Comment Post

I posted a comment on Angie's Blog about her iphone and problems with AT&T's customer service.

Comment Post

I posted a comment marissaim.blogspot.com about her bad experience with having a Nikon digital camera.

Comment Posting

I posted a comment on http://zanetal.blogspot.com about being addicted to Starbucks.

Comment Posting

I posted a comment on http://drswag40.blogspot.com about how other cultures see dogs. Some food for thought...

Bad Food is Bad Food is Bad Food

Here's a simple trick to any recipe: Put some care into your ingredients!

I had a lousy experience when I ate out last weekend. I had a lamb shawerma in a Lincoln Park restaurant. Don't get me wrong, I love Middle Eastern food, but this meal was lousy. I remember how cold all the ingredients were. The shawerma was stuffed with too many zucchini and tomatoes. I didn't like biting into all that extra stuff, so I scooped them out, thinking I could finally enjoy the lamb. Not so! Something about the lamb tasted off. It may have been old meat. I'm not the biggest fan of lamb but I love eating the meat when it's fresh.

My baked meat pie added insult to injury. A baked meat pie is filled with meat, right? The pie I ate was mostly dough with some meat. It should have been called baked dough pie. The dough was tasty but I wished I could have eaten more meat.

I felt like the food was thrown together at this restaurant. I'm surprised that it would serve lousy food on a Saturday, a day when more people are off work and want to eat out. One major lesson I've learned from cooking is how you need to put some care into your ingredients, i.e. throw everything together and expect a delicious meal. That's a life lesson too: Don't trying winging it all the time with everything you do. People will pick up on your laziness/carelessness/etc.

I will try to post another recipe when I can. Take care readers!

Comment Posting

I posted a comment on http://zeebrunetka.blogspot.com
about working on personal fitness.

Thought for the Day

Hi everybody. I've been busy with homework lately so I haven't been able to cook much. Speaking about cooking, did you know that green eggs and ham DO exist? You can eat them at Orange, a "breakfast" restaurant. I don't remember its menu too well but it serves breakfast food with a twist. There's an Orange in Roscoe Village and another on Clark.

Anyway, what makes the ham and eggs green? You may think it's food coloring. Wrong. Just add pesto to the mix. If you like basil, which is pesto's main ingredient, then you'll love green eggs and ham. You can even call yourself Sam I Am.

"Patience is a high virtue." -- Chaucer

I spent the past Saturday catching up on homework. I ran an errand in the afternoon. I had wanted to be out and about, but I was too cold after the errand. So I decided to make me a nice, warm drink. Champurrado, anyone?

For anyone who doesn't know what this drink is, let me explain. Imagine drinking hot chocolate that's thickened with flour. Champurrado is usually served with tamales during holidays and is also a breakfast drink eaten with churros. You can see cart vendors sell the drink when it's winter.

There are several versions of this recipe so I am showing my version. So...what next? To make this drink, I use:

3 cups milk
1 cone piloncillo (unrefined sugar or you can use brown sugar)
1/3 cup masa (corn flour)
lukewarm water to blend masa
1 disk Mexican chocolate (Abuelita or Ibarra brands)
1 stick cinnamon (preferably Mexican canela)

I pour in the milk into a pot and add the piloncillo. You need to add sugar or you will get a bland drink. I put on a low flame. I like having the milk cover most of the piloncillo.

With that done I put the masa in a small bowl. I eyeballed how much water I use, so I can't write an exact amount. You want to use enough water to mix the masa into looking like Cream of Wheat. Make sure there are no clumps of flour:


Add the masa mix to the pot of milk and pilconillo. Use a whisk or sturdy spoon to stir. If you can get one, use a molinillo. My molinillo has taken some abuse so I had to use a cooking spoon. *Tear*

Keep stirring until piloncillo dissolves. Cooking time: 12 minutes. I'm already getting antsy.

The mixture should look like this:


Then add 1 disk of Mexican chocolate. You can also add a teaspoon of vanilla or ground anise. Keep stirring until chocolate melts. Add a cinnamon stick while mixing. Use the stick for flavoring. Cooking time: another 13 minutes. Now I'm really thirsty.

The finished product should look like hot chocolate. Total cooking time: 25 minutes. Lesson learned: priceless.

Some things in life cannot be rushed. If you rush champurrado, you'll get one nasty drink. If you learn how to wait, you can get a delicious drink.

Buen provecho