Every time I turn around, my boyfriend, Chris, seems to be chomping on something or another…but he must have the metabolism of a gerbil…because the boy never gains a pound, and is the skinniest boy alive I think.
Amazingly though, with all his eating, he is not really all that into food. In fact, he is down right food apathetic. He eats to survive…because his body requires it. Dinner time is matter of fact…it doesn’t matter to him whether he is eating a peanut butter sandwich or a chicken dinner I’ve spent the entire day cooking…which is kind of why I haven’t really cooked for him much during our year of dating. It seems a waste of time and energy, to prepare something amazing, when the boy could be just as happy eating a frozen pizza. (hee).
Which means, we tend to eat out. A lot. (Too much).
We have our old standbys…(El Nibble Nook…Siam Spicy…etc)…but once in a while, I get him to bust out and try something new with me.
The other evening, we went to a little restaurant just a few miles from his house. It’s in a little strip mall in West Bloomfield, tucked away.
But don’t be fooled by the strip mall exterior. This restuarant served me one of the best (if not THEE best) piece of tuna I have ever eaten. (the photo is from my phone camera, and doesn’t do it justice). It was a sashimi grade cut of tuna steak…seasoned with a smoky, peppery concoction, and seared to perfection. It was then sliced into strips, and served rare with a side of sushi rice and some sautéed bok choy, and a soy-based dipping sauce that was the perfect pairing. The tuna was literally…LIKE BUTTA, as they say. And as much as I tried, I could not help myself from eating the entire thing. (It was huge!)
Chris ordered the old standby of General Tso’s Chicken. It was the crispiest coated chicken ever, (just how I like it), with a juicy tender morsel of chicken inside. It was coated with a sweet (but not too sweet) sauce, with just the right amount of seasoning and heat, and a side of broccoli. It wasn’t too saucy, so you could actually taste the chicken…and not drown in the sauce.
We also enjoyed salads with Wasabi dressing. A little spicy for my taste…but very good if you like it hot.
The dessert was disappointing. We had the chocolate lava cake, which was a luke-warm gooey mess. More like chocolate pudding, instead of a cake with a molten center. Not the best of endings, but that tuna was so good, I can easily overlook the dessert.
I’ll definitely be going back to the Eurasian Grill very soon, and bringing all my foodie friends to enjoy it with me!
January 16th, 2008
I have been friends with my friend, Lisa, since we were twelve years old, and twenty-five years later, we are still best friends.
She knows every single quirk, habit (annoying and comical), every story, every secret. She is my memory when I can’t remember. And to this day, she is the one person that knows me, inside and out more than any other person. That’s just how it is.
Anyway…Lisa of course knows my love of treats, and while she has no inclination towards the sweet side of things herself…she always helps me to indulge in mine. (Is this an evil plot to fatten me up?) Whether it’s keeping out a bowl of hershey kisses for me, or sending me the latest cookie recipe…she’s got my back when it comes to indulging my sweet tooth.
One day a couple years ago, I was feeling down, and I dropped by her house for one thing or another. I walked into the kitchen to see her hovering over a cookie sheet filled with what I can only describe as foodie crack. When I asked her what she was making, she let out a maniacal laugh, which made me instantly crack up laughing, and as per usual when I’m with Lisa, the sad mood dissipated.
What she was hovering over, was a simple mixture of puffed corn and sugar essentially, but it was evil in that simplicity. Lisa was making me crack corn. It was ridiculously addictive…and whenever I’m feeling super down, I bust out this recipe and crack up laughing at the memory of Lisa’s evil laugh, as she knew the true nature of the treat which she prepared.
Crack Corn
Recipe from Lisa Pomaranski
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 lb butter (2 sticks, unsalted)
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 tspn baking soda
1 bag (8oz) corn pops (by Better Made).
RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS:
Melt butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar in 2 qt. saucepan
Remove from heat and add baking soda stirring constantly, or syrup will spill over pot.
Pour syrup over corn pops that have been emptied in large bowl.
Mix well until all pops are coated.
Spread corn pops on jelly roll pan, and bake in 250 degree oven for 45 minutes or until lightly golden, tossing every 15 minutes
Be careful to check on them often so they don’t burn
January 16th, 2008
Last year, I remember writing something interesting on my myspace blog at the beginning of last year…and it’s pretty relevent…
“i decided NOT to eat the good luck beans. (sorry grama dee). but yes it’s true…i BOYCOTTED THE BEANS this year. every year i religiously eat the damn good luck beans. and every year life gets a little bit worse. so to hell with the beans in 2007.
also, i was told by my best friend’s aunt today, that whatever i do today, i’ll spend the year doing…SO…i made sure i got out of bed…showered…cleaned the house…put away the distractions…and spent time with my dear friend. and did not worry about work. so let’s hope that this is a year full of getting out of bed, showering, keeping things clean, avoiding the distractions, spending time with dear friends, and not worrying about work.
resolutions have been made.
the journey of 2007 begins.
it’s going to an amazing one.
i just know it.
i also had a dream that i would meet my soulmate this year.
so that would be pretty cool if that really happens.
alright, off to bed. (that’s another resolution…end the day before a new one starts…it’s 11:57pm and i’ve only got three minutes before i turn into a pumpkin…)
off i go.
happy new year, dear friends.”
So, I think that avoiding Grama Dee’s good luck beans, turned out pretty well for me. 2007 was indeed an amazing year. It was a year of change, and all of it was great. I quit my job in February, and started my new one in March. It’s been a really good change for me. I now have time to LIVE, not just work.
I also…believe it or not…met my soulmate this year (if you believe in that sort of thing). Christopher and I have been going strong for a year now, and being with him gets more amazing every day.
So since those two resolutions from 2007 were miraculously met…
I decided to make some new ones for 2008.
One of them being to write in this blog much more often. So we’ll see how it goes…
Happy New Year, Friends.
Here’s to a great 2008!!!
January 16th, 2008
Among the many favorite Syrian comfort foods of mine, is a dish called Lubi Lu. It’s actual name is just Lubi…but my Grama Sanom used to call it Lubi Lu, I think to just make the name funnier.
Lubi Lu is an extremely simple dish to make, but SO flavorful and colorful. It’s a beautiful, warm, comforting dish to prepare on a cold, snowy Sunday just like today.
Essentially all Lubi is, is a stew made up of fresh green beans, tomatoes, green pepper, onion, and pork butt. It is typically eaten over rice, but is very good just eaten right out of a bowl.
There is a very important trick that my Grama Sanom taught my mother, and my mother taught me, and it applies to this recipe as well as any stew. And that secret trick is that when you add the liquid to simmer the meat, (whether it be water, or broth, or wine, etc) it must be boiling before adding it to the browned meat. The result will be meat that is extremely tender and melts in your mouth, as opposed to one that is chewy and tough.
Alright…so on to the recipe…
SYRIAN LUBI LU and RICE
Recipe from my mom, Gerri Foxworthy
INGREDIENTS:
3-4 lb lean pork butt roast (aka pork shoulder, can also use pork loin)
1 onion, chopped into 1/4″ dice
1 green pepper, chopped into 1/4″ dice
3 lb fresh cut green beans, ends trimmed, snapped in half
1 large 28 oz. can diced tomatoes in juices
1 small 6 oz. can tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
Boiling water to cover pork and green beans
INSTRUCTIONS:
(see flickr photo set for visual instructions here)
- Cube pork into 3/4 inch cubes, season with salt and pepper and brown meat in a little vegetable oil in dutch over or similar pot
- Add enough boiling water to cover bottom of pan, but do not completely cover meat with it.
- Cover pot and simmer about 30 minutes, or until meat is tender
- Add onion and green pepper, stir.
- Add green beans, stir.
- Add tomatoes and tomato paste, stir.
- Add enough boiling water to almost cover beans, stir.
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Cover pot and simmer until beans are very tender (about 45 minutes)
- Serve over syrian rice
INGREDIENTS FOR RICE:
4 Tbsp butter, divided
1/4 cup orzo
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 cups rice
4 1/2 cups boiling water
Salt to taste
RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS FOR RICE:
- Melt 2 Tbsp butter in 3 quart saucepan
- Add orzo and pine nuts and saute over medium high heat until lightly browned
- Add rice to orzo mixture and stir until butter coats the rice
- Add boiling water to rice
- Season with salt (I usually use a teaspoon)
- Reduce heat to medium low, cover pot, and let rice cook for 20 minutes
- Remove lid, add last two tablespoons of butter, fluff rice with fork and cover again til butter melts
- Serve with Lubi Lu
Chef’s Notes:
Keep a separate pot of water boiling for both the Lubi and Rice before you begin your cooking, that way you won’t forget!
November 19th, 2006
When I was a girl, we used to spend Easter mornings at my Syrian grandparents house. It is one of those family traditions that gets seared into your brain, and the sounds, smells and memories of it, never EVER go away.
My memories of these Easter mornings (although there were sadly too few of them), were of warm baked easter bread, hunks of blue cheese, olives, and the cracking of the eggs, a Syrian tradition called what i can only spell as “ta-hoshing”.
The art of “ta-hosh” is where one person would tightly hold a festively dyed boiled egg in their hand while the other person would very lightly tap the other person’s egg with the top of theirs, trying to crack their opponent’s egg before their own. If one egg got cracked, the eggs were flipped, and the game would continue. The person who cracked both sides of your egg first, got to keep your egg.
My jiddu (grandfather in Syrian) was very highly skilled at the art of the tahosh and he would steal all my eggs within moments of the game beginning.
I was always amazed at the precision and consistency of his skills, until one Easter sunday…I learned his secret. It was all in the way one holds the egg. I never mastered his consistency, but eventually…as i grew older, I managed to steal a few of his eggs before all was said and done.
And for those among us, that felt the need to play dirty at it…my grama had secretly created some false eggs, made from ceramic, that would somehow always end up circulating the room. However, after being burned by this prank before, I quickly learned to always check for the validity of my opponents eggs before the tahosh began.
After the games had simmered down, and everyone had had their fill of the tahoshing…there would be trays of syrian easter bread, warm from the oven, smothered in butter or jam, eaten with a hunk of pungent blue cheese and a peeled hard-boiled egg with salt.
The house was always filled with so many people, as my family on my mom’s side is huge. Made up of literally swarms of brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins cousins, grand children, great-grandchidren, and yes…even great-great grandchidren. The hum and buzz of the activity, and the smells of this food permeating my grandparents cozy home…while I played and laughed and ate, those memories? Will remain with me forever. never to escape.
But my jiddu died when I was 11 years old. My grama, Mary, eight years later. And with my jiddu’s passing, so passed our family gatherings and much of our traditions. We tried to keep it up for a while, when my grama was still alive…but the family was growing larger, and moving farther apart, children were growing up and moving on. It’s so sad, but that’s pretty much how it happened. How the traditions I loved so much, got lost. But only for a while!
When I was old enough, and was missing these times spent with my grandparents, I started to seek out the things that reminded me of our time together. I found that a lot of my memories could be rekindled through food. And so I sought them out. These family recipes. Most of them were well-hidden and tightly kept to the dwindling few who could still remember them. These recipes were never written down. They were just done. Remembered like family folk lore, passed from generation to generation.
But sometimes…things get lost. And that’s what started happening to my Syrian family recipes. And to prevent that, I started having my mom help me gather up all her own memories and those of her siblings and aunts, and cousins, and nieces and nephews…and I started to gather them up, one by one. Some of them varied slightly from what I remember my grama’s tasting like, and so I would alter, and test, and taste, and try again and again…until I got them as close as possible to what I remembered.
This recipe came to me from my Uncle. And now, my grama’s easter bread (pronounced ah-das) has been written down into the vault.
And so it is with that, that I share it with you here. So that it never gets lost again. And so that it becomes part of new traditions, for anyone who wishes to make them. I hope you enjoy this bread.
SYRIAN EASTER BREAD
INGREDIENTS:
6 cups flour
1 1/2 TB sugar
2 Tsp Salt
12 oz can of evaporated milk
1 pkg rapid rise yeast (2 tsp)
1 TB. ground mahleb (can get from middle eastern markets)
2 sticks of butter
RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS:
- Dissolve yeast into 1/4 cup warm water and 1 tsp of sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes until bubbly and foamy
- Melt butter in sauce pan on low heat until just melted. Remove from heat and add evaporated milk to pan and stir. Add yeast mixture into the milk/butter mixture and stir to combine.
- Combine all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry, and knead well (by hand, or with dough hook in kitchen-aid mixer). Cover with wax paper and let rest 15 minutes.
- Knead again and then let rise until double in size. (I usually turn my oven on 200 for 2 minutes, shut it off and then put my dough in the warm oven to rise).
- Divide dough in half and make into two equal balls. Let dough rise again.
- When the balls have doubled, roll out each ball into a circle to about 1/2 inch thick
- Poke bread dough all over with a fork, or with a bread stamp (found at middle eastern markets)
- Brush with melted butter
- Bake at 350-375º for 20 minutes or until golden. (I let mine bake for 10 minutes on the bottom rack, and then move up to the middle rack for the last 10 minutes of baking)
- Remove from oven and brush with a layer of melted butter
Chef’s Notes:
This bread is great with butter and jam.
To reheat, pop in microwave for about 10 seconds.
Traditionally, in my family, we ate this bread on easter day with blue cheese, olives, and hard-boiled eggs.
July 30th, 2006
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