Food Memories of My Dad (and Win a Gift For Yours)

My dad has been on my mind a lot more than usual lately. While I tell some personal stories on this blog, you may or may not know that my dad died when I was eleven. One of my favorite things growing up was my parent’s homemade pancakes. They didn’t look like the classic pancakes you might be familiar with… they were some sort of crepe/pancake hybrid. They were delicious with syrup, but even better with fresh fruit and Nutella. Made from staples we almost always had on hand and could be whipped on a few minutes’ notice. Before he died, my dad was the one who made the pancakes. In his tongue-in-cheek boastful manner he would proclaim that his pancakes were “top of the line!”

Aside from these delicious pancakes, my dad also introduced me to the simple joys of food. He would wake up very early before heading out to play tennis, racquetball or to see some early clients for his appliance repair business. He would usually watch Good Morning America and eat a big bowl of fresh fruit and plain yogurt. The rare mornings I got up while he was still eating, he would offer me some. While I preferred sweeter yogurts, I grew to love the mixture of the tangy plain yogurt and the sweet fresh fruit.

My dad was an incredible father. He made his family and his community high priorities. While he worked hard, he was always there for his family from coming home early to spend evenings with us, encourage us in our school work and help us any way he could or in any way we asked. Never could we doubt his love because he constantly showered us with affection.

Both he and my mom loved entertaining people and cooking for guests. They rarely made anything fancy, but they made good honest, fresh food and served it to people they loved. In honor of him I would like to invite you to share your stories of your dad and food. At random I will award two people a prize: I will help one local (DC area) celebrate their dad by cooking or baking with them in honor of Father’s Day and I will help one non-local plan a menu including recipes and a shopping list for a Father’s Day meal. Just share your stories and you could win foodventure for that fantastic father figure in your life.

Food: The Best Medicine

The last few days I've been feeling a little sluggish and the stress of grad school was starting to bring me down. This weekend I had to work on campus which meant I had to be on campus by 8am three days in a row. Add a few papers due this week and let's just say I was not the happiest this weekend.

As I write this, I'm in a pretty damn good mood. What changed things? Was it the nap I took earlier? Nope... was still pretty grumpy after that. Finishing one of my papers did feel good, but I still felt exhausted.

Waiting for the bus I was inspired by talking to my foodie friend Liz who was making herself a salad. I wandered into Whole Foods and made myself one. After a few bites of fresh greens and veggies I had a big ol' smile on my face.

I am a big fan of the adage: "laughter is the best medicine." I also like to thing hugs are an incredible medicine. But I have to say food might just be the best medicine. Sorry laughter, but give me some brie or quality chocolate and all the worlds problems are gone for a few minutes.

Clearly this can be taken to some very negative extremes, but I think we need to listen to our bodies more. A craving is a craving for a reason. The other night I had a glass of orange juice and was desperately craving another. After a few minutes of being lazy on the couch I couldn't ignore it any longer. I like to think my body knew I was stressed, lacking sleep and needed some vitamin C. I might be talking out my ass here, but I like to there is some truth to it.

Tonight I momentarily shrugged off the fact that my salad was almost totally out of season and loaded up on cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, olives and a spring mix among other things. Like I said, a few bites of that thing and I was as happy as ever. I think my body has missed the fresh spring/summer vegetables. I hope to write more soon of how I try to eat seasonally, but god hit the spot.

Ok, I know, that was a cop-out of a post, but I just really think there is something to this. How about you? I'm sure some of you have similar stories!

Bacon: The Final Frontier! (Sorry Mom)

I want to apologize to the dozen or so of you that have been following my blog. School started and I became both busy and lazy, but I assure you that I have a January Monthly Muffin coming soon. If it's any consolation this entry is going to be a good one!

Bacon! Every non-vegetarian, non-religious Jew I know seems to be obsessed with it. What is it with cured, salty meat? I wish I could tell you. I grew up in a traditional Jewish home. We weren't strict about kashrut (or keeping kosher for you goys), but we ate what many call "kosher style". "Kosher style" is a practice many reform, conservative or traditional Jews adopt where you don't stress about getting certified kosher meat or separating your kitchen, but you also don't eat non-kosher meat such as pork or mix dairy with meat.

Because of this "kosher style" upbringing, I never really gained a taste for Porky the Pig. Yes, I have had bacon and other pork products, but as you may have read my resolution is to try or re-try such foods. As part of this quest I have bought some....

So according to the package I have 6 servings of 2 pieces of bacon each. So dear blog readers, I need your help! How should I prepare my bacon? I am happy to grab one or two simple and cheap ingredients, but otherwise want to use what I have around here. So far I think I'm going to make the following dishes:

1. Just some simple fried bacon. You science types can call this a control.
2. A grilled brie, caramelized onion and tomato with bacon sandwich
3. A grilled cheddar, caramelized onion and tomato with bacon sandwich
4. Some sort of bacon and egg traditional breakfast
5. ?
6. ?

Looking forward to hearing your ideas. I'll obviously be posting once or twice with the results.

P.S. If any of my readers happen to be vegetarian, I'm probably going to do tofu next month so I'll be looking for ideas then!

A Foodie Resolution

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I grew up being pretty picky. My mom would make salad, but would make a plate of chopped up tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers for me without lettuce, onion and whatever she put in her salad. When she made one of her signature dishes: stuffed cabbage, I would eat the meat and rice alone or something else while everyone devoured the cabbage. Recently my sister pointed out that it is a big incongruous that I have been calling myself a foodie while being picky. I will try anything and in the last few years have gladly re-tried things often, but to truly embrace my philosophy of foodventuring I have decided to adopt a New Year's Resolution.

At least twice a month this year I am going to either:

1. Try an ingredient I have never had before.
2. Try an ingredient I have had before, but previously didn't like.

I'm hoping to expand my palate by hopefully realizing or gaining an appreciation for these ingredients. I welcome suggestions on things to try, recipes for the following ingredient of that moment or places to try good dishes featuring that ingredient (please limit this to the DC, NYC or Texas since areas since those are places I might actually be).

I'm also happy for folks to join me for cooking, dining or exploring. Let me know if any of these are your favorites or also items you want to try/re-try.

Draft list:

1. Cabbage
2. Avocado/guacamole
3. Raspberries
4. Cherries
5. Coconut
6. Shrimp
7. Lobster
8. Crab
9. Duck
10. Eel
11. Tofu
12. Pineapple
13. Foie gras
14. Truffle oil
    
15. Zucchini
16. Okra
17. Asparagus
18. Turnips
19. Beets
20. Brussel sprouts
21. Kale
22. Collard greens

I'll update this list as I get suggestions or think of items to add! Of course any original recipes will be posted here.

Muffins vs. Cupcakes. Muffins win!

Credit: Serious Eats

Muffins are better than cupcakes. There… I said it. You heard me right. I still stand by my previous words and want to eschew elitism in gastronomy, but muffins are better than cupcakes. I have been going on this rant for awhile, but recently I dived deeper into the muffin vs. cupcake debate.

Cupcakes are trendy. Every corner seems to have or be getting a gourmet cupcake place. Both my undergrad city (Austin) and my current home (Washington, DC) have cupcake trucks. There is even a Food Network show oddly titled “Cupcake Wars”. I get it, I really do. Cupcakes are sweet, pleasant and often colorful treats. They remind us of childhood particularly happy moments like birthdays. Who doesn’t want that?

But what about the noble muffin! Delicious, versatile and often more notorious…I strongly believe the muffin is far more superior to cupcakes 9 times out of 10. Before I get to why, let’s explore the differences between the two.

Took me awhile to figure it out, a lot of other blogs were vague simply saying cupcakes are sweeter, softer and have frosting while muffins are heartier, denser and can be breakfast as well as dessert. I wanted to go deeper in part because I have had some sweet baked goods with frosting that clearly had the consistency of muffins. How do you tell one recipe from another?

Finally I found a few sites that described the ratios. Cupcakes have twice as much sugar, eggs and fat (butter, oil or shortening) than do muffins per cup of flour. After comparing recipes I felt fairly satisfied by this ration conclusion. Fairly satisfied until I checked my West Wing Muffins (Peanut Butter Chips and Apples) and my Chocolate Chip Times Two! Muffins recipes and found that their ratios were also that of cupcakes except for one thing: oatmeal! Being the overly nerdy guy I am, I came up with the following:

The Muffin-Cupcake Spectrum!

Acknowledging there might be a spectrum was not enough, though. I decided I had to go one more step and make a basic recipe muffin and a basic recipe cupcake. I added chocolate chips so not to make a bland batch of each. Here are my final observations.

Muffins: More versatile because of the extra starch allows it hold its shape and support bolder flavors. The reason we call things corn bread to blueberry to ginger bread to chocolate chip all muffins when baked in this form. With less sugar per cup of starch muffins are in fact typically less sweet meaning they can used as breakfast, dessert or adapted to be dinner roll replacement. Aesthetically they hold their shape better thanks to the additional starch, which I personally like a lot.

Cupcakes: Cake, cake, cake! If you want the childhood nostalgia or looking for a sugary treat I’ll give it to you, cupcakes play a good role. I never said they don’t have their place and it definitely is nice how soft, moist and delicate they can be. Cupcakes done well are worth at least some of the hype. Lesson learned: the paper or foil cupcake liner is not just aesthetic. They serve an important role. Without the additional flour a cupcake is a PAIN to take out of the muffin tin as you can see from my deformed cupcake above.

________

Okay, I'm sure at least one person out there will argue cupcakes are better than muffins overall. Send me your arguments! I will keep my mind and my stomach open.

Reclaiming "Foodie"

I promise not to use this blog as a venue to ramble on and on about my personal thoughts about food. There will be a few of these "musings" sprinkled throughout, but before moving onto the recipes I wanted to do one thing I think is of critical importance. It is time to reclaim the word foodie!

I have rarely been shy to pick up a label if I think it fit. In chronological order I have proudly called myself an environmentalist, a Democrat, an activist, a feminist and--while all the previous still apply to various degrees--a foodie. In playing role of the proud (fill in a label), I have come across the following statements (yes all of them):

"Oh I care about the planet, but I don't think I could chain myself to a tree."

"I agree with the Democrats and will vote for them, but I'm not a Democrat."

"I agree with your cause, but aren't activist those crazy guys with signs?"

"I believe in equality, but femi-Nazis are scary!" (Note: I HATE that word!)

And most relevant to this blog:

"I love food and I love to cook, but I don't think I know enough to be a foodie."

OR

"I love food and cooking, but I also like fast food, so I'm not a foodie"

OR

"I love food, but foodies are those snobby guys insisting on foie gras, caviar and drinking theright wine with their meal!"

For each of these labels I already begrudgingly agreed there are individuals or even organizations that exemplify the negative. While I respect some of their work and certainly support the overall cause I do take issue with Greenpeace tactics and I have grown jaded by much of the Democratic Party. But I have also argued again and again that for each of these labels there have many outspoken individuals or groups tarnishing that label such as Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives exaggerating or demonizing efforts of feminists.

So borrowing from the Vagina Monologues and the piece: "Reclaiming Cunt", one effort of this blog will be to reclaim the word foodie. For this I offer the following definition of a foodie:

foodie (noun): A person who loves food.

It's that simple! Are you a foodie? If you're still here I'm going to guess you are. I can hear you now: "Leran, that's definition is way too simple! There must be more to it!" Ok ok, for those fellow academics out there I guess I can offer an expanded definition:

foodie (noun): A person who substantially enjoys thinking about, preparing and/or eating food for more than just survival.

Better? Notice I did not say anything like "a great understanding of culinary history" or "will never eat fast food". If you watch shows like Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations or Alton Brown's Feasting on Asphalt these celebrity chefs--hailed as deeply knowledgeable about both cooking and eating food--often alternate between street food, dining in someone's home and fine dining. Food personalities all over television and the printed word are praising the pleasures of simplicity. Let me offer an example: sushi.

Besides the exoticness of it being raw, what is so special about sushi? It's raw fish often without any marinade or seasonings. You're just enjoying a good clean hopefully quality piece of fish on rice. Simple is good. Greasy can be very good.

So I urge you to stop treating foodie as if it is some unattainable title or some exclusive club. If you follow these three rules I think you can proudly count yourself among the many foodies out there:

1. Foodies are adventurous. That's not to say you can't be a bit picky or have boundaries. I'm very picky (something I'm working on and will be writing about soon), but I will always try a new food if served to me.
2. Foodies eat for pleasure as well as survival. When presented with the choice of spending an extra few minutes making pasta or a decent sandwich over cheap ramen, you pick the former. Or if you choose to grab something at a deli for a dollar or two more than the value meal at McDonald's. Sustenance is important, but I very much believe when you have the time and/or money you will be much happier with the foodie choice. (I know some of you like the cheap ramen ot McDonald's and in the spirit of my definition I only use those as personal examples.)
3. Foodies opt for quality when possible. This does not negate what I have said above, but a burger can still be greasy, for example, when it is made with quality grass-fed beef. To be fully adventurous you can't always get local or you can't ask the street vendor to buy organic, but when your budget allows and you have the choice, I believe a foodie will strive for better ingredients in terms of taste and sustainability.

That's it! Enjoy your fancy French dinner or your Chik-Fil-A. Bottom-line is if you love food proudly call yourself a foodie!

Birth of a Foodie! Birth of a Blog!

“Food, for me, has always been an adventure.” –Anthony Bourdain

I could not have said it better. Recently I was looking through the baby book my parents (or apparently, primarily my sister) kept about me. Under the sections listing my favorite toys my sister had written: “pots and pans” and under my favorite game: “preparing food.” Finally I had an answer to all my friends asking “when did you start cooking?” Well apparently I have always been cooking. Perhaps somehow buried in the genetic code of my mom’s academic yet adventurous family and my dad’s artistic and confident family was the elements to create a foodie and somehow in 1986 one was born.

From the humble beginning of watching my brother dress up spaghetti using ketchup in a surprisingly decent way (don’t worry he’s now quite the good cook himself) to experimenting what became my first signature dish: chili (after watching my dad make it), the kitchen more and more felt like home. After my dad died when I was eleven, the kitchen became my home and my escape. Despite what else was happening I could disappear into a recipe or idea and an hour or two later something tangible would appear. Sometimes they came out great like my eventual signature items salmon and breakfast tacos and other times there were misadventures that I have tried to erase from my taste memories, but have nonetheless learned from.

To love food is to love adventure. You will rarely see me happier than with some delicious spicy tuna and spicy salmon, but give me the option of trying authentic Korean food or eating my beloved breakfast tacos and I’d likely say: give me that bulgogi! I recently heard someone who said they eat to live, they don’t live to eat. I can respect that point of view, but to me to live is to eat and to eat is to live! To grow as humans we learn new things and experience new things. I think to truly embrace the glorious ability for us to transform simple ingredients and the evolutionary grandeur of our taste buds, we must also enjoy the culinary diversity our world has produced to truly grow!

So I invite you to go to on an adventure with me. Let’s share recipes, try new things and explore what it is to grow, cook, eat and share good food.

Are you ready?
Are you hungry?

Good… I’m always up for a foodventure!