandwiches and other cold things... Now I can get back to making some more fun stuff.

My first "new" recipe is actually a recipe that I've eaten before, but never made. I had this really tasty shrimp dish last Easter when I was visiting my brother Ekow and sister-in-law Marie Mensah in Cincinatti. Marie served this shrimp dish for dinner with a simple salad and some tasty "take and bake" bread. To make the dish you basically roast fresh tomatoes and then add shrimp, parsely, lemon juice and feta. I didn't have parsely so I used basil. The freshness of the lemon with the sweetness of the shrimp and saltiness of the feta mesh really well and it's a REALLY easy dish to prepare. I asked Marie for the recipe a while back, but never had a chance to make it.

I treated myself to some "take and bake" bread from Whole foods to go with it tonight, but from now on I think I'll probably have it with whole wheat pasta, or just skip the starch all together.

Here are some pics of my entree numero uno.... i am not a food photographer... but I promise it tasted MUCH better than these pictures make it look. :-)

Here's an extreme close up of the tender shrimp swimming in the garlicy, lemony, basily sauce... MMMMM