Satisfying my cravings

For me, dessert means cake. I just love cake and I love chocolate just as much so the combination of the two should be a fantastic one, but most often I find that I’m easily disappointed.

There is a word in Spanish that I’m certain has no direct translation to English. The word is “empalaga.” One says it when describing a dessert that coats your throat with its cloying sweetness taking away from its enjoyment. That is what I find that most chocolate cakes do. However, this Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake by Nigella is a true masterpiece (can you tell I love her?). Though the batter is meant to be spread equally into two pans, the cake still remains modest in size. Both the cake and frosting contain sour cream, which adds a diminutive tang while also helping cut the fatty mouth feel that the butter gives in the frosting. There isn’t much sugar in either component of the cake, which is another reason I love this cake so much. It doesn’t make it diet worthy, sadly, but it will definitely satisfy those with unwavering palates; even those who long for sugary treats.

Some of the ingredients necessary


The cake ready to go in the oven


The cake frosted and ready to be devoured. I topped it with sugar past pansies an idea also taken from the great Nigella herself. I love this cake and I urge all to try it.

Mustard Pork Chops

Pork, yes, the other white meat, is a meat that I don’t often crave. It was very much present at the kitchen table of my youth as well as commercials that clogged the airwaves for it while growing up, but even so, I just don’t think of it come dinner time. However, what I do crave is something good and simple to make that will give me a true bang for my buck. I wasn’t really in the mood to follow a recipe, but I wasn’t in a position to be creative either so I picked up my copy of Nigella Express and the first recipe that appeared when I did so where her Mustard Pork Chops so off I went to the market and got what I needed which wasn’t much. Once you’ve got the goods, you boil some water for the gnocchi, heat a pan up for the chops, cook the chops, remove them from the pan then add the cider, mustard and cream in that order while allowing each ingredient to absorb itself into the lovely sucs (brown bits) at the bottom of the pan. While it bubbles away for around two to three minutes you cook the gnocchi in the boiling water and then toss them in the sauce. Serve and eat up!

Changes

I've decided that from now on forward this will be a food blog. I can channel other cultures this way anyway. It's not like I eat strictly Puerto Rican food. How boring would that be?! 

Since, my last post I've began and graduated from the Classic Culinary Arts program at The French Culinary Institute in New York City. It was an experience of a lifetime and one I'll never forget. I hope that I can take all I learned there and all I learned while studying Communications at Sagrado Corazón and make a lasting career out of it all. Here's to hoping! And here's to cooking fantastic food was well... cheers! 

I've been tagged by the lovely Vickie over at http://ahealthyappetite.blogspot.com/ This particular tag has me describe myself in 6 words then I must tagged 5 or more bloggers.

My words:

1) Loyal
2) Loving
3) Passionate
4) Fiery
5) Opinionated
6) Giving

Who I'm tagging:

http://www.hungryandfrozen.blogspot.com/

http://shoppingmakesyoupoor.blogspot.com

http://www.whateverradio.com/website/blogs.php (both Alexis Stewart and Jennifer Koppelman Hutt from Whateverradio.com)

http://www.tinanealis.blogspot.com/

Oy! It's been a month since I last wrote. I'm sorry for being such a bore. I just haven't really been in that head space I suppose. Also, I've been helping my uncle out with my grandfather's new apartment. Boy, I love home-improvement type projects.

Anyway, for the first time in a long time I have that deep desire and passion to do something. To create something. To get it from my mind and out into full frutation.

See, for years I'd read LAWeekly and Seattle Weekly and think of how desperately Puerto Rico needs something similar. It wasn't until the other day that I decided that I needed to stop hoping for someone else to create it and for me to start doing something. I decided to place a sort of add for writers on Facebook and a guy that I haven't seen since 8th grade responded with the revelation that he too is truly interested in seeing something like it in PR. Great! Now I have a partner. I'm sure two minds, even if they clash, could work better than just little ol' me.

I don't know what the heck I am going to call it or how it's going to look like or where I am going to get the money. I just know that I have this idea and this deep desire and I'll be damed if I don't get at least one issue out.

This is how I see myself... you see. I don't think I could be the manager of a store, but I do see myself being the leader of a group of writers, artist and all-around creative people. I see myself having lunch meetings, or coffee meetings rather, with papers strewed around me and a guy full of inked fingers telling me about the newest art exhibition that he saw and how this one painting is his inspiration for the picture in an article talking about the newest gourmet restaurant. LOL sounds silly for many, but sounds perfect for me.

It combines my love of words, culture and madness and it's simply something that I know I will love doing.

I'm passionate about this... I just hope I can get other people to share my vision too.

Wish me luck!

Making a decision

Sometimes it seemed that some of my classmates had registered for college in first grade. Then by second they were booked for their Masters and would then go on to get themselves a reserved seat in an office centered on the subject they would go on to study for. It was like their whole lives were planned before their birthing. I never understood it and still can’t.

I always had an idea of what I wanted and I was quite aware of what moved me, but I was always hard pressed to find someone who could tell me how to get there. By the time I reached my last semester of high school I was scared shitless. I knew that Journalism moved me, but I started to feel that if I studied that I would end up resenting it and hateting it and then loose all desire for it.

I was right.

Cokie Roberts, a well known news anchor in Washington D.C., once said something around the lines that if you want to be a Journalist don’t study Journalism. Study something that would add depth to your being. And she couldn’t be any more correct. I should have listened but I didn’t. Here I am in my room in Caguas, Puerto Rico writing this this blog that I opened in hopes of having it help wake up that profound desire I once had to find the truth about everything that mattered to me.

Progress has been made I must note. Just last week I finally decided on my masters. I will go on to study for a Masters of Art in Gastronomy from the University of Adelaide in Australia, which has partnered with Le Cordon Bleu to provide the world with this deeply interesting topic of study. I'm going to do it, but by e-mail correspondence.

It sounds a little wacky, but it’s a topic that greatly interest me. Sometimes I think that what I should have studied was either Cultural Anthropology or Art History or both, so in a way, a masters in the history of Gastronomy is almost just that.

Classes have already begun, so I am too late, but I will be registering for next year soon. This is what I want and can see myself doing combined with writing. Now all I need is luck and strength to help me get through two years of deep research and I’ll be set.

http://www.gastronomy.adelaide.edu.au/

A culturally confused hamburger

So this American classic was seasoned using Southern rooted Paula Deen's House Seasoning, British Worcestershire sauce sent to me by my friend Brenda in Northern Ireland. It was topped with ketchup and spicy Coleman's English mustard sent to me by another friend in England and it was tucked inside a type of Puerto Rican bread called "pan de agua." This delicious burger was served alongside homemade fries.

I didn't make it that way on purpose. It was right about the time that I was going to sit down and enjoy it that I realized the complexity of this non complex meal. I quickly took a picture of it and off I went to enjoy it. Yum!