6 posts tagged “food”

Woke up this sunny (but frigid cold) Sunday morning, grabbed a cup of java and a smoke (yes, I smoke - *cough* - my only vice); turned on the computer and flipped on the tube (have one in the computer).  Channel 27 cable (Lifetime) had on a program I haven't seen before.  ChefMD.  Way cool folks!  Look for it in your local cable guide.  The show is hosted by Dr. John LaPuma, MD.  While he cooks, he tells you how to prepare the food for acquiring the best nutrition any ingredient has to offer.  There are also screen tips (on the TV) that tell you about the medicinal effects of the foods he's using in the dishes he is prepping.  It's a holistic approach if you're interested and in the short 5 mins of the end of the program that I happened to catch, I was hooked.

Today's recipe:

Pasta e Fagioli (Pasta and Bean) Soup

This recipe was a bit different on TV.  He added fresh Fennel, explaining how to cut it, what parts to use and not.  He also explained how to mince your garlic to release it's medicinal properties. 

The website alone is worth a look-see.  This is a definite "share with your friends and family" program.

Bon appetite and a healthy new year!

See Sunday mornings on Lifetime TV
9:30 a.m. Eastern/Pacific
8:30 a.m. Central
10:30 a.m. Mountain

What is your favorite kind of bagel and what do you put on it? 
Submitted by Nacwolin.

I actually have two favorites.  One is a chocolate chip bagel which I put plain cream cheese on.  The other is asiago cheese bagel which I enjoy with a spicy flavored cream cheese.

Any bagel is good except the garlic, onion and salts.  Especially if you eat them at work!  yikes.

Yo!  Haven't been at my blog for a few days.  Did ya miss me?  ;)  Jez checkin.

Where did I leave off?  .... oh yea, was working on some images and got side tracked with some other images and some more Flickr art challenges like this one.

And this one... 

  Otherwise, life is as usual except the recent ice storm added some beauty to the day regardless of the havoc it's wreaking on community power lines and more.  Beautiful 50 degree weather over the weekend and a sudden plunge yesterday created ice rain and still no snow to speak of.  But I'm perfectly ok with that in case you were wondering.  I do, however, worry about those oranges in L.A.  20 degree temps and ice like this...

covering the fruit will be a big concern to our grocery budget.  The photo is from a tree in front of my house, taken this morning.

Had to take a break from digital art to help the husband.  He can't see the back of his neck you know, when he's trimming up his hair line. (doh, can anyone?)  I noticed a spot on the back of his head (he uses man shears to shave is hair short), that looked like he took a wee bit too much.  He said, "I can't take too much because I'm using a blade that only trims so far from the head."  "Ok honey, then maybe it's a bald spot?"  Like that went over well.  So he switched blades so I could trim up along his neck.  Was busy thinking and talking and not paying attention when "Oh Shit!" came out of my mouth.  Thank God the hub has a good sense of humor.  He will be wearing a cap with ear flaps for the next 3 weeks.  "I said the BACK OF MY NECK, NOT MY SIDEBURNS!"  "Damn honey!  What was I thinking?"  We laughed so hard, my eyes got blurry and I couldn't see for shit.  When the tears of laughter cleared, he was absent one side burn.  oops.  I finished up the back of his neck and handed him the shears.  He said, "Are you done?"  "Yep, I didn't think you'd want me to even up those side burns." 

I haven't made an oops like that in a long time.  There is one time that I will never forget and it took place a long time ago.  Mom had made roast beef for dinner and I hate the stringy type of roast, but I had to choke it down.  Today, it doesn't gross me out as much but it has to be really really lean before I'll indulge.  Anyhow, I was busy talking while clearing the table and somewhere in my mind, I heard my mother say to put the leftovers away for Dad's lunch the next day.  Maybe it got buried quickly in the deep recesses of my mind when another command was made to feed the dog.  Ok, so multi-tasking was new to me back then and I messed up somewhere along the line.  Clear the table, do the dishes, put away the leftovers and feed the dog.  Life was simple then and I still managed to screw it up.  :)))

Dad walked into the kitchen for a drink when he noticed the dog mulling over a huge chunk of roast beef.  "Uhhh, is that suppose to be my lunch for tomorrow?"

'Nuff said?  At the time it was hilarious.  You had to be there I suppose.  ;)

Speaking of foods that remind us of people, events, things, I'm reminded of a few other things.

Traditions in my family's (mom's side) holiday menu include and included:

1. A mix of egg and chopped cauliflower - more like cauliflower pancakes.  No one has made these since my grandfather passed away in the early-90's (or was it late late 80's? yikes).  I take that back.  My mother made them once since then and we all agreed it just wasn't the same.  Gramps had a special touch in the kitchen during the holidays.  But it was thoughtful of mom to do it for us.
2. Fried smelt.  Yep, Gramps again.  The fisherman of the family.  I, however, tended to avoid any fish that Gramps cooked because he was not good at de-boning and I wasn't as good as he was in manipulating a bone from my mouth.  I came to the conclusion after I swallowed my first bone (and had to eat many a slice of bread to get that sucker to go all the way down), that I enjoy eating my food and not masticating it to death first, in search of bones before I could swallow.  Today is different however.  I've learned what the best boneless fillets are at the market and I indulge frequently.
   
3. Fried zucchini.  Gramps had a veggie garden every year that was loaded with lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, cukes, and more.  Anytime he wanted a salad it was at his fingertips. (And that man could pack away salads) He grew the most awesome zucchini and would slice it in circles, dip it in egg, bread it in Progresso bread crumbs with some freshly grated Romano cheese added in and pan fry in a little olive oil.  Belisimo!
4. Homemade lasagna or ravioli.  I use to watch Gram measure out her flour and other dry ingredients on a Formica covered wood slab on the kitchen table.  (It had no seams or cracks in it like the table).  She'd carve a well in the center of the mound and crack open and dump her eggs in the center.  And then the labor started.   Kneading and smoothing; cutting and running the dough through the rollers; filling and pinching.  If they made spaghetti, the noodles were laid out on tables and left to dry in the coolness of the basement (which was immaculate and had a second kitchen).  Homemade spaghetti sauce was to die for and Ragu and these sorts were voo-doo in their kitchen.  Gram use to (and still does) gripe when anyone uses anything but 'made from scratch' sauces.  And so I learned the tradition of making s'ghetti sauce from the best of them.
5. Cookies!  Can we talk here?  I am a cookie monster by the way but I hate making them.  I learned how to make pizzelles about 15 yrs ago and it's the only cookie that I actually enjoy making.  It's totally boring to sit in front of an iron pizzelle maker for hours but time flies with a bottle of wine at your side and a friend or two to help polish off the wine and cook the batter.  ;)  The recipe that I linked is a close match to our family recipe.  We use anise seed in some of our batches because not everyone likes the anise flavor or seed.  So yes, our basic recipe is still used but we have learned to modify the flavors for those that aren't keen on anise.
   

Finally, what brought me to writing this particular post (in conjunction with VJ's comment in my previous day post) is memories and to archive some of these and some family traditions in my blog. I have often wondered why certain smells remind us of certain people.  For instance, when a loved one dies what makes us smell their clothes that hang in the closet after they have gone?  When my father passed away, my mother was clearing out his Dodge Ram but missed a comb.  When my niece found it, she smelled it (why?) and said, "mmmmm smells like pop pop."  (That's what she called my dad).  She use to play beautician with him and he'd patiently sit while she combed and styled his hair.  The fact that a 4 yr old could recall a memory based on a smell really surprised me.  But it's obvious that she was close enough to his head to smell his hair and to know what that smelled like.  I was just surprised that she would remember it at that age or that it would bear significance to her.

Dedicated to: Gramps S  

Have you ever heard of See's?  How about Sanders?  LeGrand?

Just before Christmas, a client of the company that my husband works for, brought him some See's chocolate pops.  My husband, the thoughtful one that he is, remembered me talking about my love for See's and saved the pops for me.  I joked with him and said, "Next time I'd like a 1 lb box of See's chocolates, or better yet, some of their chocolate covered toffee candies." 

Nah nah, guess what I got today!  A 1 lb box of See's with a nice selection of toffees.  But wait!  It wasn't brought in to town just for me.  Apparently, the client brought a box for everyone at the office and forgot that my husband is a diabetic.  So yes, I benefit where my husband cannot.  YES!  See's CHOCOLATE!  Yum. 

When I lived in Sacramento, I loved See's but would still crave for my hometown Sanders chocolates and their fudge / chocolate ice cream toppings.  Didn't matter what the flavor, I love them all.  So mom would ship me mongo sized boxes of Sanders chocolate candies and a couple of jars of ice cream sauces, during Christmas, in what she called my annual survival box of goodies.  (Hint hint: Their chocolate sauce is awesome swirled over a spoonful of chunky peanut butter).  For my birthday this year, she gave me a huge can of their chocolate sauce and unfortunately I had to share it with my boys.  LOL  ;)  Although, I only had to fight one of them for the peanut butter.  And they have to race to beat me to the ice cream.

The LeGrand review:  I've tried many a chocolate truffle in my day and I still give LeGrand Confectionary 2 thumbs up! 

Other Detroit goodies that were missed while I lived out of state were:
Faygo Red Pop
Vernor's Ginger Ale (and no, Canadian Club ginger ale is NO MATCH).
Chinese food.  It took me awhile for my taste buds to acquire a taste for west coast Chinese food.  But I found 2 places that tasted like home.  One is a restaurant in downtown Old Sac.  I don't recall the name but it's popular in Old Sac.  "Fat something" I think or "...something... Fat."

The other was in Fremont.  A little hole in the wall but I remember looking at the menu and actually recognizing the names of the dishes.  When we were served, one taste of an egg roll and chicken subgum chop suey and I had to ask the waitress where the cook was from.  Lo and behold.... the east coast... Windsor to be exact but learned in Detroit.  Aha!

On a vacation trip to Michigan (while I still lived in Sac), the owner of a Chinese restaurant that our family frequented for years, told me that what I was tasting in California was more authentic (in flavor) than what we have in Michigan.  She said "our food in Michigan is what we call Eastern-ized."   Regardless, I told her that there was no egg roll like her egg rolls and no plum sauce like her plum sauce.  On my way out the door, she said, "Here, a dozen egg rolls and a pint of plum sauce on the house.  Freeze it so it survives your plane ride home."  Pat is good people with good food and you can know that I froze the egg rolls and carried them on the plane with me along with the plum sauce in a thermal bag, close to my heart.

Thai anyone?  Didn't even try it until I moved back to Michigan and I love it.

"Soda" or "Pop?"
 

Great way to drum up some thoughts VOX.  ;)

Candy necklaces.  Remember those? Can't be too hard because they're still popular, but have you had one recently?  They taste nothing like the ones I use to drool over when I was a kid.  I use to think that the original (huge round) sweet tarts were fashioned after the flavor of candy necklaces.  Yes, some were sweet candies but my mother use to find some necklaces that had a sweet/sour flavor and they were to die for.  So naturally, when Sweet Tarts hit the shelves, I was there in line.

Pixie Stix.  Oh yea baby.  I could guzzle sour powder from a wax tube - you under the table. 

Today... gimme a Snickers when I'm hungry and need something fast.  Or give me a 3 Muskateers when I'm watching the calories.  But I'd still guzzle pixie powder in a heart beat.  Just thinking about it is inducing exercises of the salivary glands.

Now, if we're talking white, light (milk) or dark... it use to be light or milk chocolate and still is.  BUT ... dark has begun to win my heart.  They say as you age, your taste buds change and I'm finding that the more heady flavors of foods and candy offer more satisfaction for craving and appetite.  Not to be confused with "heavy."  ;)  Gads, we don't need heavy!