La Tomatina

Like most days, today I came home from work and began to browse my favorite food blogs. I saw a message board post that reminded that La Tomatina was today! For those of you that don't know, La Tomatina is an annual festival in Bunol (pronounced boon-yol), Spain. It's a giant party, the world's largest food fight, and an amazing cultural experience. How do I know? I was in Bunol up to my waist in tomatoes for La Tomatina 2009!

The roots of the festival, as I understand it, go back to a random food fight that occurred in a market back in the 1940s. Every year, the town had a tomato fight to commemorate the day. When General Franco (evil Spanish dictator) came into power, he banned all festivals and anything fun. Once Franco was removed from power, the town celebrated their freedom by having an even bigger festival.

Now, bus loads and bus loads of tourist (many from Australia and New Zealand) come into the town to celebrate. Participants are advised to dress in old clothes, not to carry anything on their person that they don't want to loose, and wear goggles (they help, a little). Girls are warned- your shirt WILL be ripped off- so wear a sports bra or one piece swimsuit underneath. I had my friends ceremoniously shred my tank-top so it wouldn't be removed by a stranger.

Before the event, locals cover store fronts and homes with tarps, and some set up tables and chairs outside their house to watch all the crazies. The official events begins at 8am, when food fight participants climb a greasy pole to retrieve a ham (if you have spent any time in Spain you know that everything is about the jamon). Once the ham is removed, dump trucks full of tomatoes roll into the streets and tomatoes start flying. The whole town becomes a sea of screaming tomatoey humanity. The tomato throwing goes on for exactly one hour, when a flare goes up and all tomato tossing must stop or you could be arrested (!). You may be wondering how this mess gets cleaned up. The locals all pitch in and hose down the tourists.

The next couple days, I had several showers but still found the occasional tomato bit in my hair. Plus I couldn't get the tomato smell off of me and my eyes were all crusty from the tomato acid. Would I do it again? Well, I probably wouldn't go out of my way to get there again since there are so many other fun adventures I want to have first, but if given the opportunity, I probably would do it again! I highly recommend La Tomatina to any adventurous travelers out there. Let me know if you have any questions about it!

The "before" pic: Amanda (me), Scott, Rosemarie

Beer for breakfast? Why not!

So much fun I want to punch my friend Rosemarie!

Does that look fun? Well, it's WAY more fun than it looks!

Ground Cherries? Gooseberries? Physalis? Tasty!

In the parking lot of the shopping center I work at there is a farmers' market on Thursday, and I usually stop by after work. I picked up 2 zucchinis, 2 summer squashes, an onion, 4 poblanos and a bunch of basil. Not because I had any plans for these items just because a) I like them and b) they were on sale. As I was leaving I noticed a vendor selling "ground cherries". Seeing a good learning opportunity I asked the vendor what they were, he described them as "little sweet tomatoes" and let me sample one. They were yummy! They have little husks around them and the consistency of a tomato but sweetness of a berry.

Some people have a little devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. I ,on the other hand, have a tight-wad cheaper than Ebinezer Scrooge on one shoulder and a food snob on the other. At $4 a pint the tightwad got the best of me, but as I walked away, the foodie started arguing her case- "You don't need to use all these veggies at once, and plus you have a food blog and this is a great chance to use a local ingredient you've never tried before. Go back and get those dumb cherries!" So, I did.

As soon as I arrived back at the apartment I asked google what the heck a ground cherry is, and then I realized they are gooseberries. Now this I've heard of, not sure where, probably a secret ingredient on Iron Chef. After consulting my Le Cordon Bleu cookbook (thanks Phil!) I found the following description.

"Physalis (yet another name) - also called cape gooseberry, this sweet orange berry is encased in an inedible husk of papery leaf- like sepals. Eat raw or cooked, or use as a flower-like decoration."

And on page 322, a recipe!

I continued with my adventurous attitude and ignored the fact that I had never made my own caramel or worked with hot motel sugar before. I survived without burninateing anything, and my candied gooseberries look just like the picture! They taste good too, maybe not worth the mess... but I learned a new technique AND used a new ingredient. Not to mention I took some great photos. All in all, a successful day in the kitchen.

What do YOU do with gooseberries? A quick google search revealed recipes for pies, cobblers, salsas, chutneys.... any recommendations?

Better Than the Bux: Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

I work at a coffee shop here in Madison. In fact, you probably have a similar one near you since there seems to be one on every street corner. I try to avoid eating the pastries, since my mindless snacking the first day of work put me over my daily calories before 11am. The coffee cakes always tempt me, especially the Banana Chocolate Chip variety. Phil's family was visiting from out of town so I decided to recreate it for them. At least that way I wouldn't down the whole batch myself. Well, I solved my pastry munching problem in an unexpected way- my homemade coffee cake put the store bought cake to shame! My new problem is that I can't stop thinking about my "Better Than the Bux" cake.

Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel

Adapted From Bon Appetit - January 2003

12 servings

1 bag semisweet chocolate chips- 1 1/4 cups for streusel, mix the rest in the batter

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups AP flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

About 3 very ripe, mashed up bananas

3 tablespoons of sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan.

Streusel: Stir chocolate chips, brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon in a small bowl, set aside.

The Dry Team: Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar, room temperature butter, and egg in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in mashed bananas and buttermilk. Add dry ingredients and blend well. Fold in the extra chocolate chips, if desired. Come on, you know you want to!

Spread half of the batter (about 2 cups) in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with half of streusel. Repeat with remaining batter and streusel. Bake coffee cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool coffee cake in pan on rack.

The ingredients- mostly stuff you probably have on hand.

The streusel ingredients....

...mix them up!

The dry team. Note: These pictures are of a half batch.

The wet team. I broke the yoke, opps!

The bananas and 3 tablespoons of sour cream.

My $5 mixer from the thrift store works just nicely.
Here's the part where Amanda says BAM! Extra chocolate chips!
Ready for the oven!

Fresh out of the oven, yum!

The final product! Phil says my extra chocolate chips make this more like breakfast brownies, but I see nothing wrong with that.

Comments!

Bloggers love to see comments on their posts and I am no exception. My Aunt told me that she wanted to comment on my last post but couldn't unless she signed up for a google account. I investigated the problem and it is now fixed! So comment away! Even if it is just to say "hi".

What If Your Food Isn't "Just Fine, Thanks!"?

You may have noticed in my last post I planned on writing about the restaurant I dined at last night for restaurant week. Alas, I have decided not to blog in detail about my experience since...well, it wasn't a great experience. Actually, I take that back, the company and conversation was awesome, the beer was cold, but the food left something to be desired, like a kobe beef burger that's not cooked to death, or a salad without any "extra protein"...I don't ask for much!

Which brings me to another interesting topic, what, do you say, if anything, if the food at a restaurant is bad? Issues like bugs in the salad are obviously unacceptable, but truth is, we didn't say anything! We were just having a great time and didn't want to start even the tiniest of confrontations. Looking back, we should have said something, but seeing as it wasn't my salad I didn't want to push the issue.

As if the foodie gods were testing my limits, the waitress came by and said "wasn't that burger GREAT?" and I faked a "Oh, yeah! Great!". I have heard of this phenonmenon of people saying the food is fine even when it's not, and here I am being a part of it. After carefully considering the issue, I have two reasons why I didn't say anything:

1) I was hungry and ate a little more than half the burger before giving up. Kind of tacky to complain about food after you ate half of it.

2) What do you say that doesn't make you sound like a total food snob? " I was expecting awesome and your burger was mediocre at best. Is this your definition of medium?..." I admit it, I am particular about the quality of my food, but I still want to be a nice person, plus, to some people, my waitress included, that burger was perfectly awesome.

What would you do? If a server or the manager comes around and asks you how your food was, are you honest about it? Do you vote with your wallet and never come back? Do you go home and slave over a slanderous Yelp review?

If anyone is out there reading my blog, this is your chance to comment and let me know you are here!

Not the actual bug! Photo: Flikr

Restaurant Week in Madison

It's restaurant week in Madison! Brought to you by the letters E, A, and T and the number 25. $25 dollars that is, because that's how much a three course dinner costs at participating restaurants. I'm starting to sound like a commercial, you can read the fine print here: Madison Restaurant Week.

Last night I went to Liliana's, a restaurant serving New Orleans style fare just outside of downtown Madison in Fitchburg. I have driven past Liliana's on multiple occasions and judging by the exterior decor only, I wanted to try it. Big windows, outdoor seating...after asking around, a few friends agreed that the food was great as well. There were three dinners on the restaurant week menu to choose from, and I went with the seafood heavy one: the Bayou menu.

My starter was four barbecued rock shrimp, which put Phil's starter (some fried okra and a salad) to shame in both looks and taste. The fresh, succulent, head-on shrimp transported me from ocean-less Madison to a beach side restaurant in Valencia, Spain where the head-on shrimp adorn the top of a savory paella. Obviously these shrimp had traveled some distant from the sea to my belly, but I would never have guessed by the taste.

My main course consisted of a catfish fillet on a bed of southern goodness: greens and grits. Despite growing up in Virginia, I haven't had greens in recent memory. This makes me sad, because they tasted like bacon. I'm sorry bacon flavored leafy vegetables... for not eating you more often when I had the chance. Meanwhile, the catfish and grits had just the right amount of spice for me. Like the appetizer, the entree was a little on the greasy side, but that's just more flavor, right?

Finally, I finished the meal off with a chocolate filled beignet. Now the Chef isn't getting any creativity points for beignets at a New Orleans restaurant, but tastes is what matters and this square chocolate filled donut was simply delicious. After my first bite the waiter came over and asked me if I was enjoying it, I thought about saying "Didn't you hear me moaning?"... but decided to keep the unlady-like comments to myself.

I give this one two governator thumbs up...I'll be back!

Amanda's entree: Catfish with Grits and Greens

Phil's entree:Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage

I'm checking out the Restaurant Week scene again tonight so check back soon!

Crazy Caprese

In my last post I showed you how a few simple pantry staples can make a tasty shortcake to enjoy with summer fruit. Continuing on with the simple and seasonal theme, this week I made a flashy salad. But don't worry, it looks and tastes flashy, but is super easy to make. Just slice up a 2-3 tomatoes (different colors make it fun), and 1 ball of fresh, whole milk mozzarella (the kind that is chilling in the brine pool is the best). Layer the tomatoes, cheese, and some basil, then drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I like a pinch of salt on mine too. YUM!

I'm also helping out my community since I bought the tomatoes and basil at the Madison farmer's market. Even on a budget, I like to eat responsibly when I can. Buying locally ensures that the food I eat doesn't have to travel, which makes it freshers and therefor, tastier! Yummier food is only one of the reasons to buy and eat local food, to read more, check out the REAP's Food Group website: Why Buy Local

I don't know many tricks, but one I do know: the cutting board shot.

...but this trick is pretty impressive, too!