Soul Week At-A-Glance

New York Times writer calls out Black people for lovin Red Lobster and she ain't lyin'! it all stems from the definition of "soul food" and a mild argument is if we go by patronage then Red Lobster would have to be it and I'd actually have to agree. There's a Red Lobster 3 blocks away from my home and it's allways rammed with Black faces. as a proud Nova Scotian I'd NEVER go ther (barring my old as shit grandparents didn't force me or somethin') but it is a popular spot.

1300Filmore in San Fran has a lock down on the upscale soul food fusion that eludes Harlem restaurant. Ironically, chef David Lawrence is actually Jamaican.

I LOVE fried anything so the thoughts of a fried peach pie that takes 3 days to make at A Taste of Memphis, a new resto in Boise Idaho, makes my mouth water. 3 days though? Really?

October shall hence be known as Alabama Food Products Month.
I'd say "yum-o" but I HATE Rachael Ray. It does sound good though ;-)

Soul Food recipes from the dirty dirty? Loves it! Here's a young entrepenour writing and self publishing a soul food cookbook. Cool beans! I really dig that you can download it for a cheaper price and print it off yourself. If you're anythig like me you like a spineless cookbook anyway and an environmentally efficient option is seriously cool.

I don't quite know how I feel about B. Smith (the Black Martha Stewart) endorsing a General Mills soul food endeavour. One part of me says "high-five sista!" and the other says, "damn you sold out sista". But then everyone derves a little soul and the fact remains that Black folks need to be eating a much healthier version of our cuisine so if this helps then so be it. Betty Crocker's sweet potato pie smoothies sound gross though! Check out their website Servin up soul.

Aiken, South Carolina, has a new soul food resto called the Soul Food Shack.

While I can agree that Bill O'Reilly's comments last week about how civilized Black people were at Sylvia's resto were ignorant, I'm still sure it was also racist. Ignorance + racism are a deadly combination and rarely are they separate from each other. On this basis Ben Greeman's latest article is naive and IMO wrong. Funnily enough he sites Juan Williams as one of the Black commentators who is defending O'Reilly, failing to note that he is also the other voice on the infamous audio proclaimin "oh please--" to O'Reilly's shit. Poor Ben actually thinks O'reilly can be belived when he claims to be on a new no-smear campaign when he himself is the biggest smear bandit.

Sweet Georgia Brown's gets a management makeover in Detroit. Nice to see some resto's are staying put and changig up the formula instead of packin' it all in like others...

...Like Diddy's Justin's closing. He claims it will reopen bigger and better but good business ususally means securing bigger and beter space to facilitate a seamless move instead of closing and starting from scratch.

Soul Week At-A-Glance

NBA great, Nate Thurmond has been running Big Nate's Barbeque for 17 years and loves it.

Port Chester in NY, got a Soul Food cookout of their own on Saturday. What a nice idea: a free family event, with healthy versions of soul food (although I did spot jerk chicken on the menu SMDH).

At the event, there was a milk taste test to convince kids that 1% and 2% were just as tasty as whole milk and better for you. 6-year-old Keshawn Ellis, declared his love for the new milk thusly: "It's like I'm going to marry it." Adorable.

Rosie's in the O.C. (of all places) get's it right with a menu of sweet tea, black-eyed peas, coleslaw, sweet potatoes, collards, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, Po Boy sandwiches and catfish! Besides soul food I also love to get my drink on and I'm hella intrigued by Rosie's black-eyed pea martini!

New Jersey's got soul.

Bill O'Reilly "treated" Al Sharpton to dinner at Sylvia's in Harlem where he claimed everyone in the joint watched his O'Reilly Factor show. He "had a great time, and all the people up there are tremendously respectful." Ugh.

He had the meatloaf and loved it and was surprised that "there wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea.'
He exclaims further, "You know, I mean, everybody was -- it was like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense of people were sitting there, and they were ordering and having fun. And there wasn't any kind of craziness at all."
WOW!
He also talks of going to an Anita Baker concert where the Blacks where well dressed, like it's a new thing. Her band was in tuxedos and he claims that White America doesn't know that we can look and act respectfully. Download the audio here if the link wears out.

Looks like a White girl in Kentucky had Ethiopian food and had the same reaction as O'Reilly in that the food was actually good. At least I can give it to her that African food is probably few and far between in Kentucky and she seemed to really enjoy it. I don't know about the tone of the piece, there's just somethign about it that bugs me, but it's an interestign review nontheless.

Harlem looses a huge stretch of real-estate to ever more gentrification. Less soul food joint's to follow I'm sure.

Soul food as fast food for university students at SFU? Interesting!

2 Greeks run a well-loved soul food spot in Fayetteville for 50 years. Crazy!

Sounds like Silqui’s in Miami needs to step their game up, but they get props for bringin' soul food and Harlem-style entertainment to Miami.



Saveur Magazine dedicates their latest issue entirely to Chicago and includes the low down on soul food.

Patty Pinner, soul food baker, has new book.

A bit of Harlem in Toronto? A lot less than you'd think

Black is poppin' big time in Toronto lately and I'll never be mad at that. The newbie magazine aimed at us called Sway is still around after like, 5 issues and not only is it free but it actually has the shiny high expectations you'd expect from paid circulation mags. The cover alone is such heavy glossy paper it makes me gloriously dizzy. Sorry - magazine journalism student!

A group of investors is currently in negotiations to change the face of Toronto's waterfront with a so-called Africana Village that will commemorate Black's contributions to Toronto and Canada.
And a new resto has opened downtown, apparently since December of 2006, called Harlem.


In Sway magazine they describe it as "soul food fusion". I do not. Although a lot of the focus I give to stories on this blog are soul food oriented when they're not I'm not gonna insist on slapping the soul food label on them. The recipes I will be trying will run the gamut of cuisine but if it's not soul food I won't tell you it is. As Judge Judy says, "don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining!"

Call me a purist but take a look at the menu below and feast your eyes on veggie samosas, quesadilla filled with jerk chicken, Chinese noodles with peanut sesame sauce (sounds Thai to me), curried tomato spread, and the fact that almost everything comes with mangoes.

There are arguments to be made that jerk is related to soul food and that the cuisine does in fact incorporate aspects of Caribbean culture. I disagree. Soul food and Caribbean food are similar variations on different themes. Slaves brought over to the Americas brought with them their unique methods of preparing food. In the Caribbean and parts of South America, they put an African spin on Spanish cuisine (which in itself was derived in part from Arab cooking), adding a dash of Native islander knowledge of local plants (spices included) and animals. The exact same thing occurred in North America with cuisine that was modified primarily from English and Scotch-Irish cooking. With that in mind, England had not yet become the curry capital of Europe and hence curry is not a traditional aspect of soul food nor are mangoes.
The dinner menu posted on the site isn't any better:


Sigh.
But the name of the restaurant is what irks me the most. If this was simply a Black restaurant named almost anything else I'd be down with it (although I find the menu quite repulsive, boring and lacking meat - I'm just sayin'!) but that they are trying to trade off of an inherently American name to sell what's essentially Caribbean food with a dash of top-selling-watered-down-world cuisine like quesadillas.

Tasty fresh fruit pumpkin seeds and citrus in a lime molasses dressing on a bed of spring greens? Harlem?
Fried plantain, avocado and Chèvre with herbs and lemon dressing in a whole wheat tortilla?
Harlem?
"The Harlem" sandwich recipe: Swiss cheese, ham, and jerked chicken, with mango mustard and avocado. WTF?

That ain't soul food or fusion. Oh snap, I forgot they do have sweet potato biscuits (home made) on the menu that come with a bowl of soup (curried French onion no doubt, to keep up the multicultural bastardization).

Why would you name a restaurant Harlem - knowing the image that people would conjure up based on that name is 180 different than your concept? Sure the press the eatery is getting focuses on the decor as Harlem-esque but where's the proverbial beef? It's like that other restaurant in Toronto, irritatingly named Soul Food that is Carribbean plain and simple. Why? I think it's deceptive at worst, and just plain sneaky at best. if I went out of my way to reach their spot only to find out that it's not as advertised according to the name, I'd be pissed.

Now it's not all bad, and I hate feeling like a big bitch for callin' out a brother who's trying to make a business. It's always nice to see a Black guy use his talents in creative ways - especially non hip hop related ways. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE hip hop, but the world has gotten so that people think that's all we can do.

Co-owner Carl Cassell is an exceptional artist, who's work flanks the restaurant walls. I'd love to own some of it one day. He's done big things with his (more appropriately named) Irie Food Joint on Queen St. West an kudos to him for for strivin' to be more and not stoppin' at one success despite protestations from others. Because of course I'm not the only one causing ruckus albeit for completely different reasons although in one such instance it does concern the restaurant name. It's appalling but not surprising that in the Sway article it's noted that neighborhood locals tried to take issue with the restaurant by calling into question the negative connotations associated with the name Harlem. *snort of derision* (my argument is better.)

Even more hilariously, according to Wordmag (predecessor to Sway - less glossy but more hip hop) the restaurants site is that of the former swingers club (yes you read that right) called Wicked. Apparently neighbors in the seedy decrepit area of Richmond & Church Streets would prefer the upstanding caliber of patron that frequented a sex den than Black professionals imbibing cocktails at a shiny new vibrant venue.


But then my neck swings back to the annoying if not disappointing point that on the events page of Harlem's website, with the title "barmaid beauty" is a White girl. I can already hear the cries of disdain from any White people who stumble on this page but the fact of the matter is if you're gonna have a Black business, widely touted as being owned and run by by 3 brothas, filled with Black art, serving so-called Black food, and named after a historically Black neighborhood, it'd be nice to not have the White girl show up first on the events page. I guess a White bartender will at least guarantee a few Black male patrons at the very least. LOL

I will be patronizing Harlem Restaurant soon and report back on whether their God-awful (sounding) menu is at the very least tasty.

Soul Food the Magazine

Okay, so I've been way too much take-out lately since I've started back at school part-time and a new job simultaneously. As soon as training at work settles into a comfortable rhythm I'll be back on the cooking track but in the meantime I have been coppin' some information about soul food happenings. Like for instance, are you aware that there exists a magazine dedicated to it? Apparently it's pretty although I managed to miss the first issue but I’ve sent for it.
It's pretty decent. I know that may not sound like a ringing endorsement but coming from a magazine journalism student that's damn good for a start up.

It's published by Today's Black Woman; the same people who do Hype Hair so hopefully it’ll stick around for longer than my long lost Suede mag.



Keep in mind that I love the concept, love the recipes, and love the abundant information. My main beef with the magazine though, is that the pictures aren’t' nearly the high quality caliber you expect from a food oriented magazine. A lot of the pics are great work and the food looks scrumptious but then there are way too many that look like they were done with my no-frills (and downright antiquated) Kodak easyshare CX7300. That's not cool. Chef G. Garvin is on the premier issue cover and damn he's fine – I hafta have that one! Thankfully the cover shot doesn’t mess with his sexy good looks.



In the second issue there's an adorable photo spread inside with Tichina Arnold and her daughter Alijah that looks much better in quality.

They do a brief overview of chef Marcus Samuelsson and include 3 recipes from him. I don't even like peanuts on my pad thai so I'll have to take baby steps towards Chef Samuelsson's dishes.

In the celebrity dish section the gorgeous Amel Larrieux say she makes her kids a dish made of “yams, onions, and brown rice sautéed in sesame oil, sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg”. Um, Blech! I was always under the assumption that sesame oil was primarily used as a flavour enhancer at the end of cooking not for sautéing. *shrug* But either way, her dish is so not gorgeous. It sounds downright disgusting actually. She always took me as that kinda mother-earth, granola eater though, so it didn’t really surprise me.



Tyra Banks would not call the models fierce in this magazine, especially one dude who seems to not know where the camera is/can’t focus his eyes on a particular subject. He doesn't look particularly interested in the other models or the food. It’s nice to see Black models have another venue but dang!



The story entitled Cool Kitchen colors is especially wack. Not only because the pictures are horrid and unprofessionally executed, but the colors consist of drab dark brown wood and southwestern-style peach colored walls. Boo.

There’s a story on cookware where they question 2 chefs on the merit of stainless steel vs. non-stick. One chef sounds like he doesn’t know what the hell he’s talkin’ about and the other sounds reasonably aware. For instance, they ask the chefs about the rumors surrounding chemicals from Teflon and one dude says he doesn’t think “that there’s much that could harm you”! Um…ok.
And I’ll even give it to the guy that he’s a Cajun chef so he might not have an occasion to use particular cookware for particular dishes, but I’ve also been under the assumption that a chef is a chef is a chef (accreditation and all that jazz). So when the other chef says there are particular instances where non-stick pans are the general rule (omelets, delicate fish, or cheese dishes) and he answers in the negative, I’m perplexed.

LisaRaye and her mother make a disgusting looking dish of chicken and dumplings that calls for 2 spices, salt and pepper. Huh? And I’m all for glamour in the kitchen but LisaRaye wears a white lace outfit for her cooking chores while her mother wears black embellished with colorful embroidery…to work with flour! Maybe I’m just a messier cook or my suspension of disbelief just wouldn’t take, looking at this cooking “demonstration”. They were cute though!

I know from reading this you might think I don’t recommend the magazine or that I’m a little harsh but I wholeheartedly do and I am only harsh because I want it to get even better. Trust me, staring a venture like this takes time to work the kinks out and I have faith that this may be the next sleeper hit of the publishing world. And since most of the stories appear to be written by one woman, I’m seriously thinking about offering my editorial services…for a chance to meet G. of course!Pick up Soul Food Magazine at your local bookstore (where they’ll have a better selection of specialty publications). In Canada find it at Chapters/Indigo.

Soul Week At-A-Glance

·Soul Food Festival in Indiana sounds like a blast!

·6 brothas come together to bring upscale soul food to Houston. Hmmm wonder if at least one of 'em is single?

·Eat somethin' before you read about Mrs. Jones Restaurant in Dorchester, MA. I'm dyin' for a fried pork chop smothered in gravy now!

·What's a southern meal without black eyed peas and Kool Aid? Houstonist will tell you: it's food with no soul.

·Dang, I'm tempted to hit up Florida next Sunday for Victor Kimble's Soul Food Brunch. If only I had a car...and a license to drive I'd be on it with the quickness!
The official flyer pdf is here.

·Now I tried to find some info on Victor to see what his story was and stumbled on this gem: I lived in Australia for 6 months and never found this place. Ever the intrepid reporter I found that the Victor Kimble is retired from the navy and did indeed settle in the land down under! Cool beans! Me thinks that maybe- just maybe - I'ma hafta go back to Sydney and see if they're really cooking with soul ;-)

Sister's are workin' it out on the soul food tip in Arizona too!

Remember Vern's Place from my last post? Well according to Back Talk, they're having a fundraiser to try and raise money for the $450 per month rent raise that's comin' down the pike from the new building owners. If you live in Dallas, get thee to Vern's Place!!

Do you remember the 21st night of september?

OK, so it wasn't the 21'st it was the 15th but I live in Canada man! If we waited until the 21'st to have this end of summer dinner, not only would it have technically been autumn but it woulda been hella freezing! This morning when I got up the news said it was 9°C /48 °F!

But we still played Earth Wind and Fire in homage ;-)

We had quite the meal last night and I'm still kinda stuffed. BBQ roast of beef, peppers stuffed with Spanish rice, tomato salad with Parmesan cheese, and sauteed mushrooms in white wine and butter.

The beef was done simply, some steak spice some rosemary and some lime and was so unbelievably good *drool*!

The mushrooms were excellent but there weren't nearly enough. I'm a mushroom nut. I'm also a garlic nut so next time garlic needs to be added to that mix fo' sho'.

Maggie, the dog from next door came by to visit. She's a border dog and it so cute to actually see her bound onto the patio and sniff in each corner ready to pounce on anything remiss.

She got a beef bone fresh from the market for her efforts.

We realized to late that we didn't have fresh Parmesan for the tomato salad but Tre Stelle did good in a pinch...and we really loaded it on.

I really dug the peppers but I like mine really well roasted - mind you I was the only one to eat my whole pepper so I guess it didn't really matter to me that much. LOL

We lasted till the wee hours slicing off piece of beef and gossiping until we finally had to go inside from the cold.

Summer's been nice though, can't really complain, but I LOVE the fall. Jeans! Boots! Chunky Sweaters! Boots! New Hair Color! Boots!

Soul Week At-A-Glance

In an effort to make me more accountable to this blog I've decided to keep tabs on the soul food blogosphere and report back so when I finally get a reader they can't say I never shared ;-)
The criteria I'm using besides soul food will be that the subject or blogger must be Black. There are thousands of food blogs and food blog/news round-ups for every color under the sun except us, so now it's our time to shine.

Sunday in Soul:

·Soul Food the Showtime series has recently released their second season and of course their first season was the shit.

·And oddly enough the movie that started it all is dead cheap right now - even in Canada. I've always felt there's a conspiracy to keep Black movies and music expensive so this is a joy. As an aside they also have Eve's Bayou for $6!

·Apparently I've slept on the fact that June is National Soul Food Month in the States. Duly noted for next Summer.

·And Memphis has a Soul Week!

·In NYC they have an organization called NoshWalks that takes groups to different neighborhoods for a stroll and some eats. I'm not in NYC so I wouldn'a been able to go anyway but according to Harlem's Uptown flavor website they posted the deets on Friday for an event on Saturday. Booooo. CP time fo' real.

·Grubgirl visited the Hard Knox Cafe not too long ago, servin' soul food in San Francisco and gave it a decent review.

·Off the Broiler did Pachal's in Atlanta and it looks mighty good.

·Ike and Tina's former back-up singer, Robbie Montgomery, does good in St. Louis making up soul food for the masses with 2 restaurants. Recipe included!

·Vegetarian soul food anyone?

·Looks like New York's gentrification of Harlem isn't an exclusive phenom. Dallas's soul food legacy, Vern's Place, is being forced out too. Thanx to CB9M Chairman's Blog for the unencumbered NYTimes article.

·Philly Restaurant gets big time kudos in a Black Enterprise Magazine as Best Soul Food!

·The latest article to bring attention to the unhealthy aspects of soul food. This time from Oregon. Don't get it twisted tho' it's mostly the use of lard, cream sauces, copious amounts of cheese and butter - I'll steer you healthy and right on this blog...most of the time ;-P

·I'll put it on here even though it was a while ago and I'm not that impressed: Justin Timberlake opened a new resto in his Southern tradition, imaginatively named Southern Hospitality BBQ

can I get one rib?

Hmm just thinking of pork from the last post made me think about how else I like my pork. Who can resist ribs? i could thrown down on a pile of ribs any day any how. the recipe below is my latest favorite way to prepare them...until the next recipe comes along that is - and really, I use this only when I'm in an industrious mood.

Ingredients are roughly written below with approximations because I'm a big proponent of tasting food as you season so if it's too tart add sugar, too sweet add vinegar and henceforth.

1 cup ketchup
1 tsp. worchestire
1/4 cup vinegar
brown sugar to taste
1 roasted garlic head
1/4 cup molasses
Spices (salt pepper, hot paprika, powdered garlic,)
soya sauce to taste
1 onion

Sauce
Dice onion and sauté in 1 tbsp. of oil in a mediaum sized pot.
Once browned add ketchup, molasses, and Dijon mustard. Bring to a boil and then simmer adding Worcestershire sauce, soya sauce, vinegar, and roasted garlic.
Add spices then add brown sugar in tbsp. Increments until the desired sweetness is achieved. Simmer for an hour or, stirring occasionally.

Ribs
Take off the silver skin first! The silver skin is a membrane that is attached to the underside of the bones. You can't chew it and marinades, rubs and sauces can't penetrate it. It's got to go. Take a knife and pry a little bit off, then grab it with your fingers and peel the while thing off.

Spice your ribs with the same spices as the sauce and a few dashes of soya and Worcestershire sauce. Marinate for at least an hour preferably 3-4 hours.

I grilled my ribs first until cooked through, then transferred them to a heatproof dish, covered them with sauce and cooked on low 250 °C for 1-1/5 to 2 hours.
Voila.

go on, brush your shoulders off

Those of you who live in Toronto I'm sure already know that there is an abbatoire in the city. Yep, an honest to goodness slaughterhouse (Quality Meat Packers) just off the beaten path of the downtown core. I used to live at the bottom of Bathurst St. and just before the bridge and to the left, is where the pigs meet their fate in droves. It's still operational and every year theres an article written in the newspaper about how new condo buyers are disgusted with the smell and want the city to do something about it. Excuse me? You move into my 'hood and then you wanna complain about my ass? Fuck off!
I'll admit the place stinks to high heaven, but I don't belive in raisin' a ruckus when you chose to move into that particular neighborhood. It's no secret, that a slaughterhuse has been there for more than 100 years. Do your research before you lay down the skrilla!
But anyway I'm getting off topic. The point of me pointing out the slaughterhouse is that there is always an abundant supply of pork and pork products at my disposal (chika chika yeah!). Mmmhmmm, Black people love us some pork ('cept Muslim's of course ;-))
I go to Chinatown on the daily and can get a huge pork shoulder roast for less than $4! And this is what I did with my most recent purchase:

Pork Roast w/ Potatoes

Ingredients:
1 pork shoulder- rind on, rinsed and pat dry
3 potatoes cut into rough cubes*
vegetable oil to coat
salt
black pepper
cayenne pepper
ground sage
fresh thyme
1 tbsp onion soup mix (I prefer Lipton)
steak spice (I prefer Club House)



1 whole roasted garlic:
Cut the top off of a head of garlic, drizzle the remaining cloves with a tsp. of olive/vegetable oil
enclose in tinfoil and heat in an oven @ 400°F for 30-35 minutes or until cloves get wonderfully brown and caramelized.

Ok, so I roasted the garlic first and let it cool.
Coat roast with a nice layer of oil , but not so much that it's dripping all over the place just enough to seal in juices and make spices adhere and marinate nicely.

Yes, I know I should be using more olive oil in my diet but my man hates the taste and smell so I had to use vegetable. And yes - I've tried fooling him on a few occasions to disastrous results namely me with a entire meal all to myself for dinner, snack, lunch and leftover dinner until I was absolutely sick of it.


Take roasted garlic, mash and smear entire head over entire roast.
Next add spices to taste and let marinate for an hour or more - up to 24 hours. I generally like at least 2 hours marinating time.
Place roast in shallow dish uncovered.

Take potato* cubes and sprinkle liberally with steak spice. Add tbsp. of onion soup mix to coat.
Add potatoes* to the pan surrounding the roast and place in oven on 350°F for an hour or more depending on size of roast. I use a meat thermometer to make sure internal temp is at least 170°F. Remember: Pork needs to be cooked thoroughly to prevent illness!
Occasionally baste the roast with resulting juices, sometimes I add a touch of water if it seems dry.
Pork and potatoes should roast together nicely and be ready at the same time. Let stand for about 15 minutes before slicing to let the juices settle Serve with a side of sauteed mushrooms

*In winter months I especially like adding other root veggies to the mix like beets, turnip, parsnip, and sweet potato.

Yes, once again, we chowed down before we remembered that I needed a pic for the blog! Too damn good!

Homey Don't Play No Bastardized Banana Bread

I tried out a recipe from another blog that shall remain nameless, and it sucked donkey balls. I should have known when it called for cinnamon and butterscotch chips. Normally the mere thought of those two ingredients alone would make me cream my jeans, which is why I decided it was worth wasting the ingredients on, but what a colossal fucking waste! I've come to the decision that certain foods shall remain unadulterated in my repertoire. Much like the idea that White women should never ever cover songs by Black artists who refer to themselves in their lyrics as "nappy headed boys", banana bread should not be ruined with the addition of superfluous ingredients. It's just wrong. If you wanna listen to songs about nappy heads listen to Black artists (or in some cases Jewish or Italian). If you want a cinnamon loaf make one, but don't confuse it with or attempt a hybrid of a banana loaf! People will throw stones at you, or at least they should. Everyone knows what banana bread should taste like and unless you're baking for White people who seem determined to throw the craziest/stupidest/wackest ingredients in their shit [of course in that un-named blogger's case it wasn't nessesarily weird, just WRONG] this is the taste they are looking for:

Banana Bread Loaf

Ingredients:

3 mashed bananas (I sometimes add 4 just if there's only one poor soul left)

2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup butter

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

nuts (optional)

·Cream butter and sugar together

·Add eggs and bananas; mix well

·In separate bowl mix flour baking soda, baking powder and salt

·I used my kitchen aid mixer on med speed slowly adding the flour mixture to my butter/bananas mix, scraping the sides of the bowl as I went to make sure it was all nicely moist and blended.

I don't like nuts in my banana bread but on top, so feel free to add your nuts to the mixed batter or on top after you've poured it into the pan.

I used a standard loaf pan as I tried a pyrex pan before and it turned out horribly uneven.

·Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the loaf. Don't be alarmed if it takes a bit longer than an hour, this is a really moist bread and you almost can't ruin it.

*The pic above was taken after my 4 or 5th slice ( I was LOVIN' my own baking!) when I finally realized I should keep some evidence that it came out as good as it did.

Egg rolls are for lovers

What’s better than getting’ high on chocolate cookies? Having Chinese food when the munchies hit! Well what I really wanted was a really good, meaty egg roll like I used to get down home. Far too many places (Mr. Pong and your jumbo egg roll I mean you!) put way too much cabbage and sprouts in their egg rolls and far far too many don’t make egg rolls at all preferring spring rolls. *blowing a raspberry*
What is a girl to do when she’s in the mood? Make her own of course! Bear in mind that with my altered state my photos are on the slightly blurry side for good reason ;-)

Egg rolls

Ingredients:

1 pkg. egg roll wrappers
¼ lb ground pork (I didn’t have any so I used hot Italian sausages that I removed from the casings and re ground using my Kitchen Aid mixer (with meat grinding attachment)
1 diced onion
1 diced red pepper
handful mushrooms
6 water chestnuts sliced
green onions diced
½ lb nappa cabbage
1 tbsp. hoisin sauce
soya sauce to taste
4 cloves garlic, chopped
½ lb bean sprouts

I re-seasoned my Italian sausages because they are NEVER as hot as you want them to be. I added liberal doses of chili flakes, cayenne pepper, black pepper and seasoning salt.

In a wok, stir fry the pork, onion, red pepper, mushrooms, and water chestnuts together, stirring until golden. Add garlic, hoisin sauce, and soya sauce to taste. For last 5-6 minutes add cabbage. I like my cabbage to have a bit of a crunch to it.
Normally I hate bean sprouts but my boyfriend refused to participate in the cooking process (ok the cleaning up of my cooking process) if I didn’t add them. To blanched them for about 30 s to 1 min to take the edge off the taste. That way when he could see me put them in but the taste wasn’t as potent. If you do this recipe ignore this part – but to be accurate I’m telling you exactly what I did.

Using a tablespoon, put a spoonful of the mixture in the middle of an egg roll wrapper. Again, to maintain peace with the boy toy I wrapped them like old fashioned rolls (seam in the middle with both ends folded up and sealed) but I prefer to roll them similar to a spring roll (place wrapper diagonal fold top corner in first, then both ends, then finish rolling it tight to the end. *sigh*

Do not stack or let pre-rolled egg rolls touch each other before you fry. The wrappers get soft quickly and will tear quite easily (even tiny tears suck) letting all the oil in your roll once you start frying.

Deep fry in wok (I used canola oil because it was handy) but make sure your oil is HOT (375 degrees) before you start! You want the egg rolls to absorb a minimum of oil and that means HOT is of the essence.

Take out when golden, which should only be 2-3 minutes (if your oil is hot enough) because your filling is already cooked.

We only had VH sauce but we were so hungry by the end that we scarfed them down like they were golden fried pockets of pure love…and really they were!

We had about 2 egg rolls worth of sausage left over so I took some day-old rice and stir fried that with it along with some peas, carrots and more mushrooms. Oh happy day!

I've just discovered this link to a product called Soul Rolls, which I might have to experiment with the next time I break out the wok. I'm definitely intrigued. *eyebrow cocked*

Fun with herb

White people always know what to do with herb that Black folks haven't even heard of let alone tried. All the White people I know have kits for their weed. Fancy old-skool lunchboxes filled with specialty papers, scissors, a pipe, filter paper and often a jar of roaches. Black people will often have to run next door for papers cuz we rarely think ahead. We spend enough time thinking about just how and where to get the shit in the first place. In this case I knew of the existence of herb-based cookies but a) never purchased enough to use recipes and shit with it, b) kinda just wanted to smoke it. My friend Roach was on it in a heartbeat, when she learned I had never had the pleasure.


This is how it went down:

Marijuana Cookies

Ingredients:

¼ oz herb
2 cups/ 4 stick of unsalted butter
¼ of brown sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon of baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ cup cocoa
1 cup water

Melt 4 sticks of butter in a heavy based pot. Don’t worry if it seems like a lot but the infusion takes a few hours and a bit of the butter is lost through evaporation.
Add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil
We used ¼ oz of herb, which we tied inside a piece of cheesecloth and dropped in our pot mixture of water and butter, turning the burner down to a simmer.

Simmer for 5-6 hours (stirring occasionally) or until the butter turns a dark green color.

If sitting in the house all day like we were, you might wanna crack open a window… or don’t and reap the rewards of a contact high from the herb wafting through your home for the better part of the day…like we did ;-)
Once the butter is dark green and murky looking, put in fridge for a ½ hour or so to solidify.

Once butter is solid again poke a hole in it through to the bottom, to let the water drain out, which should also allow the butter to release from the pan. Pour out any remaining water and place butter back in pan to gently melt.

According to the author of this recipe, the sugar ratio directly affects the effects of the herb so use sparingly. This will not result in the tastiest of cookies (we could taste the mary jane) but it will be potent and when eating ‘shrooms or pot everyone knows it’s not the taste that matters it’s the aftermath.

Combine melted butter with ¼ of brown sugar and cream together with 1 large egg
Add ½ teaspoon of baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ cup cocoa
Dough will be slightly dry to the touch so I suggest using your hands rather than a mixer, besides it feels better to get your hands into your food. Get used to it; although I do have a very nice Kitchen Aid stand mixer I like to get my hands dirty as often as possible in my recipes.
Flatten dough to ¼ inch thickness and commence cutting in to shapes of your choice.

Bake at 350 C for 10-15 minutes depending on whether you like chewy or crisp cookies.
Let cool on racks for 5 minutes and enjoy with a big glass of milk or some other libation.

Cooking from a Black Persepective

I've been hemming an hawing about if and how I wanted to do a food blog for quite some time now and I've finally decided to give it a shot when I realized how truly interested I've become in gastronomical pursuits. Everybody loves food but when you start asking for mandolin's at Christmas, a ricer, or even a melon baller, one can assume that you're a bit more serious than some about your relationship with food. Me, I'm a cautious experimenter. I mean shit, I'm Black yo! LOLNot to offend the bougie gourmands who are also of the Black persuasion but Black people have a different mind set about food. What is and isn't normally eaten would make most foodies roll their eyes at our ignorance. Some things are simple we like pork and most pork products. We do not and are not in the habit of eating anything raw or 'tartar' *affect a snooty British accent when you say it.We also like things saucy and spicier than our White counterparts. This does not mean blow-the-roof-off-your-mouth hot. We like spice – not necessarily “hot” . Seasonings that are flavourful and sumptuous with zest and kick. I’m not a fan of Tabasco (unless it’s in a prairie fire) for this reason exactly. I don't do missions to see who can withstand the hottest scoville measurement; that's so not my style. I actually make my own hot sauce that I just might share one of these days...if you're lucky ;-)
I live in downtown Toronto just steps away from Chinatown and Kensington Market, which I absolutely adore for food shopping. Many people in the city like to go to St. Lawrence Market for whatever cache they feel it lends them. I hate it. It’s too over priced, the veggies are often over ripe or rotten and it’s embarrassing to see the St. Andrew Poultry truck pull up outside and make deliveries straight from…wait for it, their slaughterhouse in Kensington market! I hate the snob factor in food. I don’t know how many people have told me that they think Chinatown is dirty or that they don’t have the same quality of food up there. For everyday cooking this neighborhood is excellent for produce, meat and fish. Of course if you’re doing high-end cooking I think the best places to go are Meat on the Beach, The Healthy Butcher or Cumbraes but I work in the arts which basically means I get paid in crumbs so unless I’m doing a fab roast beef, steak or crown roast of lamb (or get a fat raise in salary) I’ll be frequenting my market regulars. This blog is meant to be a smorgasbord of flavours and techniques, some of which I might be trying for the first time, which is kinda why I’m documenting it. I’ve also started it because there appears to be a serious lack of Black food bloggers out here. I know we can throw down in the kitchen and know we eat hearty so why don’t we blog about it?You will find that a lot of my home cooking is in the Southern tradition because as a Black Nova Scotian our roots go through the Underground Railroad. We do not have a large Caribbean population like Toronto, in fact I hadn’t even experienced curry chicken until I came to Toronto. Down home, we like black-eyed peas in our rice not pigeon peas like Jamaicans, we eat pasta and we prefer our chicken fried not jerk. That said, since I’ve come here I appreciate Caribbean cooking a lot and have perfected many dishes that even true West Indians have given me props for. This blog is purely for my pleasure. I want to experiment with a wide range of cooking styles and explore the gamut of culinary subjects, some that aren’t always politically correct but fuck it. This is my blog. With an intro like that how could I not make this recipe my first: Pot Cookies comin’ up!