Ixora/West Indian Jasmine

I only put this in the food section because I used to eat these things....
Well not eat, but I think just about every Trinidadian remembers picking Ixora from around the savannah by the Port Of Spain General Hospital and sucking on the tips for the nectar.

There was only a small amount of course, and you had to suck hundreds for a good sweet taste but I still liked it...
Oh yeh ...You had to be careful of bugs.
This last pic is a plant I think is similar to IXORA . It is found in Turkey.
Janice took that picture during a visit there.

A newish wine

For me to try.
Blue Nun.
It's a German white wine so I am thinking it will be as good as the others I have tried.
I like the cuteness of the bottle :)

The Best Curry

Chief Brand from Trinidad.
Only because they make a variety with a variety of spice levels.
I like green curry and madrass curry the best.

Brown Stewed Chicken and Blackbeans

Eaten over rice, and a variety of carbs, or with vegetables or on its own.
I eat it on its own.
This is how it looks on the gas stove in my trusty nonstick.
The Brown stewed chicken is delicious on its own, but I wanted to see the effect with black beans.
I used the generic Publix Black beans and I like that a lot more than Goya because its not some overwhelming a beany taste.

Eggplant and Umami

Eveyone knows that Umami is that taste sensation they label as 'meaty'.
Although I know the vegetarianism and me won't work out in the near future, I do try to prepare vegetarian meals too.
I have vegetarian friends, vegans etc. and it would be cool to one day just impress them with some LOW CARB Vegetarian cooking.
So I tried out Eggplant.
I'll talk about mushrooms later but Eggplant is one of those vegetables that has the mouthfeel of meat. If you season it right (I season all my food), then you are in for a treat.
I like to keep the skin on because I think that a 'warmer' flavor is incorporated into the eggplant dish because of the skin.
Baking the eggplant is good because you dont have to monitor it as much as you would if you did it on stove top.

How to season:
For one large eggplant cut into cubes.

8 Fl oz of Olive or Canola Oil in a bowl.
1 Fl oz of lemon Juice concentrate
1tbs Tonys All Purpose Seasoning
1tbs Parsley Flakes
1 Tbs Italian seasoning
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt (or replace with 1 oz soy sauce)
1tsp parprika or chili powder
1tsp dried pepper flakes
4 cloves finely chopped garlic

Whisk all ingredients together with fork ensuring that all dried seasoning is incorporated into oil.

Add eggplant cubes and make sure all are coated.

Optional but highly recommended: Cut up sweet (red, yellow and green) peppers and add to eggplant

Place all of this into oven baking dish.
Cover with foil and place into preheated 350 degree oven for 40-45 mins. Check once to ensure that eggplant is not drying out. (It should not, but keep an eye out).

When the eggplant is very soft, as well as the peppers, the dish is done.
To the top of the eggplant one may add some feta or bleu cheese for an added kick.

I personally love this dish. :)
It does feel like you are eating meat

Empty plates and cakes

When the food is good like it was at Las Brasas, sometimes all you have time for with pictures is the empty plate. I had chicken and salad.
Then Tres Leches dessert lol. I do have to mention the sauces. The sauces with the food were good but there was one that was pink. Like medicinally pink.
It smelled good and taste good, but because of the color I felt like it would make me throw up if I ate anymore of it :(
But we met Nando from Venezuela, and had lived in Trinidad. He was very cool, so I would visit there again :)

Does it make sense

To consume so many carbs all the time?
Granted, it tastes good but what does it do to the body?
Plus this was at a health fair!

Book Signing

For every occasion ther seems that Food is mandatory.
So at the book signing there was a commemorative cake.
I loved it!

desserts at church

The talk show was good, the food was great, but I can't eat so much chocolate in one go...There was chocolate everywhere

Cute Sangria

From Barcelona Spain..

Too cute to drink :)

Hugs M

Chutney- I made

I've only ever made mango chutney but I had some apples and oranges so I decided to try it with them
They turned out great (orange on left, apple on right, and yes I drink parmalat..only with cereal though).

They taste good and spicy and with the right hint of apple and orange.....

I feel proud but then my friend Michael is making Belgian ale so that's a little bit more of an undertaking :)
Hugs M

Dessert is always good unless it stresses you out...because it's huge!!!!!!
How do we get round this!
It's always a disgusting mess at the end and your stomach hurts like nobody's business.
In Trini they say that is because 'yu likrish'
Hugs M

Sweet baklava

Mr. Pins got some in St. Augustine when we visted the Greek festival....See my main blog for details...
I never have liked Baklava so he had all that sweet stuff..I
t's just too much sweet for me although I do really like donuts! :)
That is why I have to stay away from them :(
Hugs

Manna

The food was great there but just too much!
We couldn't take home leftovers so we tried to eat as much as we could.
I felt so ill afterward but not too ill to go to cafe :)

Janice probably felt worse than me.
We had Hummus to start with which was excellent. I forgot what they called those huge crackers Lavosh or something..

I ate some with my meal too!


Sourdough bread and some kind of olive oil and herb dip came next, though Janice had wheat bread.

I had fish with potatoes etc...
Janice had pork. I gave her all my beans so her plate was full of it!

Now the thing is that we had the Double Dollar deal so a word of warning, use the ENTIRE fifty dollars up because they don't make change and you lose what you don't use.

Our waiter was nice but I wish we had gotten a dessert now :( Even though we would have thrown up!
LO L
Hugs M

Away Food

Willie went away to a tourny and ate food.
He also Drank stuff.
Here is what it all looked like!
The Burger although Nasty, actually looks as if it may taste good!
It was called the "Garbage burger" and it included everything they could find in the kitchen, including jalapenos and fudge...Michele ate it...Willie was afraid of it!

If I ate the whole thing I would be ill for days. :(
Willie in general is great, and extremely funny but I don't think even HE could work on this alone!
Hugs M

Walking the Market

This is a cool thing to do. really like to just look at the food at these things...Not necessarily to eat something but I like to see other people buy and enjoying them.
I like to see the stalls of fresh fruits and vegetables all lined up. The food looks really good and people buy them there all laid out...
The only thing is this...
If you compare the prices there to the prices in the store, you will see that they really are expensive. I think they look so good that people don't care...But I care...
Hugs M

I WON! :)

o at the Horse show (see my main blog) I participated in something called a cake walk. You go to the tent and stand with two old ladies, a woman withher daughter and Mr. Pins.
Then music starts and you walk on these numbered tiles. When the music stops you stand on the nearest tile. The girl in charge picks a number out of a hat and if you are standing on the number tile she calls then you win....
I won! On my first try! The old ladies seemed annoyed (tee hee)!
Then I got to choose from a bunch of cakes. I chose the chocolate peanut butter chocolate chip cake! The one with the plastic wrap. It was yummy....
So I left the cake on the table and the next round the little girl won and she chose my cake...Then I had to let them know that I wanted it and didn't want to give it to the little girl...so she got a chocolate cake....I think it's a good life lesson for her...You can't always get what you want...
Hugs
M

I finally met Lucy HO!

She was really nice too...
Aside from being a celebrity restaurateur - innovating, operating, selling and sometimes franchising everything from tea rooms and bistros to fast-service mall counters and table service restaurants - she also juggles a second career.
Multilingual, multicultural in background and the holder of a master's degree in costume design, she has for decades created and stitched the production wardrobe for the Florida State Opera

I went to a Hakka Taiwanese music festival and she was one of the hosts. See my MAIN BLOG for details about that. The food was really really good at the reception after the show..

I think I will try her restaurant..... :)Hugs

Dinner picnic

My 'Poetry Bandit'/ Mr. Pins made a picnic dinner for me and we ate at the cafe...
That is the first time I had anything like that.
He had the food in a white crockery pot with flowers and then he dished it out..
It was a 'healthy' meal too!
Now I really like Broccoli!

I thought that was one of the nicest, sweetest ideas ever....

Not overdone, and not all about the appearances...just sweet.....
HUGS :)
:) :)
:)

BratDogs

Easy to make, so that is why I did it...
As usual I entertained so everything was VERY informal..
Bratdogs, serve yourself, chips and cookies...I never serve soda. I won't be a party to the demise of my friends health.....
They seemed to have fun regardless, and started the ganging up on me from there as they sat and watched TV. We had to eat and run though.....
Hugs M

I ate the sausage

I shared it with Wes but that was the first real piece of food that I ate and enjoyed in a while! Yeah!
I got my appetite back and it was great! Happy Happy again...
M

Better with eating

I ate some soup and a couple of jalapeno cheese things..... it felt good to eat Lol...but later I didn't feel hungry.

I asked my friend Steve D. what he had and it was wild rice, green beans and grilled chicken.....It sounded good but it didn't make me hungry ....oh well
I may force myself to eat sausage tonight! :)

Can't eat

In the past couple of days I have only eaten a handful of Total Bran flakes, two and a half cookies, and a piece of chicken. I can't eat.
Food doesn't interest me at all right now.
Hopefully this will change soon.
I do watch other people eat though...It makes me feel better when I can't.

I Made Egg Rolls!

This is my first time making them and they came out great. I made them with Cabbage and Carrot filling...Well what I did was that I bought a bag of chopped slaw and satueed that for the filling.
It was so easy to make I couldn't believe it!
Too bad Jan doesn't eat them because I froze like 12 of them and will give Mark some. They are HUGE and AWESOME (Awesome Jan!).
Some of them I put shrimp and cream cheese into...I must say I like Asian cooking. My next thing is Persian food I think.
M

The Best Raisin Bran

I despise raisin bran but I eat it because of fiber. I have tried all types. My favorite cereal is Kellogs Corn Flakes...That's it...Its the best. But for fiber I have to eat Raisin Bran.

So far Total is the best. Its Yummy and has 5 GRAMS of fiber per serving, so if I eat 2 cups of dry bran I am set for the day (with fiber).
I was so shocked when I tried it. A friend of mine left a box at my house and my generic one ran out so I tried it and loved it. I ate what was left and went to the store to get more. By great chance the day that I went to the store, there was a sale, two of 18 oz boxes for 4 dollars!
So I have them and eat some daily...without milk (blech). Its all about digestion baby......
Hugs M

Raw Food Diet

The Raw Food Diet is coming back in mainly because of health concerns....The only problem I find is that there a lot of prep work involved AND some of these prepared foods (see below) seem very unappetizing.
Look at the description of each.



All of these pictures are from Alissa Cohen's book Living on Live Food










The Living Burger:

This 'burger' is made from raw nuts and veggies The 'bun' is uncooked sprouted grains and veggies, molded into a burger bun and dehydrated. A honey –mustard sauce served on the side along with a helping of jicama French fries.






The Living Pizza:

This pizza is better than the real thing! The crust is made from sprouted grains and/or seeds, and veggies and then dehydrated. The tomato sauce is made from sun-dried tomatoes, dates, garlic, and herbs. The creamy cheese topping is made from a variety of nuts and vegetables and spices. The pizza is topped with avocadoes, mushrooms, spinach and onions.

Enchiladas:

This corn - flax seed tortilla is a soft, chewy flat bread that is wrapped around warmed, diced veggies and then dehydrated to perfection!






The Chocolate Cake:

The inside of this rich moist cake is made from figs and nuts. The frosting is a rich carob frosting made up of avocado, carob powder, dates and mixed berries. There is a cashew cream cheese covering the top. The cake is then sprinkled with coconut and crushed walnuts.





Canolis:

This canoli wrapper is made from sprouted wheat berries and dates. The heavenly sweet cream filling is made from nuts, lemon juice and honey.

The Blueberry Pie & Cookies:

The crust is made from nuts and dried fruits. The inside of the pie has a gelled banana-blueberry filling with whole blueberries. The Chocolate Chip Cookies are nuts and dried fruit, with apricot sweetened carob formed into bits on top.

A La Carte Kinda Sucks

I went to a new place for lunch with a friend of mine.
The waiter said everything was a la carte.
Fine, Great, Good
Turns out that even though your food is good, you spend 22 dollars on lunch instead of the 7 dollars you had in your bag.
EVERY SINGLE THING costs!
I don't give this place long to remain open. I went during lunch hour and there were only three tables full.
I like the fancy food but my friend could cook it better.
I like the waiter trying to speak with a french accent when necessary.
I like the art on the walls.

Didin't like the long wait and the high prices, and no bread.
I hate to gripe about restaurants that actually serve great and gourmet food but this blows. I can't go back there.
M :(

Acidophilus

I have been taking Acidophilus capsules for a while now and as a probiotic it really helps with digestion.
If you have digestive problems and eat the wrong food combinations in general, probiotics really help with digestion.
In my experience, it has reduced the frequency of my stomach aches, and I feel much better taking it.
Hugs M

One Per Day

One snack that I really like a lot and eat one per day, or one every other day is the chocolate covered oreo.
Now seriously, Nabisco (who I worked for in their microbiology lab when I was just out of undergrad and in transition to grad school), doesn't need to cover oreos in chocolate.
Each one of these bad boys has 90 calories. So can you imagine eating 10 in one day?
That's why I only eat one per day or one every other day. It lasts a long time that way and I don't make myself ill eating too much of the sweet stuff.
But I really like this cookie. This and any great tasting chocolate chip cookie are my favorite (for now).
This is kind of gross to say but I suck and lick the chocolate off the cookie, then I nibble all round the edges, slide the cookies away from the cream, lick the cream all off, and then nibble way at the chocolate cookies till they are all gone.
With chocolate chip cookies I just eat and eat till the whole box is gone. That's why I never buy them.
Tee hee
M

Rangoon It

I think I could have just Rangoons for dinner and be happy with that.
Last night I had Chinese food for dinner. The Crab Rangoons and the Wanton soup were the best part. I could eat them forever, and together!
This is only interesting because I have been searching for the best Rangoon in town, and I finally found them on Pensacola Street. I had to go through a lot of Rangoon on Tennessee, Monroe, Apalachee and Thomasville to get to these, so I am really happy now.
The Wanton soup was also the best in town. Warm with only a hint of ginger and just enough shallot for that 'fresh' flavor. Oh so good! Not tangy just warm and comforting and good.
Umm when people in China go out for dinner do they say "Let's go out for Chinese food" or just food?
Hugs M