Massive posts pending:

Just a quick heads up - there will be a couple of mega posts on the way.  We're digging through pictures and I have to organize my notes about where and what we ate.  Yes, I took notes about where and what we ate.

Would like to thank everyone for their support and best wishes and etc., etc., etc.  It made us feel all squishy and filled with emotions that are the opposite of the way we (I) feel.

Need some feedback from you folks:

What do you folks think of me posting cooking videos? Since I was tinkering with the camera and shooting video yesterday and editing it I thought, "Huh, I wonder if I could do a cooking video?" Before I bother let me know if it's worth the trouble. Don't worry, if I do make videos I will wear pants.

Warning to the City of New Orleans:

I am coming to visit and I am going to feed.

Soul Food. Seafood. Po'boys. Oysters. African. Caribbean. Korean. Jamaican. Ribs.

If any of you folks have suggestions, recommendations, etc., etc., please let me know.

Sunday Dinner: tasty stuffed peppers.

From Blogger Pictures

Well, it's been a little while since I made a Sunday Dinner with plans for leftovers. I love stuffed peppers, chile relleno, Stouffer's, and everything inbetween. I didn't intend for these stuffed peppers to come out the way they did but I am happier with the results than my normal generic stuffed peppers. Just to let you know I kind of made this recipe up as I went with stuff I just had in my kitchen.

Joshua's Texican Stuffed Peppers:

Filling:

• 1/2 package of chorizo
• 1/2 lb of ground chuck
• 1 yellow onion
• 1/4 cup Zatarain's Dehydrated Sweet Bell Peppers
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro - chopped
• 2 tablespoons of Joshua's Spice Mix - order now!
• punch of salt
• 1 10oz can of Rotel
• 1 10 can of regular gringo diced tomatoes
• 1 small box/can of tomato sauce
• 1 diced Bell Pepper
• 1 cup uncooked short grain rice
• 2 cups chicken stock

4 big Bell Peppers

1 bag of shredded "Mexican" cheese

Slapping it all together:

1. Get a pot, not huge but big enough for you to make a big batch of meat and sauce in. Start heating up the pan - medium heat. I didn't bother using any oil or butter.
2. Slice up the onion nice and thin. Brown.
3. Add chorizo. Brown.
4. Add ground chuck. Brown.
5. Throw in Joshua's Spice Mix, Dehydrated Sweet Bell Peppers, chopped cilantro. Cook everything - keep the mess moving, don't let it burn.
6. Open cans of tomatoes and sauce. Pour all that in the pot. Mix. Lower the heat and keep stirring now and then.
7. Start prepping the bell peppers. Dice one for the mix and throw that in. Take the other peppers, chop just the tops off and 86 them. We don't need them.
8. Brown the uncooked rice in another pan, like the one you make rice in. If you don't want to brown the rice, well...don't. Hell, use whatever kind of rice you want.
9. Keep the meat and stuff at low low heat. Make your rice. Preheat the oven to 350.
10. When the rice is done mix it all in with the rest of the filling.
11. Fill the bell peppers with the mix. Leave just enough room at the top for a layer of cheese.
12. Layer on a bunch of cheese. Don't be scairt of the cheese.
13. Put the peppers in the oven for about 20-30 minutes.
14. Remove from oven.
15. Eat.
16. Put away leftovers. There will be a lot of leftovers of the mix. That is good.

If try this out let me know what you think or what you changed. I think the next time I make this I will use red or yellow peppers as well as green.

My soup is gross.

I don't know what I did to this soup but it's pretty gross.  I don't know how it turned out so funky but even hot sauce can't save it.  Bleh.

It's always kind of a bummer when food comes out so disappointing but then I guess not everything can be a winner.  Maybe soup just isn't in the cards for me - like baking.

A foray into the world of pastys. Part I.

Though I first encountered them in Michigan I knew little to nothing about the history of pastys. Before I get into that I have to tell you about a dream I had:

• I was having a dream about dumplings.  Yes, I dream about food sometimes.  No, they are not sexy dreams.  I was dreaming about the giant meat dumplings at Tai Shan.  They are the size of steamed buns but have a dumpling wrapper.  Plus they helped me survive a long stretch of the late 90s.  So I was dreaming about the dumplings and then I dreaming about Jamaican Beef patties.  Then it was a short jump to pastys or pasties.  
  

The pasty (PASS-ty) is for all intents and purposes a hand held meat pie - if Apple marketed the pasty it would called the iPasty...ha ha, sigh.  The history of the Michigan Upper Peninsula pasty revolves around Cornish immigrants who worked in the mines.  I found this on www.whatscookingamerica.net:

Pastie or Pasty (PASS-tee) - These are basically individual pies filled with meats and vegetables that are cooked together. They should weigh about two pounds or more. The identifying feature of the Cornish pasty is really the pastry and it’s crimping. When pasties are being made, each member of the family has their initials marked at one corner. This way each person’s favorite tastes can be catered to, identifying each pasty.

The solid ridge of pastry, hand crimped along the top of the pasty, was so designed that the miner or traveler could grasp the pastie for eating and then throw the crust away. By doing this, he did not run the risk of germs and contamination from dirty hands. The crusts weren't wasted though, as many miners were believers in ghosts or "knockers" that inhabited the mines, and left these crusts to keep the ghosts content. There is some truth to this rumor, because the early Cornish tin mines had large amounts of arsenic, by not eating the corner which the miners held, they kept themselves from consuming large amounts of arsenic.

One end of the pasty would usually contain a sweet filling which the wives would mark or initial so the miner wouldn't eat his dessert first, while the other end would contain meat and vegetables. The true Cornish way to eat a pasty is to hold it in your hands, and begin to eat it from the top down to the opposite end of the initialed part. That way its rightful owner could consume any left over portion later.

Pasties are one of the most ancient methods of cooking and of carrying cooked food. It is said that the early Irish Catholic Priests created them in order to transport food as they walked about the countryside preaching and aiding the people. The dish is mentioned in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor (1598).

The earliest known reference to the pasty contribute it to the Cornish.  From 1150 to 1190, Chretien de Troyes, French poet, wrote several Arthurian romances for the Countess of Champagne.  In one of them, Eric and Enide, it mentions pasties: 

Next Guivret opened a chest and took out two pasties.  "my friend," says he, "now try a little of these cold pasties And you shall drink wine mixed with water...." - Both Guivret and Eric came from various parts of what today is considered Cornwall.

Irish people that migrated to northern England took the art of pastie making with them. Soon every miner in northern England took pasties down into the mine for his noon lunch. Pasties were also called oggies by the miners of Cornwell, England. English sailors even took pastie making as far as the shores of Russia (known as piraski or piragies.

The Cornish people who immigrated to Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the United States in the middle of the 19th century to work in the mines made them. The miners reheated the pasties on shovels held over the candles worn on their hats. In Michigan, May 24th has been declared Michigan Pasty Day. In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan the pasty has gone from an ethnic food to a regional specialty.

Huh.  Things you never knew.  The standard recipe goes like this:

Cornish-Finnish-Michigan Pasties

Ingredients: 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup shortening 1 1/4 cups ice water 1 teaspoon salt 5 1/2 cups thinly sliced potatoes 2 carrots, shredded 1 onion 1/2 cup diced rutabagas 1 1/2 pounds ground beef 1/2 pound lean ground beef 1/2 pound lean ground pork 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons monosodium glutamate 1 cube beef boullion 1/2 cup hot water Whisk together flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut shortening. Make a well in the center of the mixture, and quickly stir in ice cold water. Form dough into a ball. Set aside. Dissolve the boullion cube in the hot water. Combine uncooked vegetables, uncooked meats, salt, pepper, monosodium glutamate, and boullion. Roll out pastry dough into 6"x8" rectangles. Place about 1 1/2 cups of filling in the center of each rectangle. Bring 6" sides together and seal. Cut a slit in the top of each pasty. Place on a dull, not black, baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.

"Da plane! Da plane!"

Yes. Yes I did.

Yes that is my skillet.

I might be one of the last of my friends to get a tattoo. The initial shock of getting ink hasn't worn off yet. For a long, long time I took pride in not having any tattoos. Hell, I've know Jews with more ink than me. For some reason though now was the time.

The design was something I came up with while doodling in Poli Sci. People are asking me what the meaning is. If you know me then you get the point.

For those of you who don't - cooking has basically changed my life. Changed my life for the better. Well, unless you count the fact that I have yet another aspect of life to argue and be uppity about. I love cooking. I love food. Now I love getting tattooed and thanks to my research I now have a love of Victorian cutlery.

"Did it hurt?"

Compared to what? The time I smashed my head - y'know that one time? The lung infection that nearly killed me? Self-mutilation? Falling out of a tree and landing on a stone wall? Getting sun poisoning? High school? Cutting a divot out of my thumb? Watching The Core? Cleaning up shit -no literally human scat - at Barnes & Noble?

Yes, getting a tattoo hurts. It's a fucking needle covered in ink getting jammed into your skin a bajillion times a second. Actually it doesn't really hurt that much. Maybe if I got my eyelids tattooed or my taint inked - that would really hurt.

The main problem is the blood and the pus that sprays everywhere. That and the midget who dances around you whacking you on the funny bone.

In all seriousness, getting my first tattoo was completely awesome. I strongly suggest not getting a Disney character...unless it's a Man's Ruin tattoo with Tweety Bird.

By the by I'm already planning my next tattoo.

If you're in Nacogdoches and planning on getting a tattoo then I strongly recommend Tat-2-Majik. Amanda's ink looks absolutely stunning and my tattoo looks totally wicked bitchin'. Plus the guys are Joe Strummer and Trojan Records fans. Cheers to ya guys.

The Spice must flow.

Working on the Spice Mix this weekend. Thanks to Amanda for taking pictures and taste testing.