Food

Taking Greek inspiration for lunch, I’m reminded of one of the things I love about living in the US: the food! I remember a German friend describing our approach to eating as a giant “Salad bowl” because you can find a little bit of everything in America.

Being a nation made up of immigrants, people of course brought their tastes in cooking along. It’s like if there is anything we can all gather around and enjoy together: it’s food. Different families may have different preferences in baking bread, but it’s still in breaking bread together that we find joy.

In terms of cuisine, traditionally “American food” is not that different from western European countries. In fact, I’m pretty sure a Frenchman just rolled over in his grave somewhere at that very thought :^o). The subtleties of cooking in such countries are often lost upon us, IMHO. Which makes sense given that so many early colonists came from Europe, and the concepts of cooking came along with them and then mingled together and became adapted to what the home cooks had to work with. The same is often true of other island nations and former territories.

As time moved on more and more delicious food has become common. I find it somewhat amusing that whenever people here are on the search for food, it often is discussed in terms of a type of food (e.g., sandwiches; fried chicken; etc), or in terms of ethnicity (e.g., Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai) that best describes what they are in the mood for. In my area: there’s a particularly broad range of food to choose from. We always end up adapting what we cook to what is available to work with, but what form it takes is always shaped by some point of reference.

Growing up, I was fortunate that ma went with a broad range of food. My mother’s cooking was heavily influenced both by our shared ancestry and the people we knew. My mother learned to cook from her grandmother, who didn’t even speak English. Obviously, Italian food was a big thing to them — as a child, arguably the pallet of her parents and grandparents were the biggest influences. That had both positive and negatives for my mom, such as the war between her and her mother about the definition of gravy and the occasional horrors of her family eating whatever her grandfather brought home. At the same time, she also loved dinner with friends and neighbors. That could be mean anything, and as a side effect my mother’s pallet was far broader than our ancestors. I in turn, benefited from this very much, lol.

It’s also kind of funny that often the best home cooks are named grandma, in whatever language the terms of endearment may take.

Note to self: I should definitely make ma’s spinach lasagna when the holiday season comes around.

“The best way to execute French cooking is to get good and loaded and whack the hell out of a chicken.” — Julia Child

One of those things I just don’t do, is making macaroni salad. And really any kind of salad like that. As a food it’s the kind of thing that tends to be insanely delicious or really nasty, and many times it’s both if you eat enough in one sitting. Thus they tend to be something I’ll  eat where offered or pick up from the deli isle.

When I made a large batch of tricolor rotini, I figured that some pasta salad would be a plan. Boiled the potato leftover from making curry, diced a carrot, and boiled them until soft. Left those cooling while I walked the hounds. Finely chopped some sweet peppers to go with the macaroni and some leftover garbanzos.

Making the sauce as a mixture of ranch, black pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning definitely worked out well. It was delicious 🤤.

Made a trip to Sprouts Farmer’s market this morning to pick up some vegetables, and I owe that decision for how delicious this turned out. The fresh potatoes, carrots, onion, and bell pepper made the best curry I’ve had in a long time. Made the fish similar to my usual method; kept the garlic powder, salt, and black pepper; used a light spritz of curry powder and some thyme rather than adding soy sauce to the braising water. Ended up making the tilapia a bit dry compared to normal, which in retrospect was perfect for going with the curry rice.

After packing some leftovers and a lunch box, I used some of the excess rice and a bit of tilapia filet to make a couple onigiri while I was at it.

 Kind of disappointed the camera didn’t catch Willow’s tongue sticking out, lol.

My real problem with avocados is the same as my problem with hard boiled eggs: a tendency to find myself standing over the kitchen sink with a salt shaker, eating them as a snack.

On the positive side avocado farts are less deadly than egg farts…

 Kind of a mess made from leftovers and culinary heritage, it worked damned deliciously.

Leftover rigatoni, a few leftover cheese tortellini, scraps of meatloaf, last of the fresh mushrooms and some grilled chicken strips. Combined with shredded carrots, lettuce, green onions, and a can of great northern beans. Various seasonings, and a few spoonfuls of gravy leftover from the meatloaf.

My mother often made beans and elbow macaroni. What she dubbed Italian peasant food, and what I dubbed delicious. Once in a while she also made spinach and beans. Thinking of these, and being rather in the mood for the latter, I opted to make a mess inspired by those meals of my childhood. Both are excellent delivery vehicles for grated Parmesan cheese.

Oddly, the carrots and green onions were something that rarely found there way into such meals. But being the one in front of the sauce pan, I get to pick what goes in 😋.