Examined Eating in Georgia

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As the second image shows, Christmas dinner in Austell, Georgia was soothingly summer on a plate. The last stop during my holiday travels it represents how far my taste buds have traveled in place and time. Recipes for half of the plate begin with “grow your own okra, green beans, corn.” The other half of the plate with smoked turkey, dressing and gravy had all the longed-for familiar and savory holiday flavors. The magic of homegrown summer vegetables made the dinner extra special. Dennis and Rachel are most definitely blessed with green thumbs, patience and gardening knowledge. As the last image shows, dinner was greatly appreciated and enjoyed. Just simple, homey and delicious. Can’t get a more local dinner than what’s grown in the backyard!

Fried Okra

  1. Grow okra and pick at appropriate time.
  2. Slice 1/4″ thick pieces. 4 cups.
  3. In a colander pour 1/4 cup of buttermilk over sliced okra.
  4. 1/2 cup flour + 1/2 cup white corn meal. Place lid and shake until pieces are coated.
  5. Shallow fry in an inch of canola oil.
  6. Drain on paper towel and watch the okra disappear.

Creamed Corn

  1. Grow corn and pick at appropriate time.
  2. Shuck and silk.
  3. Soak in water.
  4. Cut off cobb, twice. Once, if big grains are desired.
  5. Scrape.
  6. Cook on stove over low heat, stirring constantly. Bring to boil.
  7. Salt and butter if needed.

Green Beans

  1. Grow Blue lake green beans.
  2. Take ends off, string them if needed.
  3. 4 cups broken into 2 inch pieces.
  4. Boulion cube + 2 cups water + black pepper.
  5. Boil until tender.

Gravy

  1. 2 Tbs Olive Oil + 2 Tbs flour in pan. Stir until brown.
  2. Add 1 can chicken broth.
  3. Add 1 can cream of chicken soup.
  4. Add boiled and chopped turkey liver, neck meat, giblets and two boiled eggs.

Still need to add Patti’s dressing recipe and Dennis’ Smoked Turkey recipe. More to come.

 

 

Examined Eating in Fortworth, TX

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The plate is a left-over recreation of a meal that my fantastic cook and all around awesome sis-in-law, Moli made for us. Goat biriyani, chicken roast, and potato chop (like a croquet), olive pickles [missing the mixed vegetable dish and the cucumber raita salad]. It was a festive meal, full of familiar flavors associated with joyous celebrations. I was ten again eating and celebrating with my family. It was delicious nostalgia. Thank you so much Bhabi for feeding us so well.

img_2312 Bhabi led the stroll-down memory lane with many snack stops that included, “jhal muri” [a combination of puffed rice, tomatoes, onions,cilantro, mustard sauce (kashundi) and chanachur (fried crispy spicy lentils, nuts and chips)], patties, chow mein noodles, paratha and butter chicken, home-made salsa and chips, pudding, kheer, ras malai and more.

We also went to a grocery store that had a whole aisle of frozen Bangladeshi fish, shelves of Radhuni (Bangladeshi brand) spices and other very specific Bangladeshi products. This was about far away and long ago eating, different from the farm-to-table principles I’ve been researching. Is it possible to merge the two forms of community building immigrant and local into a transnational glocal convivium? That requires more eating. Back at Forth Worth’s India Bazaar, we had tea and samosas (the crispy meat filling kind, not to be confused with the potato filled Shingara). It was like a flipping through an old photo album with my mouth.  The nostalgic magnetism of remembered tastes is so powerful.

I used to believe that these familiar tastes were my only home, but now, having been at home with many tastes, I realize that my “home” has grown to embrace more people and places than ever imagined. This ability of food to put us at ease is magical.

Thank you, Bhabi for the trip back, reminding me how wide my tastes have grown and sharing your recipes.

Wedding Feast Chicken Roast (Moli and Mithun Recipe)

[rough translation]

1 Chicken

oil – 1/2 cup

salt – 2 tsp

sugar – 2 tsp

saffron color – a little

ginger paste – 3 tbs

garlic paste – 1 tbs

chili powder – 1tsp

fried shallots – 1/2 cup

Special Garam Masala -1 1/2 tsp

[2 1/2 tbs cardamom+ 1 1/2 tbs cinnamon + 1 1/2 tbs Shah Jeera-cumin + 1 tsp nutmeg + 1 tsp mace + 1 tsp white pepper = ground in coffee grinder]

Prunes, raisins, rose water 1 tbs, ghee 1/4 cup

  1. Saute skinless chicken pieces.

  2. Add salt, sugar, color. Saute.

  3. Add ginger, garlic, chili pepper. Saute.

  4. Add fried shallots, garam masala and water needed to help meat tenderize.

  5. Add prunes, raisins, rose water and ghee.

  6. Simmer on low until gravy clings to chicken and fragrant.

Looking forward to trying this in my kitchen and re-posting with an update.

Examined Eating in Houston, Texas

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Pomegranate seed and spinach… make a fantastic sweet, savory, slightly bitter, crunchy and leafy filling for a South Indian style dosa. Who knew! Pondicheri in Houston combines traditional Indian dishes with innovative ingredients with amazing finesse. We sought out Pondicheri (it was mentioned on a Food Network type show) during my recent trip to Houston. It was worth the drive and a wonderful start to a day in the museum district. The keema was delicately spiced and light in texture (almost as good as my sister’s). Even the breads traditionally fried in oil, like paratas, where somehow dry and crispy, flavored by fillings instead. Described online as “Texan Indian Food” it was a good example of a transnational dual appreciation of distant tradition and local taste.  It was a beautiful experience.


In the theme of transnational appreciation and local identity, our afternoon in Old Town Spring was just as fun. Loaded Nachos at the Loose Caboose, lured the tourist in us with barbecue brisket over nachos, the lovechild of Tex-Mex and Texas Barbecue.. The combination of barbecue sauce and nacho cheese was surprisingly tangy-salty delicious.

In contrast to the picnic table, plastic fork, paper towels, liquid cheese, shredded meat and sweet-spicy sauce playful experience, our lunch at the Black Sheep Bistro in Old Town Spring was sophisticated, white table cloth, fork-knife, delicate, plated and refined. Jim’s halibut over spinach was my favorite. The cultural origin of the dish didn’t matter. It was just tasty.

We ate very well in Houston, at home and out. From Pondicheri I learned that I can mix textures, fruits and vegetables, techniques without sacrificing familiar tastes. From the Loose Caboose I learned that local traditions can cross over to even more delicious territory. And, from, Black Sheep Bistro, I learned, well made food tastes good everywhere.

Cooking is an art that ranges from nachos to seared halibut and beyond. We enjoyed it all.

Bowing to innovative culinary skill,

Hungryphil

Molasses and me

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It felt like an eternity, my head tipped to the side, watching and waiting for the molasses to trickle out of the bottle into my measuring cup. Unwrapping and plopping the room temperature butter and packed cup-shaped brown sugar in the mixer, spooning measures of baking power and soda into the light flour about to float away from the bowl, cracking the eggs into the fluffy brown butter, collecting the ginger, cinnamon, pepper, cloves into a spice mixture; the recipe had been moving forward quick and steady. Then I waited for the molasses, this dark, most viscous, bittersweet smooth sludge taking it’s very own time to trickle out of a Brer Rabbit bottle labeled since 1907. I felt like I was waiting since 1907. This was my first time cooking with molasses and it’s sheer meditative nonchalance midst the hurried pace of Christmas cookie baking was… impressive. I had even greased the measuring cup in anticipation of a slow pour out of the measuring cup into the mixer. As if it didn’t get the memo honey got, molasses took its sweet, slow time. Again.

I want to be like molasses. I want to pour out in my own time despite pressures of schedules, needs and the quick convenience of sugar cookies. Impressed by its ability to slow down time, I googled “molasses.” It turns out, it is a sugar byproduct that has a lot of nutrients. According to Wikipedia, a version of molasses, blackstrap, is a dietary supplement and an ingredient in cattle feed and fertilizer.

The third boiling of the sugar syrup yields dark, viscous blackstrap molasses, known for its robust flavor.[8] The majority of sucrose from the original juice has been crystallised and removed. The calorific content of blackstrap molasses is mostly due to the small remaining sugar content.[9][10] Unlike highly refined sugars, it contains significant amounts of vitamin B6 and minerals, including calcium, magnesium, iron, and manganese; one tablespoon provides up to 20% of the recommended daily value of each of those nutrients. Blackstrap is also a good source of potassium.[11] Blackstrap molasses has long been sold as a dietary supplement.

Blackstrap molasses is significantly more bitter than “regular” molasses. It is sometimes used in baking. This residual product of sugar refining is used for producing ethanol and as an ingredient in cattle feed and as fertilizer.

No wonder it doesn’t care and isn’t as eager to move like sugar. It has quite a story of being a beneficial residual of sweetness. Yes, I admire molasses. It can take it’s time in my kitchen. I’ll wait.

In what other dishes can I use magical bittersweet molasses? Let me know if you have any suggestions.

14 Years of Good Eating

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Dear Atiya (and other loving endearments I can’t post publicly),

Today you are 14! You have already outgrown a very split-second “awkward” phase into a graceful, thoughtful and helpful young lady.You are always willing to try new tastes, even if apprehensive. You graciously eat whatever experiment I put in front of you. I cannot imagine enjoying cooking as much as I do without you and your sister. I anxiously wait to hear your low giggle and see your sister’s nod when you taste something you like. What a tasty adventure we’re on! Can’t wait to see where our taste buds take us next year. Love you.

This year your favorite foods included:

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant Tagine

Flan

Lamb Chops grilled or breaded and fried

Fried Eggs and toast

Ramen noodles stir-fried with eggs

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Khichuri and Egg curry

Fried Shrimp

Baked Potatoes and Chili

Berry Cobbler and Ice-cream

Blondies and Brownies

Fried Tofu

Dal

Sweet Yogurt

Lamb Curry and Cous Cous

Ground Chicken Kabobs with herbs

Dried Mango slices

Mango Ice-cream and smoothie

Nutella Crepes

Corn pancakes with blueberry sauce

Cauliflower fried rice

Fried Okra

Stuffed Cabbage

and more…

You don’t like salad, oatmeal or white bread/rolls. This year braces has made chewing challenging and slow for you. You have been most patient.

When you are ready to cook for yourself and others, I hope you can find all your favorite recipes here on this blog.

May you always eat well and giggle my baby,

-18

Love,

Your Hungryphil Mom

 

 

 

 

 

Wishing YOU Happy Holiday Eating

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Thanksgiving in the United States officially welcomes the indulgent season of sugar and butter, fried and baked, cinnamon and nutmeg. This weekend a lone damaged package of unsalted butter sat on our local grocery shelf. It was on my list. Of course, along with all busy holiday treat makers, I had run out. Salted would have to do, I thought, after all, many a food show host have boasted of always using salted butter in their baking. I suppose I’ll try it. Red velvet birthday cupcakes with salted butter (yes, this week happens to include my soon to be 14 year old’s birthday).

Nothing says holidays like sweet treats sitting on the counter disappearing one by one. This morning, I have three cake pops, two butter cookies dipped in chocolate and one Oreo dipped in chocolate on the counter. This may be the last morning for that lot. Over the weekend, we made cake pops to accompany holiday greeting cards for our neighbors and friends.

I did not grow up celebrating Christmas. I have no nostalgia for the occasion. I am learning to celebrate along with my husband, step-daughters and friends. These cookies and cakes are a conscious effort to recognize and be a part of their joy. I’ve looked forward to baking and decorating cookies with my friend Kathy the past years. It is less about celebrating any particular holiday and more about celebrating our connections. Food allows this generosity of spirit, where a Muslim and Catholic can bake elephant shaped cookies together. I am so grateful for this food world.

When someone says “Merry Christmas” I am happy to respond with the same phrase and am not offended at the least by the understandable assumption in a Christian majority country. In return, I hope that my good wishes wrapped in the inclusive phrase “Happy Holidays” does not offend anyone. May the Starbucks controversy rest.

I am celebrating my most cherished connections through cakes and cookies in the coming days. Hope you are too.

Wishing you happy holiday eating surrounded by love,

Hungryphil

 

 

Italian Food – Food Poem by Shel Silverstein

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I’m inspired to compose a dinner menu that rhymes! Any suggestions?

Oh, how I love Italian food.
I eat it all the time,
Not just ’cause how good it tastes
But ’cause how good it rhymes.
Minestrone, cannelloni,
Macaroni, rigatoni,
Spaghettini, scallopini,
Escarole, braciole,
Insalata, cremolata, manicotti,
Marinara, carbonara,
Shrimp francese, Bolognese,
Ravioli, mostaccioli,
Mozzarella, tagliatelle,
Fried zucchini, rollatini,
Fettuccine, green linguine,
Tortellini, Tetrazzini,
Oops—I think I split my jeani.

Poem From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/20/shel-silverstein_n_972217.html?1362426228

Here are more good food poem links:

http://www.saveur.com/article/blog/A-Feast-for-Bards-13-Favorite-Food-Poems

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/05/food-poems-the-best-poetry_n_2806968.html

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/11/22/165489750/a-readable-feast-poems-to-feed-the-hungry-ear

How hunger shrinks the world – White Noise

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The last post about American Appetites and  Glynnis’ sadness about dessert marking the end of a meal reminded me of another 1980s literary classic, White Noise by Don Delillo and the scene of the family eating fried chicken in the car:

No one wanted to cook that night. We all got in the car and went out to the commercial strip in the no man’s land beyond the town boundary. The never-ending neon. I pulled in at a place that specialized in chicken parts and brownies. We decided to eat in the car. The car was sufficient for our needs. We wanted to eat, not look around at other people. We wanted to fill our stomachs and get it over with. We didn’t need light and space, We certainly didn’t need to face each other across a table as we ate, building a subtle and complex cross-network of signals and codes. We were content to eat facing in the same direction, looking only inches past our hands. There was a kind of rigor in this. Denise brought the food out to the car and distributed paper napkins. We settled in to eat. We ate fully dressed, in hats and heavy coats, without speaking, ripping into chicken parts with our hands and teeth. There was a mood of intense concentration, minds converging on a single compelling idea. I was surprised to find I was enormously hungry. I chewed and ate, looking only inches past my hands. This is how hunger shrinks the world. This is the edge of the observable universe of food. Steffie tore off the crisp skin of a breast and gave it to Heinrich. She never ate the skin. Babette sucked a bone. Heinrich traded wings with Denise, a large for a small. He thought small wings were tastier. People gave Babette their bones to clean and suck. I fought off an image of Mr. Gray lazing naked on a motel bed, an unresolved picture collapsing at the edges. We sent Denise to get more food, waiting for her in silence. Then we started in again, half stunned by the dimensions of our pleasure. (220-221)

For Glynnis, the elaborate birthday dinner carefully planned and sequenced was a performance and celebration of her skill. Food conveyed her economic privilege and social status. In contrast, the family consumes the delivered fried chicken intensely individually as a primal pack. The shared theme of death and consumption in both books rely on food to highlight the death of one in the case of Glynnis and death of all in the case of Jack and Babette’s family. Hunger and death may make us human but how we live seems to be determined by how we eat, whether our appetites are insatiable, mindless or sadly both.

Wishing you mindful and satisfying eating,

Hungryphil

 

The Sadness of Dessert

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“In addition to the chocolate cake there is a crepe dessert prepared by Glynnis at the table, a light, delicious, orange and raspberry- flavored crepe, new to most the company, made with Chartreuse. How lovely, Glynnis thinks as the crepes flame up: that low bluish purple flame, a sort of child’s magic, and the aroma of alcohol and sugar; how lovely, how sad, things coming to an end.”

This is what Glynnis, cook book author and socialite, and soon to be deceased wife laments as the birthday dinner for her husband that she planned and labored over so meticulously comes to an end. Joyce Carol Oats’ 1989 novel American Appetite is the story of an unraveling American dream that takes place in a glittering glass house where elegant dinners  are hosted by power couple, Ian and Glynnis McCullough. The quote above prophetically announcing her own demise comes from one of the early chapters entitled “Celebration” that sets the complex stage by juxtaposing an elaborately descriptive analysis of the dinner courses served against fragmented confessions of infidelity.

While the dinner courses set a mood of abundance, skill and luxury, the dessert marks the violent bittersweet end. Food in this novel takes on a significant role in characterizing both Glynnis and the lifestyle of the McCulloughs. I havent’ finished reading the book yet. At the moment Ian is charged with murdering his wife by pushing her through one of their glass walls. I wonder if the book ends with a very different kind of meal?

How would I describe myself or my life through dinners I serve (hopefully that do not involve me being murdered…yikes!)?

A snack on the kitchen counter? A bowl of meatballs on a big round wood table for five? A pot of curry and rice for three? Or paper plates piled with pizza and wings in front of the television? Or a cup of tea in a low red chair that looks out towards the stop sign at the end of the cul-de-sac? All of the above?

How does food color and stage your life?

Wishing you happy desserts in appreciation of a good meal (instead of Glynnis’ sad desserts and insatiable appetite),

Hungryphil

Eating Your Decisions – Natalie MacNeil

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I think we all have that.  We all have that intuition, it’s whether or not you can hear it and recognize those intuitive hits, or gut feelings, as some people like to call them.  One of the things that I like to do and that I find a very practical meditation for people who are new to meditation or thinking, “How can I figure out the next best step for me to take using meditation practices,” is a concept called eating your decision.

This is something I do all the time.  It’s something that a teacher taught me and that his teacher taught him.  What you do is you sit in mediation, mediation, and you eat the first idea or path that you’re thinking been taking, and you visualize how it goes down.

You’re visualizing what is the texture of it.  If that decision was a food, what would it be? When it’s going down and your body’s starting to digest it, what does it feel like? You actually go through the process of eating this decision.

Then you eat decision No.  2, and you see how that feels.  It’s amazing.  I’ve done this with people who don’t meditate at all and it’s amazing how quickly they can be like, “Oh my god, I know – “ it’s literally the gut feeling because your food’s broken down in the gut and it’s a visualization for figuring out what the best gut decision to make is.

People always come back to me and say, “Oh my god, that made my life so much easier and really helped me to know what that gut or what that intuition was trying to tell me to do.” That’s a cool one that I like to give people to do it.

Jaime:    I’ve never heard that before, and that would help me so much.  Well, that’s the thing, can you give us an example too Because I’m now going to try this.  I think it’s really important.  I’ve been really trying to tap in.

I meditate quite often.  I do guided meditations every night, but guided meditations really aren’t enough for me, or at least I don’t think they are, but that sounds amazing.  Give me an idea so I can get a little bit more detail when I actually do it.

Natalie:    Okay, so I just did this with one of my clients on one of our retreats.  She was trying to figure out a certain business partnership that he has an opportunity to do right now.  She was very much on the fence about it and I had her eat the decision.

“Okay, your business moving forward without this partner.  You’re gonna keep on doing it by yourself the way that you’re doing it right now.  Eat that decision.  How does it feel? If you could describe it as a fruit or as a vegetable, what would it be?”

It’s amazing how your mind will immediately go to something.  She was like, “Ah, it feels like a pear, but it’s really prickly.” “Okay, swallow that.  How does it go down?” “Well, it’s literally ripping my throat out as it’s going down.  It feels very suffocating.  I feel like I can’t breathe properly, I feel like I can no longer communicate the way that I wanna be communicating.” “Okay.”

This was one of the key things behind her decision, was how she was gonna be able to put her brand out into the world and communicate that, so it’s like she’s feeling it in that part of the body that she’s really wanting to tune into as she builds her business and her brand, and she’s a speaker and all that.

Okay, she goes through that, and then I say, “Okay, thinking about taking this path in your business, working with this person, how does that make you feel,” and she’s like, “Oh, it feels like sweet cherries on a summer day, totally going down well.”

It’s amazing how people can quickly come up with that visual when you guide them through it, and I find, even for me, there’s things that will come up during that process and during that meditation, and I’m just like, “How did I even think of that? How did that come to mind?” It’s giving yourself the space to do that.

My amazing friend,Vickie Maris, author, entrepreneur, musician, llama and bunny keeper, wool spinner, beach body coach, course developer, story teller, mean guacamole maker and so much more, recently shared an interview of Natalie MacNeil on Jaime Tardy’s website  Eventual Millionaire. 

The transcript quote above explains the concept of eating your decisions. Natalie describes the paradox of thoughtful “gut -reaction” to help guide life decisions through a few examples. The process aims to expose what we feel as we think about changing or affecting a given circumstance, to be present in our heart, mind and body as we process future possibilities.

I imagine writing to be like chewing a warm crusty piece of whole grain bread with butter. The process of tearing off and eating bread is  messy with crumbs all over, work to chew, work to swallow and work to digest. It is not an easy process but one I can’t do without. Cooking, for me, is like a bowl of warm soupy curry or dal, comforting, complex, spicy, sweet and best of all, perfect for dipping my crusty, flaky bread!

Sometimes we know something is difficult to swallow and make the decision to eat it anyway.

Wishing you thoughtful decision eating,

Hungryphil