NYC Sights and Nightlife Calamities

Even though we're totally broke and set to move back to California in two weeks, M and I decided we should see NYC at least once before we go. A birthday celebration of sorts, since I just turned 34 on Friday. Luckily, we have some friends who have access to an apartment in Korea Town and we were able to make it a cheap trip by going there via bus. So our friends (a couple) and us made our way up there and took in the sights on Saturday. 

We went to Times Square, where I got to go to the Harry Potter Exhibit (really cool). We walked up to the Guggenheim from there by strolling through Central Park. After the Guggenheim we took a cab back home to relax and freshen up for dinner. We took in the sights of the city from our apartment's roof top first:

We headed down to Chinatown for dinner and had dumplings and other glorious things at Shanghai Cuisine.

After stuffing ourselves, we walked through Little Italy and made our way to an amazing dive bar called St. Jerome's on the lower east side that fulfills the five basic dive desires:

1) almost no lighting
2) small and cozy, with booths and plenty of bar stools
3) cheap drinks. Yeah, I found cheap drinks in Manhattan. $6.50 for a call cocktail. Not bad.
4) great music chosen by the staff and/or DJ (not patrons)
5) good bartenders, who know not to pour too heavy of a drink, and who aren't wearing tight polo shirts.


There were totally bizarre fashion mistakes in this bar that I have to detail here just to make sure I remember them years from now. First of all, culottes. I have mentioned to everyone who will listen that this "shorts" thing is totally out of control in 2011. In Philadelphia, short shorts are worn by everyone. EVERYONE. From 11 year olds (inappropriate) to large moustachioed dads (inappropriate) to 400 lb 45 year old ladies with bad wigs (inappropriate). The short short (like with the pockets that come out the bottom) is de rigeur. In New York City, there is also a shorts thing happening. Now, maybe my survey only consisting of one dirty dive bar on the lower east side is not accurate, but damn, at least 4 ladies wore culottes. You know what they are, right? A high waisted short (blah!) that is flouncy and almost skirt-like. I remember them from being a five year old girl.

So, ladies were walking around in culottes. There was a guy wearing what I believe were striped pajama bottoms and a vest. Just a vest. Like an outfit a performing monkey would wear.

He danced like a nutjob right next to our booth along with his friend, whom I refer to as "the sacrifice" because she had super short hair and wore a white muslin dress that seemed to me to be  "potato sack" in design. She danced like a total maniac. The kind of dancing that consists mostly of jumping and twirling and kicking. Yes, kicking high kicks. They were having a great time, but they were dangerously (obnoxiously) close to our table, so I changed places with my friend and was Lady of the Jutting Elbows for the rest of the evening. My elbow just so happen to graze those who entered the circle of space. Anyway, the ladies all looked like they had raided Sabrina the Teenage Witch's closet. Lots of pastel flouncy printed pattern things. But it was such good entertainment! And the music was great. The DJ would periodically go behind the bar to get a drink and comb his bangs over his perfectly placed bandana. The bar back looked like a cross between one of the Daggers from Thrashin' and one of the Ramones. Completely amazing.

Ah, a good time was had by all. Despite my "dive bars shouldn't have dancing" rule, I actually eventually participated. My group was enjoying the music, getting up next to our booth and dancing to songs I can't even remember now but seemed like completely inspired choices at the time. We were laughing, having a few drinks. Even M was dancing. That, my friends, is a little Big Apple miracle. And then, the calamity happened.

Remember last year when I fell comedically because my dog saw a squirrel? I laughed at it even then. It inspired me to do a silly cartoon of myself. Yeah, this fall didn't have that same devil-may-care attitude about it. Mostly because something totally DISLOCATED.

Ok, so let me back up. It's like 1:30am. We're dancing. I'm teaching my friends the gothic dances I learned in college (bats around my face, vacuum the floor/dust the ceiling, stacking the CDs, you know, the basics). I was in the same spot, enjoying the music, doing my thing with a limited range of motion because I'm between the bar and the booth and I'm also chatting. And either someone spilled a drink or the storm that had just begun outside was tracked in, wetting the floor. Because I slipped.

I totally freaking slipped. I decided, as I fell, that I should under no circumstances FALL IN A BAR. So I reached for the table, which was not at all bolted to the floor. I then managed to pull all the drinks and the votive candle right onto my brother in law as I hit the floor and landed on my bum. My knee twisted on the way down. I got help up and sat in the booth when I realized that my right kneecap was way too far to the right. I had dislocated my kneecap. Brother in law kindly looked at my knee and tried to calmly explain to me that now we had to go to the emergency room. And I frowned big time. I've never been to the emergency room. I've accompanied others, but I've never had a medical emergency. Baby's first medical emergency at 34 years (and a day) old.

I made peace with the utter awfulness of having to go to an ER on my birthday vacation, and stood up, when it popped right back into place. A miracle! A New York miracle! Alicia Keys is right. It's a concrete jungle where dreams are made of! There's nothing you can't do! And then I tried to walk. Not happening. I couldn't put weight on it. M was beside himself with worry. I never do this kind of thing.

Ugh.

After hobbling through a torrential rain storm to hail a cab, we got home. We all started to wake up around 11 am the next morning. It was pouring rain and encircling our apartment was the Dominican Pride parade. So we woulda been trapped anyway. I'm glad I got to do a bunch of cool things before it happened, because there was no way I was going to be able to get around in the rain on my bum leg.

I convinced myself that going to my doctor on Monday was a good idea. We got on the bus and went home. After a visit to my doctor and then shuttling over to an orthopedic surgeon for a good look at my knee, I'm currently in a big brace that protects my kneecap from slipping out again.

Someone's totally worried about the new leg brace

So the trip (for the most part) was awesome, but the slipping thing totally blew.

Not only did I fall, in public, in a bar. I did so without any kind of grace or endearing clumsiness. I wasn't even all that tipsy. I just fucking fell. Boom. And since I've gained weight since my last public fall, I immediately felt embarrassed and horrified. Fat girl falls. Hahahaha! Right? I refused out of sheer stubbornness (and probably shock) to cry. Not only am I a bigger girl, I'm an older gal too. Tick tock, right? Now falling equals expensive treatment and lengthy rehab time. And probably a hilarious YouTube video.

I'm supposed to be able to walk on it and heal up in about 3-4 weeks. During that time, however, I'm moving across country. Including driving across country. Now M. has to bear the burden of a lot more physical labor and our limited budget just went to copays and a full day off work. Plus, we're probably going to need to pay movers for our unload.

I want to be happy about the good things, that I had a great time in NYC before the fall. But damn I am totally hating myself for really messing the next few weeks up by not being athletic enough to catch myself on the way down. I'm plagued with thoughts that had I been healthy and thin, I could bounce around like that whirling dervish girl, who had been laughing and dancing so dangerously carefree not an hour before. I would have blushed and been helped up and had continued dancing. I get that it's an accident and that I didn't do it on purpose. But maybe I could have prevented the situation by taking more responsibility for my health, being more aware of my surroundings, having good reflexes. Maybe sitting out the dancing portion of the evening.

So that happened.

Tomorrow I go in for an MRI before work. Here's hoping it's just a sprained knee. No fractures or breaks showed up on the x-ray, but the orthopedist wants to make sure I didn't do too much damage to my tendon. But I'm in that sexy brace for another 3 weeks at least. No crutches, which is good. I hope things look up as I make my way westward. I think the east coast has really done a number on me this past year...

Losing It...

It's happening again...


Go here to see another one of my new blogs and follow! It's back!

Philly Days

Been trying to get out and explore now that it is beautiful out. Jacket weather is the best weather. You can walk around without shivering or sweating! Today M. and I decided to try some shops in the Northern Liberties area, and we found some goodies:

 

The pins and the recipe cards are by boygirlparty.com and the cupcake plate was $8. I got it all at Art Star, a shop that sells indie craft and art stuff. They have a cool website with an online shop!

We smelled something delicious when we got out of the shop so we followed our noses down the street to the Green Eggs Cafe. It seems like it's really new. They had a lot of choices for breakfast and lunch. M. had the lox and bagel, I had the crab cake sandwich:

Both were yummy.


We got home and I got busy cleaning. Tomorrow we are celebrating my mother-in-law's birthday by spending the afternoon at a pumpkin patch and then going to dinner. The pumpkin patch is the same one M's family has been going to since he was little, so I'm super excited to go! I will bring the camera, so pictures are forthcoming. After the pumpkin patch, we're coming home to relax a bit and then meeting at Distrito, one of Jose Garces' restaurants. Then, we're retreating to our place for cupcakes and watching her open presents. So that's why I spent much of today cleaning. I will be having guests! It is surprising how messy the place gets when you spend all of your time there.


The Phillies are in the playoffs, which is a big freaking deal here. Across from our building there is a small street that has blocked off the street and a neighbor has projected the game onto the wall of the Perleman Museum, so you're hearing the game no matter what. The streets were relatively empty tonight because everyone's indoors watching the game.


We, however, moseyed on down to the Eastern State Penitentiary. No, we didn't go in. They are doing their haunted house and I don't want to go in until it's back to normal. We walked down there because the Cupcake Lady was parked across the street, and I had to try one of her cupcakes.

For those that don't know, the Cupcake Lady sells cupcakes out of a truck. It's one of the few food trucks that Philly has, and she's pretty popular. A lot more popular after her truck was impounded when she parked it somewhere she wasn't supposed to (though it seems she didn't have clear instructions about where it was not OK to park). That's right, she parked her truck to sell cupcakes, and cops came and didn't just ticket her, they towed the truck. With cupcakes inside. Totally ridiculous. As a result, the incident was covered in the newspaper and I started following her on Twitter. When we heard she was in Fairmount, we went over.

We both got red velvets, and they were really, really tasty. Light and fluffy, and the cream cheese frosting was rich and sweet, a perfect complement to the cupcake. And I got to use my new cupcake stand. Pretty awesome day, don't you think?

Street Food

Today it was 73 degrees. Not just at 8am either. It was comfortable, with a cool breeze, all day! I was so happy about this. I walked and didn't sweat. It threatened to rain, but it never did. To help ease the suffering of another day of bureaucracy, we decided to go to lunch and try one of the street carts the city is famous for. In LA, there are food trucks that move about and offer many different things, but here in Philly, they mostly have street carts. Some of these carts are ho-hum affairs that offer sodas, fries, hoagies and the like, but on occasion you find a gem. They tend to have their designated spots, so it makes them easy to find.

We parked on Market, in front of this sign. I don't know what the hell it's trying to tell me, but we decided to take a chance and park there. I think this sign is just a small clue as to why driving here is infuriating.

This is on a major street! Where you have 2.1 seconds to decide if a spot is worth taking!


We had heard about this cart from M's brother, who told us it was basically a felafel cart, but you don't exactly order. The guy that runs the cart just gives you food and you take it. It changes all the time. He assured us it was good, very good, but he couldn't quite explain how the process works. He's not the best storyteller. We kind of got the feeling that this guy is a kind of felafel nazi, only giving one kind of meal and not taking any kind of requests. We knew the corner where the cart stood, so we headed out.

It's just a cart on the street, very small, and a long line heading out of it. It is decorated with lots of flowers and the smell of roasty toasty food beckons you from across the street. You have to wait awhile for this food, it's not really a good option if you have a lunch hour, because once you actually get your meal, you don't have much time to eat it.

I tried to go to the front of the cart to see if there were any kind of menu or indication of what I would be purchasing. No luck. There were a couple of framed newspaper articles, but I wasn't close enough to read them, so I waited until I was closer. The articles were actually helpful. They explained that this guy (Christos) is at 20th and Market every day, and sells a limited amount each day, full of fresh ingredients. It's a one-man operation. There is a charcoal grill in the cart! He grills chicken, deep fries delicate and wonderful felafel, and creates a platter for you of arugula, grilled grapes, pasta (random), hot peppers, all drenched in some kind of magical reddish sauce, topped with a large, freshly toasted pita. He then picked through his selection of peaches to find the perfect one for each customer.

It was freaking delicious. It was also $10, which we were not expecting. Kind of a lot for a cart lunch. Don't get me wrong, it was tasty and way too much food. We totally should have shared one, but damn. That's 20 of our dollars! It was a heavenly combination htough. I quickly built a felafel chicken sandwich with my pita. The peach was a good way to end the meal, too, as my spicy food needed something cool and palate cleansing. I still have leftovers in my fridge right now, and even though I just finished dinner, it sounds appetizing. Maybe a midnight snack.

I am hoping that we find just as amazing (but cheaper) options around the city. It's tough to find out what's good. We aren't young kids anymore who end up buying all kinds of street food because we've had too much to drink and need something to sop up the liquor on our way home. I feel like those kids are on the internet, though, talking about where to find these places. I'm totally using their damn ridiculous energy and magical hangover healing powers to my advantage.

OH, and don't forget to take my poll about Halloween costumes to the right here. I need some help. Last year I knew by February what I was gonna be and this year I've got too many choices!

Plantains Done Two Ways

Tostones

Not being able to have Coke has been tough, but bacon is what I really miss. I have been good lately, but not as good as I should be. Hence the following recipe. I made arroz con pollo, and you just can't have it without fried plantains. I guess I have to have my little indulgences or I'll go mad. There's a lot of talk about how to make great tostones, but I am just offering my family's humble contribution.

Plantains may look like bananas, and they are related, but bananas have a sweeter taste, while plantains are less sweet. Plantains require cooking in order to be edible, even when they are overripe, the sweetest stage of its life. It is a testament to the survival skills of my people that plantains have ever been considered edible. You pretty much have to be starving to try and figure out how to make these babies worth eating, because if regular bananas are around, you'd just go for those. No cooking required! Plantains have been around forever, and all over the world. Seriously, they are indigenous to Africa, Asia, North America, South America, the Pacific Islands, Australia, pretty much everywhere but Europe.

Picking plantains at the market is strange if you don't know what you are looking for. Generally, there will be very green ones, some mottled green and dark ones, some yellow ones, and if you are lucky, some soft yellow ones with lots of black spots. All of these are plantains in different stages of life, and all are good for different dishes. None of them are "bad" or spoiled.


The underripe plantain is very green. These green shades, or even the yellow in the middle, are best for tostones, or fried plantains. Pronounce it toast-own-es, not tostonz. They are salted and eaten as a side or appetizer, much like They yellow and yellow-black ones are best for platanos maduros, the sweeter fried version.

What you need to get started?

A plantain, a knife, and a paper bag.


You start by peeling the fruit, but don't expect it to be easy like with a banana. Between this and the yuca I'm starting to think that Cuban cooking is for brawny babes. I like to score the sides with a knife, all the way from stem to stem so that you can create sections in the peel. Then, start peeling. If parts of the peel won't budge, try slicing them off, but only as a last resort. This is tougher with the greener plantains. Generally the dark yellow ones are fairly soft and easy to peel.


Once you get it peeled, slice 'em up. I like to go for about one inch pieces, because I don't like the finished product to be too thin. If they are too thin, they are easy to burn and you don't get any plantain flavor.

They are too hard to smash at this point, so you have to fry them for just a little bit. I used Smart Balance canola oil, but you can use vegetable oil. I suppose you could boil them in water, but that can destroy the flavor. Fry them for a few minutes on each side. Here you see the color after frying on the middle piece. Just getting a little softness, not browning them.


After they come out of the spa, let a paper towel remove some of the excess oil.


After a couple minutes of cooling, you are ready to smash them up! This is where the paper bag comes in. There are tostone makers and all kinds of gadgets for this, but this works best for me. For some reason, paper bags are the best. They don't stick to the plantain and they are a good barrier between you and the hot little slice.


I place the slice in the middle and use a spatula to press down the plantain. I place my hand over the spatula and press slightly, until I feel that it has smashed.


This is what you want. Not too smashed so that it breaks apart, but obliterating the cylindrical shape completely.

Do this for all of them, and get ready to fry! Get the oil nice and hot again.


And stick 'em in there. Once they are browned around the edges, turn them over and make sure they get nice and brown.


Remember to let the paper towels soak the oil and salt them just a little bit. Extra tasty.

Platanos Maduros

Platanos Maduros are a lot easier. Most Cuban restaurants serve them with dishes. They are sweet and fried deliciousness. There's no smashing, no double fry, just slicing and frying. Of course, those extra dark yellow plantains are easy to peel as well. You just slice them on the bias, then place them in hot oil, browning them on both sides, then lower the heat on the oil and continue to fry them until they are dark brown and carmelized. Some people roll them in brown sugar or white sugar before frying, but we've never really done that.

Hope you enjoy these treats. Learn more about plantains here, and here.

What I Do Best

It's Super Bowl Sunday, which means one thing: Puppy Bowl. It's the 6th year of the annual Animal Planet show and I have to say, it rules. Puppies playing on a fake football field? Water bowl cams? Tired pups sleeping while other ones play fight? I'm so there. If you aren't into it, you have a dead, cold, lifeless heart.

Speaking of hearts, I got to get mine pumping again. So I guess I have to pretty much grow the *&#$ up and be a bit more responsible around here. I've got a little under four months until we move and I wanted a lot of things done by then. They may not all get done, but I'm going to give until it hurts.

I have a month before my next doctor checkup. I decided to stick with this lady, since she doesn't seem to sugar coat things. If I'm going to show improvement by the next appointment, I got to get working. Luckily, I have two traits that will help me here: 1) I research the hell out of everything and will be doing this the right way, 2) I am Type-A about things like "making progress." I want that damn medical file to say "improvement." I basically want the doctor to give me an A. My mental problems could actually be beneficial here.

I joined a gym yesterday. And then within the hour, I went and worked out for an hour. And guess what? Today I did the same thing. It was cheaper than I had expected and I'm not locked into a year long contract. I actually felt really good about it, and I hope to keep it up. I am planning on going right after I leave work (which is in the early afternoon Mon-Thurs).

It's not just about moving around though, I know that. So I'm paying more attention to food. Trying not to be lazy about things anymore. I went through my habits and kicked out some things that just can't stay (goodbye Coke, I think I'll miss you most of all). I have looked for good tasting healthy recipes so that I don't feel deprived. I have this kooky app on my phone that helps me track calories and keep track of exercise. It's a "Live Strong" app I found online.

I actually found a really good apple muffin recipe by Ellie Krieger of the Food Network. She isn't the most exciting tv chef personality, but she knows her stuff, nutrition-wise, so I like her show.

Apple Muffins

They were so good that I might think these are the best muffins I've ever had, not just the best healthy muffins. Crazy. But true.

Here's her recipe, with my adjustments:

• cooking spray
  
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
  
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans (I didn't use the pecans)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I used kosher salt)
• 1/4 cup canola oil (I used Smart Balance oil, which is a canola/soy mix)
  
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup natural applesauce (I didn't have any, so I just pulsed another apple in the food processor)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk (Didn't have any of this either, so I used vanilla soy milk)
  
• 1 Golden Delicious apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch pieces (mine were pink lady apples)
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12-capacity muffin pan with cooking spray. (I used cupcake cups, but I still sprayed them so they wouldn't stick to the cups and the tops wouldn't stick to the pan)

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, the pecans and cinnamon.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and oil until combined. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in the applesauce and vanilla.

Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined. Gently stir in the apple chunks.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pecan mixture. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.

According to Ellie, a serving size is 2 muffins! The calorie count with the original recipe is 110 calories a muffin, but with my changes, it might be just a little less. Not too shabby for such a good tasting muffin.

Batter Blaster

Well, this handy little invention changes everything:



Have you ever found yourself desiring pancakes, but found it too time consuming to make them? If you are a family of 2 (or 1 even), this very well may be a frequent occurrence. Making pancakes from scratch is just plain crazy for two people. Have you seen how they sell buttermilk? In huge containers. You'd have to make every meal from buttermilk for a week to not waste and by the end of it your heart might seize up from all that artery clogging goodness. Most box pancake mixes are easy, but often require an egg. I mean, how do you cut a recipe in half that includes one egg? Do you toss out half an egg? Scramble it up and serve 1/4 egg each as a side?

Enter the Batter Blaster. Organic Batter Blaster to be more specific. I didn't find this in the mega corporate super market next to the ho-hos and cheez whiz. It was at Whole Foods. In the refrigerated section of the produce aisle. I just had to try it. You could make pancakes or waffles with it!

Once I tried to make them, I learned that there is a trick to making them good and fluffy. The one great thing about Batter Blaster is that the pancakes are light, not heavy. So if you like a very cakey, heavy pancake that absorbs syrup and has a thick center, this isn't for you. I myself favor silver dollar pancakes. I know, it's like food that's doll sized, but about 3 silver dollars and I'm good to go, breakfast-wise.

For my first batch, I took off the cap and noticed it was exactly like a whipped cream can. Same nozzle and everything. You squeeze it and it pours out a thick (but not too thick) batter. Because it's lighter and thinner than my usual mix, I didn't pour enough batter onto the skillet.




These above should have been thicker. Also, when they get to this hole-y looking stage, you should turn them. If you let them go longer, you get this:

They tasted great, they just weren't great to look at, and well, they were holey! I think it's the baking soda in it that gets it to look so...bubbly.


A couple of batches later and I got the system down. I produced pancakes that were light, fluffy, but not full of holes or thin as paper. I don't have pictures because we wolfed them down immediately. I guess I'm recommending this, WT as it may be, because the worst thing about pancake breakfasts is the batter encrusted dishes you have to do afterwords.

If you want more info on the product and what's in it, etc. go to the website: batterblaster.com

Martha's Latest

The new issue of Martha Stewart Living is out, and while I don't often buy this magazine, I seem to always get it for Halloween and Valentine's Day. I like hearts year-round, so the cute stuff in here is worth the $6 for the magazine. I try not to buy too many magazines these days, but sometimes I splurge. Things I loved from this issue:


The melted chocolate filigree hearts that adorn this otherwise plain cupcake are really sweet and simple. It says to use a parchment bag or a plastic ziplock bag to pipe the filagree, but I tried the plastic bag and it was too hot to handle. It made my drizzles very...abstract in the recipe for peanut butter cookies below. You'll see...

I also loved the article on cake stands. Apparently Martha collects them, and since she's crazy rich she has a gigantic collection:


There were several pages of different kinds, ceramic, glass, milk glass, colored glass, it's amazing the array of choices. I don't have a cake stand, but I've been wanting one. Another "when we move" purchase. As of now, I don't even think I'd have room for a cake stand, so if we downsize in the kitchen by any amount, a cake stand will have nowhere to be! But I like the idea of presenting your food (cake isn't the only thing these babies are for) up on a pedestal.

By far though, the coolest article was about Darcy Miller, who has published books on weddings and is editorial director of Martha Stewart Weddings. As someone big into family history, preserving family history, and museums, this simple yet impactful display really caught my eye.

She has created a display wall in her home with shadowboxes and framed images. Among the regular old family photos are boxes with little keepsakes and photos.


Here's a close up:

One box has a picture from the delivery room, a pic of baby's first sonogram and the hospital ID bracelet. These are things usually kept in drawers and treasured but never really seen by anyone, so I thought this was great. Next to that is a box full of crayons that someone got too old to play with anymore, and another box with a little baby bathing suit! My Little Pony adorns the middle box as well.

Other things from the big wall include: a shadowbox with a bunch of baby sunglasses, with a picture of baby wearing them in the foreground; a picture of a kid in full swim-meet regalia with the winner's ribbon draping the front, a shadow box with tiny dolls in front of a picture of baby playing with them. I don't even have kids and I thought this was awesome! Of course, even the childless among us can do this for other things like concerts that were special, dates or trips where you saved a little souvenir. And the super modern vibe here can be played with as well. You could easily do this with a lot of vintage frames and boxes. Or use cheap wood boxes from Micheal's and glue vintage frames to the front of them to give it some cohesiveness.

This is a cool way to showcase the ephemera or items that are meaningful to you personally, but that nobody would find very meaningful without the juxtaposition of an image or other items for context.

I'm so doing this in the new place!


And now, for the cookie portion of today's post!




It's rainy and windy in Long Beach today, but not so cold that I couldn't walk my dog in flip flops. Either way, it called for matzo ball soup for lunch and home made peanut butter cookies. I used Martha Stewart's recipe, which is amazing. Perfectly soft and not dry like some peanut butter cookies can be. I just jazzed it up with some melted chocolate. Who doesn't love the peanut butter and chocolate combo? Whenever there are mini Reese's peanut butter cups in the house (once a year we get a bag for Halloween and proceed to pretty much eat them ourselves), they don't last long.


I realized that I had some super fine baker's sugar, which I have to use up before we move, so I used that in place of the regular granulated sugar. I don't know if it makes such a big difference in cookies, but the texture of the dough was very smooth. One thing I should probably buy is good vanilla extract. I use the generic brand from the grocery store and I just know the better stuff would add something. Do you use fancy ingredients like that? Is it worth it? Do you really taste the difference?

The Wikipedia entry on peanut butter cookies indicates that pressing the dough is important so that it bakes evenly, but claims that the cross-hatched fork tines way of doing so is not necessary. But then, how would you know it's a peanut butter cookie? It's like sacrilege not to do it, right?


If a cookie happens to break on the way from the cookie sheet to the cooling rack, that's not really my fault, but as the cook, I'm obligated to eat it. It's a safety thing, I think.


My addition is the swizzles of melted chocolate. I just melted semi-sweet chocolate chips and did some drizzling. The recipe says it makes two dozen, but I counted about 4 more cookies than that. I don't like giant cookies though, so maybe that's where me and Martha differ.

Cuban Tamales

After a couple of attempts, I have finally had tamale success! My grandmother's recipe was very short and left me with a lot of questions. I'm not sure if I got the answers right, but the resulting dish is very, very tasty.

Most people know Mexican tamales, but Cuban tamales are a little different. Definitely sweeter, and swirling with pork bits in addition to the lump or two of pork in the center. I highly encourage people who have never really liked tamales to give these a try, they might change your mind. Before the 1959 revolution, Cubans often ate Mexican-style tamales sold from street vendors. Evidence suggests that it was a Mexican import during the 1920s and 30s, since the kind and shape of Cuban tamales is similar to tamales popular in Mexico City at that time.

The best thing about doing this transcription of my grandmother's recipes (besides eating the food of course) is that her wording and descriptions brings back her voice in a lot of ways. I know she'd probably be pushing me out of the way to do it herself (the "right" way) if she were here. It is daunting though, to try and figure out what "a good amount" of butter meant to her. But that's the way she described her process. Getting these recipes down is partly about transcribing from Spanish to English, partly about figuring out what kind of ingredients she's describing, but mostly about trying to think the way she thought. When she says "4 litres of pork," I have to think about the kind of cut she used to buy and the way she cooked it. When she says "seasoned corn," I have to remember what kind of spices made up her idea of "seasoning."

Grandma in the kitchen (R), Cuba, 1950s

This could be a vegetarian dish, though I'm not sure about vegan, unless there are vegan ways of creaming corn and buttering. You could put whatever you want in a tamal, but please don't tell me if you do something heinous like put broccoli in there. I just don't need to know the extent to which you devastate a cultural and family legacy, OK?

Here goes:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. of cooked pork (I'm using the leftovers from yesterday's Cuban Feast, but grandma often simmered pork in a sauce, drained the sauce and tore up the remaining pork for this dish)
• 16 oz. corn (I used a frozen bag)
• 2 14 oz. cans of creamed corn
• 12 oz of Yellow Corn Meal (Masarepa corn meal specifically)
• 1 package of Sazon Goya
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of sugar

I know it looks like I'm shilling for Goya, but these products are most available, so that's what I use. Sazon is a kind of annatto seasoning packet. Annatto is a spice that has long been used as a dye and a flavoring agent in Latin America. Once you buy a package of this stuff, you won't regret it. I use it for arroz con pollo, fricase de pollo, as a way to spice up a simmering sauce for potatoes. It will become a staple. It also stains hands, sinks, and counters, so be careful!



The Masarepa corn meal is a must for this recipe. I tried making it with regular old Albers corn meal in the orange and blue box and the tamales were creamy and tasty, but didn't hold together and have the texture they needed. My grandmother's original recipe called simply for "harina maiz" without specifying what kind. When I told my mom about my tamales that didn't hold together well, she had a flash of memory. My grandmother had once told her in a market, "Pay attention to the kind of corn meal I'm buying, because after I'm gone you're going to try to use regular corn meal and it's not going to work." Bless her for doing that!

Get the corn to room temperature and pulse it in the food processor. Add the creamed corn and pulse that too. I like a few corn kernels to be mingling around in the tamal, but many people like a very consistent creamy texture. To do that, you really need to process the corn. Add the Sazon packet and mix it in well.


In a large pan or med-large pot, melt 1/4 cup of butter. Once it's melted, add your corn mixture. Stir in a tablespoon of sugar and a cup of water. If you wanted to use a broth you could. You could even replace some of the water with milk if you wanted a really creamy flavor.

Add in the 12 oz. of corn meal and stir this mixture up until it starts to thicken. It won't take too long, only a few minutes. For larger batches, you might be stirring for 10 minutes. This thickening didn't really happen when I used regular corn meal, but in my most recent attempt with the right ingredient, I could really see the difference. I whisked it up and there was definitely resistance immediately. When I lifted the whisk, a big clump remained inside. This is what you want:


Once it got to this point, I put in the pork and stirred it up. My pork was already warm, but if you need to, turn the heat low and warm up the pork you've put in the pan. Just make sure it doesn't get too dry.

Take it off the stove and let it cool for a few minutes. Don't worry, you have plenty of tamale packets to make, so you won't be bored. You could use corn husks that are soaked in water, and most foodies will want to do it this way because it satisfies some sort of need for authenticity in foreign food ways, but when aluminum foil became cheap and popular in the U.S. during World War II, guess what? It also became popular in Cuba. Since then, most at-home cooks prefer this method, which guarantees your tamales won't leak out into the simmering water during the steaming process.

To make the foil packets I pull out about two feet of foil and fold it in half length-wise. Cut this in half and you have the beginning of two packets.

You'll want to fold the edges on all three sides three times:


What you will have looks something like this:


This batch made 20 small tamales for me. You can try and make them bigger by devising bigger packets, but this is more of a side or even a snack, not a meal, so I try to keep mine almost square.

Once you've made a few, start filling them up. Pry open the packet a bit:


Then take a large spoon and shovel in some of your lovely tamale mixture. I like to push down a bit of plain mixture, add some large pork pieces, then fill with more mix.

Be sure to leave room to close off the top of the packet. It should be something like this:




The final cooking phase begins, where you steam them for, no joke, 3-4 hours. I know, it seems like a lot, but they need to steam to perfection. I placed mine in a deep pot filled halfway up with water. Make sure the tops are on top, as the top seam is often the least sturdy. If you have a pressure cooker, you could probably have them done much sooner, something like 20 minutes, but this idea occurred to me just now so I don't know how they really come out. You need the steaming to get that meal to hold together. Some recipes call for a much shorter cooking time, but my grandmother's says 3-4 hours, so that's what I did.


You can serve these a number of ways. Some people serve them with carmelized onions and garlic on top. Others actually put ketchup on the side. If it's a side for a meal, you could consider it as the starch for sure. I like it all by itself, that's how tasty this is for me. But it brings back memories of my totally fierce and amazing grandmother, who bitched about having to cook but loved doing it anyway.

Maria Caridad Leonor Garcia Morffi

My grandmother