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

 I love to spoon up some omelet onto thin, beaten biscuits, spread with apple butter or preserves.......or just fold it over and gobble it down.........

I may have 'perfected' the salmon cake.......adding chopped marjoram, thyme, parsley, dill, cilantro, garlic, scallions and whisked eggs...with Juliana scotch bonnet pepper sauce.... to canned wild-caught Alaskan salmon...and an equivalent volume of chopped, breaded and fried onions.....then dredging the subsequently hand-formed patties in egg yolk, covering them with panko crumbs and frying them....crispy brown.....in a skillet of really hot corn oil......served with a creamy dill/mustard/lemon/pickle-relish tartar sauce.......

What do most eat for b'fast? Every living creature seems to have very predictable feeding habits.......Many devour exactly the same foodstuffs, every morning.....Some have foods for the days of the week...repeating thier 'routines' weekly....Although I prefer a wide variety of foods, adapted from many Cultures......I think this bowlful of deliciousness may be my favorite concoction......some variation on a flaky pastry crust with a creamy gravy, of sorts, with hoisin or tamarind or similar sweet/hot sauce, green chutney,,.,like coriander or mint, some vibrant tomato-based mango and habanero pepper salsa and some dollops of satay BBQ sauce.....Heat, mollified by really strong coffee and heavy whipping cream with freshly ground cinnamon.......As I 'have' my morning repast, sitting on the 'back stoop'....I can see the 'kids' next door, in their early 20's, dog-eating pizzas from cardboard boxes.......daily......with canned sodapop....and wonder...

I hope this luncheon will warm my bones on this cold, cold afternoon......spicy Mongolian beef with hot peppers tiny french green beans and snow peas, over sprouted red jasmine rice.....

Hotter 'n blazes vegan okra and tomato stew,  with Scotch bonnet peppers, chervil, green onions, cilantro and egg noodles......in a parsnip and rutabaga stock..... and an okra and tomato cheeseburger....hold the bun! 

Smashed red, microwaved potato halves over thin slices of turkey breast, pan sauteed with herbs.....

'mortared' dissicated English peas with dried wasabe, nutty arborio rice cooked in chicken stock with a dozen herbs and butter; sliced 'French' style breaded chicken breast...cooked in white wine, garlic, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, chives, parsley, cilantro and sun-dried tomato strips; 'garnished' with golden sauteed elephant garlic and yellow sea salt.... 

Who else wakes @ 4 am, and cooks up some arcane foodstuff? And, right now, I have the appetite inclinations of a pregnant food critic.......and, not to waste the cilantro that was behind the milk carton.....

Both my grandparents and parents seemed obsessed with the 1950's trendy 'Iron-tired Blood Syndrome'......as millions of Americans upped their intake of Spinach.......Led by comic hero, Popeye, The Sailorman......Feeling particularily fatigued this morning, I double-dosed with a spinach and cheese omelet and swallowed a big spoonfull of Geritol.....However, I attribute any Energy Effulgence to the double expresso and a Merckens Yucatan Break Up Dark Chocolate bar that followed......

1:30 'snack time'.......tiny baby bok choy, stir-fried with sunflower kernels, oyster sauce, chillis, sriracha hot chili sauce, recaito culantro, and chopped garlic......topped with couscous salad of chopped dates, almonds, garbanzo beans and lemon zest......with an 'accent' drizzle of sweet red chili paste and olive oil........

While the roofer was here, thinking I had turned off the stove while making some pot stickers, I returned to the kitchen to find the stickers 'Stuck' and jet black......on the bottom of the skillet......Not to waste food, I grabbed a pair of kitchen shears and cut the tops from the charred bottoms and added some plum sauce and hot chili oil to disguise the 'char' .........hardly the best pot stickers, but edible....

  take '2': spicy pinto beans with couscous, sliced almonds, cilantro, cardamon and dates...over long-grain basmati rice with saffron and grated dried dates and roquefort cheese....served with baby okra tempera, flavored with Persian spices...... a light luncheon on this gorgeous day........playing hooky from the Scott Show, this weekend...

  while the wok is hot......parsnips rasam, tempura....with sweet mango chilli...chhunda... and ground cummin seeds.....served also.. (not pictured here) with fresh-cut rosemary fried in spicy tempura batter, then crushed and crumbled over the parsnips......a 1st time combination that 'works'....with pomegranate-flavored green tea and a 'dessert' of crushed dates, rolled in dried date flour and sliced, toasted almonds.......

  leek soup with a floating raft of 9-grain sliced 'loaf' bread, carrying shredded asiago cheese........a replication, from memory, of my step-father' favorite onion soup recipe.....

Admittedly, better with red potatoes, through a 'ricer'........Brown, instant  Idaho 'flakes', buttermilk, chopped scallions, fried grated garlic, dehydrated english peas in wasabe, smoked paprika, ground pepper, sea salt, Mediterranean herbs and butter......iron skillet fried, then topped with habanera/mango salsa.......

the 7-hour simple vegan meal........spicy rice with okra, pimentos, sun-dried tomatoes and just about every herb and spice in my kitchen.....40 ingredients.......even black strap molasses, pickled lemons and dried dates powdered with date flour...to thicken this concoction....Having seen a photo on a friend's page....I couldn't get this tasty treat out of my mind....so.....finally....my reward! Now....to my tiny 'iced cream' machine to crank out....with an electric motor....some quadruple chocolate, heavy cream, Solerno blood orange liqueur and walnut frozen dessert to serve with Project Runway Allstars reruns this evening......The Kitchen is 'totaled'! So, I may as well make some baby okra tempura before cleaning up.......

I stepped on the 'scales' this morning,,,,,and changed my dining plans for the day!    No chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes!!    Instead, the 'stuff' of a horse's feed bag...... 

 this afternoon's 'concoction'....and  a 'sure to do it again' dish......   leftover pork roast, cooked in a dozen spices and herbs, medium-well, dumped into the 'food chopper' with roasted carrots, caramelized onions, roasted orange beets, skinned yams that were cooked in dark brown sugar, ginger, walnuts & butter,  and chopped red peppers,  made into patties, brushed with Malaysian satay sauce, then breaded with fine seasoned garlic bread crumbs and pan fried in olive oil until crunchy.......topped with a lemony remoulade, flavored with quince paste and truffle oil......I elect it the best 'perfect' taste sensation to leave my kitchen this year.....even though it DOES look like a fried salmon patty with tartar sauce to the naive eye....it tasted nothing like either of those 'standards'....

concoction for the day.......beef tips cooked with sorrel blossoms, basil, garlic and red curry.....pressure cooked....with shiitake and oyster mushrooms, wild carrots, leftover champagne, black potatoes and rendered spanish prosciutto......served over wild rice with cranberries, walnuts and apricots.........

King Oscar sardines with hot peppers, in oil.....with mixed salad greens, Romano cheese and garlic-infused white balsamic vinegar.........