Tropicalfox

I'm not allergic to mango, but when I was pregnant with my youngest, everyone on my block in Carolina, Puerto Rico brought me grocery bags full of unripened mangos from the trees in their backyards because locally it's the custom to eat them with salt if you're pregnant. To this day, I've never eaten one like that, but they thought they were helping me out. I appreciated their kindness but I got to the point where just looking at a mango would make me nauseous. Sometime close to term, I got a call from relatives who were on the island visiting other relatives on the Southern coast. They wanted to see me on their way back to NY so they stopped by on their way to the airport. When they arrived, my cousin says to me "Sandrita, I have a surprise for you" and he hands me a bag full of green mangos. I'll leave to your imagination what happened after that. After many years (around 7) I finally had mango again by making a smoothee with some very ripe ones I got from a roadside stand up in the mountains. I fell in love with them again. Now that I live in PA, I rarely see/smell a mango that resembles the ones from PR, but I purchase them for my mom and she makes me eat a slice. I'm 57, my mom is 83, and she still thinks I'm her baby. <smile> Sandra

Hummingbirdkiss, Goya makes canned tripe. It's called "mondongo". I've tasted it and much prefer the homemade. In Puerto Rico, it's usually made on weekends but especially for Sunday and Monday mornings for hangovers. It's calle "revive muertos" because it's so sumptuous it could revive the dead. It's served in a bowl with a side of white rice and a bottle of "pique" (homemade hot sauce). After you wash it thoroughly with some naranja agria (sour orange) in the water, you boil the tripe cut into squares or strips, with split cow's feet, with chunks of cubanelle pepper and onion. When it's almost done, you add the yautia (white taro root), potatoes, and calabaza (squash) cut into medium sized pieces. That is the basic recipe and according to personal taste, you could also add sliced green bananas and garbanzo beans (canned or previously cooked in just water). While that's all cooking you heat up some sofrito - onions, peppers, garlic, aji dulce (sweet chili pepper) recao (Puerto Rican coriander or culantro), cilantrillo (which is what cilantro is called in PR), oregano and/or oregano brujo (wild or Cuban oregano), in some olive oil and then add tomato sauce. You cook this until the olive oil comes back up to the surface in little drops. At his point, you can dip a piece of pan de agua (like a baguette) in it because it's really delicious. When the yautia is almost done, you add the sofrito mix, season with S&P, and let cook for a few minutes more. Make sure you clean out your sofrito pan with some of the broth to get all the goodies stuck to it into the pot. To thicken, mash a piece of calabaza, yautia, and potato. At this point, when you're about to turn it off, you add another sprig of cilantro, and a couple of leaves of recao, stir, cover for a few minutes, and voila!!! You're set for a wonderful meal. I think I'll make some this weekend! I may have to travel all over York, PA to get the ingredients, but it's well worth it. Sandra >> who just needs a glass of water because writing it down was a meal in itself!

Tonight we had arroz con camarones y almejas picadas (saffron rice with shrimp and chopped clams), camarones al ajillo en escabeche liviano (lightly pickled shrimp in garlic sauce), and tostones (slices of twice-fried green plantains). Sandra

Thank you!!! And thank you for the link, it explained it thoroughly. Sandra

I have a recipe for Mexican Mole Turkey with Chocolate Chili Baste, but it calls for "2 kg free-range turkey crown -- (4lb 8oz) skin removed" and I have no clue what turkey crown is. I searched online for it and found many references to it, but they don't specify what it is. Can anyone help relieve the sense of "doh"ness I'm feeling? Sandra

Thanks Hummingbirdkiss. I'm glad cooking my way through it all counts because if I had to make that list I would be gone for days. <smile> Sandra

I'm with you andiesenji. I was/still am very enthusiastic about emptying my pantry, cabinets, fridges, and freezers, but it's overwhelming to make lists of what I have in them. There is a basement fridge with a top freezer, a huge upright freezer near it. Then a kitchen trio fridge with an ample freezer on the first floor, and our office fridge upstairs. The pantry has 3 wire shelves wall to wall with lots of floor space for the bags of dog & cat food and the bulkier items. The kitchen has lots of cabinets dedicated to groceries, including half of the island. I'm exhausted just thinking about it! But I haven't purchased anything except for milk for the last week, and we rarely go out for meals, so I'm complying with purging our larder. I know I have enough food to last for more than a month, for 6 people, 3 dogs and 2 cats, sans milk, bread & eggs, and that's beccause I can't resist a good sale. Sandra

Hummingbirdkiss, I'll join you in this, more than happy to do so. A friend of mine will be doing this purge along with us. We had been talking about living off of what we already had in stock, and only buying perishables like milk, bread, etc. We challenged members of a chatter group to join us a while back and there was no interest. I read your post late so I'll start tomorrow. My plan is to use every package of meat/poultry/seafood in my freezer in every way possible. Sandra

Perhaps dimicuto is a misprint or variation of diminuto, which in Spanish means tiny, and it's used to define a type of very small hot pepper. That's what it seems like to me after reading "extremely hot with dimicuto and garlic". Sandra

You took the words right out of my mouth Hummingbirdkiss. Walking down the coffee aisle anywhere makes me nauseous. Titles like raspberry kiss, or mint delight really don't belong paired with coffee. Strong, black, and sweet in espresso cups is my kind of heaven.

Greetings to all. This is my first post and I must say I'm enjoying this forum so much that I think I'll soon become addicted to it! As per the topic, I don't know how to categorize myself as far as many have defined, but here goes. Do NOT use Sazon Goya in dishes that need coloring. That's what achiote seeds are for, to extract the color and flavor that is need to make that delicious rice with chicken or rice with pigeon peas, etc. Take the time to heat up some oil and toss in some of those seeds to steep in it, instead of putting man-made chemicals in your food. I cringe when I see someone use Sazon. Has anyone read the label? Butter and whole milk are natural products. Don't mess with them. They taste good and a little goes a long way to add that special flavor needed in many dishes. Lard... if you want your Mexican food to taste good, give it what the recipe calls for. It's not like you're going to eat it every day. Same as with butter, a little bit is enough for that special flavor. Diet or Lite anything. Same philosophy... if it's chemically tweaked I'd rather not eat it. For heaven's sake, you only live once! Enjoy your food instead of getting all worked up about it. A smaller serving of fantastic food is a whole lot better than filling up on foods that leave an aftertaste in your mouth. Not pre-seasoning meats. It drives me nuts to see people cook who remove the chicken or chop from the package, sprinkle a bit of salt & pepper on it, then immediately start cooking it. Rice cookers...Come ON, buy a caldero and make rice that will give you pegao. (crunchy rice on the bottom of the pot) You'll never go back to the RC again. I know it's me. raised watching my family cook the old Puerto Rican way and having to learn on my own when I got married at 17. But heck, why should I apologize for it? I think I'll make some mofongo stuffed with shrimp tomorrow as a Valentine's Day treat. mmmmmmmmmmm Sandra