The Grill

Okay, so I have grilled on other peoples grills, and started a few, a couple nights ago Rooster gave me money to buy groceries and enough to purchase a grill. So after heading to the grocery store, and stopping at the Mexican market for Jarritos, which have become our favorite beverage choice this month, I stopped at Home Depot.

I bought the cheapest large grill they had, it was about thirty dollars, a bag of cheap charcoal "all natural", and a few grilling utensils. My experience at Home Depot was not the greatest. Where were all the dude workers? All I saw were chicks in orange aprons watching me fumble around this large box... Lame.

By this time it was dark out. I was hoping to have the grill set up with coal fueling before Rooster got home. This was not the case. After getting all the groceries inside, and letting our four dogs out, yes four, I tore open the grill box. Apparently the cheapest grill = LOTS of assembly. Under normal circumstances I would be a whiz at this, but for some reason I got very overwhelmed. It was dark out, it was cold out, and I was looking at a million parts. Rooster to the rescue!

Rooster pulled in on his Harley, just as I was thinking about packing it all back up and getting my money back. He grabbed some extra tools and started nut and bolting it together. I went inside to prepare the meal.

Since time was going quickly, I threw two potatoes in the oven at 400 degrees. I knew they would take forever and the grill was not even built. Baked potatoes always get me, who knows how long a grilled potato would take.

When Rooster was done with the grill assembly I took over. I put down a good size pile of "natural coals", twisted some paper, added a bit of lighter fluid and tried to light the grill... And tried to light the grill, and lit the grill. Apparently cheap "all natural" coal is hard to light, really hard. After about thirty minutes of getting some okay heat to the coals, I put the corn on the grill.

The way I cook corn on the grill is, I take off most of the husk, peel the rest all the way back, remove the silk, and rinse the corn really good. I then pull the remaining husk back over the corn and grill. The water provides extra moisture, while the thinner husks hold moisture in, they protect the corn from getting chard, but still letting that smoky flavor in.

I bought some inexpensive steaks from the grocery store along with a four dollar marinade. Sometimes I experiment with my own rubs and marinades. When it comes to cooking either for a large group, or in a small time frame, shortcuts are okay with me. As long as they are good shortcuts.

I forgot what the brand of marinade was, but I use it in an upcoming blog so I will get that info to you shortly. They have three different ones. One for pork, one for beef, and one for chicken. I bought the one for pork since I planned to use it for both the meat I was cooking this night, and for drum sticks I planned on grilling the next night. Pork marinades tent to be good for both dark meat and light meat. Chicken ones tend to have lemon in them and beef ones tend to be fairly salty, I find the pork to be a good balance between the two. My favorite, a sweet and spicy combo. While doing my grocery unload I put the steaks I bought and half the marinade in tupperware and slid it into the fridge.

After waiting forever, I got real impatient and it was getting late. I took the half uncooked corn and put it under a low broiler in the oven. I figured, one; I didn't use enough coal, and two; the grilling grate was not close enough to the coals to get everything hot enough. I took the grill grate and finagled in closer to the coals, basically setting it on the coals. I threw the half pound, marinated strip steaks on grill for about 4 minutes on each side. Rooster and I like our meat, closer to rare, medium rare. This is what I would normally cook them at under the the broiler, so, test run?

Around 11ish, we finally ate. It was the first charcoal cooked meal I have had all summer, and although it was a slight disaster, the corn and meat were both smoky and sweet. The steak had a spicy kick. They were just slightly over cooked but still pink in the middle. I got the charcoal bug. Now how to perfect it.

For now, Kitchens Closed

Tamarind Indian Bistro

I met my sister Hollie for lunch yesterday afternoon at Tamarind, an Indian buffet on Demonbreun St. I have eaten in this restaurant space before when it was one of only possibly two Greek diners in town. Now it is Tamarind, one of a possible ten Indian spots in town.

When I eat Indian food in Nashville, I usually eat at Woodlands off West End, it's a vegetarian buffet which would normally turn me off but Woodlands is not the case, with food that good, who needs meat. If you haven't been there...GO!

As far as Tamarind goes, it was quite good. The space is very small so luckily for us it was not very busy. I can't imagine a crowd in such a small area especially when a buffet is involved. They had a few fried appetizer dishes, several different types of rice, a couple great veggie dishes, and a few chicken dishes. My sister told me the last time she was there, they had a goat dish, in which I was disappointed that I didn't get to experience that.

I eat at Indian restaurants maybe three times a year. I like Indian food but it's hard for my palate to comprehend. It all tastes good and half way through, I'm just mixing all the dishes together and scooping it up with nann. I think with Indian food, I am always expecting more, and in the end, it becomes unforgettable to me.

I try to eat everything so I went for the dessert. It was a super sweet soaked donut with lavender and a super sweet pudding with lavender. I tried it, and I tried it again, and I tried it again. I try things that I am not sure that I like, and things I am pretty sure I don't like over and over again. I guess my thought is, that if somebody likes this, I can too? Meanwhile my sister is making strange faces at me as I am more than likely making even stranger faces.

In all, I will definitely go back, fingers crossed for the goat dish. I really had no complaints. My only question is, why are Indian restaurants so dark?

Midnight Snack

I forgot to say, I had a lot of left over mole sauce... What to do
with it! I have no meat product left in the house so I revert to my
childhood.

My mom would make these "quesadillas" or her version which I call the
white quesadilla. She would always make them with sliced turkey lunch
meat, sweet baby rays BBQ sauce, shredded cheese, cilantro, all wedged
between two flour tortillas. She would then proceed to bake them in
the oven. I make these specific ones now and again but I have also
made several variations.

Last night, my craving for the mole and what I could eat with it got
me. I took a corn tortilla, layered a piece of provolone, two pieces
of lunch meat turkey, another piece of provolone, followed by one more
tortilla. I got it nice and hot and gooey on a skillet. I heated up
the mole in the microwave, cut the quesadilla in 6ths and dipped
generously in the mole sauce.

NOW kitchens closed!

Mole Monday

Since Sunday's and Monday's are my days off from the salon, they tend
to become my grocery shopping days and cooking experiment days. This
week I could not afford to do a grocery store run so things might get
interesting. Since I had been having the urge to try my skills a a
mole sauce, and I know my live in boyfriend Rooster would not like it, I
made two dishes.

I had chicken, I try to always have chicken since you can do so many
things with it. I cut up and pan grilled half of it and put the other
half in the oven to bake.

Dish one, Roosters meal.
Simple. I added salt and pepper to the grilled
chicken and a can of drained diced tomatoes (an always in my
cabinets) Now, Don't ask me why I have this but it must have been some
strange urge at the grocery one week, we all have them, I added a
little over half a jar of a Rosa Alfredo sauce. I had a small block
of Parmesan that I grated the rest into the sauce. Mean while I had
been boiling some penne pasta. Done and done, I had some, it was
good...

Dish two... My mole meal.
I made these dishes simultaneously, so don't
think I'm just standing around in the kitchen all night. I found a
recipe on the Internet and then modified it due to the ingredients I
had and the flavors I like.
In a sauce pan I took the drained tomato
water, which was about half a cup, and added another half of cup of
water to it.
Added salt and pepper and two cloves of grated garlic.(my garlic press is useless, I just got it for Christmas from my little brother, it's not his fault that this particular "Michael Graves" garlic press does not press garlic).
I thinly sliced the last large half yellow onion I had and brought it all to a simmer for about 30 minutes, till the onions were nice and
soft.
30 minutes later I added
Two cans of tomato sauce (another always)
A huge scoop of cashew butter ( I like it better than peanut butter for cooking, it's smoother)
A handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips
A few pinches of chili powder
A few pinches of chipotle pepper
I let it all simmer and melt.

Mole is a general name for various
Mexican sauces, this one is similar to a mole sauce I use to eat at a
small restaurant here in Nashville that no longer exists, Rosarios. (I
worked there as a waitress for a short period of time.)

After taking the chicken out of the oven, I shredded it slightly with
two forks and then mixed it into the sauce. I ate it on a few, warmed
in the microwave, corn tortillas... It was exactly what I was craving.
I am a sweet and spicy fan and it was just that.

Next time I would add some grilled poblano peppers, a little sour cream and some black beans would complete the dish just nicely. Like I said, off grocery shopping week. I did eat the left overs for lunch today, scooping it with
some tortilla chips, even better. I then had some left over pasta dish
for dinner... It was still good.

Two different meals for two days, as my mom would always say, kitchens closed

The Beginning

I love food. Duh. I had a friend say that her favorite thing about her mouth was that she could put food in it... Me too. I will probably talk about my family a lot in this since I love the relationship we have together and I believe we all share a similar relationship with food. My sister Hollie once said "food is such a great way to show people you love them." I never thought about it that way till she said that out loud. My mother, whom is no longer with us, cooked three meals a day for our family growing up, probably even more. That's a lot of love. I have always loved to bake, my mother turned me on to baking at a very early age. I entered in sweet treats at 4H in the Kane county fair, and even took a rice crispy treat to the Illinois state fair when I was about eight. She gave me cook books, aprons, among other utensils, which I now find to have been a silent encouragement and preparation for my future.

I am now 25 years old, I live in Nashville TN. and I am not a chef...I am a hairdresser. I have always been known to have many talents, so when it came down to what was going to make me money, it was hair that I chose.

I never thought of food as something you could do for a living.

I enjoy cooking food, experimenting with food, and most of all tasting food.

I have recently started having dinner parties for my friends, small catering jobs here and there, have found friends who share the joy of cooking with me, and have been more aware in the foods I am tasting a local establishments.

This blog will be mt journal into the food world, in my home, in others, as well as restaurants and all my experiences with food. I will also share recipes so you can try them as well!