For the love of rice, Spam, Mormons, and other randomness

How hard can it be to make rice? My family in Brazil would be so disappointed if they ever read this. We eat rice practically every day and 99% of the time I am NOT satisfied with it. It alternates between taste, texture, and most importantly how close together each grain is. At times I convince myself that it’s not totally my fault, in this country they just don’t have the same kind of rice that we have in Brazil. This was easy when we lived in Hawaii with only Japanese rice around. In fact I got so lazy in Hawaii that I even used a rice cooker. So day in and day out I would eat this sticky rice with beans. It did not taste right at all. My husband loves sticky rice and it is way easier to feed to Enzo than long grain rice. When I went to Brazil for two months I coaxed my sister to make rice almost daily. She makes the best rice, I am so jealous! After my trip I returned to Hawaii with the strong conviction to make Brazilian style rice. I would spend more money trying to find the perfect rice. I never found it. I decided to make brown rice instead. Even if the taste wasn’t the same I at least would have the comfort of knowing that it was healthier. Of course it was hard every single time, and my husband hated it. Then, I met a kind soul who gave me a tip. Soak the brown rice for an hour before you cook it. It worked; the rice was now soft enough that we didn’t have stomach aches every night. In California I bought a big bag at Costco of white long grain rice. The price was just too good and I convinced myself that if it was cheap enough then I would force myself to eat it even if it tasted bad. Most days it turned out fine. Yes just fine. It’s rarely perfect but it’s decent enough. The Brazilian way to make rice is as follows.

• 2 cups rice
• 4 cups hot water
• ½ onion
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• salt to taste

-chop the onions very small and sauté in the hot oil. Then fry the rice in the same oil until it starts making a sizzling sound. Put in the water and salt. DO NOT mix the rice. Let it come to a boil and immediately turn the temperature down to low and cover the pot. Let it simmer for 15 minutes.

-Probably the most important step is that you also wash the rice before you cook it. I decided it’s more of a ritual than actual necessity and I rarely do it. But again I don’t feel like I even make good rice so maybe washing it does help.

Yesterday I decided to make rice before going to Church. It was 9:30 am and both my boys were tacking a nap. I couldn’t believe it. I went down to my kitchen and did all the preparation and decided to use the bathroom while the rice was coming to a boil. Of course I completely forgot about the rice. I was so excited the boys were asleep I decided to try and look nice for once before going to church and trimmed my nails, did my eyebrows, washed my hair…

I got out of the bathroom with the smoke alarm BLARING! My poor baby was so freaked out and my house smelled awful. It was a total fiasco. We had to open all the windows and doors even though it was freezing. When we got in the car to go to church I could still smell the smoke. It was all over us. We stank! My hair had this incredibly awful, awful smell. All our clothes, every part of us just smelled as if we had been running laps around a huge camp fire, so much for trying to look (or even smell) nice before going to church. I was so embarrassed. I even had a blind sister move away from me in Relief Society.

I listened to this funny documentary on PRX about Spam.

I grew up with Spam when we lived in Chicago. We had pasta with Spam sauce every Sunday. I'll leave that for another post. In the meantime listen to this short documentary. I haven't had Spam for a long time. I refused to eat it after years and years of Spam intake I just couldn't bear the thought of actually making the decision to eat Spam. I know people in Hawaii love it. If you have any recipes I'm willing to try it out again. I think.

This week I also listened to a hilarious episode of This Amercian Life. I really can't get enough, really. I loved the last segment. Babies Buying Babies. Found in the episode Matchmakers.

Babies Buying Babies. (A synopsis from the web)
Elna Baker reads her story about the time she worked at the giant toy store, FAO Schwartz. Her job was to sell these lifelike “newborns” which were displayed in a “nursery” inside the store. When the toys become the hot new present, they begin to fly off the shelves. When the white babies sell out, white parents are faced with a choice: will they go for an Asian, Latino, or African-American baby instead? What happens is so disturbing that Elna has a hard time even telling it.

the story was so funny and EXTREMELLY thought provoking. You should definitely listen to it. I was also pleasantly surprised that the storyteller, Elna Baker is a Mormon. (Hey Melissa and Nanci is she related to you guys?). You can also see some of her comics at the onion and will soon release her memoir "The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance" so stay tuned and check out Elna's Babies Buying Babies story.

What's cookin in Utah?

I left my Kitchen for a couple days and drove out to Utah with some friends to go to the Sundance film festival. As I mentioned in an earlier post our classmate Tad Nakamura's film Pilgrimage was selected for the Documentary Showcase of Sundance Film Festival shorts. We were super proud of him and his film Rocks! I had a wonderful time hanging out with new friends, old friends, and even family. My sis-in-law and her husband made me biscuits and gravy. I had never tasted this southern dish and loved it. I am a huge fan of biscuits and having warm gravy with sausage over it was the perfect combination.

Biscuits and Gravy Dittmer Style

• 1/4 lbs sausage roll
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• salt and black pepper to taste
• warm biscuits

Gravy- according to Tony
crumble and cook sausage in large skillet over medium heat until browned. Stir in flour until dissolved. Gradually stir in milk. Cook gravy until thick and bubbly. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot over biscuits.
Sienna was in charge of the biscuits. I thought they tasted great but she said she used a recipe that she didn't really like. So I'll just put my favorite recipe here.
Betty Crocker's Baking Powder Biscuits

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shortening (Sienna used butter in hers, much healthier!)
• 3/4 cup milk
  

1. heat oven to 450 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Cut shortening crisscrossing 2 knives (I'm too cheap and don't have pastry blender) until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk until dough leaves side of bowl.
2. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead lightly 10 times. Roll or pat 1/2 inch think. Cut with floured 2 to 2 1/4-inches round cutter. (in other words a glass cup). Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart for crusty sides, touching for soft sides.
3. bake 10- 12 min or until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm

Tony said his sister in Oklahoma buys the ready made biscuits and just makes the gravy. The gravy was definitely the novelty for me so if making biscuits seems too hard try the already made stuff in the supermarket and make the gravy!
Documenting Through Picture
Unfortunetley the photographer in the group didn't come. I'm taking a digital photo class this quarter and really hope to improve some (any) techniques. Here are some pictures I took of the trip keeping the theme of food in mind.

Sundance and Slamdance film Festival



the cool thing about these festivals is that not only do you get to watch interesting films but the directors are usually there for a Q+A. My favorite film was "My Mother's Garden"
I really hope it gets distribution. It's about a documentary about a mother who has compulsive hoarding disorder and her daughter (the film maker) trying to help her. It was beautifully done. Both the mom and the daughter were there for the Q+A and it made the whole experience so much more personal. Enjoy the trailer.

Cafe Rio Pork and Cilantro Lime Dressing

When we moved from Hawaii to Santa Cruz we didn't have any kitchen appliances with us. We had no plates, not even a table, you get the picture. My friend suggested we try to get stuff on http://www.freecycle.org/. I had never heard about it but live by the word free so I decided to check it out. It soon became a love relationship and I even produced a documentary about it which you can hear by clicking at the audio icon to your right. My favorite kitchen item that I received was a crock pot. A shout out to the lady who gave us the crock pot, thank you! So in honor of freecycle here is a recipe I made in my crock pot.

Recipe time!
I love my crock pot almost as much as I love my kitchenaid mixer. I can throw something in the pot and leave it over night and the next day I have an awesome meal, how can you not love it. And... using a slow cooker saves energy. It's more efficient than using a stove top. It's the most energy efficient appliance in your kitchen. You can calculate how much energy all your home appliances use at this site
http://duke-energy.apogee.net/homesuite/calcs/appcalc/default.aspx
At my house it costs me 10 cents if I run the slow cooker on low for 10-12 hours. That's pretty good in my opinion. It's way, way, way more efficient than your oven. Sure it takes longer but nothing beats the taste of meat in a slow cooker and you just need to plan ahead. Enough preaching, here is the recipe. Thanks to Peggy for sharing this with me and the rest of the playgroup.


Cafe Rio pork

• 3-4 lbs pork butt (pork roast)
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup brown sugar

Throw it all in the crock pot and leave on low for 12 hours. Then shred the meat in the pot. Serve with the Cafe Rio cilantro lime dressing. We'll have it today for lunch on tortillas with lettuce, tomatoes and cheese.
here is the Cafe Rio cilantro lime dressing recipe

• 1 1/3 cups sour cream
• 3/4 cup mayo1 bunch of cilantro (I put stems in also)
• 1 pkg ranch dressing mix (dry)
• 4 tbsp salsa verde (green salsa)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/8 tsp. Tabasco sauce
• juice of one lime (I also add the grind of that lime)
• Mix together in blender and that's it!

Listen To This!

This week I listened to another Hidden Kitchen's documentary. I am amazed at the cool topics they address. In honor of reducing our waste listen to Deep-Fried Fuel: A Biodiesel Kitchen Vision . At a truck stop between Dallas and Waco, a little revolution has begun. Truckers at Carl's Corner fill up on biodiesel named after singer Willie Nelson. The fuel is made from farm crops and recycled restaurant grease. Just click on the picture below and it will direct you to the page where you can listen to it.

White Chocolate Rosemary Ganach

Starting today our Holiday break is over. So sad! Yesterday to mourn I decided to make one last holidayish dinner and invited some friends over so that it felt like a party. I made an Asian pear strudel from some canned Asian pears Christian received from Mariko as a Christmas present. I was trying to stick with the holiday theme and the present seemed to fit, that's how I sold it to him anyway. The best part was the topping. I made a white chocolate rosemary ganach. Oh my gosh if you LOVE white chocolate and rosemary as I do you might want to always have this in your fridge. Here is the super easy recipe.

Ingredients
3/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup fresh rosemary (pack it down in the cup)
8 ounces white chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Simple steps that will make your house smell so good and your mouth salivate like there is no tomorrow!
1- Bring the rosemary and heavy cream to a boil. take it out of the stove top and let it stand for 15 minutes.
2- Bring to a second boil and then drain the heavy cream.
3- Place the white chocolate in a medium sized bowl.
4-Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate and let it stand for 3 minutes.
5- Add the butter
5- whisk the mixture. It should be pretty creamy.
6- Serve chilled. (I did but some people prefer it warm)

This is how I made the recipe. You can find the actual recipe in this book.


If you live in the Santa Cruz area you can get it from the library, that is, after I return it. If you don't live in the area I would still check your library. I've realized that libraries have lots of cookbooks. In my effort to reduce I've started checking out more books from the library instead of purchasing them.

Shopping List

The beginning of the month means that I go to an ATM get a specific amount of cash (our food budget money) and leave it in an envelope and try very hard to just use that money. I always get excited and convince myself that this time I'm going to buy something different. Today I went to COSTCO and Trader Joe's and I bought the same things I usually buy. We got some more flour. We go through a 50 lbs bag every 4 months. We go through a 10lbs bag of onions every month. We still have plenty pinto beans and rice. I got a COSTCO sized bag last month of garlic and they are all mushy now. I hate when food gets wasted. Maybe that is why I am scared of buying something different because I can't use it all up or if I don't like it then it'll get wasted. Any suggestions on a favorite food item I should try?

The Birthday cake.

Christian wanted a birthday cake. When I asked him what kind he said chocolate. So I made a chocolate cake with chocolate filling, brigadeiro (Brazilian fudge) on top and I put chocolate chunks on top of that to decorate. Most of my cakes look awful but taste fine. This one looked good but was kind of funky. I decided to add raspberries to the filling because we had some in our fridge and I thought it help the taste. It did nothing for the taste and made the texture totally grainy because of the seeds. The other downside was that I made the brigadeiro (I'll post a recipe later) on the same pan as I made the filling. Of course I didn't wash the pan out first because I figured it was chocolate and wouldn't make a difference but it did. The brigadeiro tasted kind of burned and never reached the consistency that I wanted. Before the cake we had a BBQ so people were too stuffed with steak and other savory things that no one seemed to mind the bad cake too much

Fried Bananas

If I could change anything about my body it would be a digestive system that could tolerate lactose! We went to a Thai restaurant for New Years eve and I ate fried banana with ice-cream. I feel totally sick. I haven't had this much ice-cream (maybe 4 spoon fulls) for years. I thought I would live it up on the last day of the year. Ouch!

It looks good huh?

The bananas were fantastic. I'm going to try and make it at home. Next time I'll use tofrutti or something boring like that.

After checking out a few recipes this one looks the best. I got it from the All Recipes website.

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 1/4 cups water
10 bananas
3 cups oil for frying

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, mix rice flour, tapioca, sugar, salt and coconut. Stir in water, a little at a time, and mix to form a thick batter.
Peel the bananas and cut each lengthwise into 3 or 4 pieces. Heat oil in deep-fryer or deep wok to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Completely coat each banana slice in batter, then fry in hot oil until golden. Drain on paper towels. Serve at once.