Untapped Bounty

Vegetables, how do they work?

This weekend, my mom came over with a box of vegetables for me to have (and split up with my friends). When she told me there were lots of vegetables, she may have understated it a bit. So now I have some eggplants, banana squash, zucchini, corn, chile, and tomatoes. I was pretty ready to make calabacitas, but it struck me that I ALWAYS make calabacitas. So here it is internet, the question: what should I do with these vegetables? I’m looking for ideas, recipes, plans, anything new or different. Not everything has to go together, of course, and having things separate would stretch them over the week…but right now I can’t think of much other than sauteeing them with butter.

I know that I have recipe books full of ideas, but I guess I’m sort of interested in seeing what you think. I’m almost done with my current food book (a surprise until I review it) and after that, though I have a couple more non-fiction food books, I was thinking of digging into a cookbook as my nighttime reading. While I’m talking books here (and asking for advice) I’m a little interested in knowing where you keep your cookbooks. I already have too many (and not enough space) for the kitchen, and I know they’d just get immediately spilled on there anyway, but where should one keep them? Right now, they are in a book shelf in the garage (door entry just off the kitchen). They’re out of the way, but maybe a little too much. Ideas?

On a small note, I made killer tacos for dinner tonight with some grass-fed local beef I got from the farmer’s market. Add in some local organic lettuce, menudo mix for spice (a staple in my kitchen), colby jack cheese, corn torillas, and Herdez Salsa Verde. Delish!

Book Review: Fortune Cookie Chronicles

A little over a year ago, I found this book called the Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee. I guess I want to say that I liked the book, but I didn’t really. Ms. Lee is a newspaper writer and so her style is very specific to that (at least in my opinion). In other words, most times, the narrative just didn’t seem quite right. Now, some of the chapters are great, with “The Soy Sauce Trade Dispute” and “Waizhou, U.S.A.” being my favorite. I think I like them the best because I feel like the chapters use her investigative journalist skills to the fullest extent, informing and shaping the reader’s mind, while still giving you some yummy words to chew on. I began reading the book right when I got it, and just couldn’t seem to find time for it, so while trying to finish another book, I sort of slipped it in, a chapter at a time, and while I enjoyed it at the time, I was please when it was over.

The best information from the book involve the business of Chinese restaurants, immigrants, and the history of the food. When Lee begins talking about her involvement in the learning of the information, I guess I began to feel like the material lost me a little bit – I simply was more interested in reading about the food than I was reading about her. It’s interesting because I always thought I was more of a social reader when it came to history, but here I am wishing it was more, well, more dry. Weird.

At any rate, I think that this book is worth a B- or a C+ for now. I am working on a rubric (teacher skillz, yo) so that I can rate all the books I am reading/reviewing equally, but until it’s done, this will have to suffice.

Final word: an interesting read, though you might not like the book either.