Excuse Me Sir Is That A Roach In My Rice???

I was in India in 2008 doing some volunteer work, let's just say I lost a lot of weight... a lot!!! Look at that black 'thing' below the spoon - is it or not? You can't see it too good because I tried to cover it up and you can't actually see the legs...ugh!

Excerpt from dinner in Dharamsala (http://www.justonevolunteer.blogspot.com/)

From my blog while I was there:
"Went to dinner with Ragu (an Indian from Bangalore) and had what he calls real Indian food, it turns out where I was going to take my Indian cooking classes - is not 'real' Indian food. He leaves on Friday and told me he would try to convince his mom to have a "cooking session" while he videotapes her.... ha,ha and then he'll send it to me.
Back to dinner, I ordered Veg Briyani and at some point I thought there was a roach in my rice (I had to struggle to swallow what was already in my mouth, not wanting to cause a scene) but after further dissection 'they' came to the conclusion it was just a chili pepper. I wasn't 100% convinced so dinner over...it was too spicy anyways. I really do think it was a cockroach but I just 'buried' it with what was left....uuuggghhhhhh!
I later told Ragu if that was 'real' Indian food I might have second thoughts on getting his mom's recipes - he laughed and assured me it was a chili pepper yeah....... I have never seen a chilli pepper with legs, maybe it's a special Indian variety... I guess that was the last stage missing in my experience. What else can happen to my poor food? That's another place to check OFF my list, by the time I leave I hope to still have 1 or 2 places to go eat...."

I have mentioned that this blog would include the good and bad experiences with food.... clearly this was a bad one! Sorry to gross everyone out but I thought it was funny! Unfortunately after my few months in India I am no longer a huge fan of Indian food as I was before. I had one two many bad experiences and I don't miss it one bit! All in all I went to volunteer and not to eat but I never thought I would have such a hard time finding FOOD!!!!!! I renamed my blog soon after I arrived because it was apparent that my quest to find things to eat was part of the experience. It went from Just One Volunteer to an additional The Dharamsala Food Chronicles. On a good note I didn't get sick but if you would have seen the conditions of some of the kitchens I saw... that is truly a miracle!

Is this a sandwich??

Warning: This blog is also about my encounters with food... good and BAD!
How can you go sooo-oooo wrong with a sandwich?? Well I found out the hard way, let me elaborate. Don't you just hate it when you order something and it's just not what you expected at all, well this has happened to me more times than I can count maybe that is why I like to cook so much and make things from scratch. That delightful 'sandwich' in the picture was actually being sold. I bought it in India a while back, can you believe they really sell something like that? I will not go into too much detail but that was not mayo...ugh! Bad bread, 1 cucumber, a tomato peel and a 'special' white sauce.
I was so offended that the next day (with only a few words of Hindi under my belt) I returned to the place and demanded my money back. The guy tried to say it was a mistake and that not all of his 'sandwiches' were like that so I naturally asked him to open up one from a stack behind him to prove it and he refused.... I got my money back, all 25 rupees - about 50 cents but it was the point, yay!
Before leaving, to never return to his 'establishment' I asked him what that white crap was and even he didn't know, he just said he bought barrels of it.... yuck. So if you ever think that you can't go wrong with a sandwich - think again! I had the taste of that white goop in my mouth for hours and as you can see I only had one bite.
They also have yet to master the art of good sandwich bread, it had the texture of a mix of sand and cardboard. I will say that a 'sandwich' isn't exactly what Indians eat so they have no idea how it should be... so my advice is to stick to what you know.
I normally wouldn't go and ask for my money back or be so uptight but this sandwich ordeal came one day after I found a roach in my veg fried rice and almost ate it (that is another fun story!) so let's just say I had had enough and my poor 'sandwich' guy was at the receiving end.

Hot Dogs or Shrimp???

No work on the day of the Lord so I will just leave you all with this impacting childhood anecdote that will forever be engrained in my brain. Like I said in my profile my parents did everything possible to teach us to eat everything. It was a very hard and painful lesson my sister and I had to learn.

On an innocent day we all sat down to a shrimp dinner ( I can't remember what exquisite way of preparation it was all I remember was that it was shrimp) I am sure my parents had been working away for hours in the kitchen preparing our feast.

My sister and I looked at each other and said shrimp again? I will never utter those words again - eat what you are served, smile and give thanks.

Our punishment was hot dogs for a week, at first we were so excited but a few days in we could not look at a hot dog without feeling sick but my parents stuck to their guns - a full 7 days of hot dogs by the end we were both begging for shrimp..please shrimp..... We learned our lesson!

Let me just ask, did you know fish had balls???? That was our first meal during a spring break vacation to the Amazon - salty fish balls??? What and Why??. I always wondered why we couldn't do what normal families did? Pack up the car and go to the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls or many of the other typical vacation spots. After the fact, it was a great trip (not for food that's for sure) but it was an incredible experience. Menu items: monkey....turtle.....oh so many more disturbing things..I was able to manage 3-4 days on only saltines...then they ran out :( I would do GREAT on Survivor! Chocolate covered ants...yummers!

A Tale Of Two Meals

Today I wanted to share a short essay my sister, Diana wrote a few years ago about our eating habits. I am Mici (a nickname my family gave me when I was young). This little essay shows to what extent we go to eat everything we can in one sitting, 'the system' has been the best culinary invention that I can recall. I think you will be amused, I only included the First Tale of her essay 'A Tale of Two Meals', it is the best! Let me know what you think of our perfect 'system' or if you do anything similar...I hope it is not just us that are food crazy to an extreme!

A TALE OF TWO MEALS
"We live to eat, Mici and me. For example, before we have finished one meal we are already planning the next meal, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. In extremely ridiculous cases, we are planning meals weeks in advance. It is a bit of an obsession that must run in the family because we are not the only ones with this disorder. We have no complaints though, as food is for certain one the greatest pleasures in life; cooking it and eating it alike. And our family excels at both.
To demonstrate the extent of this obsessive compulsion to eat good food, and eat it frequently and sometimes in fairly large quantities, I will tell the tale of two of the most memorable and most frequently recurring eating experiences of the past year.
The first tale involves a dining establishment that has always been a standard dining destination but it was not until recently that we developed the “system” (I will elaborate on this in coming paragraphs). The second tale involves an unlikely discovery and the beginning of a beautiful thing called Chinese delivery.
First I must add, simply as a point of reference that 2007 also coincides with the relocation of the Bridgepoint Garden of Eatin’. This was the ultimate dining destination in Miami and we cooked and ate great repasts that will surely go down in the family cookbooks. However, as a result of the loss of this particular Garden of Eatin’ our cooking extravaganzas became modified in size and quantity (on some occasions quality was also affected). Quick and simple meals like quesadillas, boxed macaroni & cheese, Lean Cuisine and a flair for reinventing leftovers took precedence over well rounded, family planned meals. We were left to our own devices, and in a time where there were not enough hours in the day, our more elaborate cooking days were whittled down to Sunday’s – if we really and truly felt like it.
So with this brief introduction I will begin the two tales that defined a great part of this past year’s culinary indulgences. Flanigan’s: Coconut Grove & South Miami Big Daddy Joe Flanigan and his chain of restaurants hold a very special place in our hearts. The longing for un-breaded Buffalo chicken wings, baby back ribs, Philly cheese steaks and the comfort of knowing that you will get a consistently good feed is always satisfied by a visit to Flanigan’s. A few paragraphs back I mentioned the “system”. It was developed on one of many visits to Flanigan’s. Mici and I could not decide which of our many favorites to order. Finally, in one blessed moment of serendipity, we knew what we had to do. We would start out the meal with a small order of chicken wings – un-breaded and mild (or medium if Mici was feeling adventurous). After the wings one of us would order a halfrack of the award-winning Flanigan’s baby back ribs and the other would order the Philly cheese steak. Now here is where the beauty of the “system” comes into play; we split our main course so that we can have a bit of everything we crave. The “system” is so perfectly planned that it cannot be tinkered with or altered. We experienced the painful and uncomfortable consequences of messing around with our perfect “system” one fateful afternoon. It happened at the South Miami Flanigan’s. I can’t recall the exact circumstances or who was to blame: ourselves or our outrageous, ravenous appetites. Instead of ordering our prescribed 5 chicken wing starter we ordered 10. Now, you wouldn’t think that this little difference of 5 wings could be disastrous enough to scar our memories, but indeed it did. Those extra 5 wings put us over the edge. By the end of the meal, the lesson had been learned: Stick to the “system” and everything will be fine – stray from the right path of the “system” and pay the price of discomfort and indigestion late into the night.
On nearly each visit to Flanigan’s Mici and I tend to reluctantly remind ourselves of the fact that we have just devoured three different barnyard animals: a chicken, a pig and a cow. That is a lot of meat to consume in a matter of a few hours, if that.
Fortunately, we have always had enough self control to keep our visits sufficiently spaced out to not suffer severe karmic backlash – or so we think. We also agree that the more spaced out the visits the more we can enjoy the meal without it becoming commonplace, as it would be if we went too frequently to indulge. So Flanigan’s as always, remains one of the most satisfying mainstays of Miami cuisine. It is easy, inexpensive and consistent. Best of all, now with our devised “system” we never have to pass on any of our all-time favorites. Perhaps the only downfall would come if you were a guest of ours. A warning: you may feel alienated by our “system” so please accept our apologies in advance."
Written by: Diana M. Holguin

Looking For Food In India...

In 2008 I went to Dharamsala, India to volunteer for a few months, where there is a large Tibetan community in exile. I helped design a website for Volunteer Tibet and taught English to monks. Oh and to find myself...This is where the Dalai Lama calls home (in exile at least). I was in a tiny town mostly inhabited by Tibetans but with many Indian owned restaurants. Let me just say I think I like western style Indian food a lot better, the same goes for Chinese food.... I digress but I lost a ton of weight - I could slip my once comfortable fitting jeans down without unbuttoning.

The pic above is what I called 'green poop' (doesn't it look like a cow pooped in my bowl?) it was actually spinach paneer but NOOOOOOO! Vegetables are cooked so much that it was a rare day that I was able to distinguish any in my food. Look at the pea in the 'brown poop' (featured below) - that was one of the lucky days.
It also didn't help when I could see the very unsanitary views of the 'kitchens' - the violations were many and not for the faint of heart but I survived and I didn't go there for the fine cuisine so all in all it was a great experience and I did go to a few days of teachings by the Dalai Lama, completed a 5 day silent meditation retreat, did lots of yoga and I managed not to get food poisoning or at least none that required medical attention.

Now to the 'brown poop', I was eating at a restaurant with a german friend who happened to pass out seconds after finishing dinner. Out cold for at least 3 minutes which is eternal if you don't deal well with emergencies (like me). She ' woke' up feeling incredibly sick but at least she was conscious. All I kept thinking was OMG am I next? Thankfully we hadn't ordered the same thing but needless to say that particular restaurant was checked on my list of places to never return.

I was a temporary vegetarian while I was there, I wish I could say by choice but if the meatless dishes looked like the specimen above imagine what a yak or goat dish would be like? I didn't want to find out. Since my trip I haven't been able to eat Indian food like I used to - something changed. I bought a ton of Indian Cookbooks and some hard to find spices so I could make things back home - they are all still unopened in a closet - black mustard seeds, ramdana, methi and asafoetida - maybe I should give them away.

Well I had many, too many issues trying to find food in Dharamsala so I will share a few more in the future. Stay tuned.....

I had a blog while I was there so if you want to see my many food issues check it out at http://www.justonevolunteer.blogspot.com/

Hooray For Good Genes...

I love to cook and try to eat healthy BUT I know I really don't. Last weekend I knew I was going to spend the weekend alone so I did what most people would have done. I made a big batch of chicken enchiladas and ate that for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner..all 4 days, it was a long weekend for me.
The basic ingredients are flour tortillas, chicken, lots of cheese, Cheese whiz and even more sour cream, not a single vegetable to be seen.
Knowing that was all I was going to eat for 4 days I did try to make it a bit healthier by adding some fresh spinach.
One thing I learned is that there are certain recipes you don't mess with when they are already perfect....the spinach did not work and altered the taste somehow, by Day Two I was picking out the spinach, leaving only a little green mound on my plate.

The last time I spent a weekend alone it was a lot of frozen pizzas same MO...breakfast, lunch and dinner.... 4 days.....that can't be good!

I do have high cholesterol but I should be at least twice my weight with the amount I eat and my sporadic almost non existent exercise regime - all I have to say is thank you to whoever makes that possible. I will be FORTY in less than two months so I realize I am tempting fate, I have to get moving before it's too late.

I would have posted a picture of the chicken enchiladas but they were gone too soon, yes 4 days no photo hence the spinach picture...these enchiladas are the best comfort food after Mac N' Cheese and my all time favorite PIZZA...thin crust - Margherita Style Oh my....yummers.

Why A Food Blog And My Experience...

Now that is a great question... I love food and I love to cook shouldn't that be enough? :) As far as being good at it, I have been told so, but mostly by my family and closest friends sooo-ooooo we all know that is a slippery slope. How could they tell their delightful daughter that she sucks at cooking....I cook often and they eat it often so I can only think of two options 1. they love me more than anything in this world and sacrifice daily for my sake or 2. my food is good...There will be many recipes on this blog so feel free to tell me your opinions.


As for my experience I ran a Bed & Breakfast with my now x-husband in Ogunquit, Maine for two long, torturous seasons. I cooked for hundreds of people in that time and they all seemed very pleased and I was always asked for recipes... so that's basically it for experience....
(Note - it wasn't hundreds of people at a time - it was 8 rooms full so 16 people every morning for breakfast and afternoon wine and whatever appetizer I could think of making while covered up to my neck in other peoples dirty laundry... oh the good ole days.....

I remember one day specifically, I was covered in laundry and happened to look out of the window and there was my dear husband resting his elbow on a rake on a beautifully sunny day talking to friends and people walking by..... me bitter? Not at all ha,ha ... (we are great friends today so we can laugh about our past)