Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Not So Ho-Hum Hummus

Do any of you remember the movie "Annie Hall" with Woody Allen and Diane Keaton?  It's probably my all-time favorite as it is a mirror of my life.  I LOVED the part where SHE said that, in her family, the greatest sin was to raise your voice and HE said that in his, the greatest sin was to pay retail.

And then there was the night she found a "roach as big as a Buick" and made him come over in the middle of the night to kill it.

I can SO relate to all of that (even the roach part, as that is exactly what happened this morning in my kitchen -  I'll spare you the details).  Growing up in a WASPY atmosphere, I could have been a double for Diane Keaton in that movie.

When I departed my white bread life in Jacksonville to head for college, I was severely deficient in many of life's culinary pleasures.  As in, I had never had a bagel.  Or whitefish salad (well, I could have missed that one).  Or rugelach, Indian food or hummus.  Years later, this did not serve me well when I became a caterer and cooking instructor.

You know what happened.   I was asked to create all kinds of menus - Thai, Indian, Middle Eastern and even a ristaafel (Indonesian Rice Table).  Somehow, I always managed to pull it off and fool everyone.  I just winged it.  There was no internet in those days, but I was saved by my (pretty good) cooking instincts and a plethora of cookbooks and cooking magazines (oh Gourmet, I lament your loss).

Which brings me to hummus.  I had to make that, too.  It has now become a staple for me.  If you go into my pantry you will ALWAYS find a jar of tahini (sesame paste) and a couple cans (cans? I hate canned stuff) of garbanzo beans. 



Here's the thing about hummus.  People like it because a) it tastes good and b) they think it's healthy (well, maybe it is when compared to homemade potato chips drenched with warm Maytag blue cheese sauce).  That said, it's really not. 

Do you know the nutritional counts for garbanzo beans?  For 1 cup, it's 728 calories and 12 grams of fat.  http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-chickpeas-garbanzo-beans-bengal-gram-i16056 .  And then tahini - 2 tablespoons have 180 calories and 16 fat grams.  Yikes!  I would be better off dipping a spoon into the jar of peanut butter in my pantry.

And we won't talk about the olive oil that's in it.  But, hey, serve it up with some veggies and whole wheat pita crisps and folks will scarf it up every time, all the while thinking because it has protein and no dairy that it's healthy.

But, it's good. At least it can be. As I said, it's become a staple for me and I have served it hundreds of times (including that dinner party in Durham two weeks ago).  But I have had way too many bland versions which taste very similar to chalk paste. No, no, no.  And don't even think about buying the crap that's in the case in the grocery store.  If you're going to indulge in it and not delude yourself that you are being healthy, then go for it and make your own.  Here's my recipe.

Hummus (adapted from "Open-House Cookbook" by Sarah Leah Chase)

3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup tahini (sesame paste)
1/2 cup water (more if needed)
3 cups garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Salt to taste (use a lot!)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Rough chop garlic.  Place it into a food processor along with lemon juice.  Process to blend.  Add tahini and blend again.  Add water and chick peas and blend until fluffy, adding more water if needed, so mixture will not be dry.  Season generously to taste with cumin and salt.  Add olive oil and process briefly to combine.

Serve with pita chips, cucumber slices,. carrot slices, cherry tomatoes and good olives.

Yield:  3 cups

And if you want to pretend that you are being virtuous - well, who am I to argue?

Everyone's at it...

Well, as I promise, here's my little review from "El Salón del Manga de Barcelona"... here comes Thursday and Friday. 

On Thursday we open the Sugar Miss T stand at the Salon del Manga de Barcelona. The truth is that the day was exhausting, not having much work, but rather the opposite ... the lack of movement hurts anyone. Anyway, we passed well, and we walked through part of the event ... here is a small sample. Indeed, Misako, Mr. Yu and Sakurai were in our booth a couple of times throughout the day, they loved it!



Esther and Cris in our stand

Some stuff that we were selling.
 

Me! I was wearing:
Pink turtle neck shirt with skulls from Blanco.
Skirt from Bodyline
Pink socks from Baby, the stars shine bright
Pink tea paty shoes from Secret Shop
Black heart shaped bag from Claire's
Black ribbon necklace from Claire's
Feathers' headband from Claire's


Me with Álex, one of the most gorgeous guys I've ever met!


On Friday I played guard duty; I was all day at the salon, not working all the time at the stand but mostly a part of the day; so I had the chance to make more pictures on Thursday ... I watched the exhibition of some inspired Lolita's clothes, then went to a workshop lolita makeup and then a very interesting talk about the vision of Lolita in Japan and Spain.


Miss T and her brother, the funniest boy around the event!! (Yes, he dressed himself as a lolita, so funny!)




Me and Maka (I love this picture!)


Mavako's and Fidel's clothes from the expo, my favourite ones.


Choko, Bloodydoll, Cristian, Darko and me!


Narcissisque; she was so beautiful! I lover her hairdress!


Me with Inma, Arisu's sister... punk lolis for the win!!


Laia, amazing with her ETC jsk!


Bloodydoll in the Lolita's workshop!


Arisu's hands... I love all the stuff she was wearing.


Candy before the talk, so great! I love this picture too!


Misako Aoki


Yû Kimura, so cute!!


And me with my coordinate:
T-shirt - Handmade by me
Skirt- Putumayo
Tights - Topshop
Sock - Bodyline
Shoes - Bodyline
Hairband - Oysho
Jewlery - Handmade and offbrand

Tomorrow, more! With a great review from Pinku Jitsatsu's concert!!

Thank you for reding and for all your sweet comments!!

Mrs. Dash




Mrs. Dash - (cue the shock and astonishment) - may one even mention such a topic without inspiring indignation?  Should kitchen denizens turn up their nose at the mere mention of Mrs. Dash?  I don't know, but I have a bottle in my spice cabinet.  What is Mrs. Dash anyway?  Its purveyors tell us that we may "use the famous Mrs. Dash® Original Blend for fish seasoning, chicken seasoning, and more! An all-purpose, versatile blend of 14 savory herbs and spices, Mrs. Dash Seasoning Blends onion, black pepper, parsley, basil, orange peel and tomato add flavor excitement to any dish."  Well, how can we oppose adding flavor excitement?  I must admit that I do use Mrs. Dash selectively.  Sometimes, I make an egg noodle side to pork chops where I'll mix in butter and Mrs. Dash.  I also use it to add some interest to broccoli and that recipe is below.  I do enjoy many vegetables, although not all.  When I'm in a plain steak and potatoes or chicken and wild rice mood, I'll eat primarily green beans or broccoli.  I dress up green beans with a little butter and almonds.  Sometimes, I will even pair green beans with pesto alongside a grilled steak.  But for broccoli, some butter and a dash of Mrs. Dash will kick them up a quick notch without too much fuss.  I use a two step method where I blanche the vegetables first to complete most of the cooking process, and then when the main course is largely done, I saute to reheat, finish cooking and season the vegetables in the second step so that they are hot and perfectly cooked when served.  So, the next time you want a really quick side of vegetables, think a dash of Mrs. Dash - just don't tell anyone.

Ingredients:
2 cups frozen broccoli florets
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Original Blend seasoning

Directions:
Place broccoli in a bowl, add water until broccoli are just covered and microwave for 2 minutes.  Drain broccoli, dry with a paper towel. 
Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Add blanched broccoli, Mrs. Dash, toss and saute a couple of minutes to complete cooking process. 

Dorama Mei-chan no Shitsuji


Mei-chan, Shibata , and Kento


And here is my another favorite japanese serial. What a nice 'out of common' serial! Extremely i like it! Hihi =p


This dorama adapt from manga comic, by Miyagi Reiko ( do never hear this name before XD )



*the comic*



This dorama told about famous women-school called Lucia Academy, where all of the damn richy girls school in. Every girl have their own butler (something like maid, the handsome man to serve them). Everyday they come to school by use helicopter! At the end, Mei-Chan and the her butler (shibata) fallin in love 2tgether... and what else i cant even explain it widely again. =__=


but one sentence : what a cute! huahahah XD

My POEM

(Click on the image to make it large so you can read the poem)

Howz it going knackers?!

I have a lot of pending posts that I need to put up here very soonish. Been very busy lately doing my TVC concepts from storylines to scripts. I think I am also being trained as a copywriter. Not bad. Good training since it's not really my craft but it's good to learn and to further improve my weakness. I am really bad in writing. I also have my mishaps in grammar more often than not. Well everyone does even the copywriters. Anyways I always wanted to write a poetry or prose or even essays. I wrote a lot of poetry during high school. But none of them is a keeper. So I am frustrated on that angle. So I told myself, I will just dream of writing an illustrated recipe book that will chronicle my autobiography. I want to design and write the secret recipe of a happy and successful life by being The Artist Chef.

But recently, I was inspired by Jamie Cullum so I was able to write this thingy! I don't even know if this one is a poem. But whatever this one is called, I am happy to share it first to my readers.

Enjoy reading :-)

hugs,
joanie xxx

Bulgur & Chickpeas Pilaf: Burghul Bedfeen (برغل بدفين)



Bulgur Bedfeen is a healthy healthy recipe, can be made with chicken, stew meat or simply vegetarian substituting the chicken or meat stock with vegetable stock or water. The one I chose today is with chicken. I used a couple of chicken breasts but you can use half a chicken or even a whole chicken depending on the amount of servings.

Ingredients: (About 4-5 Servings)
2 big Chicken breasts cooked, by covering them with water and adding 2 bay leaves, 1 cinnamon stick, small carrot, black pepper, small onion, 2 cardamoms (I saved the broth for the rest of the recipe).
2 cups of Bulgur no.2 (not the fine one we use for tabbouli)
2 cups of cooked chickpeas or garbanzo beans
4 cups of broth
1 medium onion diced
2 tablespoons of tomato sauce
Olive oil (you can substitute with butter)
Salt, pepper, allspice to taste

After you cook the chicken, shred and set aside.
In the cooking pot, add onions, olive oil, spices. cook for a couple of minutes then add the washed and drained bulgur, mix and cook for a couple of minutes then add the chickpeas, tomato paste and broth. Bring to a boil then let simmer just like rice.
Serve with chicken on top. This meal is served with green salad or plain yogurt.