[food folktales]

Eating the crusts of bread would give you curly hair.

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Curly hair? Where, on your palms? Pimples on your face too?

[food folktales]

My parents are firm believers in the East Asian triptych of faith, belief, philosophy, worldview "thoughts", I can't think of an appropriate English word for it (Buddhism, Taoism and Confuscianism). My dad is an acupuncturist and herbalist. The Taoist experimented on themselves (called "Doh" in Korean) . They ate pretty much anything and everything, while noting the results. If the first man who ate an oyster was brave, the Taoists must have been super heroes.

[food folktales]

My dad used to tell me that if I swallowed watermelon seeds, they would sprout in my stomach and eventually would grow to the point where I exploded. 

I'm scarred for life.

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When i was pregnant I told little kids that I swallowed a watermelon seed and it sprouted and grew into a full sized watermelon and that was why my stomach was so big at 9 months!

[food folktales]

I love ginko nuts! I can eat them like potato chips (once you eat one you can't stop). My parents always told me that the magic number to stop at was 17 (or was it 19?) or my bladder would explode from holding too much urine and toxins or something like that. Sure enough I read an article about a small child dieing from exceeding the limit.

[Food Pronunciation Guide for the Dim-witted]

As I understand it

Rissois are little pastries classically filled with crab

Chamucas are another deep fried pastry but filled with ground meat, seasoned with "curry" and pirr piri. Origins are thought to be African

Azeitonas are olives. (I just realized that the Arab word for olives "zeitoun" is contained in that word).

I also received a friendly lesson in Canadian French. Yes, now I know it can be "international". I'm just surrounded by these "snobs" from the "mother" country. Poor me, that is where I will probably end up as an old woman.

As for Spanish I have to strain hard to understand Spanish spoken by Spaniards, the same thing with Argentinians. Tsk, tsk, they sometimes glare at me.

[Food Pronunciation Guide for the Dim-witted]

We're planning a trip hopefully sometime this year to France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Between my husband and I we have French, Italian and Spanish covered well enough to order food off of a menu. Portuguese we are not sure of.

How to pronounce the following:

Rissois

Azeitonas

Chamucas

I think the rest we can pretty much figure out. I don't know if there is a significant difference between the Portuguese and Brazilian dialects, if there are variations in pronunciation please specify. I like to learn other languages for functional purposes (obviously) so I prefer to know which dialect I'm learning. I also try very hard, oftentimes quite successfully to get my accent "right" so if there are any websites that have audio I'd like to know which dialect is spoken and whether or not the person is a native speaker. For instance I was taught in school a "generic" dialect that my teacher called "standard" Latin American Spanish. Living in So Cal this has served me well. My husband's Spanish friends (from Spain) HATE it, if I were in Spain I would care but in Los Angeles my Mexican and Central American friends would think I was putting on "airs" (They think my accent is adorable, by the way). I'm also learning standard French French because that is what my husband and daughter speak and most of our Francophone friends speak this. I'm also at the point where I'm trying to refine my French accent so it helps me know "who" a speaker is. I don't want to repeat after someone who has the same accent that I do. And please non-native speakers or Qubecois do not be offended by my learning preference for French. I am in no way implying one is "better" or more "correct", I am simply stating that different dialects fit into the my personal cultural landscape better than other dialects.

Peace

Now back to food! Portuguese please. Help!

[Eats for the Oscars]

My menu for an Oscar Party

Amuse (Passed hors d'oeuvres)

Caspian Potato Chips

Caviar and Crème Fraiche on Potato Crisps

Crab Cigars with Sauce Ravigote

Carmelized Walnuts, Apple Chutney, Roquefort Mousse on Toast Brioche

Scallop Brik with Saffron Aioli

Escargot Beignets with Pinot Noir Glaze

Foie Gras Mousse on Hearts of Belgium Endive with Truffle Oil

Mezze Table

Tabil Marinated Shrimp Brochettes served with Lemon Wedges

Silverfish Friture with Chermoula

Spinach, Pine Nut and Raisin Briouts

Cold Steamed Mussels with Saffron Tomato Relish and Preserved Lemon Gremolata

Blood Orange and Sweet Onion Salad with Argan Oil Vinaigrette

Spiced Olives

Duck Confit and Asian Pear Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette

Caramelized Shallot Compote, Red Pepper Marmalade, and Eggplant Preserve served with Croutons

Trid or Poor man’s Bastilla

Quatre Epices Sardine Escabeche

Served Amuse

Spicy Ginger Tomato Soup

or

Chilled Arugula Soup

Entrées

Date and Couscous Stuffed Squab with a Pomegranate Glaze and a Cardoon Tajine

Or

Ras el Hanout Roasted Monkfish with a Chartreuse of Turnips and Baby Carrots

Or

Filet Mignon with Chanterelle Jus

Potatoes Dauphinois

Dessert

Oscar Shaped Chocolate Hazelnut Cake Layered with Charlotte Mousse au Chocolat

And Crème Anglaise

[too much kimchi!]

Kim chi doesn't go bad in two weeks. It gets more sour and increasingly so with more time obviously. Some folks, especially older Koreans prefer their kimchi to be quite sour. I've seen quite a few really old jars of kimchi in my life, I'm not even counting the stuff that's been buried in the ground. Don't be afraid of the bubbles it's a sign of fermentation and not a sign that it has gone bad. We have a jar that's 4 months old in the fridge (I can't stand the smell so I really need to give it to mom to make kimchi mandu or something) and it's edible and it's not bubbling.

I