My Blog

A good day for food

Blackface the Pirate — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:36:06 GMT

Did some shopping today, Claros and Trader joes, started some of the prep for the rum raisin frosting, for example: the Rum Raisins. the coconut milk was thicker than I expected, shows what I know. So after pouring the Captain mo, and the raisins with the milk and letting them sit for about 2 hours, it took on the consistency of pudding, I'd add more rum but the liqour is overpowering enough so heres hoping I'll just get lucky and wake to plump juicy rum raisins. But my day, started off with a fairly new indian restaurant near my house. We had a flyer that said the place opened at 11, when we arrived the sign on the window said they opened at 11:30, after waiting until 11:40, they still weren't open, we ran another errand, and returned to find the place opened, but still not ready, the poor guy that greeted us was telling another table it was his second day and he was left a bit high and dry. Though it ended up about 12:30 by the time the buffet was ready I'd have to say it was worth it. Not a huge selection, but it was the quality that counts and they had quality. Tender chicken curry, Naan that was crisp on the bottom and soft on the top, just as it should be. Mom remarked the lentils were a bit too salty but I liked them. From there, Claros, I picked up some pizza dough after finding the three balls I got from a little place in Culver city to be sub par. Like always, the moment I stepped into Claros, I was taken back to my childhood, much like my mother who is far more steeped in italian culture than I was. Picked up the best mint soda, heavy on the mint, light on the sweet. Some lush green bushels of Basil, that will go nicely with the tortellini I got from TJ's. Mom grabbed rosewater, which I'll no doubt end up getting my hands on soon. Also worthy of note, italian rum cake, fan freaking tastic, but don't forget the cannoli. From there it was Trader Joe time, grabbed remaining essentials, cream cheese was on sale which made my day. I always love that place but to go into deep detail of my visit would turn into a novel and it's 1am. From there it was time to venture into the dark flourescent hell known as wal mart and as ashamed as I am to admit I shop there, I have to say I got a new chefs knife as a gift and it works beautifully. After all that I came home and was pretty exausted so didn't do much cooking other than some nachos that came out spectacular, very simple but great tasting, along with the creamy avocado and roasted pepper sauce to go with them. Over all, quite a bit of prep work was accomplished, but the cooking I'll save for tomorrow. Ze fantastic Nachos: (Note: there are no exact measurements because I didn't use exact measurements, because they are indeed unnecessary.) (Second note: this version has chicken, for the vegetarian version, sub chicken for your favorite chicken substitute, or air if you so desire) (Note numero tres: For vegans, I'm sure there is a cheese you can use, but I wouldn't know, I've never been vegan and I don't pay much attention to what my sister eats, but I'm sure they'll be great with your soy or nut cheese of choice.) Now Ingredients: Chips (use a few, or the whole bag, up to you) A can of black olives Cotija Cheese (the crumbly salty one) Red Enchilada sauce (I prefer duck sauce, not the one with duck in it, but withthe duck on the can) Cilantro (Chop quite a bit so you have some left over for the sauce recipe) Chicken (I recommend rotisserie, it's not what I used tonight, but I'd recommend it) Preheat the oven to 350 Spread the chips on a baking sheet, shred up the breast and sprinkle it all over the chips, put the can of olives through the food processor not long, but enough to get a nice fine chop. (Not the whole can mind you, but rather open it, strain it, then pour said olives into the food processors resevoir) Sprinkle aformentioned olives over the unfinished nachos. Next punch holes into the enchilada sauce so you can drizzle it over the delicious crispy crunchy chips and their tasty accomplices, once you have that done, tear off a hunk of Cotija cheese and crumble it by hand over the nachos, then throw it all in the oven for 10 minute (But don't literally throw it, that could probably make a mess.) While this cooks, got to work on that sauce. Sauce ingredents: 1 Yellow pepper (Not bell, the real one) 1 Jalapeno 1 - 2 Serrano chiles (Depending on your tolerance for spice) 2 Avocados 1/2 an onion (I used a yellow onion, but in hindsight I bet a red onion would have gone better. 1/2 cup of Crema + more depending on desired consistency(It's a mexican cream, but maybe it's just regular cream just in mexican packaging, I don't know, but to be on the safe side just buy the damn Crema and stop questioning me.) Salt (Just plain old salt) Take the peppers and put them in fire (Stove, BBQ, burning evidence, cremation furnace, if it's fire it'll serve your purposes) once the skin starts to bubble and blacken, take them out of the fire and toss them in the blender, then cut the avocados in half and remove the seed. Scoop out the tasty, buttery green flesh and toss that in the blender. give the onion a nice coarse chop so it blends correctly, then yes, yuo guessed correctly, into the blender it goes. If you're wondering where to put the Crema now, you can A: drink it straight, or B: put that too in the blender. after that toss a bit of salt in the too for good measure, the put the top on. Now you must be wondering where to go from here, well, it's simple. Blend it. until it liquifies, if it came out too thick just toss some more crema in there until sweet jumpin jesus in a sidecar shaped like a lobster, you have your sauce. By now, if you haven't taken the nachos out, they're burnt. Please refer to recipe one, step one, and this time don't burn them. Wasting food is a sin and I'm sure some starving child somewhere probably would have watched them better than you did. Bon appetite and good night

Today I am reborn.

Blackface the Pirate — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:44:19 GMT

It really started a few days ago, amidst the general discontent coursing through the very veins of 'The Dirty Bird'. Some Co-workers and I were discussing bigger and better things, and we all expressed a desire to start a business, which quickly turned to catering/food delivery. Then during the planning for an upcoming trip up north my friends asked me to cook for them, as I had told them a few things I have made for myself and my family and they were curious to see me in action. Since then I've been buzzing with ideas, kicking around different concepts, some entirely new territory, some just little improvements and changes on old favorites. But the whole picture is "I have a passion for cooking" and I intend to fully explore this passion. It's refreshing really, as I find myself a bit happier than I have been in recent months because now I have a path. But enough about that, now to discuss the fun stuff. It's Tuesday evening now, so I've got the rest of tonight and two more days to plot out a shopping list for this weekend. Mom and Zoe(my sister) are gluten free vegans, so I've got to come up with something for them, but the focus of this event is to plan for my Santa Cruz trip where I'll be cooking for Carnivores like myself. The Menu as of right now is as follows: A modified Hot Browns recipe with a beer cheese sauce(Hot Browns is an openfaced turkey sandwich with tomato, bacon and cheese sauce.) French fries with a homemade ketchup Then we'll be having cake, and this weekend I'll be testing out four different cakes: Chai tea cake Earl Grey tea cake Spice cake and a Spice cake made with coconut milk Then I'll be testing some frostings namely a basic cream cheese with raisins soaked overnight in spiced run and coconut milk. The rest is up for debate, my brain will wage war on itself as far as the right beverage, any other side dishes. If anyone has some suggestions feel more than free to post a comment or two. But thats the menu as I have it now, if any of it comes out exceptionally, I'll post the recipes so we can all enjoy.

This is a song to live by.

Blackface the Pirate — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 05:37:51 GMT

Smiley Faces by Gnarls Barkley What did you do? What did you say? Did you walk or did you run away? Where are you now? Where have you been? Did you go alone or did you bring a friend? I didn't know this but I noticed you're smiling. Out of the sun, having fun and you're feeling free. And I can tell you know how hard this life can be, but you keep on smiling for me. What went right? What went wrong? Was it the story or was it the song? Was it overnight or did it take you long? Was knowing your weakness what made you strong? Or all of the above. Oh how I love to see you smiling. And oh yeah, take a little pain just in case. You need something warm to embrace, to help you put on a smiling face. Put on a smiling face. Don't you go off into the new day with any doubt. Here's a summary of something that you could smile about. Say for instance, my girlfriend she bugs me all the time. But the irony of it all is that she loves me all the time. Oh, see. I wanna be you, whenever I see you smiling. Cos it's easily one of the hardest things to do. Your worries and fears become your friends and they end up smiling at you. Put on a smiling face. Don't mind me, I've had MSG tonight :oD MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE YOU ARE MY BESTEST FRIEND I THE WOOOOOOORRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLD ANDILOVEYOUEVERYDAY

Rock me Amadaeus, Oh Rock me Amadaeus

Blackface the Pirate — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:53:37 GMT

So I had Itunes on random, mostly metal and rock with generous sprinklings of video game and anime music to feed the geek inside and make him stronger... when all of a sudden I'm hit by a mighty wave of Falco.... how it got on my PC I don't know... but I likes it.... Rock me Amadaeus.

Blog, Bloggingly Blogged

Blackface the Pirate — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 20:30:55 GMT

So, this is my Tribe, I don't know how to make it purty, or put things I like, so I'll put it all here. Likes: Invader Zim or anything by Jhonen Vasquez, Gaming... perhaps too much. WoW especially, Cooking, Writing (Though I'm not that great at it.), good movies, books I can get into, Magic cards, other... stuff... Really I just looked around my room and picked the stuff lying around. What I do: I write, wait tables, play WoW, other things. How to reach me: Not here really, I don't oft troll about here. AIM: Xmashamlol, MSN messenger: Christmas-Ham@hotmail.com (also doubles as my email.) I'm a friendly sort, but I can't make small talk to save my life so don't expect gabby McGee, unless I have a topic. Why I'm here: Friendly friends? Pretty much to stay connected to the great Faerieworlds people, because I fail at forums.