Kul sana wentom tayebeen

Today is the first day of Eid Al-Adha, which means the streets are running red with blood, family time, sms overload, and feasting time.

It’s weird, but for some reason I used to love going to grandma’s house bright and early on Eid morning, actually begging my parents and siblings to get a move on, so I wouldn’t miss el-debeeh (the slaughter). Kind of very disturbing: kids gathered around in a villa’s courtyard to watch a 3egl (calf?) get slaughtered. I still don’t understand the fascination; it must touch on some deep primordial thingamigig. And if you think about it, if only 3% of the world’s 1.57 billion Muslims slaughter livestock this Eid, it would mean 47,100,000 dead animals.

Woke up bright and early to go and pray Eid, read my dozens and dozens of mostly annoying and repetitive “happy eid” messages, and then realized when I went out to my balcony that the streets were flooded! It actually rained–the first real rain this year. Spookily eerie that it’s in Eid, just like what’s happening in Jeddah (apparently over 50 people have died in floods, Allah yer7amhom).

I’m glad to see I still haven’t yet become a ‘real’ grown up, there’s still a huge part of me that was so joyful at being out and about in the streets so early in the morning and the rain (but still trying not to think of how the muddy puddles will soon mix with blood and become ugghhhhhhh). Then came takbeerat el-Eid, which is basically Muslims reciting praises to Allah.

Faith is such a hard thing to describe. The closest I can describe my feelings when I hear the takbir is that my heart feels fit to burst–like there’s so much joy and awe and happiness at the feeling of  unity I want to jump up and down like a kid.

Ok, enough of that.

As I was leaving the mosque, I caught a glimpse of my one and only ex. It was weird. I haven’t seen him since we broke up four years ago. He looked good. But thankfully, he didn’t see me. That would have been awkward.

Anyways, my dad and brothers took off to slaughter some sheep and cows. I took my mom to Starbucks for breakfast. I felt kind of bad when I realized that I hadn’t actually spent any alone time with her in weeks. For some reason, dozens of people were selling heart shaped balloons on the street. They were cute, so I bought a couple for no reason whatsoever. Why not?

Then back home to sleep for a couple of hours, munching on maamul (date filled cookies) and then waking up in time for lunch at ze family.

Family Eid is fun for a couple of hours. Seeing all your aunts, cousins, grandparents etc and getting 3edeya (money). Hell yes I still get 3edeya…though I think I’ve reached an age where I should be giving out 3edeya. Oh well.

First we headed to my father’s side of the family for lunch, which meant fata, fata, and did I mention fata? I can barely stomach fata on normal days, let alone on Eid day–a dish made with bread, rice, tomato sauce and the just slaughtered sheep meat. It’s disgusting and for some reason feels like you’re eating raw meat–I can smell it in my ears 7ata.

Then we drank moghat (no idea how to even translate that), told lame jokes, threw bomb (mini fireworks) at the people from balconies, and talked very loudly. Most importantly: we sang happy birthday to my little brother, who had gotten a–wait for it–La Poire “half-half” cake!

If you were raised in Cairo in the 90’s, then you must know the La Poire half-half cake, which was all the rage when I was a kid: half chocolate, half pineapple/ fruit. We want crazy over it.

At around 10pm we headed to have dinner (oh yes) at my mother’s side of the family. Very different affair here: think Toritini gateau and cups of tea.

Three hours later we finally made our way back home. Dysfunctional family time, check. Now only three more days of the same. God give me the strength.

PS: Happy Thanksgiving too!

PPS: I am so over the whole Algeria/ Egypt thing. Have discussed it so much this week khalas. No more!

“Everything 3 dollars off!”
On Saturday afternoons, the butchers at Victoria Market sell their meat for cheap because the market closes on Monday (not all shops open Sunday) and they want to try to get rid of their ’stock’ as much as possible.

f/2.2, 1/100 sec

[The following post is written by one my Animal Law students who prefers to remain anonymous --dnc]

I read an article recently that really offended me. The article was written on November 21, 2009 by Gary Steiner and was published in the New York Times Op-Ed section (Steiner’s piece has already been discussed  on this blog here).

The first line in this article that bothered me actually did not originate from him. He quotes Issac Bashevis Singer in his story “The Letter Writer” as saying that the killing of animals for food is the “eternal Treblinka.” For those of you who are not aware, Treblinka was a Nazi extermination camp. In one year there were 850,000 people killed there. The problem I have with Singer’s comparison is that there was no benefit whatsoever to the Nazis by killing these people. Of course many Animal Rights activists do not think it is right to kill animals for human benefit, but you would be hard pressed to find anyone who denies that the humans who do kill animals gain a benefit from them. In fact, I think the whole issue is whether it is right for humans to kill animals for their benefit. You may not feel the benefit is justified, but we are not talking about wanton slaughter like there was in Treblinka.

Please just read this short article about Treblinka at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treblinka_extermination_camp, and then I feel that you will agree that to even repeat this ridiculous comparison destroys any validity that could possibly have come out of this article. That is my problem with Steiner. What would possess him to read this ridiculous comparison and then quote it? Obviously he read it and said something to the effect of “hey, wait a second, that’s right. Slaughtering animals for a benefit to human’s is exactly the same as a mass extermination of humans for absolutely no reason.” And then he decided to quote it. All I can say to him is, well I think Abraham Lincoln said it best, sometimes it is “better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

The next part of the article that bothered me was a line where he wrote “Let me be candid: By and large, meat-eaters are a self-righteous bunch.” I am sorry but that line is a bunch of baloney (soy baloney of course). We meat eaters are many many things, but self-righteous is not one of them. Gary Steiner spends the entire article telling us how we, as meat eaters, are trying to ease our guilt by buying free range turkeys and eggs and then proceeds to tell us that the few attempts we are making at putting our money where your mouths are is not good enough, and THEN he has the nerve to call us self-righteous. Excuse me Mr. Steiner, but how can you tell us that what we are doing is not good enough for you and in the same breath call us self-righteous. Maybe it is because of offensive people like yourself that there are not more people who care about your issues.

This reminds me of a situation where there is a pauper who goes to a rich person to collect money. As the rich person is about to give him the money the pauper starts yelling and cursing him, so of course the rich person does not give the pauper the money and the pauper then complains to anyone who will listen that the rich person doesn’t care for the poor. What you have to keep in mind is that for right or wrong, the animal rights cause is the pauper and if you are asking for the rich person’s help (i.e. the meat eaters) then insulting them is NOT the right way to go about it. We may be willing to help, but only if you can keep from insulting us long enough so that we will listen!!!

Source: Graphic Exchange

But this guy still thinks he has the best business card of all time.

Well, now that the Thanksgiving holiday is behind us and Black Friday is upon us it’s time to start thinking about all those upcoming Holiday events!  Heck, it’s time to start booking your 2010 events as far as that goes!  Our calendar is filling up for the Spring and early Summer months next year and we’d LOVE to add your event.  Our 2010 Menu is going to change a bit, but our current favorites will all still be there, so if you’ve got a Holiday Party, Family Gathering or Company event coming up, think about adding some slow cooked, wood-smoked, ‘North Carolina Style’ BBQ!  We keep our smokers burning year round and what a great way to share good times and create memories with friends and family! 

Our pulled pork is cooked with the NC tradition always in mind…low & slow over Hickory and some Apple wood and MAN is it tasty!  Add a bun, some Carolina Style Vinegar Slaw and a bit of Hoover’s Southern Fusion BBQ sauce and it’s a marriage made in heaven!  Actually, it’s made here in South Middleton Township along the mountain…but you get the point!  We offer something for everyone in addition to the Pulled Pork, we’ve got incredible ‘Beer Can’ style smoked chicken which gets to soak up not beer, but an incredibly fragrant and tasty blend of fresh herbs and chicken stock, delivering a taste that is hard to beat.  We also have tremendous, lip smackin’ ribs that once beat the guy (Butch) who’s ribs beat Bobby Flay’s on the Food Network’s ‘Throwdown’ TV show…I think that means that they’re pretty tasty!  Finally our Beef Brisket is a taste of Texas right here in Central PA!

All of our meats, sides and desserts are prepared to order for your event and are served to you and your guests as fresh as can be.  Our smoked meats come right off the smoker and straight to your event, our sides are home made and complement our “Q” perfectly and our Desserts are sure to please.  We offer a variety of catering options for all types of events and are capable of serving 25 to 1500 folks with over 350 square feet of smoker space!  AND…as if that’s not ENOUGH to tempt your tastebuds…we are offering a 5% Discount on ANY sized 2010 event booked by December 31st!  That’s a 5% savings and you’ll lock in at 2009 prices…not a bad deal for Black Friday!

SO..if you’ve got an event coming up and you want something a bit different, consider our craft cooked meats and sides, it will be a meal that folks remember for some time!

This is a random post because I haven’t really done much for the past few days except hang out with MD and go to Milan.  But, of course, there is a hot guy at the end of the story…in  a sense.

MD has been fabulous and allowed me to escape crazy roommate for two nights straight, as well as enabling me to decimate what was left of my meager bank account.  (It had to be done, I can’t be walking around wearing American size ‘medium’ anymore….as I’m sure you can imagine, it’s like wearing an Italian XL…and looks sloppy at best.)  I feel I might as well use up the money here, since upon my return to America, I will be (barely) only one step up from a customer service slave to the masses, and only desperation will allow me to refill the account without slowly poisoning the denizens of my city with arsenic.

I also feel, as all ‘real’ gays should, that if a pair of jeans looks cute, you have to buy them, regardless of cost or quality.  Or, more often in my case, if the salesperson is cute, and lies about the jeans to your face, you must still buy them.  It’s always best to bring ‘the honest friend’ along, especially one who is skillful in the art of train travel.

So, off we went to Milan yesterday. I in search of the rush really only Italy can provide, that of the perfect storm of way too much sugar, caffeine, and a dose of hot man-candy, MD, along for moral support and a variety of essential beauty products.

Once you see the picture below, I will once again lose some ‘Daniel P., world traveler points,’ but it was either start a bitch match with this guy, or only mildly suffer and then passive-aggressively punish the guy across from me with own my long legs instead.

After reading some other ridiculous blogs in which exclamation points are often used…in reference to things such as:

- “Europeans don’t have any sense of personal space!!!!! OMG, get away!!!”

- “OMG!!!  The toilet was just a hole in the ground, EWWW!!”

- “Everyone is always late to everything!!!  UGH! It’s so annoying!!”

- “OMFG! I got cut in line again!!”

- “Holy smokes!  How are Italians so skinny?  They eat nothing but pasta!!!!!”

- “Wow!!  Italians are soooo fabulously fashionable and put together!”

Most of these have moderately rational explanations (which I promise will be part of my “end of trip” post), and quite frankly are refreshing (at times), as I find Americans to be obnoxiously polite, slow, lazy, selfish, and often completely unaware of their surroundings.

But, this guy.  I mean really.

Now, I have learned to give up my well honed, “6-feet-at-all-times around me even if you’re my family” personal space, especially when on buses, or in the line at the grocery store (I mean really lady, are you smelling the back of my neck for a particular reason?).  But this guy was already sitting like this, in a packed train, even before he fell asleep.  I felt bad about it later, but the poor (apparently frightened at hearing English) guy across from me had to tuck his little Italian legs beneath his seat.  I’m sorry I’m 6 feet tall and you’re only 4.  Life is hard.  Now move those Ferragamos.

Upon arrival in Milan, one notices that it isn’t an attractive city at all.  Yes, I felt that the general populace is more smartly dressed, but they also tended to be older, richer, and smartly dressed in a boring “i’m a banker, but still attractive” kind of way.  But the city itself, minus the cathedral, was ‘meh.’ Turin is much more regal, interesting, and definitely cleaner.

(random attractive Italian cathedral)

(random attractive Italian, a destra)

After the prerequisite and oh-so-satisfying trip to La Rinascente, it was time for my secret real reason for being so excited about Milan… Included on our tour of the city was a visit to Chocolat!!  Holy smokes this place was good!  As far as my tour of gelato (megapost coming at some point, I swear) goes, it’s in the top three.  I almost couldn’t finish my cup o’ chocolatey goodness.  Almost.  It wins points for: most flavors of chocolate gelato (obviously), smart styling, the hiring of (chocolate) minorities, and the steady stream of extremely attractive Italian men sweeping in and out of the door for a quick ice cream, coffee, and/or hair check.

[Note to ALL travelers to Milan.  Bring a lighter.  Even if you don't smoke.  I promise you won't regret it.]

After more walking around in a carb-tastic, post-chocolate daze, and spending way too much money at H&M, we started walking by a line of people. To get into a store.  An Abercrombie & Fitch. Yes.  Here in Italy at last.  Three cheers for globalization!!!

I had already witnessed this phenomenon multiple times in NYC, where Europeans (and probably U.S. tourists from Texas) would line up literally around the block for the A&F on 5th avenue.

This is even more curious now, because:

A.  I may have gotten a tad older, but, once 40-yr-old gays started to wear A&F, it was a death knell for its coolness.  I could be wrong, but, I don’t think that it’s currently the pinnacle of “American” style and fashion it once may have been.

B.  Italians could buy a round-trip plane ticket to NYC, buy all of their clothes at the A&F there, and still save money than if they bought it in Milan.

C.  Um, now that it’s in Italy…it’s not really all that interesting, far away, or even very American anymore.  It’s like H&M in Atlanta.  H&M was only cool before it arrived in Atlanta because you were wearing clothes that could only be bought in Chicago or NYC.  Now, it’s just another GAP.

All this being said…..you KNOW I had to get my picture taken with the hot Italian A&F beefcake, whose soul purpose (like in America during the holidays) is to stand in front of the door and look hot… I mean, c’mon! Look at him!   W* Milano!!

Um, someone give him a cookie please.

Also amusing is the guy in the background, whose smirk says: “Um, yeah, I know exactly what you’re up to mister”

After my sugar-high-enhanced heart palpitations began to slow, it was time to return home.  This time, having learned the hard way, I had ample legroom and armrest space…without having to cut anyone.

Also, a nice young lady heard us speaking in English (maaaayyyybe about how certain Italians could kiss our grits…) and wished us a Happy Thanksgiving.  It was sweet, but also a sign of how far I’ve literally and figuratively come, as I had no idea (or cared) that it was even turkey day.

Upon return, the wonderful FS procured all I need to survive in this world: french fries and pizza with four kinds of meat…mmmm…Thanks MD and FS!!

(*short for viva!)

CLOWN MEAT It tastes funny

Winston Churchill, 1931

“Fifty Years Hence“

Strand Magazine

Know what you call a cow with no legs?  Ground beef.  Know what you call beef with no cow?  Me neither.  But Winston Churchill once opined that it would be possible to grow meat without needing to tend to an actual animal.  This sci-fi concept of Jurassic Park meets Transmetropolitan meets Soylent Green is showing the vat cloning of livestock becoming a reality.   Scientists are growing nuggets of meat in laboratories without the ongoing use of animals.  In vitro meat production is a specialized form of tissue engineering, a biomedical practice in which scientists try to grow animal tissues like bone, skin, kidneys and hearts. Proponents say it will ultimately be a more efficient way to make animal meat, which would reduce the carbon footprint of meat products.  Much of the newest technology was presented at the Norwegian In Vitro Meat Symposium (motto: “Tastes Like Chicken!”).

This process seemingly solves many of the problems with a meat-eating world.  Contamination issues could be nearly eliminated.  Environmental issues such as the wasting of land, greenhouse gasses and water concerns raised by factory farming would be a thing of the past. And the problems of animal cruelty and barbaric slaughter processes would be non-existant in the laboratory kitchens.  Once the animal has been cloned, there really is no further suffering at the cost of producing the meat.  It’s like the joke about the lady in the supermarket’s meat section who couldn’t find the larger turkeys.  She asks the young clerk: 

“Sonny, do these turkeys get any bigger?”

“No, Ma’am.  They’re dead.”

Dead is dead and the damage has been done.  For PETA, not killing animals is good enough.  They have offered $1 million to the first people who produce an in vitro chicken-meat product that has a taste and texture indistinguishable from real chicken flesh to non-meat-eaters and meat-eaters alike.   And to the animals, not killing them is the good part.   But therein lies the (dry?) rub.  The reduction of our planet’s suffering and that of her animals are not really the only problems at hand.  The damage to humans from cloned, lab produced meat probably doesn’t occur until the meat is eaten.  In case you’ve forgotten, the evidence is very strong that eating animal protein causes cancer.  Like an on/off switch.  Eat enough of it…you are many times more likely to develop cancer.  Eat very little or none of it, you markedly reduce your likelihood of developing many cancers and heart disease.

Whether the animal product is from a test tube or gnawed off the animal itself, I do not think this fact will change. Cloned meat will probably prove to be just as unhealthy, just as dangerous and just as carcinogenic as farmed meat albeit a bit nicer to the donor.  Which makes it a slightly better idea than picking up packages of dead animal flesh from your friendly neighborhood grocer as long as you don’t plan to eat it.

Dr. Brett Kinsler writes for RochesterChiro.wordpress.com and doesn’t think lab meat sounds tasty at all.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

A new report, written by Professor Sir Andrew Haines director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), has linked the production of meat to climate change.

The report finds that reducing livestock production could lead to major reductions in global CO2 emissions.

Recent UN figures suggest that meat production is responsible for about 18 percent of global carbon emissions, including the destruction of forest land for cattle ranching and the production of animal feeds.

As the world’s leaders meet at Copenhagen for Climate Change talks, the report calls for a 30 percent reduction in the number of farm animals bred for meat which will help the UK achieve its target of halving carbon emissions by 2030.

International research

LSHTM has also won £3.5m Leverhulme Trust research grant this week to address the global food security crisis by investigating the links between agriculture and health.

The research will be coordinated by the London International Development Centre, a collaboration between six University of London colleges:

• Birkbeck College
• Institute of Education
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• School of Oriental and African Studies
• Royal Veterinary College
• The School of Pharmacy

Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk

“Can we have some recipes for mince meat that isn’t lasagna, shepherd’s pie and spag bol?” SE & EM

Quite hard to transform mince into something truly mindblowing, however you can with a bit of time and effort, you can turn mince meat into interesting at best! Here are a couple of recipes that are slightly different and dead scrummy:

Keema ( Dry Mince Curry)

In India, they eat this for breakfast, but I don’t think our delicate stomachs could deal with that at such an early time of day! We all love a good curry and this one is easy peasy to put together. Keema is also used to fill samosas and for biryani.

Ingredients:

2 tbs olive oil

1 onion chopped and peeled

1 x cinnamon stick

4 small green cardamoms

2 large cardamaoms

1 bay leaf

1 lb lean minced beef/lamb

1/4 tsp ground tumeric

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp ground coriander

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 can of 8oz tomatoes or 4-5 fresh tomatoes (skinned and roughly chopped)

4 oz frozen peas (optional)

Salt

Prep time = 10 mins, Cooking time = 30-40mins

Process:

1) Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion until light and brown

2) Add the cinnamon stick, small and large cardamoms and the bay leaf and continue to fry for 1 min.

3) Add the minced beef/lamb and sprinkle the tumeric, chilli powder, coriander and cumin. Mix well and fry for 2-3 mins to brown the meat, then add the tomatoes and salt. Cover and gently cook for about 10 mins until the mince is dry.

4) Uncover, add the peas, and continue cooking over a gentle heat for 10 mins.

Et voila! We here at CY HQ, prefer having this kind of dish with naan bread (we get ours from M&S) but if you prefer you could serve with rice.

Another good mince recipe is for cumin scented kofte brochettes with minted dip yoghurt. We often do these for a canapes but they could easily be made for a meal and just serve with rice. This recipe (for a meal) makes about 12-14 golf-ball size kofte.

Ingredients:

350g (12oz) lean minced lamb

1 medium onion, grated

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

grated zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp finely chopped coriander

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

For dip:

175ml (6floz) greek-style yoghurt

15g (1/2 oz) mint, finely chopped

15g (1/2 oz) parsley, finely chopped

juice of 1/2 lemon

salt

Process:

1) Place lamb, onion, garlic, cumin, ground coriander, lemon, fresh coriander, salt and cayenne pepper in a food processor: pulse until combined and slightly pasty.

2)Divide into 12-14 golf ball sized pieces. Do this with wet hands and roll the mix into shape. Place them on a tray and put in the fridge for about 30mins.

3) For dip, combine yoghurt, mint, parsley and lemon. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Cover and pop in fridge for 30mins to allow the flavours to develop.

4) Preheat the grill. Grill the brochettes until browned but still pink and juicy inside (around 3 mins on each side).

5) Serve hot with chilled minted yoghurt dip and rice!

You can make the dip up to 1 day in advance and leave in fridge. You can also make the kofte up to 12hrs in advance and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

CY x

Today was Thanksgiving and Melissa and I have gone from turkey novices to what I like consider ourselves as  bird experts.  Started out clueless but over the years have got our day of thanks routine down to a well choreographed dance.  Start with clean kitchen armed with ingredients and end with a clean kitchen eating a well cooked meal.  One thine we’ve found is neither of us are fond of dark meat so we just but the smaller, cheaper, not having to cook as long, white meat turkey breast

The first time we cooked Thanksgiving on our own was in 2003.  We’d just moved out to Indy and Melissa Brother came out to join us for the holiday.  Long story short you need to thaw the bird out COMPLETELY before cooking it.  See, frozen turkey won’t cook like unfrozen turkey so when the instructions read cook at “375 for an hour for every pound” that’s for meat that not in ice form.  I didn’t eat much neither did Melissa but John, who loves turkey, got through half the bird before exclaiming “What the F!CK!  This bird is straight up raw yo!”

He’d eaten quite a bit on way under cooked meat luckily he was OK.  Pretty sure he spent quite a bit of time on the porcelain thrown that night but he was no worse for the wear the next day.

Sorry John.

That was then, this was now.  Here are few snap shots from this years preparation and final prepared meal….and witty comments you’ve come to expect.

Melissa had to deal with unpacking the bird. It was to gooey and grossed me out

Mmmmm, raw bird punch. Grab a ladle, a few cups and some ice. Let's all have a glass.

What I like to call Anal Stuffing. Relax, it goes in the bird while it cooks. There's Apples, onions, carrots, garlic, all spice berries, peppercorns, oregano, basil, garlic power, cumin, cinnamon sticks, salt, pepper, and candied ginger

The Anal Stuffing is in place

Next comes the Flavor injected marinade. A hit for the bird......

.....and a hit for Eric

Another hit flavor injected hit of buttery herb oil for the bird........

...and another for me. Tying off to find a vein is what makes the holidays magical

Seven hours of slow cooking later the turkey is ready

Stuffing and garlic range mashed po-tat-ars

Looks good eh? No, not the turkey. My forearm. Looks like I have hair on it huh? Sometimes the camera captures strangers images

I didn't carve this off. Melissa is like the Tasmanian devil when it comes to turkey

yes, this IS what happy tastes like

pic by LexnGer

The second moment that I can really remember feeling utterly sickened about eating meat was late on a Sunday night when I was around twelve years old.

There had been a huge storm and we had lost power. Mum put my sister and I into the old brown Holden car and we drove through suburb after suburb until we found one that had power. There was a pseudo Italian outlet and I ordered ribs.

At home, sitting by candlelight and eating my dinner, I was suddenly acutely aware that I was gnawing on the ribs of an animal. This intense, dark energy eminated from the bones. I felt it. I felt the animal’s suffering. I felt its horror at the point of killing. I felt its fear and dread.

‘I don’t think this animal died in very nice circumstances,’ I said  to Mum.

Mum, also an animal lover, grimaced. ‘Try not to think about it,’ she said.

But it was so utterly revolting, as though I was some scavenger who was cleaning up the remains of a carcass.

I was nauseous in the extreme and left my meal unfinished. It was the start of my aversion from anything that resembled what it had looked like when it had been alive–bones, feathers, scales, skin. The only way I could eat meat was if it contained no reminders of its past and was cooked very well done, preferably burned.

Thanksgiving 2009

Main course:
Vegetable Soup
Mashed potatoes
Turkey

Dessert:
Spice cake
Puff Pastry “strips”
Meringue cake (store-bought)

The turkey I’ve made in the last 5-7 years has always been moist as a result of both brining and baking it in a bag. However, this year it was absolutely superb. Please don’t think that I’m boasting. I did absolutely nothing differently from years past. The difference is in the turkey itself. I ordered a turkey at a farmers market earlier this year through Rueggseger Farms. The turkey was never frozen, it was “harvested” on Tuesday morning and we took delivery in the evening. It was astonishingly fresh and well-cleaned and absolutely lip-smacking when cooked.

Additional Recipes will be coming soon.

This year I tossed the turkey (stuffed in both the head and the body) in the oven at 9am, let it sit at 300F for an hour or so, then I turned it down to 200F and let it go until 4pm, whereupon I cranked it back up to 300F for another 30-45 minutes or so. I kept it tented with some foil until that last bake.

I had a bunch of fresh bread which I chopped up and tossed with some onions. Half of this I stuffed into the turkey. Before I turned the heat back up, I scooped all of it back out and tossed it with the other half along with some of the turkey juices in the pan and about a cup of chicken broth. I covered the pan in foil and baked it at 300F alongside the turkey.

I also mixed some sour cream with some chipotle mustard to make a dip.

Nyama Choma - crispy fatty meat roasted to a perfect combination and seasoned with sassy curry flavour.

In Swahili, it literally means “grilled meat”. Using curry powder to marinate the meat, its wobbly fats are further flavored with a sizzling taste.

Back in those days as a volunteer in Bomang’ombe,  Tanzania, I would spend Friday evenings with my local friends munching on Nyama Choma, coupled with ice cold Serengeti beer. They would bring us to the best in town, where the beef was roasted just before we arrived.

Nyama Choma is usually eaten with ugali, boiled cornmeal mush,  the primary staple of the entire Sub-Saharan African continent. Ugali is eaten with almost every other thing, especially soup, stew or sauce, or other dishes with sauce or gravy. As a side dish, ugali is served in a big bowl that everyone eats from.

Where to find it:

Nyama Choma is not available everywhere, and you need to know which ones are good. Always ask a local – they’ll always know the best. Remember to order in advance before you go.

as in vegan meal
sustenance sparse between us
hunger gently fades
—
Thursday , November 26, 2009

“Colonel Yum – please can I have a recipe to impress for an inexperienced cook on a budget?” – E.M

CY’s Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

1 tbs olive oil

25g (1oz) butter

8 chicken thighs

2 onions, peeled and chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 celery sticks, trimmed and chopped

25g (1oz) plain flour

300ml (1/2 pint) dry cider

150ml (1/4 pint) chicken stock

1 tbs Worcestershire Sauce

Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Bouquet Garni

Preparation time is about 15mins and cooking time is about 1hr15mins. Serves 4 people.

Procedure:

1) Heat the oil and butter together in a flameproof casserole dish (or an ovenproof dish) and fry the chicken pieces until browned all over. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and put to one side. Add the onion, garlic and celery to the fat remaining in the pan and fry gently for 4-5 minutes until soft and lightly coloured. Sprinkle the flour into the onions and cook for 1minute, stirring.

2) Remove from the heat and gradually blend in the cider, chicken stock, and Worcestershire Sauce. Return to the heat, bring to the boil and simmer for 1 minute, stirring. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3) Return the chicken to the pan and add the bouquet garni. Cover closely with a lid or foil and cook in a pre-heated oven for 50-60 minutes or until the chicken is very tender. If the sauce looks a little thin, reduce it by gently boiling. Seasoning is everything, little by little – don’t overdo it!

4) Serve with really creamy mash – so, boil Maris Piper potatoes (about 6 large ones) until tender. Bung in about 2oz of butter and unfortunately (to make it taste a million times better) buy a small pot of double cream and throw in half. If you can buy a packet of chives as well, snip them and put them in and put them in after you’ve really mashed the butter and the cream into the potato as well. Season the potatoes properly, taste as you go – cannot emphasize enough, little by little. You choose your veg to serve it with!

Perfect for this weather, really delicious, not wildly expensive. What more can you ask for?! It may not be a ‘trendy’ recipe but it’s bloody good!  Any problems get in touch with Colonel Yum. Good luck E.M. – don’t burn down the house!

Those poor saps coming for Thanksgiving today.  Frozen pizza isn’t too much of a disappointing replacement for turkey, is it?  All I have to say is that touching meat that actually looks like the animal it came from is disgusting and I’ll never do it again.  I stupidly volunteered to do the turkey this year, not realizing it doesn’t come carved on a platter and that you have to deal with things like juices, salmonella poisoning, floppy wings, slippery skin and most horrid of all, the detached neck left in the cavity.  I hyperventilated taking that out and heaved all the way to the trash can.  I have no idea what gibbards or gizzards or whatever they’re called are, but we’ll find out at dinner tonight because after the neck incident, I refused to go searching and remove them as the instructions stated.  I also refused to cut any excess fat.  Again, stupidly, decided to brine the turkey, so I’ve had to interact with the dumb bird for the past 48 hours, turning it in the brine as its pimply, pasty skin stares up at me.

I still have to “detach skin and rub” blah blah blah and jam a thermometer in the thigh, so this may be my last post as I definitely might die during those requirements.

My goal has changed from “make a delicious and moist turkey” to “be able to take out the garbage that has the detached neck in it without my heart quickening out of irrational fear that it’s going to come to life and eat me.”

Crunchy on the outside. Caramelized. Sweet, sour, and salty at the same time. That’s Filipino Barbikyu.

Heaven on a stick.

So you say, “Where are the skewers?”

Well, they’re here … [read more]

From Big, Bold Beautiful Food

Excerpts from GLOBAL WARMING IS A MYTH

IS CARBON DI OXIDE THE VILLAIN?

Such terms as carbon credit find a place in newspapers almost daily. I don’t know what is all this about. To me CO₂ sustains life on earth. Has the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere gone up? Has it been proved experimentally?

 Before Industrialization

The whole of America and most of the old world were inhabited by a comparatively small population, a majority of whom depended upon meat and fish. Farming depended entirely on rain water as big dams were unknown. The grasslands of America and Australia didn’t produce food grains. Coal and other fossil fuels were not commercially exploited. In those days we may presume that a proper balance existed between CO₂ and other ingredients of the air like N₂ and O₂ in spite of forest fires, the like of which we witnessed in California recently.

After Industrialization

Commercial exploitation of coal began first followed by oil and natural gas, resulting in increase in the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Simultaneously two other developments followed: increase in population (both human and animal) and corresponding growth in food grains production. Big dams were constructed and more and more areas of land were brought under cultivation. Mechanization and the use of artificial fertilizers made leaps and bounds in production of food grains, fruits and other commercial crops. The Prairies of North America became the granary of the world. Compared to grass, food grains and sugar fix a large quantity of CO₂. The major items responsible for such CO₂ fixation are:

1. food grains like wheat, corn, rice, oats, soybean etc
2. underground vegetables like potato, tapioca, beetroot etc
3. fruits like apple, grapes, banana, dates, cherry, pineapple etc
4. sugarcane etc

Experts can calculate the total quantity of CO₂ produced by industry and that absorbed by vegetation as mentioned above and the marine vegetation in order to find out whether the net balance is favoring CO₂ concentration in the air. An easier way would be to experimentally ascertain the percentage of CO₂ in the atmospheric air (being heavier than air CO₂ is available near the surface of the earth). If CO₂ level increases O₂ level should decrease. In my childhood (I am 70+) O₂ level was 20% as mentioned in my text book. Has it changed? An atom of carbon combines with two atoms of oxygen to form CO₂ which is absorbed by the leaves of the plant to form starch. In the process two atoms of oxygen are released into the atmosphere. We may say that each carbon atom burnt ultimately results in the release of two atoms of oxygen, thus resulting in increase in the level of O₂. Level of CO₂ dissolved in the ocean water should also be checked. If this level increases, fishes would die en mass. Has this happened? If the level of CO₂ dissolved in ocean waters decreases, plant life in the ocean cannot produce enough starch by photosynthesis. This will be a hazard for fishes and other marine life.

The volume of animal and hence plant life in the oceans is much more than that on the continents. This is because the area of the oceans is seven times the area of the continents. Also, the oceans are deep. Hence the volume of water is very much more and can contain a large population of marine life. The necessary starch has to come from plant life. So, the total bio mass in the oceans is considerably higher than that in the continent. The carbon di oxideàPlant starchàAnimalsàCarbon di oxide cycle is there in the watery medium, just as in our atmosphere. All the gases, including nitrogen, will be present in dissolved state in the oceans too. Here industrialization has not affected the ‘atmosphere’ of the ocean. This fact has to be recognized in any discussion on Global Warming.

[The percentage of various components of atmospheric air as obtained from the websites is given below:

Nitrogen 78.1

Oxygen 20.9

Argon 0.9

Neon 0.002

Helium 0.0005

Krypton 0.0001

Hydrogen 0.00005

Carbon di oxide 0.035!!!!!!!! (Poor, innocent CO2 has been maligned unnecessarily)

Methane 0.0002

Ozone 0.000004

This would suggest that the percentage of oxygen has slightly increased. If this is true it augers ill, as forest fires may become uncontrollable with increase in the level of oxygen in the coming years. Therefore, this line should be investigated separately by experts. My guess is that with unchecked use of nitrogenous fertilizers, the total bio mass in the earth could have increased. The requisite extra nitrogen must have been drawn from the atmosphere along with CO₂ releasing extra oxygen into the atmosphere as pointed out above.]

The importance of proper scientific study cannot be over emphasized. Mother Nature maintains her balance, whatever her children may do!

after i brine my chicken, i’m going to create a roll with stuffing i made. here’s the recipe with turkey but if you’re using chicken, just follow the same directions with chicken instead of turkey!

Ingredients

• turkey in brine for a few hours or overnight
• pumpkin muffin stuffin’
• sea salt and pepper
• butcher’s twine

Preparation

Remove turkey from brine and pat breast dry. Butterfly the turkey by slicing the breasts into even halves on the horizontal, leaving about 1/2-inch, uncut at 1 edge so the breasts can open like a book. Season all over with salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange 1 of the open turkey breasts, cut side up, lengthwise on top of the bacon. Scoop half of the stuffing onto 1 half of the turkey breast, fold over the other half. Wrap tightly in the plastic wrap twisting the ends to really seal in the breast to keep its shape. Transfer the breasts to a sheet tray and rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Remove the turkey breasts from refrigerator 1/2 hour before you plan to cook them. Discard the plastic wrap and using 3 pieces of butcher’s twine, tie the twine over the center of the 3 bacon strips to secure the breasts when searing. Warm a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. Add the turkey breasts, seam side down, into the skillet and sear until the turkey is lightly browned, about 4 minutes on each side. Transfer the turkey breast to a baking sheet lined with a rack. Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake until the turkey is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Leave out to cool for 30 minutes. Then cut crosswise into slices.

**
You can also place a turkey roll slice on top of mashed potatoes and pour gravy on top like tyler florence does with his 2009 thanskgiving episode see below for links!

________________________________________________________________________________
original recipe to brine turkey or chicken breast from Cooking for Real: Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Breast Stuffed with Pear Hash

original recipe from Tyler’s Ultimate – 2009 Tylers’ Thanskgiving:
- Oven-roasted Turkey Breast with Leeks and Cornbread Stuffing
- Roasted Turkey Gravy
- Grainy Mustard Mashed Potatoes