omg.. i made it..

actually that title is perfect for this blog. you just wouldn't believe. it all started with developing a summer grilled corn salad... side dish ideas.. anyhow.. i started to make a dressing.. mind just wandering about and just adding stuff.. then i started to finally think it was coming together and then i taste. and o my o my... i made the dressing just like my favorite dressing at Houston's. i think it goes on their grilled chicken salad.. but the dressing is just amazing.. makes you just want to drink it up.. and when i used to frequent that spot i would.. 

anyhow i made the dressing and was jumping for joy. sadly no one in the nearest 100 miles would know what i was jumping about. but that was really excited.. 

then part deux .. pastry.. i decide to make beignets... i remember having them when i was little with my grampa.. which for a Vietnam resident for much of his Chinese heritage, the french colonialism gave us some great treats. and aside from my favorite banh mi sandwiches i love the beignets with french drip coffee... here would be a great time to say i might be a bit favoring towards the french due to my childhood favorites have direct influence from them via Vietnamese family. 

sadly no pictures of this great moment of mine. but the fact that i can just whip those out at the parties now is just a great thing as well... yay. 

food is suffereing and we did it.

my summer reading so far has consisted of only art history books and food books. As well as all the current issues on food around the world. Keeping up to date with the many new food trends is really hard but what is even harder to deal with is the war on food that is occurring right now in our world. prices of food has sky rocketed in the last year and the food isn't even real!!

organic foods. i encourage all people to buy when they can the best quality of food. you don't want to be putting junk into your body. it is so easy to drive up to some place order something that taste okay for the moment and then the long haul comes and you're sick. it happens to me every time i go to the golden arches. i actually get a bit sick. cramping in the tummy. i guess it could be mental. but i like to think i eat pretty good. i like to make most of my food and of course dine out as often as my purse allows but i take my food seriously. i see how people shop at the store. i see the prices take over their ability to let their own common sense decide whether the food they are about to buy good for their bodies... but i guess the pocket book does have a large affect on how people consume. is it just that though? or can it be lack of knowledge/time/skill? I really don't know, but I'm going to find a way to help.

my sister told me the other day that out mother had instructed her to go out and store up on rice. and then i spoke to my mother asking her about it and she told me that people were trying to Asians how to use more potatoes in their diet instead of rice... and after hearing that i was a bit upset. the rice shortage is because of horrible weather in the growing regions that are probably a result of the global warming and weird weather.


so we're to blame for everything. We drive the cars/planes/ships for our own materialistic morals, we mess up the ozone/environment/air/pollute/seas and then that carries onto the food/farms/animals and when we consume we get cancer/allergies.... karma is a bitch! wow. if we had stuck to the old traditions of taking only what was needed and giving back to earth what we have taken we all would be eating great food and enjoying life. lack of morals/tradition/education/love the people of our time are going to pay for it. mother earth is pissing and we're to blame. i hope people are able to see this cycle soon and try to change/respect/act. Cause if not we're all going to hell all them levels in the inferno... seriouso.
we should 'check ourselves before we wreck ourselves'. so let go plant some more food and take care of them instead of letting chemicals do it, the care we give in nurturing the earth will return to our bodies keeping them strong.

eat extraordinary everyday!

BLT.

I love to watch television like every other person these days. I was watching Sex in the City and in the show they always are eating something while discussion their conquest/issues with sex in the city. So therefore one day I forget which episode I noticed the sandwich that Carrie was eating, club sandwich. Then I was thinking about sandwiches that I've loved or haven't had in a long time. And there it came into my head that all this time I've been eating all these complex sandwiches that I had forgotten the wondrous simple flavors of the BLT.

BLT. Bacon/Lettuce/Tomato on slightly toasted country white bread with a touch of mayo. the simplicity of such flavors always gets to me and I was pleasantly surprised to find it on a menu the other day as I was taking a lunch break from the museum where I intern. It was nice to see the BLT on the menu because I haven't seen it in such a long time. I don't think its even on menus of chain sandwich places. which is why I have forgotten it. But it is so nice to have had it the other day for lunch. It was a pleasant surprise. I enjoy the salty and crispy taste of real good bacon is just enough seasoning for the sandwich. The clean, crisp taste of the lettuce build the sandwich higher as well as give it a great clean bite. The sweetness of the tomatoes help bring the sandwich to a close. Although I know most people do not like mayo just a light spread over the toasted bread help keep the sandwich together.

I find that the perfect BLT is hard to come by. Its funny that the simplest things are always really hard to come by these days because we have come to place where food isn't prepared the way they used to. People are afraid of bacon, but bacon is one of the oldest foodstuffs that has been eaten by people. So bacon is good when its natural and not fake. Good old fashion REAL bacon gives flavors that cannot be found elsewhere. Tomatoes fresh organic room temperature tomatoes are my favorite. The type of lettuce that I think most people use is romaine which is okay but I really like butter leaf lettuce. It has enough richness and bite to it that makes the sandwich really great. Although I know most people do not even know what is in mayo, homemade mayo is so awesome. When I was smaller my father's friend who owned a Vietnamese sandwich shop, would make their own mayo. It was fascinating.. another thing that I also think is lost is homemade butter... but that's another blog.

anyhow I encourage everyone to go out and try to find a place with the BLT or better yet make your own BLT. Making the perfect sandwich is an activity that I find is most enjoyable and fulfilling, cut it at an angle and enjoy and maybe share with a friend. maybe some tomato bisque soup with a little garlic creme fraiche over it. how delightful does that sound? reminds me of a nice day with the daily paper and eating a perfect sandwich. enjoying life one bite at a time.

eat extraordinary everyday!