Thanks Food Network!!

I was on the road this week and while the food was good, I can honestly say that nothing was really outstanding or memorable.  It was more about good company with colleagues and friends from work.  The best meal I had all week was the one that we cooked last Sunday.  It was simple.  It was quick. It was delicious.  And it would not have been possible without FoodNetwork.

In 1997 we subscribed to DishTV and were introduced to the FoodNetwork.  In those days it was almost all Emeril although on Saturday evening we laughed at Iron Chef dubbed in English.  Over the years we've watched it grow and evolve with a number of celebrity-chefs - Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Giada, Rachael Ray and Michael Chiarello. 

My cooking has evolved along with FoodNetwork.  I've learned that my dishes don't have to be complicated nor take all day to prepare to be delicious and satiisfying.  The recipes I've learned have been good but it's really been the techniques and methods that have had the biggest impact on my kitchen game.

Our dinner last Sunday would not have been possible without what I've learned from my favorite celebrity chefs.

The menu....

Sirloin steak rubbed with olive oil and Montreal steak seasoning
Grilled red onion and portobello mushrooms
Grilled asparagus
Garden fresh salad

Nothing fancy or noteworthy except for a few simple items.

1. After grilling the steak I let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing.  Sounds easy and it is; but what a difference it makes.
2. Grilled mushrooms and vegetables while steak rested.  Kept it simple and just brushed with olive oil with a light sprinkling of kosher salt.  Grilled over high heat.
3. The salad was fresh from our garden and dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

It was the best meal I had all week and took ~20 minutes start to finish.

Thanks Food Network!

A Quick and Elegant Breakfast

We enjoy a nice breakfast at home on the weekeend.  We always have enjoyed cooking eggs, bacon, bisuits, pancakes and the rest of the breakfast staples from the midwest US.  Our children looked forward to Dad's breakfast on the weekends.  It was a tradition around the house.

Well now it's just me and Tracy; and we want the nice breakfast but without quite as many calories.

This recipe works very well and has quickly become one of our favorites.

Two split/toasted English muffins
1 Frozen, 10 oz package of Creamed Spinach - cooked
3 slices of crisp, pan fried bacon
Four perfectly poached eggs

Top the English muffin halves with the creamed spinach.  Top each half with a poached egg and then garnish with crumbled bacon. 

Last count had this one below 400 calories for a hearty breakfast in ~20 minutes.

The Irish Car Bomb - A brief personal history

First, my apologies to any politically-correct Irishman that may be offended; but given my Irish ancestry and the fact that Irish and politically-correct are rarely used in the same sentence I should be free to discuss this delicious concoction.

I was first introduced to the Car Bomb at a friend's 30th birthday party in 2004.  He was the second oldest in attendance while I was well into my fourth decade.  The young, hard-drinking crowd insisted that I had to drink an Irish Car Bomb.  Given the name and the crowd I was a tad anxious.  My anxiety only increased when I watched them prepare the car bombs.  For those that are not familiar an Irish car bomb looks like this....

1/2 pint Guinness Stout
1/2 shot Irish Whiskey
1/2 shot Bailey's Irish Cream

Drop the shot glass into the 1/2 pint of Guinness and then down the hatch - pure, logic-defying deliciousness.  I had one more that night.

Interestingly enough, they did not know what a car bomb was in Ireland.  I may have even offended the bar tender for asking.

I have had a few more over the years but it's been a good three or four years since my last until two weeks ago when I was given an Irish Car Bomb Cupcake.  Kudos to Kat Nelson for baking them for her Dad's (Bill Nelson of Rock Island) birthday. 

Guinness chocolate cupcakes
Filled with Irish Whiskey Ganache
and topped with
Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting

Yeehaw!!

Thanks Kat.

Brazil - Random Thoughts and Photos

It was a great trip and well worth all of the effort and preparation.  I do recommend visiting Brazil for many reasons…

 

Rio de Janeiro is one of the most photogenic cities in the world – spectacular vistas and unique, vantage points.  I love this photo that Tracy took of the sunrise over Copacabana beach.

The people are warm, friendly and will bend over backwards to demonstrate hospitality.  They laugh easily and love much.

The climate through the middle of Brazil is temperate year round.  Winters are very mild.

Over the next four years they will host three of the world’s biggest events

·         2013 World Youth Day with Pope Benedict

·         2014 World Cup

·         2016 Summer Olympics

Now the flip side…..

I would not classify Brazil as a poor country, but it is still developing and has many poor families living in hillside “favelas”.   Brazil is by far the most economically advanced and politically stable country in Latin America.  There is a wide gap between rich and poor with the inevitable crime.  You must be careful when traveling in Latin America.

As a developing country their infrastructure is also developing.  Sao Paulo state accounts for a large portion of Latin America’s industrial output and as such have the best infrastructure.  When you go a level deeper (even in Sao Paulo) you’ll roads, bridges, power grid and airports in need of investment and repair. 

Rio’s infrastructure is not only behind Sao Paulo but poses unique challenges to city planners and engineers; namely, an ocean coast and mountains in very close proximity.  These changes in elevation provide unique challenges for highways, mass transportation and for distribution of water/sewer utilities.  Imagine New Orleans with a couple of mountains placed within the city limits.

Rio has much work to do to be ready for the big events mentioned above.

You will need to slow down and adjust your expectations – everything just takes longer.  It’s not that people are slow or are not hardworking, quite the contrary.  It’s just when you have 20 million plus people living in close proximity, you are generally going to wait in line for most everything.  Gear it back a notch or two and you’ll be fine.

In North America we tend to be obsessed with efficiency – speed and quantity tend to trump quality; multi-tasking rules.  You will rarely see a Brasileiro multi-task anything.  It is one task at a time with their full attention devoted to that task.  It doesn’t matter if it’s eating dinner, having coffee, talking with a loved one or attending church.  To those in Brazil, if it’s worth doing; then it’s worth doing it well with their full attention.  I think that I will work at this a bit more on my return.

The best example I can provide to illustrate is the small retail shop where we purchased a Brasil futbol shirt.  This store was no larger than 200 square feet and had three sales clerks on hand.  One of the clerks very nicely gift-wrapped our present and placed in nicely in the shopping bag while another clerk politely operated the credit card terminal and handed us our sales receipt – very different.

This is one of the best articles that I’ve come across that details the geo-politics of Latin America.  Explains why many of the countries are mired in the last century.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/299154/what-s-wrong-argentina-matthew-shaffer#

These little suckers were hot – stickers in my tongue for ~15 minutes after tasting a drop of the oil.

 

Brazilian Cachaca and The Caipirinha

This cocktail is as simple as they come.  There are only three ingredients....


Lime
Sugar
Cachaca

If you don't have cachaca (pronounced ca-sha-sa) then substitute good quality vodka and make a caiporoska.

Slice the lime thinly and place in a cocktail glass with two heaping tablespoons of sugar.  Muddle the lime slices and sugar with the back of the spoon to release as much of the lime juice as possible.

Add the Cachaca (or vodka); I added about a shot and a half.  Fill glass with ice and give one last stir.  Enjoy!!

Happy Mothers Day!

Brazilian Cheese Bread - Pao de Queijo

My work assignment in Brazil is winding down.  Only a few more days before the overnight op return flight to Atlanta and then home to Rock Island.  There are many items we miss from home with our children and grandsons at the top of the list.  We're also missing.....

Chai Tea Latte's
Cooking
V8 juice
Mass in English
American breakfasts
Watching the Cardinals

There are also some items we'll miss from our time in Sao Paulo.  Mostly, the sweet, juicy, fresh pineapple for breakfast each morning and the Brazilian cheese puffs - known here as Pao de Queijo.  We'll work to replicate this recipe on our return assuming that we can find the tapioca flour in the Quad Cities.  They're light and tasty and served warm at breakfast.

http://www.food.com/recipe/pao-de-queijo-cheese-puffs-brazilian-68293

Soulard on Steroids - The Rio Market

My friends in St. Louis know the history of the Soulard Farmers Market.  It’s still a great place for fresh produce and farm-raised poultry and meat.  When we visit St. Louis it’s one of our favorite places to visit on Saturday mornings.  Our children even enjoy the Soulard visits. 

Today we caught a glimpse of the farmers market in Rio de Janeiro.  This one is located one block west of Copacabana beach and about two blocks north of our hotel.  I would love to tell you we planned it and knew it would be there; alas, we’re not that smart.  As we left Sunday morning Mass at Our Lady of Copacabana it was staring us in the face.  Four blocks of produce, fresh meat, fresh fish and shellfish, cheeses and street food - our kind of place.

The photos below tell the best story…

These were some of the tiniest, most colorful peppers I’ve seen.  They looked incredibly hot.

We did run across this unusual looking fruit.  You can see the lady in the back separating the edible part from the fruit.

A bit later we asked another man about the strange looking fruit.  He pronounced it “jaka” (sp?) and offered us a sample.  It reminded us of a sweet apple – dense and richly flavored.

How can you visit a market like this and not sample the street food?

In the background, the young man is grinding fresh sugar cane while the man in the foreground pours the fresh, sweet nectar into glasses.  We enjoyed it with our pastel de carne (fresh meat pie) for R$ 5.5 or about $3 USD – a great deal.