New post, who dis?

It's been a while.  Like 5+ years?  I now have a house and have made an authentic Chinese dish and have fermented many things.  Mostly cabbage-y things like kraut and kimchi, but I also made fermented ketchup with green tomatoes, and it was awfully good.   I have not entered a jam in a contest as yet.

I said so long to my dearest friend, Gyp in 2015.  Still miss my buddy.

I am currently nursing a shoulder injury of some kind and it hurts like a mother.  Not sure what happened but my right arm is currently at maybe 40% capacity of my left arm.  Possible MRI in my future. Fingers crossed I don't need surgery.

I love my job way more than I did previously though I have been assisting at my old job. Also making a massive playlist for my 40th birthday this year.

So that's my life now.  Wake up, walk the dog, pay the bills, go to bed. 
If I don't return sooner, maybe I'll update this thing in another 5 years.

Be it resolved

For 2015 there are some things I want to do.
1)Enter a jam in a contest
2)Ferment something
3)Continue my exploration of the dishes of America, particularly Mexico and Latin America
4)Learn to make an authentic Chinese dish
5)Run a 5k (again)
6)Finish McGee's On Food and Cooking
7)Blog more about what I make
8)Lose weight (again)
9)Eat at a Michelin star restaurant
10)Make an original recipe

So I guess those are my resolutions.

Return of the Jam Vortex

After two years of this taking up space and collecting some interwebs and cyber-dust bunnies, I suppose I could dust this off and start posting again.

Now that I have moved much further away from the Mexican border, I have become obsessed with authentic Mexican food.  Not so much your tacos and enchiladas, but moles, huitlachoche, pozole, and tamales.  I am currently in the midst of a major project to complete some authentic Mexican dishes by the end of the year.  One goal I have, though I don't intend to achieve it prior to December 31, is completing the quest of 7 moles.  I have currently made a red or poblano mole and a pipian or mole verde with pumpkin seeds.  I've also made molletes (toasted bolillos with refried beans and cheese), frijoles refritos (well-fried beans), chilaquiles verdes (stale tortillas briefly stewed in salsa verde), and both horchata and a hibiscus agua fresca.  I intend to conquer the famed Oaxacan mole negro in the next couple of months, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.  I also have plans for making a pozole, tamales, and cochinita pibil, as well as cajeta and some atole de chocolate.

I am continuing with my jam obsession as well.  I have several jams slated for making this year and will make an effort to chronicle my Mexcapades and canning parties of one.  And I also have some playlist ideas.  But it remains to be seen what will come to fruition.

Chili con carne (y frijoles)

Okay so I have been kinda busy lately and haven't posted, but I'm back now and that's all that matters.  Jam Fest  of August 2012 didn't really happen, but I've still made some headway and have gotten very high marks on the green chile apple butter I made.

Speaking of chiles though, I just want you to read this and trust me.  Go to your pantry and throw out your bottle of chili powder.  It's that stuff that has cayenne pepper and cumin and garlic and maybe some oregano and salt.  Just go and throw it in the trash.  I'll wait a moment so you can do that...

Did you do it?  If not, that's okay.  I'm sure it will be fine for putting on popcorn or french fries or something.  But from this day forward I want you to promise me that you will never ever again use chili powder for making the delicious spicy stew known as chili.  What you will be doing instead is this:

A Nation Is Born

It's been a while since I've written anything.  But since this is the month Canada Day and Independence Day are celebrated, I will share a short playlist consisting of 3 patriotic tracks, one of which has nothing to do with Canada or the US, but RUSSIA.  A little background: in  1880, Tsar Alexander II commissioned a big cathedral to be built to commemorate the Russian victory over Napoleon.  A friend of Tchaikovsky suggested he write a commemorative piece for the festivities so he started work on it intending for it to be played in the square outside the completed cathedral.  He wrote the piece  in 6 weeks but it was never played because Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 before the cathedral was even finished and most of the energy that went into the project died with him.  Tchaikovsky himself hated the piece and considered it one of his weakest works saying it was "very loud and noisy, but [without] artistic merit, because I wrote it without warmth and without love."  It is still one of his most recognized works and frankly one of the most badass pieces of music ever written, simply because it requires a carillon (bell tower) and a cannon to be played as originally written.  It is of course played indoors without these, but it's way cooler when you've got the real thing, right?  So the piece is structured like this:
1)Strings playing a hymn symbolic of the Tsar telling the people of Russia to pray
2)The approach of the French symbolized by the French anthem
3)Cuts back to people in villages praying and praying symbolized by the violins and Russian folk song (with the tambourine).  This happens a couple of times.
4)Battle of Borodino symbolized by French anthem and Russian tunes and lots of cymbals
5)The defeat of Napolean symbolized by the successive canon shots and music going lower and lower
6) Triumph symbolized by pealing bells and following Russian march and underlying God Save the Tsar (because God had answered their prayers)
Anyway, the Boston Pops started playing this on July 4th in 1974 because of the built in fireworks and it was such a hit that they've been doing it ever since.  Plus it is very patriotic sounding, no matter where you were born.

So here's your July patriotic playlist
1)Oh Canada
2)1812 Overture
3)Star Spangled Banner Nothing more American than the National Anthem sung by the armed forces choirs before the start of a Superbowl between the Patriots and the Eagles.

Dads

Father's Day playlist for you:
1)Daddy's Song-Harry Nilsson
2)Love Without End, Amen-George Straight
3)Daddy's Hands-Holly Dunn and Dolly Parton
4)A Boy Named Sue-Johnny Cash
5)Cat's in the Cradle-Harry Chapin
6)Father and Daughter-Paul Simon
7)Papa Don't Preach-Madonna
8)Coward of the County-Kenny Rogers
9)Coal Miner's Daughter-Loretta Lynn
10)Leader of the Band-Dan Fogelberg

Pizzeria Pretzel Combos Jam

My friend Rhett requested this however it's kind of impossible to make jam from Combos. So I decided to see what the ingredients were in middle of the Combos. It sounds like it's your basic marinara mixed with parmesan cheese. I am hesitant to put cheese in a jam but I thought a tomato jam that tasted a bit pizza-y might be worth a try. I used a recipe from Pomona's to start out.