Cooking And Eating....“Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es”

Tuna salad on paratha flatbread, with spinach........A fancier version of the 'after school tuna fish sandwich on 'Tip-Top' toast' that was a favorite source of 'sustenance calories' before 'proper' Dinner......Even better, with Chow-Chow relish!       

product endorsement!..... I just tried a product from QUORN....soy free and meatless 'chicken' and Sharp Cheese Cutlets......delicious and tangy....accompanied by a mixed green salad drizzled with Asian toasted sesame seed dressing..........

Not one to waste edible food.......the last of this fatty ham is going into a cast iron skillet, for 'rendering', then, with a couple of eggs,  an omelette will appear.......good!....I found some extra sharp cheddar beneath the block of roquefort cheese..... "Fat-Free" is just the Ghost of the foods we 'really' want to consume......isn't it?  

  A delicacy in Northern Japan......an accompaniment for a dinner of barbecued bull's pizzles and bird's vomitus soup........I tasted this rather repellant, by American tastes anyway, concoction of fish stock with scallions and fishs' sperm sacs.....perhaps, all this 'saltiness' was the 'off-putting'.......although, 50 years ago, I was served some rather delicious pate' made from the afterbirth of a good friend's 'home delivery'..... Don't grimace...if you've ever eaten  McDonalds' "pink slime" nuggets, folks, you've eaten more disgusting 'stuff'.....in disguise!      

Crunchy Deep-fried Thai Langoustine Purse with Mango, chopped water chestnuts, diced leeks and ginger, in pastry wrappers, tied with wild 'yard' chives....resting in a porcelain bowl with oyster sauce, mixed with chili sauce........the culinary 'bag of gold'.....

viewing Ted Allen's 'Chopped' challenge to create a 'dish' that appears to be another....such as a dessert of liver and onions......I produced a 'pastry with chocolate and fruit dribbles that is actually a savory meat pie with Chinese Hoi Sin and Kashmiri Masala curry paste, combined with sweet chili sauce......masquerading as a fruit pie with chocolate and cherry sauces.......

millionth 'take' today on spicy soups.......this one has orzo and black-eyed peas in shitake/Scotch bonnet/mushroom broth with dried banana slices in Indian spices, slivers of jalapeño pepper, with a dollop of coriander chutney and 'black-eyes of annar vati pomegranate 'balls'....

Yum, Yum, eat em up! I'm "doing" basmati rice.... cooked in chicken broth with saffron.... topped with crab cakes smothered in ginger, carrot, and garlic sauce; puri with ginger/garlic paste, fried, then baked; hot curried and creamed purple dal peas; spanakopita; miniature artichoke/mushroom quiches on wild grilled 'n' chilled radicchio and endive; and butternut squash soup, cold, to be "washed down" by blackberry cassis flavored cabernet sauvignon...........[i.e. whatever gets put together within an hour or so of quick prep].......for early - 4:00! supper before tonight's 'next thing'..... a kitchen return, for a dessert of homemade blackberry iced cream OR a Whole Food's Chocolate Ganache with expresso.......then late night catch up.......i'm exhausted already!

I just attempted a re-creation of my Grandmother's spicy crowder peas, topped with a potato pancake, laden with grated parmesan cheese, sour cream and scallions......of course, she would never have used dried potato flakes!.....I confess!.....and, I'm sure, she'd never heard of coriander or dried sunflower seeds......and she would have fried the 'cakes' in lard, of course....not olive oil!

Scotch Bonnet and panko-crumbled "Awaken the Dead" Mango Chicken with sweet red curry sauce, fried Vidalia onion ringlets and 'burn your fingers' jalapeno pepper slices....seeds left within.....

I've never liked the taste of sorghum, although my grandparents swore by it's health and nutritional benefits.....but it was far too bitter for a child's tastes.......Today, I've been experimenting with sorghum.....and just made some so-so miniature waffles, that wouldn't crisp, unfortunately...........now, to experiment with some Indonesian cooking....with sorghum, of course........{when one's out of Sourwood

Drink more Hooch......some Angostura Bitters, a splash of vodka and another of cognac and cracked ice (made with lemon peel) over some tangerine segments, marinated in Crème de cassis, then drowned in lively carbonated Hooch, has replaced the fashionable '80's cocktail, around here.....

Hearing the midnight baying of a lost dog, my eating taste is again that of a pregnant Rosemary, gnawing on raw liver.....provoking more unusual, than normal, cravings, with an abatement by a flourless Ezekiel 4:9 raisin/cinnamon bread sandwich of peppery salami and raspberry/ bitter orange/rhubarb preserves....and a mug of Earl Gray tea with heavy cream and a pinch of salt......accompanying an omelette of quail eggs, pigs brains, green curry and sharp cheddar cheese.....now I'm fortified for a sojourney of contradictions, to the Huddle House world of normalcy....the temporalities that abide, just yards from my front door, then.....then, the return to my internal world of beans and rice.....wait~........I can smell Beth Boston's delicious fruitcake, resting in its whiskey-soaked blanket, and am returned to Larry Talbot in a chenille peacock robe, guiltily eyeing Ansel Adam's photo of a full moon over Yosemite..........

a short trip....'out there'...(the cold morning and traffic).led me, quickly, back to the snug comfort of 'the house' this morning.......and, an inspired cooking adventure ..meatballs of ground pork, garlic, basil, parsley, grated Parmesan cheese, marjoram, thyme, smoked paprika powder, green dragon hot sauce, sriracha chili sauce and dried onion powder----, perched atop Vermicellini, boiled in herbed water, with pink sea salt, then tossed in the skillet that the pork meatballs and garlic were hoisin- 'glazed' in, after having been roasted with chopped fresh garlic, mango chutney, ground orange peppercorns, grated orange peels and grated ginger.....surmounted with breaded and fried sweet Vidalia onions....

Before we could get to the nearest restaurant and park a vehicle.......I can crank out two dishes in my kitchen, guys!... No thanks!

My 'take' on pizza.......Indonesian-seasoned grilled ground pork, spicy onion and tomato relish, crushed & sautéed garlic, worchestershire sauce, powdered smoked paprika, Roquefort cheese crumbles and mushrooms on ghee-fried paratha...... Sorry, Porky, but you did say you'd 'rather be an Oscar Meyer Weiner', didn't you? The is a step up from just being a bologna stick, after all, isn't it?

White Grit Encrusted Salmon Fish cakes with Wasabe/Dill, Mango-Spicy Corn and Red Bell Pepper Cole Slaw...

I awakened, after a dozen hours beneath comforters, during a cold night.....ravenously hungry....and thought of many complex delectations that could reward me for leaving the womb.......Pastries and 'layered' breads, chocked full of mangos, sweet corn relish, papaya chutney and a dozen other condiments 'did the trick'.....followed by some chocolate chip cookies, washed down with aromatic java and whipped cinnamoned heavy cream..... .

FAVA BEAN, SPICY SWEET CORN RELISH AND SWEET CHILI PARATHA FLATBREAD ROLLUP,  POSING AS A CROSS BETWEEN A TAMALE AND A THAI PECAN-CHICKEN ROLL.........

THE FAMILIARITIES OF CHILDHOOD.......SPICY CRISPY   CHICKEN 'STRIPS', ROLLED IN FOUR AND WHITE GRITS, THEN IRON SKILLET-FRIED IN SESAME AND VEGETABLE OILS...WITH PAN-FRIED RED POTATO WEDGES, SPRINKLED WITH SMOKED PAPRIKA & GROUND PEPPERCORNS... AND SOUTHERN COLE SLAW WITH ROQUEFORT CHEESE/MAYO DRESSING, DILL AND CELERY SEEDS....