Book Review: Nourished

More and more travel memoirs these days include chapters about food. And more and more books about cooking and food include exotic travel. The two go hand-in-hand and this combination is sure to increase within the book world as people expand both their physical and culinary journeys.

'Nourished' was a wonderfully written account of both. As a travel blogger, I was first drawn to the travel aspect, and Lia Huber did not disappoint. Her travel tales were immediately engaging. I started thinking about the places she included in this book and whether I should start planning trips to Costa Rica, Corfu, and New York City. I could practically taste them and feel the energy of each place and people as I read.

This is also a book about soul-searching. Much of her quest centered on her Christianity. Though this aspect of the book was not as interesting to me, I can certainly see the connections between her wanderings, cooking, and introspection. That's often why I travel: to see how a place changes me. To see how I grow. Just like Lia.












I received this book from Blogging for Books.

Dayton's 2nd Street Market

Despite the fact that most major companies have pulled out of Dayton, Ohio and that all the highway entrance ramps into Dayton are currently closed, the 2nd Street Market is still thriving.

Open Thursday-Saturday, this market full of local food vendors and artisans is probably the hottest spot in Dayton. We went on Saturday and couldn't even find a seat after we split up and ordered from various food booths.

I got a Hungarian cabbage roll. My husband got a Colombian dish that the vendor recommended: Arepas. These are white corn patties topped with a variety of ingredients and sauces. Next time I'll get that; it was delicious.

Not surprisingly, my daughter got a chocolate-banana crepe. There is truly something for everyone.

Where we spent the majority of our time was at the Olive Tree booth. I've got something of a vinegar addiction. I can't go more than a few days without having some (but would rather not forgo it at all!). At the Olive Tree, you can taste the eight flavors of vinegars and sample the variety of olive oils as well. Trust me: there aren't any bad flavors, but I limited myself to four bottles of vinegar for the time being: Fig Balsamic, Chile Balsamic, Coconut White Balsamic, and White Strawberry Peach. That should last me for a month or two.

There are also bread makers, pastry makers, cheese makers, and booths full of jellies and jams. One vendor offers organic dog treats. Other sellers include artists and jewelry crafters. It's a nice place to wander for a few hours and eat lunch. If you can get there -- since no highway roads lead into Dayton at that moment. Make the effort anyway. It's worth the trip.

Cincinnati Chili Taste Test

If you've ever been to Cincinnati, someone has probably insisted that you try Cincinnati chili. It's what we're known for, like barbecue in the south or lobsters in Maine.

Cincinnati chili is unlike any other. It's nothing like Tex-Mex, or any other thick bean stew you're used to. Cincinnati chili is a no-bean chili made with boiled ground beef, cinnamon, cloves and unsweetened chocolate in a beef and tomato base. It's runny and served over spaghetti with a huge mound of finely grated cheddar cheese on top. Or we pour it over a hot dog and mound a pile of cheese on top of that to make our signature coneys. Either way, it's delicious. And it's so popular that there are two big competing Cincinnati chili chains in town: Skyline and Gold Star.


Now, if you ask a local Cincinnatian, he or she will tell you which one they prefer. We're brand loyal, though the two restaurants have identical menus and serve the same things. There are other independent restaurants that serve Cincinnati chili, too: Camp Washington Chili, Blue Ash Chili, Empress Chili, etc.. And guess what? They all have the same menu items as Skyline and Gold Star. Like I said, we love our Cincinnati chili.
But I wondered: did they really all taste the same, or could we tell the difference? And did those of us who claimed to like Skyline better really know if we did? There was only one way to tell: we had to do a blind taste test.

We got regular coneys from Skyline and Gold Star. My husband told Skyline what we were doing, so they took extra care in making sure that our coneys looked good. I didn't tell Gold Star our plans; I just brought home five coneys. In a side-by-side comparison, Skyline won hands down. Theirs looked much better.

I think you can guess that Skyline is on the right.

But this was all about taste. And since they looked different, we really did do it blind and blindfolded each other one at a time so that we were judging by taste and taste alone.

Before we started, I took a poll. I was a Gold Star fan. My husband claimed to like Skyline better. So did my mom. My son said he preferred Gold Star's chili for its thickness, but liked Skyline's cheese better. We all seemed to be quite the aficionados. Then we put our coneys in our mouths. One by one we sampled each. I thought for sure there would be some indecision; I thought they would probably taste so much alike that some of us wouldn't be able to choose. But that wasn't the case. We all chose. Fairly quickly, too, and based on the spicier richness of the sauce.

It was unanimous: we all picked Gold Star.

Gold Star -- fix your sign!

We were all a bit surprised. Both coneys were delicious, but there was something about Gold Star's that we just liked better. We hadn't expected such a difference in flavor, but side-by-side, there was. Let me be clear: we like Cincinnati chili and there's never a bad place to get it. But I guess we learned we liked Gold Star a little better than the others. Who knew?

Obama Cookies

There's only one place to get Obama cookies: Moulin de Provence in Ottawa, Canada.



The cookies are named for the President, who stopped in unexpectedly in 2009 to buy cookies for his daughters. Sales of the maple-leaf-shaped sugar cookies surged from and average of 200 cookies/day to 2000.

I'm not sure how much sales have dwindled since then, if at all. We had to stand in line to get our Obama cookies at the Byward Market. I know the bakery sells other things, but none of us seemed able to resist these Presidential treats.

Must. Stop. Eating. Poutine.



How could we not love a food served in small cardboard boxes?


I never in a million years dreamed that I would like poutine. I'm not a big potato person. I used to be. I craved them insanely when I was pregnant with my son and think I got my lifetime fill of them then. So when we saw poutine on some travel/cooking show, I shrugged. I could skip it. But my husband couldn't wait to try it once we got to Canada. So we did.

We walked down to Smoke's Poutinerie that had been recommended by other people. I ordered a small traditional. My husband wisely asked the counter girl what she recommended and ordered the Triple Pork.

What is poutine? you ask. It's french fries topped with brown gravy and cheese curds. That's the basic. All the rest of the toppings are gravy extra.

It was out of this world!!!

The Triple Pork was far better than the Traditional platter. It had bacon, ham, and sausage. The cheese curds in both are delicious. They're like mozzarella balls, but with flavor.

After Smoke's, we saw Guinness poutine on the menu at a pub and thought we'd share a batch over a beer. It was not nearly as good as Smoke's. (No, Smoke's is not paying me to say this.)

Not satisfied with the appetizer plate of Guinness poutine we had, we went in search of more food and ended up at -- Smoke's. This time we got Country Style with mushrooms, onions and chicken.

So, in 24 hours, we had four servings of poutine.

Must. Stop. Eating. Poutine.

Mmmmh!

I wrote a few days ago about a cooking class I took in Brussels and how it made me miss my son But I'd also like to share what it was like to actually take the class.

I got a taste (pun intended) for just how global Food Network and the Cooking channel have become when I took part in a team-building exercise at Mmmmh! in Brussels. Mmmmh! is part cookwares shop/part cooking school and we were there for our own competition. Here we divided into teams and then worked with a chef to create appetizers, dinner and dessert for the group.

The Menu:

Green Gazpacho with sourdough croutons
Shrimp with Curcuma on a bed of grilled peppers
Pine-nut crusted Chicken Kabobs with crunchy parmesan mash
Pan-fried Berries, Mascarpone Espuma and Violet Caviar

I noticed that all of us knew the basics, though we'd never done them in our own kitchens. Blanch the peas? No problem. Fill a ciphon and insert gas cartridges? Mix violet syrup and sodium alginate then squeeze the droplets into a calcium bath? Well...good thing there was a chef nearby.

We raced around, pretending we were MasterChefs and Iron Chefs, and plating our dishes as well as any restaurant could. We were having a blast.

As in any kitchen, conversation was lively and I got to know all the participants that were there for the training I was in Brussels to facilitate. They came from England, Germany, China and Belgium. They were so friendly and shared their thoughts on work and culture. I learned their hobbies and had fun cooking with them, tasting the dishes we were tasked with making.

In the end, the judges held their tastings and rated each dish for texture, taste and appearance. I'll toot my own horn for a second and let you know that my team won. But in the end, we were all winners because we got to eat the fabulous food we made! And that's when I learned my first Dutch phrase: Smakelijk! (Delicious!)

When in Belgium, Eat Waffles!

After flight delays, painful contortions on the plane that resulted in no sleep, and being told that my hotel room in Brussels wouldn’t be ready for 3 more hours, I dropped my bags in the lobby and headed straight to the Grand Place where I knew I’d find the only solace I needed: a waffle.

Since this was my second trip to Brussels, I knew just where to get the best one: Dandoy’s.
It costs a little more than the other waffle stands you pass every few storefronts, but I liked Dandoy’s best. Not that any of them are bad, especially compared to what we get back in the U.S. The  Belgian waffles there bear no resemblance to real Belgian waffles or Liege waffles, which I much prefer.

Liege waffles are denser, sweeter, with the sugar mixed into the batter. You can get them sprinkled with powdered sugar on top, but there’s no need. They are perfect plain; warm and delectable with a little bit of caramelized sugar that makes them a darker brown than the rectangular shaped Belgian waffles we’re more familiar with back home.

You can get those at the same stands. They’re usually topped with chocolate or strawberries and whipped cream. Actually, there are all sorts of toppings you can get on either type of waffle, but I always skip right over them. I just want a nice, plain, warm waffle in my hand that I can pull apart as I stroll through the Grand Place marvelling that I’m in Brussels…again.

New Favorite Recipes

If you watch enough Food Network, you start to incorporate some of the celebrity chefs' dishes into your repertoire. We've culled a few new favorites from each chef, including our variation on the Goat Cheese/Chicken Pita Pizza pictured above from Paula Deen.


Goat Cheese/Chicken Pita Taco/Pizza (which isn't exactly what Paula made)

Ingredients:

• one or two chicken breasts
• pita bread
• goat cheese (she used fontina cheese)
• Romaine lettuce
• cucumber
• tomato
• Kalamata olives
• Greek or Caesar dressing

Spread the shredded fontina or bits of goat cheese on pita bread and toast in the oven at 300 degrees until cheese is melted. Meanwhile, shred the cooked chicken breasts and toss a salad with the vegetables and dressing.

When the pita comes out of the oven, cover the pita with shredded chicken, dish some salad on top and fold the pita in half, like a taco. It's a little messy to eat, but boy, it's good.

Yes, We Have No Bananas

A 30-mile drive, a lactose intolerant daughter, and cholesterol/weight concerns did nothing to deter us from going to the Banana Split Festival in Wilmington, Ohio this weekend.

It sounded like so much fun: a Master Chef competition at 3:00, a banana split eating contest at 4:00, and a Make-Your-Own Banana Split booth. So we rushed to get there and made it just before 3:00, then headed toward the pavilion to watch the chefs create their masterpieces. We looked for a crowd, but didn't see one. Finally, we asked a volunteer attendant where the competition would be held and she regretfully informed us that only one chef had entered, so the competition was cancelled.

We were disappointed, but shrugged it off. After all, there was ice cream to be eaten. So we headed to the Make-Your-Own Banana Split booth and stood in line, trying to decide whether to get one dip, two, or three, and what toppings we wanted to goop on top. (We weren't really fooling ourselves. Banana splits have 3 scoops. Everybody knows that.)

We ate our ice cream and visited a few craft booths, then headed back to the pavilion to watch the banana split eating contest. But again, we couldn't find the right spot and didn't see a crowd. We finally asked another attendant where it was and learned we'd missed it! The contest had moved up to 3:15, so it was being held while we were standing in line for our banana splits.

There wasn't much else to do. A few children's games of skill and a classic car show. The only other thing to do there was eat, and we didn't want to do that. So we strolled past the show cars and headed home.

It was a long drive for three banana splits, but I have to say -- they were worth the trip.

Eat Local

One of the best things about traveling is all the regional foods you can try. When I was in China, I ate Chinese food. When I was in Maine, I ate lobster. In Belgium, I ate waffles, and in Germany, currywurst. But then I start to eat too much of a good thing. Too many Belgian waffles; too much rice; and too many lobster tails (though it seems like that could never actually happen, could it?) So I typically veer off and try something else. Tybee Island, Georgia was no different.

After several helpings of southern food and fried oysters, I thought I'd finally had enough. I needed something different, if only for one meal, and what could be more different than Mexican/Spanish/Cuban/Latin food? The yellow facade drew me in. Unfortunately, the food didn't bring me back. After one lunch of fish tacos, I went right back to my southern lowcountry staple: fried oysters. The Mexican food just couldn't compare to local fare.

The next time I go to Mexico, I'll fill up on tacos. But while in lowcountry, or Belgium, or Maine, or China - eat local.

Ways to Occupy Children at Restaurants

At some restaurants, children are given coloring books and crayons. Or word jumbles and mazes on their paper placemats. One pizza restaurant we went to gave children balls of dough to play with. Other places have play rooms and arcades to keep children entertained. But at the Crab Shack in Tybee Island, Georgia, they've taken a completely different approach. They've decided that the best way to keep children from getting antsy while they wait first for a table, then for their food, is to let them feed the alligators.

Guess what? This has been the best method yet.

Garlic Day

Apparently April 19th is Garlic Day. That brings one thing immediately to mind for me: The Stinking Rose in San Francisco's North Beach area. It's a gimmicky tourist restaurant that boasts having the longest braid of garlic in the world. It twists along the top of the walls like Christmas garland. You know right then that every item on the menu will have garlic in it, unless you choose one of the four or five vampire options.

We started with a small skillet of roasted garlic and oil that we dipped our bread into. Once we'd finished that, I'm not sure how much we even tasted all the garlic in the linguine with clams, sizzling shrimp skillet, or baked fish dishes we had as entrees. It was good, but not remarkable. We were definitely there more for atmosphere than food.

After that we headed back out on the bus to see more of San Francisco. And would you believe, we had no trouble finding seats to ourselves that night?

Dining with Paula

Would you believe we got to Lady & Sons restaurant, and none other than Paula Deen herself escorted us in? We skipped the line and she whipped up a batch of cheddar biscuits and johnnycakes for us to devour as we waited for our entrees. I could have eaten an entire basketful of those.

Then we started with fried green tomatoes topped with a dollop of salsa. It didn't matter that by then we were already getting full, because we had meatloaf sandwiches with wild mushroom mayonnaise and crab cake sandwiches with battered, fried red potato slices coming out of the kitchen. It was all fantastic, but there was no room for dessert. So we bid Paula a "Bye, Ya'll" and left.

Okay, we didn't really see Paula or her sons, but we did have a delicious meal. We went a little early, expecting to wait in a long line for a reservation, but ended up giving our names to the hostess and walking right in. The food was great and our server was very friendly and knowledgeable about Savannah. She made great suggestions of where we might go and what we would see. You could tell she had a lot of pride in her city and we were anxious to race out and see everything she'd told us about. But remember, we'd just eaten at Paula Deen's, so we waddled out with full bellies and strolled at a snail's pace instead.

Friday Fish Frys

We love Fridays during Lenten season and have become something of local fish fry connoisseurs, having scouted newspapers, websites, and homemade signs outside of churches within a 50-mile radius of our house to find the best ones. For the past few years, we've sampled different church fish frys every weekend and have come to the conclusion that while most offer similar fare (fried fish, beer-battered fish, hush puppies, coleslaw, macaroni & cheese, and green beans), there are subtleties that make all the difference to us.

Well, the taste, of course, is foremost. But unless the fish really isn't good, we've taken the flavor out of the equation. Instead, we focus on other things:

• Ala carte? Or full-meal?

I personally hate the ala carte approach. It seems stingy and very un-community-like to me. We're going to a fish fry. Just tell us the price and hand us a plate of food. I don't want to nickel and dime my way through line, deciding whether coleslaw is worth another $1.00. It isn't.

• Dessert

I'll pay extra for dessert, but if you really want my money, serve homemade desserts, not one or two cookies from a Kroger bakery tray.

• Drinks

I prefer these be included in the price, too, unless you're talking about beer. You're only giving me a few ounces of liquid from a two-liter of soda, so just throw it into the price. I've noticed that churches that serve beer give the soda away for free.

• All-You-Can-Eat Fish

Not surprisingly, I LOVE places that do this. They have men wandering around the cafeteria with trays of piping hot fish. They hold their tongs out and asked you if you'd like another piece. Yes, thank you. I would. And -- I'll be back next Friday.


Because of all these things, my top pick in southwestern Ohio  is Our Lady of Sorrow in Monroe, Ohio. They offer delicious all-you-can-eat beer-battered fish with coleslaw, macaroni & cheese, green beans and french fries. Soda is included in the price, but beer is available for $2.00. And the desserts are homemade, sold separately to raise money for mission trips to Haiti. This is the Fish Fry that I look forward to going back to.

February Is Fattening

If you start a diet in January, things go okay for about a month. But in February, it all falls apart. February is so fattening. There's Superbowl party munchies, Valentine's Day candy, then Fat Tuesday paczki doughnuts. Sure, you could substitute some of these goodies and have chicken breasts instead of chicken wings, or low-fat desserts instead of Mardi Gras cakes. But that's a recipe for insanity, if you ask me.

I'd rather just resume dieting in March when I may have to dodge a few Fish Frys. Or maybe April. I'm not big on Easter candy anyway.

I think I'll start today with a doughnut in memory of Jerry. Then on to chili, wings, chips & dip, and anything else we serve up for the Superbowl.

Key Lime Pie in The Keys

We were already thinking of having Key lime pie while in Key West, but when we watched Rachael Ray's $40 A Day, that cinched it. She traveled to the Keys and the locals recommended she have Key lime pie for breakfast. I'm always an advocate of pie for breakfast, so watched in eager anticipation as Rachael ordered it at the Crack'd Conch. Of course, since she's Rachael Ray, she got to go back into the kitchen to watch the cook make it.

They took fresh Key limes from a nearby tree and added sour cream, condensed milk, and plenty of homemade whipped cream on top. It looked absolutely delicious and we knew we had to get a slice on our trip.

Unfortunately, we were only in Key West, not Key Largo where Rachael had filmed her show. And as it turns out, the Crack'd Conch has actually closed since she filmed her show. But we needn't have worried. Nearly every place we passed on our Duval Crawl offered Key lime pie. We decided to stop in the Key Lime Factory Shop for our taste of the Keys.

The pie was tart. It was sweet. It was fantastic! The shop is a gift shop, too, so we brought home a little flavor of the Keys to enjoy later this winter. Hopefully it will take us back as soon as we take our first bite.

Schneeballs

While researching plans for our visit to Rothenburg, Germany, I came across Rick Steves' review of things to see and do there. One thing he mentioned was Schneeballs (snowballs), a fried dough ball covered in either powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, caramel or chocolate. He described them as a use for leftover dough. He didn't like them. I didn't either. They reminded me of fried Chinese noodles, covered with sugar. But when in Rothenburg...

My companions loved them.

Greens Are The Old Greens

I credit Food Network and all the other cable cooking channels for exposing us to the wide variety of leafy greens. Ten years ago I probably only ate spinach, and might have heard of collard greens, but now I find myself becoming quite the connosieur of leafy green vegetables and am surprised by their distinctive tastes and textures.

Collard greens are delicious boiled for hours with ham hocks and maybe a little bit of onion. Some people add bacon fat. They cook the leaves down until they're so tender that they nearly fall apart. My step-mother's mother makes some mean collard greens, but the best I've ever had was at Mrs. B's restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama. I took two quarts home with me upon that discovery.

Kale is a new staple in our household, thanks to Rachael Ray. She taught us how to wilt them down into a pan of cut-up bacon strips (with some bacon grease intact). Then we add sundried cranberries and a liberal dash of nutmeg. It's wonderful.

Swiss Chard was something we'd never experimented with before, but saw at a farmer's market. The farmer selling it gave us a recipe that entailed cutting the stalks up like celery and sauteing them with red onion and garlic. To that, add for wine, lemon juice, and parmesan cheese. Wilt down the Swiss chard leaves until tender. The result was an earthy sweet-and-sour flavor. We'll try that recipe again.

Spinach is one dark green that I like raw or cooked. A nice spinach salad with hard-boiled eggs slices, bacon, mushrooms and tomato is perfect when I want something both hearty and light. But we also like wilted spinach in our pasta with sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives and feta cheese. Funny, we usually have left over pasta but we've always picked out all the spinach.

Mustard greens and turnip greens are next on our list. We've found some interesting recipes for these, one of which includes cornmeal and Bisquick. Sounds like a twist on southern cooking. Oughta be good.

Street Food in Amsterdam

With only three hours to explore Amsterdam, I spent my time walking and walking and walking. The city is beautiful; the architecture, the crowds, the ambience of a vibrant city full of people from all over the world. I loved it. So I didn't want to waste a moment of my time sitting in a restaurant when there was still so much to see. Instead, I opted for street food. The most popular item seemed to be frites (French fries). There were competing frites stands everywhere, even side-by-side.

Though there were many frites toppings available (ketchup, curry, cheese, mustard), by far the most popular seemed to be mayo. In fact, several frites stands boasted their own special sauce (doctored-up mayo). So, I did what everyone else did: I ordered mine with mayo and received a cone full of frites and a tiny wooden spork to fish out the last few frites from the bottom of the cone. It was delicious! I walked around with my treat and explored more of Amsterdam. I forgot to see how many of these frites stands were next to the multitude of coffee shops where I'm sure most of the people emerging had the munchies. Let's just say the number of coffee shops and frites stands were about even.