What is your favorite kitchen condiment or seasoning? (not including salt or pepper.)
Do you favor one particular style of cuisine?
I was talking with my mother about her childhood the other day. She was born in the 40's. She said that the availability of Italian food was a new thing when she was a kid. Pizza didn't show up until she was a teenager. I can't imagine a world without pizza, or chinese, or sushi. It just got me thinking about what a global food world we live in today. I am very thankful for all of the fantastic ingredients I have to work with.
My 4 must have ingredients are parmesan cheese, grainy mustard, toasted sesame oil, and tarragon.
My cooking style is very pan-global compared to my mother's upbringing. We have Italian, Chinese, Mexican, and Japanese food fairly often. I like Mexican the most lately, but it changes from time to time.
I am often shocked at the number of foods I eat now that I did not grow up on. Many of the foods I eat often now, I only first tasted in the past 10-15 years or so.
And I grew up on Hamburger Helper at home and kidneys and root vegs at my grandmothers. I still eat root vegs... but not the other.
THIS WEEK favorites
Chili Bean Sauce (Iz... toban djan) soy sauce vinegar
Next week, it might be Thai Green Curry fish sauce
and next September, it might be mayo, mustard and catsup.
herbes de provence garlic paprika ginger chili powder cinnamon
Others include: olive oil, white wine vinegar, ketchup, low-fat mayo (in moderation). I almost never season with salt because there's enough sodium in all kinds of unexpected places.
****************** “The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.”
tapatio low sodium soy balsamic vinegar chinese hot chili sauce chinese hot msutard
Goals: 1. Stop thinking like a chronic dieter and start living to inspire. 2. HALT (hungry, anxious, lonely, tired) I will stop and tune in with myself should I experience these things, and respond with something healthy. 3. One word 2008: courage 4. Eat slow and mindfully.
Sadly, we don't have a Penzey's. As an even trade-off for him attending a (what I thought was) ridiculously expensive football playoff game, I got to order the same amount from the Penzey's catalog, as all my previous orders had been one or two bottles and gifts. I got the big, humongous, stock-your-kitchen set AND the big, humongous baking set.
Bavarian didn't come in it. But now I'm intrigued, and may place that on my "But now I need..." list. Thank you!
Challenge Goals: *10 minutes of unplanned exercise five times a week *Gym time twice a week *Socialize at least once every two weeks.
I grew up in an Italian household and my cooking still tends to be mostly Northern Italian in flavor. Simple preparations, fresh ingredients, lots of fish, etc...
My must have seasonings are rosemary and basil.
Out of our beliefs are born deeds; out of our deeds we form habits; out of our habits grows our character; and on our character we build our destiny.
I love Penzeys. There is one about 2 miles from me. I need to make a trip for some essentials. Maybe I will do that Saturday. I try to wait until I need 3 or 4 things. I am always half way tempted to get those items at the grocery, but Penzey's is soo much better that it's worth the wait.
Have you tried their Bavarian Seasoning? It is one of my absolute favorites, along with their sweet curry. I suppose I should have put those on my must have list too. I love the flavor of curry, but I almost never make acutal curries. I use it on popcorn, in tuna salad, as a seasoning on pork or chicken... yum.
Ooh, bacon is another one of my very favorites, but I tend to think of it more as an ingredient rather than a condiment. Maybe that's part of my problem...
Chili seasoning (not ground up chile peppers, but the mix of seasonings that one would put in chili). A must for enchiladas, chicken, fish, beef, vegetables...well, I was weaned on salsa and Tex-Mex food. "Comfort" food, when I cook it, tends to have smoky, spicy flavors, not necessarily creamy, heavy stuff.
Current favorite example: cut up & cook one slice of bacon in a skillet. Pull out the bacon pieces, drop in catfish fillets that have been covered in a cornmeal/chili seasoning coating. Cook 5-7 minutes per side. Put bacon on top of green beans.
I also really, really, really like cinnamon. I'll sprinkle a little bit on fruit, in sweet dishes, and on savory dishes where it's appropriate (like Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and Central/South American dishes...). Since my Penzey's delivery, I have TWO kinds of cinnamon, which is exciting in a way that borders on unhealthy. A recipe I used yesterday called for cinnamon...so I spent a good five minutes sniffing the two cinnamons and sniffing the other spices so I could use the one I thought would taste better.
Man, I LOVE cooking. And thinking about it while scrubbing the typos from a 10,000+ entry database will seriously help the rest of this miserable, typo-filled afternoon. Thank you!
Challenge Goals: *10 minutes of unplanned exercise five times a week *Gym time twice a week *Socialize at least once every two weeks.
