So this blog started as a way for me to keep a diary of all my cooking explorations.  In reality, it was a food diary in which I was taking photographs of the food I ate and then describing how I made them.  I didn't like that set-up because it was really lame and nothing that people haven't seen before so I changed it.  However, I still have all those photographs and have decided to share some of those on here as well.

This was my second meal (before)
that I made for myself.

And this was that same meal after.
It was very delicious!

This is my attempt at french cooking that I made with my dad.  We did Sea Scallops with an Avocado Hollandaise sauce.  The recipe for the sauce is included:

Avocado Hollandaise Sauce

3 each Large Egg Yolks

1/8 tsp. Tabasco Sauce

3 tbls. Warm Water

½ Lemon, juiced

¼ tsp. Kosher Salt

1/8 tsp. Ground White Pepper

6 oz. Unsalted Butter (1½ Sticks), melted

½ ripe Avocado, pureed

The final product of our scallops .

1) In a Stainless Steel mixing bowl, combine yolks, Tabasco, Water,

Lemon Juice, Salt and Pepper; whisk together.

2) Whisk continuously over a pan of steaming water until mixture thickens

and lightens in color (be careful not to get mixture too hot or eggs will

scramble.

3) When mixture reaches desired consistency, slowly add warm butter

while whisking. If sauce seems too thick, adjust with a bit of warm

water.

4) Whisk in avocado.

5) Taste and adjust seasoning. Cover and keep warm until needed.

The communication of Food

        Food is something that everyone knows from birth until death.  It is one of the very few aspects that people of different cultures can share.  It is a special form of communication that requires no words.  It is all about the feeling, taste, the senses rather than the the verbal aspects required from speaking or writing.  There are so many different food blogs, televisions shows, books, etc. that we all read or watch on a daily basis but the original form of food communication was food itself.

Every dish we make has a unique taste to it because each of us add our own unique cooking style to the final product.  It is sort of like having different dialects of the same language.  I know that someone is speaking Italian because I can pick out key words but the emphasis of different syllables or the chopping off of end vowels tells me that they come from a different region.  This is the same among food.  

Pizzas with different toppings from Italy.

Every household around the world could make the very same dish but they aren’t going to be exactly the same.  Each cook will add or take out ingredients because they don’t like them or simple don’t have them.  (In my family this is known as “Rachin it up” because my mom likes to add different ingredients or will change it because she doesn’t have what is needed).  Everyone “Raches” things up and it is through this that food gains its special flavors and unique characteristics.  

We communicate to one another in many different ways and food is one of the most common but least discussed forms.  It is a way to gain an insight into the soul of a person and it allows people to share a part of their cultures with people who do not understand the language.  Food is the first form of communication that all people understand and it is also the last way that we communicate with those that we love and care for.

**All pictures are taken from Google Images.**

The Food Hierarchy within American Culture

We all need food. 

Period.  

A statement all 7 billion plus of us can agree on. But are some foods better than others?  

In my food literature class we briefly discussed the differences between some foods and the association(s) they may have with the Socio-Economic Status of people.  In my opinion, I feel that the SES system can be applied to the culinary world and the foods we chose to eat.  

Crazy idea I know, but I am going to try and explain what I mean and I am going to start with the top of the hierarchy.

A. Escoffier's Le Guide
Culinare---The Bible of
French coking

At the top of the food hierarchy would be French cooking.  I say this because when most chefs speak of a “bible” within cooking they are referring to A. Esoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire.  This book defined the methods, techniques, and recipes that were used-and are still used-in French cooking.  But for many years after it’s publication (in 1903) this information wasn’t available to those who weren’t trained in French cooking techniques, or really anyone who didn’t speak or read French.  It wasn’t until Jacques Pepin published his book that it was available in English and it was Julia Child who took those French techniques and delivered a more user friendly guide to Americans.  The french chefs have such an amazing eye to even the most minute details of a dish and they can take something that sounds simple and turn it into the most wonderful sauce you have ever tasted.  I believe it is because of the prestige of Escoffier and the details they give to their food that has made French Cooking the head of the food hierarchy seen in America.  

Jacques Pepin and Julia Child.

In the middle “class” it tends to get tricky to define what food goes where but for me Japanese food is second.  Like the French style, they to have a unique eye for detail and can take two total opposite tastes and marry them so perfectly in your mouth that you are begging for more even when your stomach is going to explode for all the rice or noodles.  There is also an extreme amount of respect that goes into caring for the ingredients-in both French and Japanese cooking-that I believe makes the eater put the food in a higher class than others.  

In this middle class I would also put Italian, German, and Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food.  I say this because these foods can be special and seen in many high end restaurants but they can also be heavier, comfort-like foods that we tend to forget about.  I mean to be perfectly honest, I can’t think of much more to say about the above foods other than they are all extremely tasty and should be eaten as often as one possibly can!

Now we have reached the bottom class of the food hierarchy.  For me this would be Mexican food.  This is NOT because I don’t like it-I eat it like 3-4 times a week!-but it is because of its simplicity that I believe it is at the bottom of the food chain.  Mexican food is something that has become so easily accessible to the American people that I believe it is often pushed aside.  It is a food that at three in the morning after being at a bar, you crave a greasy, cheesy, delicious taco or burrito.  It is a quick and easy food to assembly on busy nights after work for a family.  But I believe that it is also on the rise within the food hierarchy and this is due almost entirely to Chef Rick Bayless. 

He took the “common” foods that we Americans associate with Mexico and refined them.  He took over an entire block of Chicago’s River North neighborhood and opened up elegant Mexican restaurants that people wait months to get into.  He changed the way the American populations saw, thought about, and even ate Mexican food.  I think that it is because of him-as well as many others-that this food is beginning to rise in status, but for now it is still in the bottom class just waiting for its time to shine.

Please click the links for more information about A. Escoffier, Jacques Pepin, Julia Child, and Rick Bayless 

**Photos courtesy of Google Images.**

Hunger...What does that mean?

Hadley and Ernest Hemingway
 at their wedding.

       “There are so many sorts of hunger,” said Hadley Hemingway in A Moveable Feast.  Is she right?  Are there many different types of hunger?  Well, there is the obvious meaning of needing physical food to suppress the hunger that all people feel but what about the more symbolic meanings behind Hadley’s statement?

I, for some odd reason, thought of the song “Unchained Melody” and the scene in “Ghost” when I first started to think about it.  Seems crazy to go from Hemingway to Pat Swayze, but hey, that’s just the way my silly brain seems to work.  But that scene between him and Demi Moore really does seem to explain a part of what Hadley was trying to explain to her husband.  

The love between two people, such as Demi and Pat, can be so satisfying that it is as fulfilling as an extravagant feast.  Simply look at the words that are associated with the word love: satisfying, comforting, commitment, chocolate, devotion, passion, etc. Couldn’t these words also be used when describing food, especially food that we love?  

We hunger for food, not only because it is what we all need to survive, but because it fills a part in all of us that we need, a part that we want it to fill.  But it is in this same way that people-as the Righteous Brothers have said-hunger for the touch, love, the companionship of another person.  

It is human nature to need to fill this yearning-whether it be with food or love-and it is through this need that people bond with one another.  Food brings us together, it is a commonality that everyone-and I mean EVERYONE-shares.  No matter where you are or what country you are in, food is a major part of the culture.  But it also makes us different and unique.  We long to know what other cultures are like and through food-and love-we begin to figure that out and fill that yearning that most of us feel.

A Moveable Feast By Ernest Hemingway--To purchase the book

Ernest Hemingway--For information about Hemingway and his other works

**Photos were taken from Google Images.**

January 17, 2012-My first meal!!

So tonight, I made my very first meal!  I am so proud and happy because I have never really cooked-or had to cook- a meal for myself.  So for my first meal, I made something very simple: Pan fried Chicken (boneless chicken thighs) with pan roasted Fingerling Potatoes with a simple side salad.  The chicken was seasoned with salt, pepper, and a poultry seasoning (from Aldi-my favorite grocery store!) and the Potatoes were sauteed in Olive Oil with minced Garlic and seasoned with Salt and Pepper.

Although it was a simple and quick meal-took no more than 35-40 minutes-It was a HUGE milestone for me.  I'm just not a cook but through this blog/project, I hope to do more and hopefully become a more adventurous little cook!!

Eat well,

Theresa :)