Help with your Doughs and Batters

Do you know who Michael Ruhlman is? He writes about many subjects in magazines and newspapers, but mostly in books and mostly about food, chefs, and cooking—issues also covered in his blog. His most recent book,

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking

as the title states – gives you many simple codes behind cooking. If you have no intentions of reading the book, or just want a sample of what knowing ratios can do, Michael has posted a PDF of the Doughs & Batters ratios that you can print and hang in your kitchen or put in your ‘cookbook’ to try your hand at…a word to the wise, the ratios are based on weight, so you need to have and know how to use a kitchen scale for this to be useful to you. But I promise you will become a better person by cooking/baking with a scale for precision.

Just click this link to his blog and look on the left hand side for the above picture and you can download his PDF for FREE! Black & White photos on the PDF are by his wife Donna, excellent!

[I don't link directly to the PDF because I think its fair that if he offers something for free, you can at least visit his site to get it...and of course permission, laws, and things of that nature tend to slow things down]

TX Smokehouse BBQ...in San Jose, CA?

I have tasted some BBQ here & there, of this and that...and it really just seems people want to cook meat any old kind of way and put some BBQ sauce on it, then call it BBQ.

At the Texas Smokehouse BBQ, it tasted like a real BBQ, which means the meat is cooked a certain way (at least to me, and I am from the South) and it's got to have an element of smoke or outdoor grill to it!

Here there is no valet parking, servers/waiters, reserved seating, or pretentiousness.

Nope, 2 parking spaces, 3 tables, and a fan outside to keep the 'smoke' from filling up the main restaurant area through the screen door.  Just the type 'Hole-n-Wall' place I love to check out.

Being in California this Texas BBQ place reminds me of back home...in Alabama.  So until I make it back home to visit in 'Sweet Home Alabama' I'll be stopping by to order, or call ahead to pick up my BBQ from here & any of the 'Down Home' style sides (that is, unless I am having/cooking my own BBQ).

You order you pay at the register, they are polite, and you WAIT if someone calls in order...they can only do so many things at once.  AND YES you are going to smell like smoke/a smoker if you are there for a while eating or waiting for your food.

Here is all the information and a copy of the menu: Texas Smokehouse BBQ

Comment and/or write about your favorite BBQ place, or let me know of another good one in the San Jose area.  I'll go check it out!

Thanks to Rudy R. for the photo!

Moroccan Style Sweet Potato Salad

Marius commented me on Facebook because I usually update about the food I am going to cook or am going to eat…

“Tyrone, I would be very interested in the Moroccan sweet potato recipe…”

or in this case the wonderful food my wifey made!

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes


• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (or more if you like)


• 1 teaspoon cinnamon


• 2 teaspoons harissa or chili garlic sauce (you may improvise w/cayenne)


• 1 lemon, juiced


• 2 teaspoons honey


• salt


• 2 tablespoons coriander


• 1/2 to 1 cup sliced black Kalamata olives (you can use just the plain black, but where’s the fun & taste in that?)


• 1/4 cup capers (to taste)

Directions

1. Boil the sweet potatoes in just enough water to cover.


2. Stir in the ginger, cinnamon, harissa, lemon, honey, and salt and boil for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked but not falling apart.


3. The sauce should be thick, almost syrup-like.


4. If it isn’t, lift out the potatoes and boil the sauce until it is thicker. (sometimes this takes a long time)


5. When the sauce is done, mix in the coriander, olives, and capers (and sweet potatoes if you had to separate them to thicken the sauce).


6. Cool and serve.

Tips/Opts:

• heat up/pan roast your coriander first to create a more in-depth flavor, if its whole coriander grind in a coffee grinder, spice mill, or beat it in a Ziploc bag with a small skillet!  If its ground coriander keep tossing it about till it smells like its cooking, looks like its smoking, & starts to get darker


• If you just want to concentrate on making the sauce without worrying about how mushy the potatoes are going to cook or fall apart, then bake the sweet potatoes whole a day or two before *(350 degrees for about 40 to 60 minutes, depends how big you bought them, poke them with a knife to check…pull them out as soon as they are real close), let them chill and get hard in the refrigerator then peel and cube and pour hot sauce over it and toss gently…this will help cool the dish down to room temp quicker too!

How about a  ‘regular’ potato salad made with sweet potatoes?  Anyone have some good recipes for that?  Keep the mail & comments coming…

Smartpower Duet...not a good Idea!

Since I am just like many of you and feel the tight crunch of getting the most out of every penny I went to Costco to get some items for the kitchen.  While I was there I found this combi blender mini-processor unit by Cuisinart and I thought, "I'll buy this to get by for a while plus it makes sense since I have such a small kitchen right now...".

Nope, never got around to trying out the mini processor because I could never get the blender to even make a frozen coffee drink.  The glass pitcher is too wide with little to NO taper, and once it does QUICKLY narrow into a smaller bowl the blades seem to sit halfway in this small 'bowl' area that the oversize plastic piece screws on to the bottom.  The blades just kicked the ice around like it was a never-ending game of dice.  If you ask me, terrible design.

Do you have one of these, does it work well for you?  It seemed like a good idea and price at the time...I took it back and just used the money to buy my favorite blender, the food processor will have to wait!  (I gave away everything I had in 2007-again!- before I went back to West Africa to work in 2008)

Restocking the 'choice' appliances has not been cheap.  But I expected as much and have the patience to wait for a 'sale' or two.

Free yourself, cook with confidence.

Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking: Michael Ruhlman

I am currently reading this book.  I have read all the other books (that are NOT cookbooks) about Chefs that he has written about...that is a recommendation.

For me, it's a reminder of how I started cooking long ago and trying to train myself to be independent of recipes.  It is important to have consistency - so I still develop recipes for personal, commercial, and business use.

If you have any talent for cooking this book can help free you to move beyond the cookbook and experiment.  It can free you to be spontaneous in the kitchen, on the grill, or in any cooking experience that might bog you down looking for a recipe.

If you don't, won't, or can't read thru the big books of Larousse Gastronomique and/or The Professional Chef buy the Elements of Cooking and Ratios by Michael Ruhlman, this should get you started with a pleasurable education to get you cooking daily like a pro in your own kitchen.

Mondavi wine history is enjoyable.

The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty

Being out here in California on a permanent level I wanted to find a few books that combine the area that I am living in and a 'foodie' aspect that would appeal to me.  I found a non-fiction work called 'The House of Mondavi - The rise and fall of an American wine dynasty'.  A very intriguing story of the Mondavi's start in America which later moved to Napa Valley, the rise of the 'empire', the split, and the success and failures that happened along the way.  Heard of Robert Mondavi Reserve, Opus One, Woodbridge, or Charles Krug wines?  All Mondavi family owned at one time.  I thought it was an excellent read and showed that Robert or the 'family' truly pioneered some of the wine tastings and chef oriented open houses which furthered the progress of the California wine culture that thrives today.

Food on the home front...

While I continue my rigorous hunt for a job it hasn't stopped me from having fun in the kitchen.  Ill give you a few meals (maybe not all in the same post) we have eaten at home lately to maybe give you a few ideas...

Last night my wife and I had a green curry with jasmine rice and pan-seared sole.  A couple of thoughts on that:

• Sole is a great fresh fish fillet, although I only recommend thin filets and pan FRYING or deep FRYING it if you're like me, because if you're like me sole can taste mushy in the mouth.  Without giving it that crisp crunchy texture on the outside its not so palatable to me. (feel free to disagree)


• A lot of time a green curry (with coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger, stuff of that nature...) or a massaman style has potatoes in it.  BUT I found some acorn squash.  SO I split and seeded them, and cooked them in the oven for about an hour at 350.  Later after letting them cool, I peeled and cubed them, then sauteed them in a pan(in an attempt to 'seal' them to a form before mushing into nothing).  Then added them to the curry, later it was delicious to eat the curry and rice with the heat steadily building in my mouth only to hit a junk of sweet roasted acorn squash to counter the heat.


• The acorn squash also helped to thicken the sauce as it cooked(because of course some of it did break down into the sauce).  I say the taste was great, DO IT!

I have not had the pleasure of experiencing the 99 Ranch Market or Ranch Market till moving to California.  Love it!  Its about a five-minute walk from where I live and I am one of the only Caucasians I ever see in there...but HECK, that place is loaded with all the stuff I always wish I had to do food right, but couldn't find in a regular grocery store.  Mostly considered Asian products with far-reaching 'hands' into India, West Africa, some Spain, Caribbean...probably a few more cross-culturally crossing over each other!  And the produce, meat, rice, noodles & condiment sections put the other grocers to shame!

The Sole my wife had in Thinkers Village, Liberia (in West Africa) will always be the 'unforgettable' fish dinner to my wife Stephanie who had it on our Anniversary last year (possibly with the many fresh fish and sashimi meals we had in Cancun on honeymoon too!).  Delicious!

The Dish, Zao Noodle Bar, Cooking at home...

That's right, time for me to get back in the swing of blogging what I like most...food and fun times with my wife (no it's not necessarily in that order, calm down Stephanie).

So out here in Cali there is like a gazillion places to walk or hike (or swim,  or bike, or yada yada - you get the picture).  But Tuesday we went to Palo Alto CA where Stanford University really takes up most of the town/city and we went to The Dish, aptly named for several large satellite dishes.  There is a course up there that is about 3.7 miles in a loop with hills and valleys.  If you come park on the Alpine Roadside (Pier Lane) it's an additional 1.3 miles of walking, so you get a full 5-mile walk...which wore us out!  But it was a nice area in the hills with local 'wildlife' like students, cows, and ground squirrels(that was meant to be funny).  And the animals couldn't be bothered by you, so you don't see them moving along when you come by!

Later we went downtown to one of Stephanie's favorite places that I have never been to called Zao Noodle Bar and I loved it!  Great pick Stephanie!

Stephanie had:

KUNG PAO CHICKEN: Crispy chicken breast, red bell pepper, green onions, and peanuts in a sweet-tart kung pao sauce with a spicy kick! Served with jasmine rice.

I had:

THAI GREEN CURRY CHICKEN: Chicken, bamboo shoots, green peas, galanga, kaffir lime leaf, ginger-garlic-lemongrass, and green curry sauce with jasmine rice.

Then we headed on over to Peets Coffee & Tea for a Caramel Freddo (Frappuccino)...yeah baby!

Later that evening I kicked out a little supper.  I had some olive bread (baguette style) - I made out of Italian herbs, marinated green Spanish olives, and black kalamata olives - that I used to make pizza.  Cut the bread in half, flipped it over, used some sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, pepperoni, shallots, garlic...broiled it off in the oven till the mozzarella cheese, cheddar, and jalapeno jack mix were bubbling like hot lava on top.  Stephanie was leaving to meet up with her friends but since I stayed home and was not driving, I had a glass of red wine with mine.  Delicious!

It was a good day, heck it was a wonderful day!  Thanks, Stephanie for coming up with the plans!  (one of the many reasons I love my wife)

Enjoy a few pictures, although I don't have any of the food we had at home...shucks, I will have to start remembering that!

Traveling Europe

When we left the Africa Mercy (Mercy Ships) ship when it was in Tenerife, Canary Islands I (Tyrone) had never used any of my vacation/leave/holiday days from the 18 months working at the base nor the 12 months onboard the ship.

So that allowed Stephanie and me to continue to travel and meet up with old friends in Europe in January and February before having to go back to work in March.

Some days we took good pictures, some days we couldn't be bothered.  I didn't take a great number of pictures of the food because I needed both hands to eat and wipe my mouth without soiling or greasing up the camera...but what pictures we did take I will share below.  Then of course Stephanie had to edit what pictures would make the cut since I am not as demanding.  There are a few blurry pics of restaurants or food places, but I thought they should still be seen in case you may one day be there and recognize that I loved the food at that restaurant.

A lot is going on with us right now as we settle back into living the life of a U.S. citizen so more stories and eats may be blogged about later as I recall fond memories of our travels.

As you will see just a few pics in England, it was cold & snowy.  We also spent time in Belgium too (Brussels) but then again, we just felt too cold and wet to be bothered.  But those places were just as great!

Click on the link to go to the album.  I used fairly simple picture albums so If you have a slow connection it should still be less painful than usual to see them.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7TnLRcjnd1bNPqFj6

Africa to Europe to AL to TX to CA

January 12th, Tyrone and I walked down the gangway in the rain. I thought I would be distraught, but I was actually so excited. I had so much to look forward to. Don't get me wrong I definitely miss the ship, but it was time to move on.

After leaving the hip we spent an amazing month traveling all over Europe. We went to Dublin, Madrid, Rome, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Brussels, Sheffield, Leeds, Kirkubright, and Edinburgh. Some of the places we visited dear Mercy Ship friends and other places Tyrone and I explored the city together.  All of it was amazing, although the constant traveling was exhausting. I am so thankful for this time. It was a great time of reflection and transition.

After our whirlwind tour, we stayed with Tyrone's sister and her family. It was so great to hang out with them and see how much our niece and nephews have grown. We stayed there for 10 days and unfortunately we were very busy trying to get everything ready in order for me to take a travel nursing assignment. I am still in awe that  I actually got an assignment exactly where I wanted to be when the travel nursing industry is struggling so badly. All I  is "Praise the Lord!!"

Now, I am sitting in the anchorage cafe at the IOC in Tyler, TX  trying to make sense of it all. I have spent the last 3 days spending time with my dear friend Jennifer, which has been so great to catch up with her. We have also had a chance to meet up with other friends here in Tyler. Tyrone and I shared with our Sunday School class at Grace Community Church about our time on the Africa Mercy. I love sharing our experiences with others.

Tomorrow we fly to San Jose, Ca. My travel company is providing us an apartment in South San Francisco. I am so excited to cook, do laundry in our apartment, go grocery shopping, go to the park, and work at a hospital and get paid for it. I am so excited to live near my friends and be a part of my old Bible study and be in a group of people who know me.

Please pray

that Tyrone finds a job where he can be challenged and enjoys his  job

we find a reliable, cheap, used car

that I can find a permanent job when my travel assignment is over in 8 weeks

we continue to adjust back to American life

we continue to grow in our marriage and our relationship with the Lord

we find ways to serve the Lord in short term missions or community missions.

We will continue to update our blog so stay tuned. Thank you for all your support throughout the year.

Five Minutes of Fame

We are pretty busy as of lately, we actually have a lot to blog about and pictures to share but it will have to wait for more time...

You've all heard the cliche or term 'your five minutes of fame...'?  Well, I suppose I have finally gotten mine for being with Mercy Ships all these years... it's just a shame that NO ONE IN THE USA will see it.  Yep, that's right...

No, I didn't make it to a TV show BUT I did make it in the UK Mercy Ships Calendar as Mr. March this year.  Complete in Chef uniform pulling hot pans of chicken out of the oven in a very busy 'lunchtime' galley shift.

SIGH.  Oddly enough the US Mercy Ships Calendar for 2009 is called 'The Colors of Benin' even though we just finished outreach service in Liberia...and it has pictures that were taken in Liberia in the Calendar as well...Hmmm, I'm confused...Colors of Benin?

So to all my UK friends (of which there are plenty), I'm the MAN!  Mr. March!  And to my Sheffield (England) buddy Arthur (Chief Electrician) WAY TO GO! *(he made it too!)  I think he's January.

To all my US friends, family, and supporters...I was hoping for a calendar that was relative to the year of outreach I was just a part of in Liberia, but since it's not, we can not justify the financial expense of buying all those Benin calendars...you'll just have to get by on our pictures, posts, and smiling faces of us in Liberia 2008!

Daniel

Oretha