It is amazing the difference a few miles can make! I live in, and raised my son in, a predominately Hispanic town in Central California. We have reveled in the delightful culture, wonderful foods and especially gracious people that have always been a part of our lives. On every corner is a Mercado, Carneceria or Taqueria; wonderfully fresh meat, produce and mountains of chiles, spices, tortillas and pandulces.
My son is now living 30 miles North in a college town of mostly non-hispanic peoples and the closest there is to Latino food is, well, coming home. There is no Mercado, not a Taquieria to be found, no street vendedores selling freshly roasted Elotes in the afternoon and certainly no Panaderia where he can purchase Pandulces.
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I love this food blog I found a couple of years ago which is written by Jaden Hair called Steamy Kitchen. Jaden is a funny read, takes lots of photos of her work and I just love to visit her site (link is to the right). It would appear she is doing very well in the blogosphere and has now published her first cookbook and hit the TV circuit. Of course, I couldn’t wait to add her cookbook to my collection of 5,000 other cookbooks I thumb through every once in a while. Jaden Hair’s cookbook is wonderfully perfect because it has lots of pictures to excite the appetite and inspire the cook!
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Seriously, some days, like everyone else, I have too much to do and would rather get fastfood. Because we don’t do fastfood, that is not an option!
Today sucked! Nasty customers, lots of looky loos, complaints and a bunch of, frankly, bullshit. Tired, I left work a half hour later than I should have to get dinner on the table. I had removed two pork chops from the freezer on my way out the door for work with no particular plan other to to “pork my bride” and at least had that five minutes to my credit. [...]
Sweet & Sour Chicken, found on nearly every Chinese Restaurant menu, often thick, gooey, way-too-much-red-food-color. I have been inspired to create this wonderfully home-made, wonderfully sweet and sour sauce perfect for Chicken or Pork. [...]
