pastameshugana

Update on the smoking process: My hickory woodchips are going much faster than I had bargained. For some harebrained reason I obeyed the package instructions and didn't soak (or even wet) the chips. So, about two lbs later, I'm soaking the remaining ones to make them last. Here's about 1hr into the process. You can see I abandoned the dish I had chips in and put them right on the grill. This 'infrared' grill has a solid bottom, so no worries about them falling on the burners: Two and a half hours into smoking, the meat temperature is about 130, and looking beautiful. I snagged a piece of the fat that fell off and it was heaven. The whole neighborhood smells like my dinner! I'll post results when I'm done! And here's a question: To soak or not to soak? Other than the life-span of the wood, is there another reason pro/con?

Heidi - I get so many strange looks because my speech has become so mixed over the years. Traveling and living overseas, plus having lots of family from all corners of the globe makes our 'little' (4 mini-meshugana's and one on the way, plus (obviously) Mrs. Meshugana) family stand out in this small town. Every time I say 'no worries' I have to rephrase for the poor confused soul... As for the nutella - I know I've eaten it but it's been in the distant past, so I can't honestly recall the flavor. I will say, however, that the brown color was trying to convince my brain that it was Vegemite (which I adore), even though it certainly tastes nothing like it! (Edited to add: If there was a parentheses quota, this post would certainly exceed it. Sorry, I'm a parenthetical speaker. Look, here comes another one! --> )

Working on lunch: Trying my hand at smoking (first time) on a way too small grill for smoking. This was a spur of the moment meal, I found some frozen pork ribs in the ice box last night, and took them out to thaw. Here they are arranged to have the most surface area exposed to the smoke (using fancy skewers as props!): Smoking with hickory: The internal temp (of the grill) is a little above 200, so hopefully they won't 'bake' too fast and have time to smoke. So far they've only been treated with Cavender's greek seasoning (my favorite). We'll see how they turn out...

Just a quick update - I forgot to include Sunday's breakfast, which was simple and tasty. One of the lovely markets we hit last week (you'll hear about & see it soon) had a little display with some in-house made 'Chocolate Peanut-Butter'. Hold up, wait a minute. Chocolate peanut butter? What is this beautiful thing and WHY have I not heard of it before?! C'mon. Chocolate and PB are one of the god-given flavor combinations that make the world go 'round, and here in one jar? Bhuwhahahahaaa! So, with Sunday's coffee, I also had some toast layered with this goodness. Here's a (not so great) pic, but it sure tasted great. Now I don't have to hide my breakfast from my wife when I put chocolate syrup on my PB toast.

So, on the heals of that literary quest (sorry for the length!), here's Monday's Brekkie with Sundays coffee: My first bag of Peets in a while (Italian Roast): Hand ground in the press: (Notice the Las Vegas mug? I try to collect mugs from every place I visit (and my passport is full, so that's quite a few), hopefully you'll see some more of them this week) And one of the greatest breakfast inventions ever: Eggs on Toast My first EOT was in Footscray, Melbourne at a little cafe, and it was a revelation. My version has garlic, onion and portobello lightly sauteed in olive oil. Add chopped roma's after you turn the heat off so they stay sweet (a nice counterpoint to the heavy aromatics). Toss with freshly ground pepper & sea salt and topp with chopped Gruyere. My mouth is happy! Warning: NSFW Egg Porn picture following... ... Doesn't it bring a tear to your eye? Be back later!

Hello eGulleteers, and welcome to my first ever food blog. First, a little bit about me and where my eating & cooking are inspired from: I grew up in the Southwest (AZ), and after marriage spent a few years in Vegas, then off to Bangalore, India for a couple years, and now live in the far southeast part of New Mexico, right on the Texas border. Here's a picture from about five minutes down the road: Now, growing up the way I did (with a Jewish/Italian father) in the land of great Mexican food (imagine those meal combos!), and living in Vegas and India, my family and I have developed a taste (addiction?) for flavors that reach out and grab you. I have a naturally small appetite, so I really don't want to put anything in my mouth that doesn't taste amazing. When we lived in India, I really began to enjoy cooking. Partly it was the amazingly cheap and incredibly fresh ingredients available, and partly it was the desire to be able to replicate the amazing food of Bangalore when we finally moved back home. That's also when I discovered eGullet. So - all that to say this: I'm depressed. Seriously. I live in a town that has more than a hundred 'Mexican' restaurants, but in which black pepper is considered spicy. I live in New Mexico, yet in a mysterious vortex that doesn't have a strong green chilly culture. Oi Vey! I live in the south (land of sweet tea) but in a city with not one single barbecue joint. Am I being punished? This is the part of the country in which if you order a 'latte' people look at you funny and assume you're a 'foreigner' or of dubious morality. Don't get me wrong, there's some good food here, but very little of it is at a restaurant. We've got some friends that are amazing cooks, and I've been learning some new techniques & tools, but other than that, it's a food desert here. See the picture of the farm above? We're surrounded by them, but there's not a single farmers market here. So - this week you're going to follow me around as I try (desperately) to tickle my palate with the limited supplies available, and as I search high and low for something new and interesting. Full Disclosure: Some of these meals (and shopping) are a week old, because we were traveling and my schedule is a bit hectic, so if you see me post two dinners in one day, it's not because I'm time-zone hopping, but compressing two weeks of eating into one. Hope you enjoy the ride!

Wow - that sounds amazing - I can imagine some fascinating winter desserts... Thanks so much for sharing your week - I had a blast!

Over in FG's Kitchenaid confessions thread, peterm2 mentioned the beater/scraper attachments for the KA mixers: I love this idea, and popped over to Amazon to look for one. Which one do you use/recommend? The kitchenaid brand has complaints of flinging ingredients: KitchenAid Flex Edge Beater But the Metro line has complaints of breakage... Metro Then there's the even fancier looking 'sideswipe' blades with complaints of being hard to clean: SideSwipe I know there's no perfect product, but steer me in the right direction! Thanks in advance...

Oi - forget the kit mix - here's my absolute favorite recipe for the meat: 1lb Ground Beef or so (about 1/2kg) 1 Large Red Onion, finely minced 1 Large handful of garlic, finely minced 1 Large handful of cilantro leaves picked and chopped, stalks finely chopped 1 Medium handful of fresh curry leaves, chopped 1/2 Can green chillies 1 Medium serrano chili Salt/Pepper/Cumin/Red Chilli Powder Toss the onion/garlic in butter before adding the beef, when the beef is about 1/2 done, add the cilantro and curry leaves. Fresh curry leaves will add the most amazing smoky flavor to it, and you'll be convinced it's the way it was meant to be! My mom's technique for the tortillas was to stuff the (corn) tortillas with the filling, and fry it complete like that. It's a lot of work but sure comes out nice.

Food pods?!? What is this wonderful atrocity?! How is it that I've never heard of such a thing, and doubly so: Why on earth aren't there any near me?! I demand answers! A fascinating idea: Are they squatting or do they usually get permits? I'd imagine each truck has it's own permit, but what about the whole?

This wins the "Quotable Quote of the Day" Award, and gives me some ideas for 'encouraging' my 4 (soon to be 5) short people.

Wow - this is a tough one. I jumped right on it thinking I know what I would write, but now after three (deleted) versions, I can't decide what my last meal would be! One option is Indian. After living 2.5 years in India I crave it like a junkie. Either tear your face off Andhra style at Nandhini's or the Mughlai dishes at 'A Taste of Rampur'. But there was also that dish of baby clams with angel hair at Lygon st. in Melbourne... That one night the portobello/pancetta/romano stuffed pork chops came out perfect, and the first time I nailed spaghetti carbonara would be up there. It's fascinating how emotional food is. Recalling some of these meals is certainly a transportive experience! Some of the things I would envision as ideal 'last meals' aren't even very good food, just good experiences. Some of the nights we've stayed out way too late with good friends drinking too much coffee would be a great way to 'go out'. In that vein, one night at a little rooftop cafe in B'lore with good friends drinking personal pots of French press coffee, while two elderly Indian men played covers of classics like 'Layla'. One backyard 'barbeque' making decadent discada with several families over is certainly another highlight. Making some off the cuff alfredo at a friends house while he grilled an entire (10lb) filet on his 10th floor balcony after a long, lazy day spent swimming with all the kids is another deep-rooted memory. After a few years of culinary adventuring, it's interesting to me, looking back, how much the contents of the meals have faded and the memories of the companionship have not. I would have to say, any meal reasonably well-executed, even if it was just a burger on a grill would suffice for a 'last meal on earth'. The key would be sharing it with the right people, and making it memorable. The REAL question, is what are you going to eat the morning of the 22nd? Now that the world has NOT ended, what's your first meal going to be?

I don't have a recipe, but Memphis Championship BBQ in Vegas sells their 'Magic Dust' that I've used for years, it's my go-to dry rub for all kinds of meat & veggies. http://memphis-bbq.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1&osCsid=qjt3soa2kha3edbmdug2co2265

For what it's worth, our office brews some nasty Folgers dreck from the huge cans, and I'll add a tsp to each pot (something I picked up from my Grandfather about 'fixing' bad coffee). No one has said anything except when I forgot to add it, and they all complained. YMMV...

Ok, just returned from Manila with mixed success in my eating expedition. I did have some great food, although precious little of it was Filipino. I ended up at a Cabalen's, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I really like Sisig and experimented with Halo-Halo, which is a nice take on a 'healthy' dessert. One question: There was a dish (appetizer, really), that was a green leaf fried crispy with what appeared to be a sort of cheese (??) on it, it was served with a sour cream for dipping. What was that? And how would I duplicate that stateside? For other food, I enjoyed the (expensive) buffet at Shangri-La, and discovered that I do, after all, like clams! There was also a chinese fast food place called Han-Pao that I was determined not to like because it appeared to be a chain, but was seduced by Taosi Chicken and Pork dumplings. We also went to a seafood market where you buy your fish and then take it to one of the stalls to be prepared by people of dubious gender. Our hosts did the selection/ordering, and we ended up with an unrememberable variety of dishes, all quite good. I wish I'd had time to visit china town, but oh well, it'll have to be next time.

Say it ain't so! I love the flavors of them, but they take too long to eat. Luckily I discovered Jolly Rancher jelly beans. Now I can have more than one flavor every 20 minutes.

Chris, What shocks me is the number of places I've seen it on a menu without black pepper. In my thinking, riff-away to your hearts delight, but at least keep an excuse to call it 'carbonara'. $0.02

Or chalkboard paint. Heck, you could put the chalkboard paint over the magnetic paint and have both. We've got some 'boards' like this on playroom walls - works like a charm! /End Hijack

Thanks so much for all the suggestions - I'm making a pocket card to carry with me to help me decide!

I'll be spending a week in Manila, and need some food pointers. If my (hazy) memory of my last trip is any guide, I don't need restaurant suggestions, as the dining choices won't be up to me, I'm just along for the ride. However, what are some items/dishes I should be looking for at the local places? Is there a strong street-food culture in Manila? If so, what are some of the choices?

I'm glad someone resurrected this thread, even if just for the following, laugh-out-loud quote: Thanks, roosterchef.

kayb, that is absolutely brilliant! I am definitely making this meal this week. Would be great to make a few big ones to cut up for a party. What rye recipe did you use?

Ok, dcarch, now you're playing with my head! That has to be one of the most spectacularly composed salad plates I've ever seen. My brain was tripping as one half was convinced the watermelons were cropped by the edge of the photo, and the other half was trying to decide if it could convince the wife to buy square salad plates just for the sake of making a salad like that. Beautiful!

Very hot curry. Lived in India 2 1/2 years, now living in the southern part of NM - desperately impossible to even find hot salsa, let alone a face-peeling chili chicken curry. And bacon.

Oi - don't get me started! I live in a town (very near the Texas border) where most people drink folgers and think you're a sissy or 'swinging for the other team' if you order a latte or cappuccino. Not a SINGLE sit down cafe, two drive through coffee shops (the people buying 'nice' coffee are embarrassed), and none of it is good. Sometimes you just want to go have a coffee out with the missus or the guys... ...heck, it's so bleak here I'd settle for a st*rbucks as an upgrade. /rant Sorry to hijack the thread, I feel better now...