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

For an 'online' cooking 'challenge': "What food was your favorite when you were 12...that you still love; and, how has your preparation and enjoyment of that thing changed up to the present?".........For me, this would be a 'coin toss' between BLT or Tuna Fish Sandwich......with a close 'third' being Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich......and a 4th.....a crunchy Grilled Cheese Sandwich...... I had no access or knowledge of fancy breads, salad greens, varieties of tomatoes or 'tuna...not from a can'...or fancy French mustards.....But now......my love is constant...with 'upgrades' on every level...... Pictured here, a hollowed out and toasted Ciabatta roll with chopped tuna steak, mixed with lemon mayo, Pommery Meaux mustard, diced quail eggs with runny yolks, sliced Kumato tomatoes, arugula, baby spinach, pickle relish, diced dill weed, celery seeds, ground multi-colored peppercorns and a mix of ground French Herbs........

supper snack.......leftover yams, cooked with dark brown sugar, walnuts and curried currants....baked in pastry, then sliced and dribbled with a concoction of sweet/hot remnants of mango chutney, tamarind and pad Thai sauce and 'blow torch your mouth out' fiery green dragon sauce.....served with sliced nectarines in lavender syrup, and aromatic Earl Grey tea..... Today has been a flavorful one!

Sliced  Jalapeño peppers...seed compartments emptied of seeds and filled with parsley and garlic salsa verde; sliced chicken drumstick, dusted with tumeric, garlic powder, yellow curry sauce and herbs...then, flour-coated and  fried in avocado oil; a pair of snow peas, steamed, then flavored with herb butter, flanking a miniature sweet corn, lightly cooked in Thai lobster sauce; sliced yellow corn meal-crusted chicken thigh, pan fried with French herbs and roasted garlic;  smashed miniature potatoes, cooked in pan drippings and topped with tiny carrots, cooked in ghee, with marjoram, thyme, sourwood honey and bitter dandelion relish......; and a semolina puff, stuffed with camembert cheese and smeared with Thai red curry paste......

  studying this old photograph, I miss the ring, stolen by Lee Cady; the covered sugar bowl, given to Eve Savage; the silver creamer, stolen by Ann Rhett's boyfriend....Keith Rann; Baccarat vase, broken by Big Boy, the cat; and the 18th C. Ram salt cellar, stolen in a burglary; the tablecloth, given as a wedding gift.......We ate the watermelon!

 

 

  after i sop up this garlic/herb/shrimpy deliciousness......some artsy bowtie pasta, boiled in chervil/basil/cilantro/garlic/yellow sea salt 'water', then drained.....will soak up the last of the precious buttery sauce.......wild-caught Argentinian shrimp make for perfection!

 

  when faced with a 'project' that is 'out of my wheelhouse'....like organizing files on this computer.......I'd rather just do something that gives me far more pleasure.....like creating even more digital files to choke this 'machine' or make a delicious salad....which I CAN so.....and devouring it, leave only another image to 'store' for some future, potential use.....

  The Universal Staples of Southern picnics: red bean chili, deviled eggs, macaroni n cheese, lima beans, meatloaf with catsup, fried green tomatoes, lemon ice-box pie, roasted pork, ham, corn souffle, turnip/collard greens, green beans and fried okra.....If you don't like this combo, you're from another place......

  I almost forgot to bake this bitter chocolate-filled round croissant......which had been 'rising' beneath an old dish towel, just 1/3" from sticking to the yolky top.....then, picking up the 'forgotten' towel to dry a glass...and...off to the oven, after rising for 10 hours! Fortunately, this obviously led to a perfect, crispy, buttery, chocolate accompaniment to Word of Dance.......

  sticky rice, cooked with chervil, cilantro, garlic, grated hot chilis, & annar vati pomegranate/ginger/garlic/mango 'bb's' ; wearing a triangular hat of pan sauteed vegan Celebration Roast 'pie' and a gravy of peanut butter, tomato paste, molasses, soy sauce and onion........ Today's 3:30 snack.....served on a polished gold-lipped pearl oyster shell 'plate' that Clarice Geigerman gave me on my 25th birthday.....

I'd not had really good grilled sausage links in years........My Grandfather loved to eat them from toothpicks, and with basted, runny-yolk eggs, parsley and pepper.........Yummy!    The satisfaction of simple fare!   

  Trader Joe's no longer stocks their delicious Chocolate Ganache Cake!......When the last slice has been eaten.....it will all be over!......I'm writing a letter to its Corporate Offices.........Yet, it will continue to stock its absolutely dreadful Korean Beef Short Ribs, that I consider completely inedible........of course, 'Korean" beef is NOT chocolate cake, is it?

  El Quicko Cubanish dinner for 'take out'...from my kitchen to a neighbor's........spicy blackish beans with mushrooms and super-spicy beef tenderloin strips, marinated in grapefruit and orange juices with crushed garlic, dehydrated onions, cracked peppers, vinegar and cilantro.....bittersweet chocolate/almond/Cointreau/heavy cream milkshake for dessert.......flesh for my neighbor.......dessert, for me!

 

    WHAT DOES IT MEAN? ...... My reply: [Obviously, with two finger rubs of non-iodized salt, a nonsequitous allegory for the lost parameters of ex-Olympic has beens, trapped in a Purgatory of relics on pegboard and the 'destructs' of Antonioni's early 1970's Films, Ian.......There's a small cobalt salt cellar under the stairs, if you need to season this yourself, remembering that each granule of sodium chloride, with its associative inclusions, improves both flavor, substance and the virtual somethingness that aspires to Meaning........]

After a daring feast of a poor little soft-shelled crab...and experiencing no allergic reaction......I'm satiated, except for the ginger iced cream that I'm having before conking out....exhausted.....some tasty Thai sea bass take-out for tomorrow's b'fast......a somewhat guilty pleasure........

After watching GHANDI, I'd not the heart to crack an egg.......so, cooked some collards in vegetable stock with chopped garlic & scallions, crushed dried chilis, cumin & garlic powders, lemon grass, lime paste, pine nuts, rice vinegar, sourwood honey and dry Vidalia onion bits....with some roasted red bell peppers.....and a generous sprinkling of grated dehydrated quinoa/walnut/ginger bread.....syrupy red balsamic vinegar added, just before serving.....with a 'side' of onion bread, stuffed with Himalayan rice, soaked overnight in remoulade sauce and flakes of shaved dried tempeh and 'celebration' loaf.........

A BOWL OF FRESH PEACHES, WALNUTS, PURPLE GRAPES, BLACK CHERRIES, SHREDDED COCONUT, DRIED PRUNES, GRANOLA, GRAPE NUTS, BANANAS,  GOLDEN RAISINS,  DRIED APRICOTS, SUNFLOWER SEEDS AND FRESH, WHOLE MILK............A MEAL IN A BOWL...... 

Small, round potatoes, microwaved, then skillet-cooked in avocado oil with chopped herbs, sliced scallions, smoked paprika, ground peppercorns and dried Mediterranean herbs........then, tumbled with fat-trimmed corned beef, marinated in plum sauce and hoisin, with a few dried chili flakes..... eaten from a wooden bowl, sprayed with truffle oil,  with lots of fresh leaf parsley....

A cup, please...and a Greek Salad, if you will......and a lamb kebob with special tzatziki sauce and a twist of lemon.....I miss those evenings with Ross, Ben, John, Hill, Phillip, Claudia, Ricky....and think of Greg, now......and Hal and Ted, all three. dead now.....Of Gigi, even, and all those weekend 'booth-dwellers'.......I need some Greek Yogurt with black cherries, walnuts and Cointreau, however....hold the ouzo green wine!

  Alabama Boy, today.....having dreamt of Grandmother's 'fried okra'.....I just produced my updated version...... chop off the dried stems and tiny tips, then soak the okra in water, overnight, so that the cut stems will rehydrate the okra, making it juicy inside......beat a whole egg into some Siggi's Swedish-style blueberry non-fat yogurt.....coat the okra in the mixture then roll the wet okra in a mixture of organic corn meal, flour, some spicy seasoning, such as rasam powder or curry... or whatever you like....then fry the pods in very hot vegetable oil....in an iron skillet.....maintaining high heat to prevent too much oil absorption...then remove the cooked okra to a paper towel for a few seconds...then to a plate, immediately scattering some shredded or grated parmesan cheese atop.......this is more in the 'tempura' style, as the okra is not cut into sections before frying and it's 'coating' less 'gritty' than 'country-style'

 

Each cook makes up a 'chopped basket' and 'secret ingredient list'.......then the 'players' take turns preparing the 'courses'.......no 'judges', just some delicious...hopefully....interplay of creative cooks..... Today's 'basket' ingredients: Frozen Swai Filets, pomegranates, purple cabbage, aged parmesan cheese, celery and fennel seeds, scallions and a bag of blue lavender flowers, thyme, savory, basil leaves and marjoram........... Looks like an 'easy' challenge........Parmesan Fish and cabbage slaw! Yet, a really creative, innovator may crank out some Swai custard with roasted pomegranate-cabbage in lavender mayonnaise and cheese points covered with fennel seeds.......... I've found that most folks eat the same few things, with little alterations, for most of their lives........One of my Aunts had a 'menu' for the week.....that was repeated for 50 years.........My cousins, her kids, never d

first 'product'.......Stinkhorn eggs, quartered and iron skillet-cooked....without oils...just the slime from the Phallus Impudicus ..into a delicious, radishy omelet on toast rusks......I smeared some pear and apple butters on the rusk to sweeten the 'cum' from the fungus.......

 

  With the abundance of cherries at Whole Foods, on sale for 2 bucks a pound........this sandwich, that I created for GATHER, calls out........I always keep a cranberry preserve in the refrigerator, made by simply boiling cranberries in water with ginger, cinnamon stick, sourwood honey and lemon zest......and a mayonnaise is easy enough to make. That done, I cut a spicy roasted chicken breast, skinned and boned, into chunks, add enough mayo to make a thick pasty ball, then add a few sliced black cherries, a handful of juicy black raisins, a tablespoon of golden Indian curry powder, a handful of walnuts and some diced fresh Georgia peach. Mixing this concoction should release some juices and achieve the proper, still thick, texture to spoon onto toasted Arnold's whole wheat, double fiber bread...which is perfect for this type of sandwich. If, when the sandwich is cut on the diagonal, bits and pieces of its ingredients fall onto the board, the mixture is too wet... I don't like

  a stovetop corn frittata for b'fast......after having some Texas caviar with tiny yellow corn kernels, 'foods with corn' projects are underway........corn relish with red peppers, corncakes with honey, creamed corn and even trashy Zesto-ish corn dogs with coarse ground honey-mustard!