tostadas

Nice name for a flat taco wouldnt you think,



because thats all that it really is - a big flat taco.



Well these are tostadas a la moros y cristianos a cross cultural tostada as it were.


Photo courtesy of Jungle Seeds.

To mix it up even more these are blue tostadas and white tostadas taking the moros and cristianos just one step further.



Goodness on a chip.



A really big chip.

cookies and cream

What do you do when you have extra cookies, vanilla beans and heavy cream? You make ice cream and then you make ice cream sandwiches. Well thats what you do if you are me and I am you and we are we and we are all together or something like that and you want to be as big as a walrus. This is a little misleading because we are no where near walrus size around here in fact we are more like baby seals.



I discovered a great way to make ice cream that is fun for kids and adults and it is similar to those ice cream balls that they sell. In fact I was doing this before this ball was invented. You get one coffee can that fits inside a larger can (the #10 can). You fill the smaller can with cream, vanilla, and sugar (I put egg yolks but it is against the law and the salmonella police will come and get you) seal it up real good with the lid and some duct tape and put it inside the larger can that you fill up with ice and rock salt (big chunky salt) and seal this can up. Now for the fun. Roll the can around for about 30 minutes, it will churn the cream making ice cream - really.



Freeze it up a little more for firmness and scoop and eat in your favorite way. No photos of this process because it is one of my secrets even though I explained it in detail.

train wreck

What did we say before we said 'its like watching a train wreck'? This 'watching a train wreck' phrase is so over used now but I am struggling to remember or even think of what we said before this. Its the same as 'thinking outside the box' what did we do before we 'thought outside of the box'? Pablo Picasso, obviously, was thinking outside the box when he was doing cubisim and what was 'thinking outside the box' called back then, because he was thinking inside the box while thinking outside the box so his box thinking went full circle, and was watching any of his antics like watching a train wreck?




This chicken soup is a train wreck, it has potatoes, yucca, chicken and ginger and you just cant take your eyes off of it let alone leave it alone. You want to watch and, in this case, taste every last drop of it.



I totally was thinking outside of the box when I decided to toss in some ginger. Tossing in the ginger, alone, is what made this soup what it is. The ginger took what would have been a simple chicken soup with potato up to new heights, it made it taste exotic, it turned it into the train wreck that it is.

regular bowl

Super bowl is over, just like christmas its done jus' like that, worse than your birthday, because with your birthday you have an excuse. Excuse? Yeah, an excuse. An excuse to keep on having fun, but when halloween is over its over. Birthdays can linger. Mine is the month of September, in case you were taking notes, and it is during these lingering days that we learn about ourselves - each to our appropriate month. Day two month two two thousand and nine. Lets get this thing off the ground in a good way.

I am heavy.

Gimme' a "G"

Gnocchi is always the first thing that pops into my head when I think Superbowl Sunday, and why not they are shaped like a football, they have faux threading that looks like a footballs laces and they totally score points.



Scoring big is the name of the game and the one with the most points wins, so if you want to split the uprights then serve up some of this game day lasagna. Pass the pasta will be the big play of the day. Pumpkin pasta sheets with six cheeses and a pumpkin puree will turn everyone into a cheerleader, plus the plate floats in mid air!



Points, its all about points, extra points, sudden death points and toast points but these toast points are the hail mary of all toast points.



You'll be a bigger star than Doug Flutie, with this slant on the toast point.





Baked not fried, puff pastry not toast, with a gingery shrimp paste that will definitely get you into the end zone.



The losers wont be upset when you give them the finger.



Or maybe they give you the finger, chicken fried steak fingers that is.



These fingers are gonna give you a hand to make a pass with out being off sides, in fact they are so tasty you might just find yourself roughing the passer.



However you play the game, whether its from the couch or the armchair, you cant help but feel like a winner when you get back to officiating and coaching from the safety of your seat with a big ol' paper plate full of these lil' bad boys. Enjoy the game, eat with your hands and remember to drink responsibly, whatever that means - I guess it means -dont get any on your clothes!



Fritos, bring em' if you got em'.