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

morning gloom shaker as the sun rises, like a shimmering mirage, through the bamboo forest, dispelling the thin, dark clouds......turkey flesh, guacamole, tabbouleh, habanero/tomato salsa, chopped sweet radish, spinach leaves and spicy mayo on toasted 'hollowed out' ciabatta bread....

Lazy cooking......perhaps the last super-hardy soup of the winter......a gumbo with blueberries, field peas, yellow corn, green beans, okra, tomatoes, dried floured date bits, garlic, onions, celery and various peppers, thickened with coarse white grits and Nebraska white corn flour....seasoned with shredded chicken, prosciutto, garum, Creole seasoning mix and every dried herb in the larder.....

one of the first 'dishes' that i learned to cook, when 15....watching Julia Childs on Afternoon TV......

A single oyster .....an appetizer for a 12-course Dinner........

TAKE 3" of yesterday's Thai Curry Project.......a pungent red curry with flat beans, red sprouted adzuki beans, and the leftovers of the two earlier curry projects....with the addition of some sliced 'very small' Brussels sprouts from an earlier project......I had to add some roasted sweet yellow corn, at the last minute, to calm the intense heat of the grated Habanero peppers that I spilled into the Mix......Whoa!

1 1/2" corn meal muffins, piled high with a spicy pinto bean "paste"  and chopped scallions......a favorite 'memory' from my Grandmother's kitchen.......She used Tobasco sauce and bacon grease....and I.....much fierier Scotch bonnet pepper sauce, pulverized dissicated okra,  and grapeseed oil......

  An InterContinental Hong Kong’s Lobby Lounge's 'Winston' cocktail of Croizet Cuvée Leonie 1858, Grand Marnier, Chartreuse V.E.P and Angostura bitters was/is? around $500K/gal....... a drink reserved for conquering 'heros', splashy billionaires.....even American Presidents......like Ike Eisenhower, who...as 'D-Day' commander, swilled a couple of them before the Allied Invasion of Europe in 1944......(they MUST have been much cheaper, then, since France was practically bankrupt from the German Invasion) I was just wondering what a 'black market' Starbucks Grand Latte costs, now, in Moscow.......    The grape vines that produce 'Croizet' were planted by Julius Caesar's  Army, when it invaded Gaul, over a couple of thousand years ago........  Go,  figure.....

  Another variation on my 'Staying Alive....and Healthy doing it' Vegan stew..... Basmanti rice, tomatoes, okra, dried apricots, golden raisins, navy beans, chopped Vidalia onions, diced dates and figs, red curry paste, minced garlic, chili oil, coconut milk, chopped yard onions, grated ginger root, grated lime peel, herbs de provence and grated peppercorns.....A spicy, tasty b'fast on a cool morning........and it lowers cholesterol while reducing the probability of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and 'getting fat'.....

a $1/serving  'step-up' from cheap frozen pizzas.......sourdough toast, smeared with Dollar Tree canned, processed chili with no bean s 'meat' &  'salad' toppings of cilantro or chopped basil leaves......   The 'kids' loved it!    

  mistake of the day!......I should have just bought a box of frozen, "custard-filled", eclairs @ Kroger.......Instead, not paying enough attention....I bought a box of 'fresh' eclairs.....not noticing that they were filled with this overly-sweet, white slop.......A had one, anyway; but, even after gulping down a cup of strong coffee, that horridly sweet, chemical aftertaste still lingers! Yuk! I took the 'box' out of the garbage, where I'd tossed the inedible eclairs, and noted the list of ingredients!.....What! : and, to think, this crap is fed to young children, rewarding them on 'Special Occasions' with 'stuff' that will insure their early decline in health and general emotional well-being! Even brushing my teeth and gargling with mouthwash won't 'get the taste out'.....Even Trader Joe's has abandoned 'selling' of some of it's more 'healthful' desserts, because sales were too low....consu...

  Remembering Miss Ann's "Ghettoburgers" I made my vegan...except for the thick slices of maytag blue cheese..... take on her famous 'heart attack burger'.......Now, to jump on the top half of the bun to make it 'mouth-friendly'........

  Bánh tráng enveloped quinoa, diced kalamat a olives. grated garlic. chopped onions, parsley, cilantro and cherry and yellow tomatoes, with yellow curry, feta cheese and Pommery Meaux mustard, mocking the 'look' of fish eggs in their 'egg sack'......today's afternoon experiment in "Zimmern' cooking......and, like Andre's concoctions, my 'egg sack' luncheon is better-tasting than it 'looks'.....