Holiday Season

Tis the season for the Holiday. Over the course of the past few years I have become more and more jaded toward this time of year. Namely I blame my working in retail. Also I have noticed that Christmas time just isn't the same without my mother. She had a way of infecting people with the Christmas spirit. Its also the time of the year where both my parents were constantly cooking a wide spread of food for us of our house and for friends. For me, I am now moving on and working on creating my own traditions of which I share with my family and friends. This year I will be attempting to make Latkes for my co-worker and I. Jake and I are continuing our yearly smoked turkey and Bourbon balls. Being as it is the holidays, I have started thinking more towards this side project of mine (The Church Of Nom) and of what kind of holidays us Nomists follow and celebrate. One instantly sprang to mind:

National Zombie Day (aka Easter)- For those of us who don't take religion all that seriously, we celebrate Easter by cooking and eating in-copious amounts of meat. Meat of all kinds. Last year we had chocolate dipped Bacon and Goat Curry.

I have now began looking for and studying other foodie holidays to incorporate into this cult and this is what I have found so far:

August 10: St. Lawrence Day. For those of you who don't know, St. Lawrence is the patron saint of cooks. Named thus for his famous martyrdom death of being grilled alive. During which he claimed "Well, I'm done on this side, better turn me over." For this holiday, we will be celebrating it will wine and cooking all foods over an open flame or on a gridiron.

June 20- Summer Solstice. Time to celebrate the summer with a feast. Cold brew and hot meats. Gather friends together for a good time.


Realistically, Nomist don't really need an excuse. We shall have a feast anywhere, at anytime!

So to all of you, I wish you happy eating this winter season. :)

P.S. Don't forget there are those less fortunate out there. Donate some spare cans of food or some time to help others have a happy holiday.

Love Thy Onion!

The time is right for sweet onions! Onions are awesome. Onions are great. All Hail St. Onion! Ok, that might be a bit far, but lets admit it, these little bulbs are savory. Red onions are perfect for adding that extra pleasant crunch to a salad. Yellow onions are ideal for hamburgers. Sweet onions are perfect for almost anything. And shallots are the best of all sidekick to meat next to gravey. Today I took sometime to pontificate upon the wonderful onion while I caramelized one in about a quarter stick of butter. I realized, I make really good caramelized onions. To make good carmalised onions, it takes love. Some people cook them to fast, slightly burning them and not cooking them all the way through so they're still slightly crunchy. I, on the other hand, use a medium heat and keep 'em moving. It take about 10 minutes of good love to get them to that perfect gold. I also started to debate how to make them go good on vanilla ice cream. However, I think on a tart raspberry ice cream would work better. Hay, my chocolate dipped bacon was amazing, why not!

Here are some awesome onion facts:

- University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers found that the more pungent onions exhibit strong anti-platelet activity. Platelet aggregation is associated with atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke.

- A recent study at the University of Bern in Switzerland showed that consumption of 1 g dry onion per day for 4 weeks increased bone mineral content in rats by more than 17% and mineral density by more than 13% compared to animals fed a control diet. This data suggests onion consumption has the potential to decrease the incidences of osteoporosis.

- Onions are also a source of vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber and folic acid. They also contain calcium, iron and have a high protein quality (ratio of mg amino acid/gram protein).

(( from http://www.onions-usa.org/about/healthy.php ))

- To get rid of "onion breath" - eat several sprigs of vinegar or salt-dipped parsley. You can also chew on fennel seeds or coffee beans. You now have a "different" breath!

-Scientists believe that onions and other members of the allium family, such as garlic, leeks, chives and shallots, may be a significant dietary factor by protecting us from certain forms of cancer. The onion first attracted the attention of the scientific community in 1989 when a study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute finding that people who ate the largest amount of vegetables in the onion and garlic family were less likely to develop stomach cancer than those who did not.

((From http://health.learninginfo.org/onion-nutrition.htm ))


And lastly, here is a tasty recipie for all you Nomists to try. :)



Roasted Sweet Onions with Mint

2 large sweet onions (Vidalia, Walla Walla, or Maui), peeled
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut onions in half from top to bottom.

In a medium bowl, combine olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and mint leaves. Smear mixture all over the onions; place in a small baking dish.

Bake for 30 minutes. Baste with the juices. Continue roasting for another 20 to 30 minutes or until onions are tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven. Place onions on a serving platter or individual serving plates.

Makes 4 servings.

((From http://whatscookingamerica.net/onion.htm ))

A Taste Of Vegas

Yesterday we set out to the Strip to see what there was to see. Naturally there was all the staples of the Strip: Flickers, expensive chachkies, and people getting drunk. After pounding the pavement for several hours, I declared that it was time for a light lunch. Luckily, we happened to be across from the new Cosmopolitan Hotel which was somewhere I had wanted to check out. The inside was pretty impressive. There are stings of glass beads that hand from level to level and look like diamonds. This place has an awesome Victorian/Retro feel to it. After we escaped from a clothing store, where everything was around $190, we set out to search for Noms. It came down to Milkshakes or Dim Sum. I voted Dim Sum cause I was still bitter from a previous trip to Vegas where we were ditched for Dim Sum and never got any. So we ended up at China Poblano. This place was an odd mix of Chinese and Mexican, which strangely worked. There was an array of Luchador and Kaboki masks that I approved of. The menu was a bit on the pricey side and had some odd combination's. The waiter mentioned that the menu was ment for people to order several items from and share. This should have been our warning. Following my stomach, I got the When Pigs Fly BBQ pork Dim Dum. Jake got something similar, Kurtis got something that had his name in it, and Roger went with tacos. Kurtis's came first. It was in a bowl that was roughly the size of a appetizer soup bowl, with three chips in it. Suspiciously it looked like salsa. He confirmed on taste that it was just a weak salsa poured over some shrimp. Rogers tacos consisted of two, yes, 2, small tacos. The redeeming quality of Jake was that it had eatable gold flakes on them. To me the other bonus was that it had water chestnuts in it. Mmmm... loves me some water chestnuts. Mine consisted of four, plump dumplings that were roughly the sided of fat golf balls. They were alright. Not as barbaquee as I am use too. Kurtis told me that the paper they were resting on was rice paper. It was a lie. We all downed the food pretty quickly, being as there wasn't that much of it. Me, still having room left (which is rare), orderer the "Giggling Buddha in a Bubble Bath". First off, you have to admit, that's a pretty tasty name for a dessert. Second of all, it was strawberry gellitan. This dessert was actually in the shape of a happy fat Buddha (jello mold), surrounded by leeche foam that looked like bubbles! The waiter took the courtesy to wiggle the bowl and make giggling sounds. Hidden in the foam was real strawberries and some leeche slices. The gellitan was very soft and incredibly flavorful. The whole ensemble had a silly flavor zen to it. Then the checks came. Not so bueno.

Over all for this place it had a great atmosphere and awesome decor. I really dig what they're trying for. The most painful drawback it that its in a new Vegas hotel and has the prices to prove it. For Atmosphere I give it a 4. For food I give it a 3. And for cost I give it a 1.

And of course I'm going to break my rule. When I started this I decided that I wasn't going to do it on any place that I had previously been. That way my views wouldn't have been swayed one way or another.

That being said, if your in Vegas and you want the best Irish food and great beer, you have to go to McMullans. This place it amazing! The food has that incredible 'home cooked' taste. Found out last night that they do indeed bake their own bread. Not going to go into much details, but I'll just say, this place alone is worth the trip.

Vegas Baby!!

First off I'd like to apologize for being blatantly lazy and not updating. Going to repent and try to make it up to you.

For a special selection of updates, I will be writing on dinning in Vegas. Which is where I happen to be. We started off with making a Welsh Rubet fondue. It failed sense I went with an IPA (Indian Pale Ale) instead of an Irish one. But Kurtis saved the day with an amazing breakfast of skillet cooked bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Now fueled up with the power of morning Noms, we shall take on the strip. For this trip will have planned to eat at McMullens, The Artisan, and Dicks. If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know and we'll try our best (with in budget) to make it there.

Food is the Cure

Today I was cursed with being horrifically fussy. Originally I was going to sew, but then I found that the fabric I was going to use had dissapeared. As time went on, I was hungry and fussy. So in an attempt to kill 2 birds with one stone, I dragged Jake out to try a near by taco stand. Being in West Valley, there is a taco stand on almost ever corner of 3300 S. On No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain is always going various different street food places. Why? Because they're said to be some of the best local food that you can get. So, attempting to follow in his example we set out to the nearest on to our house, which happened to be less then a block away. I got excited when I saw 'torta' and 'sopa' on the side of the stand but was a bit let down when their menu only had tacos, a burrito and quesidilla. But I figured 'What the hay, new flavors of tacos'. Here they offered 4 tacos for $3. Not bad on a student budget. We decided to go for something a bit familiar and something new. Soon we had a plate of asada tacos and a plate of chicharron tacos. Outside the stand they had 2 large coolers. One with sodas and one with condiments. I'll admit, I was impressed by their condiments. Fresh made REAL salsa, homemade guacamole salsa, fresh chopped onions, radishes, and limes, and another hot sauce. After we had picked our favors of choice (we both went with the fresh salsa and guacamole salsa), the nice lady wrapped our plates up with tinfoil so we could take them home. Jake started in on the asada ones while I tempted the chicharron ones. For those who aren't to familiar with Hispanic food, asada is generally seasoned beef and chicharron is deep fried pork skin. Now this here is proof that I don't rave about everything. I've just been lucky. Chicharron is not for me. It was tasty. It was spicy. But it was gelatinous. My biggest problem was that I couldn't handle the texture. It was like having week old pork flavored jello in the middle of my taco. Just not to pleasant. Granted, I am willing to give it a try again somewhere else because everyone makes things differently. The asada tacos were a bit better. Nothing really to wow at, but hell, for $3, not to bad either. The meat was dry and weighed heavy on the 'Meh' side. The salsa and guac was what made it ok. One thing that Jake and I both agree on about them, these little suckers will fill you up. I downed 2 and was at my limit (also granted that I have a small stomach). All in all, it was a fun experience. One that I will be doing again as we the other taco stands around our area. However, I will be going back to this place to attempt one thing on their menu that caught my eye. Cabesa tacos = head tacos.

Comandments

Just as something to amuse myself, I decided to write up some commandments for the Church of Nom. Was trying for 10 but could only come 7. The others will more then likely the other 3 will come later.

1- Tho shalt not bow to the cheap ruses of Fast Food.

2- Tho shalt not discriminate against a food based on the culture/origin from which it came.

3- Tho shalt respect other people food lifestyle's (ie vegetarianism, veganism, carnivorism, cannibalism).

4- Tho shalt try everything at least once.

5- Tho shall share. To share is to spread kindness, to spread kindness is to bring us closer to becoming a peaceful united table.

6- Tho shalt not season their food until trying it first.

7- Tho shalt learn thy surrounding & own culture in order to appropriate others food culture. You must first understand your own and those around you.

Get Stuffed!

Today is Thanksgiving. The holiday that celebrates the vice of Gluttony. Growing up, for me, this ment a smoked turkey, cranberry jelly in tube form, potatoes and gravy, and having a few family friends over. I always tried to out eat the adults. Which lead to being over stuffed, then hungry again about 2 hours later (I miss having the metabolism of a 13 year old). Now that I'm older, it now feels so different. First Jake and I go to his family gathering of about 50 people. All somehow fitted into a house up in Holiday with kids pouring out of every nook and cranny. Next we head to either my dad's place or our family friends house. This year we'll be going to one of Janie's friends house, where its a gathering of a handful of adults. Once done there we scramble home to get deserts ready for friends. I've gone from a small relaxing holiday to a crazed people-a-thon. Some years it feels nuts but I'm getting use to it.

So be your gathering small or large, hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!