I'm in love!

This was a Christmas gift.  For nearly three months it sat silently, behind jars of spices and bags of pasta, waiting.  It was only a matter of time before I would come across it, and dip a teaspoon in.

Sigh.  Life should always be like this.  Need a supply? Williams Sonoma.  Hate shopping?  On a frugal budget?  Here's the home version, via Richard Sax's Classic Home Desserts:

Take a can of condensed milk.  Pour it into a 9 inch pie pan, cover with foil.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees, place pie pan in larger roasting pan, and fill with warm water until the level of the water comes halfway up the pie pan.  Bake until rich and thick and caramelet, around 90 minutes.

(I've never tried this, once I open a can of condensed milk, its life is short-lived).

Switching Plates

Since the goddess Margaret is tackling food, I thought I'd steal a page from Financially InKleined and tackle
business.


This from the Rotary Club, circa 1932

This 24-word test for employees to follow in their business and professional lives asks the following four questions:
"Of the things we think, say or do:

Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"

 Kids, imagine what capitalism would really look like, if more businesses were run this way.  Read it again.
Frankly, I think it's revolutionary.

Quick, simple, delish

If you've paid any attention to chicken recipes these days, every one is clamoring for organic, free range et cetera, and an equally large contingent are hollering back "elitist rubbish!"
If I have extra cents in my pocket, I really don't begrudge paying more-I think of it as a quality of life topic, the chicken's, not mine.  I don't claim to taste a difference, and when I sometimes do (for the better) I wonder if it's a placebo effect.
I always try to cut down the consumption of slaughtered animals in my house, but it's challenging when one of the household members has derided carbohydrates as the source of all evils in the world.  Sigh.

Something very simple to do when you have a whole chicken breast, on the bone.
Poached from Ina Garten.

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, even under the skin.  Add dried or fresh herbs to taste, like thyme, tarragon, basil.

 Place on baking sheet, 350 degrees.
Roast for 30 minutes.
It will be moist and delicious.  Slice to have a sliver of the skin and herbs.
Serve with pan roasted asparagus garnished with crumbled goat cheese and toasted pecans.

Heaven!

PSA Retraction

Boo boo-
Apparently the discount was not for Fridays, but for Feb 11- Feb 14, aka Valentine's weekend.
Boo hoo


Yes, it is my duty to make this public service announcement.
Sure, you know that plenty of shops give you a 10% discount when you buy 6 or more bottles of vino.
But did you know Whole Foods give you 30% on Fridays?!?!?
I'm stocking up on $9 Graves Entre Deux Mers (a crisp French white, with a clean finish), a bubbly $9.99Louis Pedrier rose that has a dry finish and won't stop till that last drop is gone, and some inexpensive but palatable plonk, Melanto Terrace Cabernet that clocks in at $6.  And I'll get 9 bottles for more or less the price of 6--
Gosh, then I'll have to cast about for a reason to share it--

Fusion Cuisine

The Chinatown of my childhood, (the one of downtown Los Angeles) celebrated the Year of the Rabbit this past weekend with a parade.  My  African-American friend and his Peruvian wife invited us--so we hopped on the Gold Line, exited about where we bought a Christmas tree once, and ambled over to barricades. 

I tried to think back to the last time I stood on the street and watched a parade pass before me: I couldn't.  While the evangelists had their six-year-old blond boy warning urging us all to believe in the one true way, and Asian supporters carried banners of a rather brutal crucifixion and statements in Chinese that I couldn't read, my son and I set off in search of food.  He was hungry.  I thought: pot stickers.  Lychee or green tea ice cream, shops filled of incense; again, the experience of my childhood.

We found the food truck zone: crepes, lobster, hamburgers, french fries, shaved ice, grilled cheeses.  

We found the fountain I used to hover around, with my sister, pitching pennies in.

We found an espresso shop.

While the mayor rode by, martial arts experts staged a mock battle, the bobbing dragons swirled past us, and tubes of gorgeous confetti exploded around us, my son ate sliders.  As my  friends and I watched the crowd and the participants including  South Pasadena High School, Alhambra High School, Pico Rivera Elementary, City Terrace Elementary  (a hovering mom kept squirting a water bottle into kids' gaping mouths) it was clear no one culture or heritage had the lock on this parade.

There you have Los Angeles, showing the rest of the world the inherent possibilities.

The next time I want Chinese food I'm heading to Monterey Park

Food Pairing

What goes best with murder mysteries?
In this instance, vodka, blini and caviar.

Actually, perhaps a bit of champagne to start.

What am I talking about?  My novel HUMAN CARGO is 
now an ebook.  Forget the magnums, let's open a jeroboam!

More info here.

In the Tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room

Not sure what to do this weekend?
How's does visiting a dive bar in Silver Lake sound?
The three of us set off, met a little after 5 on a Saturday afternoon and squeezed through the crowd to order a Mai Tai, Roy's Mistake, and the Blue Wave.  By an act of Ka ne, two barstools materialized in front of us,
and we could settle in, more or less comfortably, to munch on the bar crackers, and admire the two men mixing drink after drink, pouring jiggers and jiggers of rum, and other spirits swirling pineapple juice, mixing them with a small swish of the  blending machine.

They sell a t-shirt that lists all their drinks, and you check them off as you work your way through. Let me know how far you get.

Thanks for the photo, Dr David!

Tinga Poblana

Tinga is the style, Poblana means from Puebla.

First, roast your pork in the usual way.  (Braise then simmer, for hours, covered, on the stove top, adding water as necessary.  Use pork butt, or pork shoulder, 3-4 lbs).  Cool until easy to handle.  Remove bones, gristle, you know, the connective tissues that force us to consider vegetarianism.  Shred.  Return meat to its juices. Char a pound of tomatoes in a skillet, evenly, then drop into a blender.  Char a couple of garlic cloves as well.  Add 2-4 canned chipotles (depending on your heat tolerance) and the juice from half an orange, or a quarter cup of orange juice.  Blend. Add to shredded meat, let simmer on low for 15 minutes.

Garnish with:
chorizo which has been cooked down
avocado slices
red onion slivers marinated in lime juice.

Ladle over rice, or place into just heated corn tortillas.  Let me know how it turns out.