hominy. who knew?

I like hominy. I make chili with hominy. I made chili for a friend with hominy and she and her husband weren't sure what it was. She thought it was potatoes, he thought garbanzo beans. Both wrong, it was hominy. When I told her what it was, I started to wonder, what exactly is hominy?

Wikipedia has demystified the mysterious mystery that is this odd food:

"Hominy or nixtamal is dried maize (corn) kernels which have been treated with an alkali. The traditional U.S. version involves soaking dried corn in lye-water (sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide solution), traditionally derived from wood ash, until the hulls are removed. Mexican recipes describe a preparation process consisting primarily of cooking in lime-water (calcium hydroxide). In either case, the process is called nixtamalization, and removes the germ and the hard outer hull from the kernels, making them more palatable, easier to digest, and easier to process.

The earliest known usage of nixtamalization was in what is present-day Guatemala around 1500–1200 BC."

After reading this, I'm a bit word about consuming the stuff. It's SO good and I love it in my chili and posole, but do I really want to eat kernels of corn that have soaked in sodium hydroxide? Eh, screw it, I'm sure I've eaten things in my life that were much more harmful (such as starfish).

This brings about the bigger question...are corn nuts fried/over processed hominy? They kind of look like it. I'll try to find the answer to that one!

Live on yee hominy, live on!

a love affair with a guy named joe, trader joe

Dear Trader Joes,

I want to let you know that I love you. Long ago, I didn't know you. Then I met you and I thought you were really cool, like a new friend. Now I want you to know that I really, really love and plan to spend the rest of my days with you. I consulted my lawyer and we do need to sign a pre-nup, though. Don't take it personally! Oh, and I'm already married and don't plan on changing that. But don't get down; I want to tell you why I love you so much.

You provide me with some of my favorite food, such as:

Indian Fare Carrot, Lentil and Onion Soup
Spicy Hummus, Garlic Hummus, and Regular Hummus (please get rid of your stepsister Tomato Basil Hummus)
Indian Fare Dahl Makhani
Thai Style Massaman Chicken (in the freezer section)
Lime popsicles
Strawberry Mochi
Crumbled Bleu Cheese
Vegetable Masala Burgers
Beets in a bag
Cheap ass bananas
Cheap ass navel oranges
Pomegranate seeds
Cippolino Onions..peeled. You do love me too, don't you!
Pretzel Slims
Baked Cheese Crunchies
Israeli Couscous
Full Sail Ale
Yogurt Chive Dip
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Low-fat String Cheese
Tandoori Naan
Whole Grain English Muffins
Toasty-O's
Blueberry Mango Bran Muffins
Cheap brown eggs
Almond Milk (vanilla flavored)
Unsweetened applesauce

And the list will go on as I restock my refrigerator and pantry with your bountiful goodness.

Say you love me too!

married girls club - january installment

Julie, Allison, Ellen, and I (sans Jamie due to food poisoning) got together for our monthly, "Married Girls Club" dinner. Our male counterparts like to call it something else, but we won't mention that name. Anywho, Julie hosted us this time at her house. Ben was sequestered to the upstairs while we enjoyed each other's company. I brought an appetizer...bruschetta of sorts. Thin slice of pugiliese bread, with a thin layer of pesto, diced tomatoes and basil in olive oil, balsamic, s&p, and garlic, and a thin slice of burrata on top. In the oven to melt the burrata and toast the bread then straight to the table for consumption. Ellen brought a salad...spinach with fresh mandarins from her friend's tree, pecans, and a balsamic vinaigrette. Delightful. Allison brought a bottle of Savannah Chenelle Syrah (God bless you my friend!) and Julie made a wonderful entree of braised chicken with chick peas and a tomato apricot sauce all over couscous. The flavors were delightful and I believe the recipe can be found in the Jan or Feb issue of Sunset. For dessert, Julie made our favorite No Pudge! brownies and ice cream. Love, love, love the No Pudge mix. You can buy it at Trader Joe's and some major grocery stores. You simply add non-fat plain or vanilla yogurt and they come out rich, fluffy, and positively delightful. Get some!

This gathering was mixed with a bit of emotion as there have been some recent losses for a couple of the girls, but we all agreed that we needed a night together to remember what happiness is all about. I am eternally grateful for my friendship with these wonderful, strong, beautiful women. Most of us have our husbands to thank for bringing us all together...thank you husbands!

MGC is at my house next month. We're keeping it casual...ordering pizza and playing Mexican Train. Choo-choo!

los gatos cafe and spike

what a fine, fine day Saturday was (until I got a raging headache at the end of it). A bit dark due to the massive rain clouds, but absolutely fine indeed. Stephanie, my good friend and ex-city roommate was kind enough to drive down the the burbs today to cruise Los Gatos. Thank you so much for coming to visit Spike!

I wasn't too sure where to go for brunch since I don't usually partake in the brunch scene. Let's talk about that for a second. Why don't I partake in the brunch scene? I love brunch. I think it's positively the best meal of the day. You get to eat an unnatural amount of food before noon and not feel bad about it because a) you won't eat again until dinner, and b) it's one feeding instead of two. So why don't I brunch more often? Well, life usually gets going a little too fast on the weekends for it. Note to self: brunch more often.


Back to the story. I went to the ever-popular resource, yelp, to do some brunch research in Los Gatos. Los Gatos Cafe was the first thing that popped up and next to Southern Kitchen, had the highest rating. The choice was easy! We got there around 11:30am. I was worried about a line, because the yelpers said it could be gnarly, but we only waited about 5 minutes. Right at the top of the menu was the Souffle Omelet section with every imaginable combination of meat, veggies, cheese, etc. So of course, what did I do? I made my own omelet with the usual...egg whites, ham, onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers. Stephanie ordered the crabcakes benedict. Both dishes came with the most amazing potatoes ever. They were like home potatoes, you know, chunks of potatoes with onions and sometimes peppers, but they went the extra mile and smashed them a bit so they melded together and had a delicious crusty crispyness to them. AND they were seasoned perfectly. It was like the home potato and the hash brown fell in love, got married and made a beautiful potato baby. My omelet also came with toast or a baked good. Normally I'd go for whole wheat toast, dry, but going back to the yelpers again, I opted for the raspberry coffee cake...a very wise choice and I made Stephanie eat half. The coffee cake came with a side of butter, but I think I'd point and stare at anyone who put the butter anywhere near the coffee cake. It was amazingly moist and fluffy and light. Don't drown that out with butter people. In the words of GOB from Arrested Development, "Come on!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIT5sFhw4sU (Note: Youtube video has nothing to do with butter, this blog, or LG Cafe. It's just GOB doing the Chicken)

Wrapping up LG Cafe, I'd give it two thumbs up. The food was wonderful, the service was excellent and the price was manageable ($10 for an omelet). Side note, these folks own the Iron Skillet closer to our house. It's also bigger and the menu's exactly the same. I think next time I'll try that location. Perhaps I could run there and wobble back home with my omelet baby.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/los-gatos-cafe-los-gatos

After brunch, Stephanie and I did some window shopping on Santa Cruz Ave. We went to Williams-Sonoma, where thanks to her holiday work at Pottery Barn she still gets 40% at WS (owned by the same company). I replenished my whole pepper blend for my grinder and picked up some Lulu Fig & Meyer Lemon Balsamic Vinegar. I love this stuff...pour it straight on to a salad. No oil or additional work needed. Stephanie likes to marinade chicken in it. Maybe I'll try that. Back to the 5 pepper blend, I went a little OCD on it. I didn't notice that it had whole white pepper in it I hate white pepper almost as much as salmon and goat cheese. It tastes like sweaty horse to me and I can smell it in any dish. Ruins the whole thing. I don't actually know what sweaty horse tastes like, I just know the smell, so I can imagine the taste is quite similar. That's disgusting, sorry. When I got home, I poured the entire jar out onto a cookie sheet and proceeded to pull every white pepper out. It took about 45 minutes. Yes, I'm insane. Stephanie doesn't know it yet, but she'll be getting them in the mail with a thank you note. Back to WS --- Stephanie picked up some Henckels...a pairing knife, utility knife, and a chef's knife. My girl's all growns up, I'm so proud of her purchase. People, do yourselves a favor and get some good knives! We poked our head around Banana and I was shocked at the discounts. They were Old Navy prices, it was insane. It kind of made me sad for BR. Oh, and how can I forget, we went into Domus where sitting on a pedestal right as we walked in were funnel cake makers. Stephanie, being from Oklahoma and a funnel cake aficionado melted at the sight of the display and quickly made a purchase. You can take the girl out of Oklahoma, but you can't take Oklahoma out of the girl!

Thanks for a simply marvelous day Stephanie! Special thanks as well to LG Cafe, yelp, Domus, WS, Hank & Eli for being purr babies for Stephanie, Kevin and Lew for mounting the flat screen to the wall while we were out playing, and Lucy for showing Stephanie her fumanchu beard.

shoot, hummus

I just dropped Trader Joe's Spicy Hummus on my pants. That's precious goods man! Yes, this is a plug for Trader Joe's Spicy Hummus and their regular hummus. Sister likes their tomato basil hummus, but I'm not so much a fan. Now that's just weird. I'd gladly eat a dish or fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, and garbanzo beans, but won't touch the stuff when it's blended together sitting on a cracker? How do you explain that one?

let's start with a laugh, shall we?

Let's start this blog off right --- with a starter of whit, an entree of humor, and a double helping of dry sarcasm to finish the meal. Urban Dictionary has so eloquently defined the "foodie."

1. foodie
A person that spends a keen amount of attention and energy on knowing the ingredients of food, the proper preparation of food, and finds great enjoyment in top-notch ingredients and exemplary preparation. A foodie is not necessarily a food snob, only enjoying delicacies and/or food items difficult to obtain and/or expensive foods; though, that is a variety of foodie.

Because he was a foodie, he liked to collect menus from restaurants which prepared food he enjoyed.

2. Foodie
A fat kid pretentious enough to think up a special word to describe their desperate longing for anything to shove down their face. They'll often claim to be "food enthusiasts" or to have "refined tastes," but they're usually lying.

"I got tired of telling people I had a 'glandular problem,' so I decided to start calling myself a foodie instead. It frees me of those negative connotations and leaves me to be become as lardy as I see fit."

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=foodie