Last week's fury

Monday - frijoles de la olla, arroz mexicana, and carnitas, with fresh salsa and gaucamole.
Tuesday - Cuban style black beans and Tangy Roast Chicken
Wednesday - no dinner
Thursday - out to Tokyogogo - super yum!
Friday - late night scampi with spaghetti and chili

I guess you could say that I am warming up for Cinco de Margarita coming up. I am still scouring the Internet for a good Coctel de Cameron recipe. I should just forget the recipe and get cooking. Actually I should get myself down to the Mission to get supplies, maybe with a mask, swine flu is going around.

With the leftover black beans I made a Tico style hot dip. And then this morning I had some with scrambled eggs.

Moroccan spiced roast chicken is now a new standard. A satisfying roast chicken but with so much more flavor. I used the Tyler Florence recipe in his book real kitchen, but brined it and added a cardamon pod. Raspberry and blueberry whole wheat cream scones. Maybe some brioche or some other yeasty thing is the next creation.

Fine weather equals gaucamole

I have been craving my guacamole for weeks now. And in San Francisco today we are expecting 90s, so I am going to celebrate with guacamole. Pacifico's and guacamole to start and then it gets bigger and better. CARNITAS and freshly made frijoles de la olla and arrox mexicana.

I took a trip to Costco the other day bought the avocados, plus some pork shoulder. So now I need to hop on my bike to head to Dimitri's (Noriega Produce) to pick up rice and some salsa ingredients. Someone else will hopefully deliver the Pico's. I might eve split the 7 1/2 pounds of pork shoulder and Chile Verde another time.

The rice, beans, and carnitas are all recipes that take time. Which is cool because I can go for a walk with the dog or just maybe take in some sun on the beach.

Since I have all day and only certain ingredients now, I am cooking in stages. Beans first. Clean up, and start something else. The Carnitas is my version. It is not a traditional Carnitas in terms of method and ingredients but it tastes just as super. I heavily salt the meat and brush it with liquid smoke, cover in banana leaf, then foil. It is cooked in the oven at a low temperature, I think 300, maybe 275 for several hours. This time will be different, no banana leaf and the shoulder has been cut into country boneless ribs. I am guessing maybe less cooking time.

Ok, off to Dimitri's!

The last of my Gilroy Garlic Braid

Last June Darin and I went tot he Gilroy Garlic Festival. Although the fest did not live up to my expectations, the garlic braid surpassed it. It was the last day of the fest in the hot afternoon sun and after a couple beers we decided we needed a braid. After all we enjoy a lot of garlic for its flavor and health benefits. I was a little surprised Darin wanted to go for the 3 foot braid but I was willing to try. The garlic lasted very well. We were told that the stalk of the garlic somehow preserves it or keeps it from drying out. Well they were right. It lasted about nine months. I wonder if Mariquita will make a garlic braid. I sure would love one that is organic and grown on a farm with heart. I am proud of Gilroy, but I really try to eat organic as possible and they are not quite there yet at Christopher Ranch.

I had hoped to count the braid to know the number of heads we went through, but we love to compost so to the compost it went.

The interesting thing as the last of the Gilroy garlic is finished, I have been getting green garlic from Mariquita and experimenting with that. I have a lot to learn with green garlic, at least I think I do.

I love to make granola.

In the last two months I have learned to make granola. It is very easy and quick to make, a simple clean up and results in a very satisfying breakfast or snack. Granola welcomes creativity with the various nuts, grains, fruits, seeds, sweeteners, and spices I can use. And like most of my cooking, it starts in the pantry cupboard with, hmmm, what can I combine to make something yummy?

For the goodies: I used to make my granola with sliced raw almonds and now it is raw cashews my Mother got me in Panama. Sometimes cinnamon, sometimes cardamon, and today I am adding cinnamon apples chips. They are dehydrated apples with cinnamon, all organic and nothing else. Sounds good, huh? Sweeteners are always changing. Sometimes it is my brother's honey, agave nectar, and once in a while a spoonful of brown sugar.

I think I might start experimenting with different almond, hemp, and rice milks to see if I can find any taste synergies.

Time for breakfast.

Cooking contests

As usual, I have been watching a lot of Food Netword and PBS. Lately I seem to catch the cook offs and I want in! Firstly, most recipes seem nasty, but maybe that is from nasty processed sponsors. So I took a more local look at contests and I think my best friend and I might enter together.

We have learned a lot this year about eating and health in regard to cancer and our recipes are starting to reflect that. So why not enter a delicious recipe that actually won't make you sick inthe long run. You can still be gourmet and slightly decadent. Small easy adjustments. I just hope the food industry gets on board. Organic, grass fed, whole grains, not so much dairy, that is the tough one. Read "ANTI-CANCER" by Servan-Schreiber and you will know what we do.

So now we are struggling with what recipe, where to film, how to film, can we do it by the deadline. Deadlines seem to be all in the next 2 weeks. So not much time, wish me luck.