Posts from — July 2010

Maybe I should explain my title choice for today’s post. So, I live in the southwest portion of the United States.  Here, we have two popular convenience stores, 7-11 and Circle K.  As previously mentioned, and actually bragged about, I am posting and scheduling my posts about 10 days to 2 weeks ahead of time. As I typed in my “scheduled” date, I noticed that today is 7-11, so whenever we (south-westerners) say “7-11”, we (or at least, I) like to follow it up with “and equal time for Circle K!”  The last thing we want to be is based – in Arizona, of all places! Yeah, right – tell that to our state legislatures! Sorry, no politics allowed here – just recipes and a bit of occasional humor or insights! Honestly – love it all!

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After yesterday’s post about “reading the recipe”, I thought I would show a couple (of the many) students who really do understand the importance of that very thing. We all know that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” For four full days, these two cuties never needed a thing from me and sometimes you feel as if you’re ignoring such independent kids.  I just hope they know, that I know, how very competent and capable they are and that my goal is to make all my students be just like them! Great job, girls!

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There is a lot of frustration in being a cooking teacher to young ones. But luckily, there is reward to. The frustration comes in many forms and I shall share with you just two examples from the last 5 weeks of summer classes. Heck, these occur every year and have for the past 15 years of kids classes!

1. Telling the same child for 3 or 4 days in a row to “read the recipe” over and over and over again. This occurs when he/she asks for the umpteenth time, “What do I do next?” or “When to I stir in the peppers?” or “How much milk do I need?” or “How long does this have to bake?” or “Does this onion need to be cut up?” My answer to each of these questions is, “Please go back and read the recipe and then you may ask me again -if you can’t find the answer to that question.”  OK, honestly, that’s what I say the first 2 or 3 times, then I just say, “Read the recipe.” [Read more →]

I confess, sometimes I’m a cheapskate to a fault. A perfect example of this character flaw? Mandarin oranges. Here’s how it went down; I needed an 11-ounce can of mandarin oranges back in April for a sorbet I was creating for this very blog. At the same time, I was shopping for a cooking class, which meant that I’d be going to my usual three stores to get everything needed for the class. The three stores are Safeway Grocery, Trader Joe’s, and Costco. I loaded the cooler in the car and headed out. At stop number one, Safeway, I noticed the price for a can of mandarin oranges was $1.99.  That seemed a bit high to me, so I passed them by, thinking maybe I’d find them at Trader Joe’s for a better price.  Stop number two, Trader Joe’s – no mandarin oranges. Oh well, I’d double back by Safeway after the final stop at Costco and pick up a can. Good plan… until… I spotted a case (12 cans) of mandarin oranges at Costco for….. wait for it….. $5.99! In miser terms, that is 50 cents a can! Now I had a serious dilemma on my hands. Should I pay 4-times the price for a single can of mandarin oranges at Safeway or be stuck with 11 extra cans if purchased at Costco? Let me tell you how long I pondered that question… less than 2 seconds. I loaded up the case into the cart with all the other mega-size items and figured that after I used just 3 of the cans from the case, the rest would be FREE (at least they would be free if they would have been purchased at the Safeway $1.99 price!) And FREE is my second favorite 4-letter word, next to LOVE. How sweet is that?

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One of my favorite movies is the 2002 sleeper hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I’ve seen it so many times, but I still laugh out loud in all the same places. Especially at Toula’s (the bride-to-be) father, Gus, and his love for Windex, the popular window cleaner. Toula Portokalos explains while narrating, ” My dad believed in two things: That Greeks should educate non-Greeks about being Greek and every ailment from psoriasis to poison ivy can be cured with Windex.” Throughout the film you see Gus with his beloved Windex, spraying it here and there as the remedy for just about everything. Then on the morning of the big (fat and Greek) wedding, this conversation takes place between Toula and her non-Greek groom, Ian.

Toula Portokalos: I woke up with this huge zit this morning.

Ian Miller: Where?

Toula Portokalos: [points to a spot on face] There.

Ian Miller: I had a huge zit this morning too!

Toula Portokalos: Really? Where?

Ian Miller: [points to his face] Well, it was there, but it’s gone now.

Toula Portokalos: Why?

Ian Miller: I put some Windex on it.

Too Darn Funny! If you’ve never seen the movie, make some of these traditional Greek sugared almond cookies (pronounced Koo-rah-bee-YEH-these), go out and rent the DVD, and have a fun and sweet night in.

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A little more than a month ago I told you about the boatload of oregano I dried… well now I’m using it up! This makes me happy for so many reasons. Happy to not have to go to the grocery store and pay outrageous prices for dried herbs. Happy with the taste and quality of my oregano straight from my own little garden. And happy to just recently learn that the name oregano is derived from the Greek, meaning “mountain of joy”.  There you go, no wonder I’m happy and joyful about my fantastic oregano bounty. Oregano is an indispensable ingredient in Greek cuisine so here we have a salad where the joyful herb is a star and lights up the dish.

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Happy 4th of July!

The recipe for Red, White and Blue Red Velvet Cupcakes follows,

but first…

What is your happiest or earliest memory of celebrating July 4th? Mine is standing in my maternal grandparents’ backyard, holding sparklers with our big extended family all around. That would include my grandparents, mom, dad, brothers, sister, cousins, aunts, and uncles.

There could be up to 43 of us at any one time, given that my mom is the oldest of eight. We would either barbeque hot dogs and hamburgers or there would be big buckets of KFC scattered around, and always huge watermelons … and … soda! We were allowed to drink soda – at my grandparents’ house! [Read more →]

I love the flavor of coconut. It doesn’t matter if it’s fresh, sweetened flaked or shredded, coconut milk, or cream of coconut, I love it all. And I recently discovered that the male Pig-tailed Macaque like coconuts too.

In Thailand and Malaysia, they are trained in special schools to harvest coconuts, and competitions are held annually to find the fastest harvester. 

This coconut chicken is a cool and refreshing dish, makes me think of a beautiful cool day in the tropics sitting on the beach, drinking a Pina Colada, and watching the little primates work away…

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