My Time

Food Truck Festival

The parking lot at Bridgeport Marketplace was recently taken over by at least 20 gourmet food trucks.  We had a great time and ate some incredible food.  I was amazed at the variety. 

They have had this event several times and this was the first time we actually got there. (Thanks Karen & Krista for dragging us along).

 

 

I had some amazing and super-fresh sweet potatoe fries....... drizzled with a bit of honey...... yum. 

Val went a bit more exotic - he had a soft shell crab po-boy off the truck called "Slap Yo Moma" Soul Food. 

Then he came back around with some sort of garlic chicken wings.  He was definitely enjoying that.

 

Then we saw this Tornado Potato truck -- look at that potato on a stick!  I had already filled up on my sweet potato fries, but I am definitely getting this next time!

 

 

 

 

2011 Bug Fair

You read that right - Bug Fair.  While I was having fun with girlfriends at the Remember When 3-day crop recently, friends took Val & his daughter Samantha to the Bug Fair at the Natural History Museum.  I was quite happy to miss this occasion - until I kept hearing about it nonstop for the next week and saw all these fabulous photos.  It sounded like they had such a good time. 

Look at these cookies - those cricuts are supposed to be there -- Cricut cookies.  Gotta say -- I would not have been eating those.

 Val ate them - and that look on his face sort of tells the story - I havn't seen him outside catching bugs for cookies LOL
Sam got in the fun -- tossing a sauteed cricut into her mouth --
There was evidently a variety of bug foods to eat. Though I won't be eating the bugs - I think I'll be putting this on my calendar for next year.  If for no other reason than to see who I can make eat a bug!!!

 (thank you Samantha and Karen for supplying the photos)

 

Long Beach Crawfish Festival

 
Alrighty - we went to the Long Beach Crawfish Festival this past weekend.  It was our first time and boy let me tell you there was a lot of food there ! 

Gator, crawfish, and lots of other Creole foods.  Had a general New Orleans feel with great bands too. 

More images from the festival - look at these huge vats they were cooking the crawfish in.  That's a lot of crawfish !

Bitter Melon

I found something new at the farmers market last weekend.  It's a little curious looking - called  bitter melon.  I was dubious, but the couple next to me raved about them so I got a couple to give it a try.

Later I read up on them - evidently they are very good for you, even commonly used as medicines, but most people find the taste unpleasant.  Val cooked them using this recipe.  It wasn't as bad as I'd read - but still not something I'd go out of my way for at all.  Val actually thought it was good.  He said "I'd eat that again".  Good thing babe - there's another one in the fridge.

 

Chicken Fajitas

This is one of my favorite recipes.  It is super-easy and not so bad for you.  And - very important - it tastes great!  I usually use low sodium soy sauce and light sour cream. 

Give it a try - let me know what you think !

Terragon Chicken Salad

Love this recipe - and it is awesome for using some of that leftover turkey (instead of chicken).  Aside from eating in a salad it's great as a sandwich too.  Enjoy!

Turducken

Thanksgiving is a little different here at Val & Lori's.  My Valentine enjoys the idea of cooking something different and the time off work to do it.  This year he experimented with a Turducken.  What's a Turducken you ask ?  It's a turkey, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken.  Val put stuffing between each layer, and then stuffed the chicken with spinach and sausage.  We had all 3 birds thawing for the longest time - hidden away in the bathtub.  (We closed the door so no kitties got a tounge stuck to the frozen birds.)

Each bird had to be de-boned.  Took Val a large part of one day just to do that.  Then the next day he had to piece them all back together and stuff each one into the next.  I heard "now I know why these cost $80 online". and a bit of other grumbling.  :-)

I was going to post photos of the deboned turkey, but it looked a bit like a bird in a blender.  Then the photo we took after slicing it open wasn't that appealing either.  (not much of a turducken fan here). 

But I think in the end Val enjoyed the challenge.  How did it taste ?  Well - like turkey.  To me, lots of trouble for nothing - but hey - he was happy doing it.

**** from Val - "this is not for the faint at heart".
 

Habanero Pepper Jelly

My Valentine sure loves his peppers.  Loves eating them, growing them, and making his own pepper sauce and habanero pepper jelly too. It has been a record year for our habanero pepper crop -

so today Val made a batch of habanero jelly.  He is planning on making more because we have harvested soooo many habaneros.

He actually wants to enter some into the L.A. County Fair, but then each year the deadline sneaks up and it gets missed.  One year though I know he will do it !

His recipe - as typed by him - below ......

 

Habanero Jelly  (Val’s version)

4 Large bell peppers (red, yellow, green, or whatever is available)

10 to 15 ripe habanero peppers  (depending on how hot you like it)

1 1/2 cup cider vinegar

7 cups sugar

9 fl oz. liquid pectin

1 ts  dried red pepper flakes

Cut peppers and habaneros into small pieces (use gloves, especially for the habaneros).

Blend all peppers and vinegar untill just coarse.

Combine blended  pepper mixture and sugar in a non corrosive  pan.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat, Stir in pectin.

Boil for 1 minute (stirring constantly).

Remove from heat, allow to stop bubbling and skim off foam.

Ladle (1/4 inch from top) into sterile jars immersed in boiling water; boil for 10 mins.

Remove from water, wipe top of jars and seal.

Place on rack to cool.

Test jars that they are properly sealed by pressing the middle of the lid.

If not sealed, refrigerate, store the rest of the jars in a cool dark cupboard.

This recipe makes about 8 half pint jars.

P.S. please experiment as this is not perfect and let me know any changes that work for you.

Enjoy !

Weekend update

OK OK so it's a bit late - but we had a great weekend last weekend.

Friday night we went to the live Jazz on Town Center Drive here in Valencia.  Yes - ON Town Center Drive - they close down the street. 

Origami Bistro has a patio right there - so we went there for dinner and listened to the music. Val had the sushi platter --   Me - not so much into sushi.

I have to say I wasn't overjoyed with the music - it's usually better - but we still had a good time. 

Saturday we had another nice harvest from our teeny tiny veggie garden.  Not bad for a garden the size of a desk top huh ?

We gave away some of the peppers since we've been getting so many -- and then went to the farmers market Sunday to get some green veggies (lots of red in our garden for some reason).

Val & I are both getting ready for our trips this weekend.  Yes - trips plural.  He's attending a weddng in Michigan and I'll be attending a memorial for my Uncle in Indiana.  We will go to the airport together Thursday night and go our seperate ways.  We return home around the same time too.  Even more strange is that until Val made a slight change to his flights -- we were actually on the same flight out of LAX, and then take different connecting flights.  Funny !

Chili Rellenos

I made my "easy" Chili Rellenos for dinner with some of the chilies from our garden.  I had to do something with all those gorgeous anaheim chilies !!   

Here's the recipe -

1.)  plant seed in yard.   2.)  wait 2 months.   3.) harvest.

KIDDING -  you can totally skip steps 1-3 above and just buy some chilies.  It won't taste as great of course, but it will do.  So - my version of "Easy Chili Rellenos" --

Ingredients:

• 3 large Anaheim or poblano chili peppers
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack pepper cheese *
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese *
• 3 beaten eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Directions:

1. Slice peppers in half lengthwise and remove stems, seeds and veins.  I usually wear gloves when I do this because I will forget and rub my eyes and get hot pepper in them otherwise.
2. Immerse peppers into boiling water for 3 minutes.  Drain on paper towels.
3. Spray a 1.5 quart casserole with non-stick spray.  Lay out half the peppers to cover the bottom. 
4. Top will half the shredded pepper cheese. (cheddar cheese will be used later)  Repeat layers.
5. In medium mixing bowl, combine eggs and milk.  Add flour, baking powder, red pepper, and salt.  Beat until smooth.  Poor egg mixture over peppers.
6. Bake, uncovered, in a 450 degree F oven for 15 minutes or until set.
7. Sprinkle with remaining cheddar cheese.  Let stand about 5 minutes or until cheese melts.
8. Serve with picante sauce and sour cream (I usually skip the sour cream - but the salsa is what makes this). 

* I usually do not use as much cheese as this calls for. It just doesn't seem to need quite that much.

I also serve rice and black beans with this dish.  Easy - and tasty !   I've been using this recipe for over a decade now and it's one of our favorites.

Try it - and let me know what you think.