It’s funny how the seasons tend to remind us of the things we used to do while growing up. Each season rekindles a particular memory that we like to keep in the cobwebs of our mind. These memories are what we hold dear and will treasure when our bodies can no longer keep up with the follies of our younger years.

Who wouldn’t love spring and summer? I would always be nudged from slumber by the animated chirping of birds outside my window. From the moment I opened my eyes I would already anticipate and look forward to what awaited for the rest of the day. I didn’t even mind the gentle buzz of the neighbor’s lawnmower. Nothing compares to the smell of freshly mowed grass in the morning. I was in charge of checking the PH balance of the water in our pool, cleaning the filter, and adding a chlorine tablet if needed. My other siblings would be responsible for vacuuming the pool. Not that I would mind doing that, either. Somehow, summer chores seemed more fun to do and it never seemed like work for me because I loved doing it.

My parents would leave for work and us kids would be left at home to do what all kids do… enjoy being young! I loved to lie by the pool and work on my tan and not have to think about wrinkles and freckles. This was in the late 80’s before concerns about skin cancer and all the other things that took the fun off of being a kid.

Times were simpler then when the biggest worry I had was what to eat for lunch from the kitchen. I think ignorance is bliss and a lot more fun!

I consider my family as “water people”. I grew up spending summers at the Jersey Shore, Wildwood, where I learned to catch waves at such a young age. I love Ocean City New Jersey, and Ocean City Maryland, where I would hit the board walk for “disco fries” (French fries with cheese and chicken gravy).

The smell of Coppertone sun tail oil was thick in the balmy air while every radio station played Barry Manilow’s “Copa Cabana” and Bryan Adams’ “Summer of 69” both are older songs, before my time, but summer was not summer until I heard those tunes playing on the boardwalk. There was also the smell of barbecue everywhere! Barbecue is from the language of Taíno people of the Caribbean and the Timucua of Florida which means “sacred fire pit” and the cooking method is almost always done outdoors. Whether charcoal or propane, summer is never complete without cooking something up in the fire. Not that winter stops my family from a good piece of barbecued meat propane (my father still fires up a steak with 8 feet of snow on the deck).

Moving halfway around the world did not change the smell of a great barbecue. The whiff of it not only makes me hungry but it also takes me back home to those long lazy summers. I’m about to enter the next milestone of my life. I have definitely accumulated some fond memories to look back on and the best part is that I’m not even halfway done!

Neely’s BBQ Pork Spare Ribs

Recipe courtesy The Neely Family
Show: Paula’s PartyEpisode: Fried vs. BBQ

Ingredients

• 1 slab pork spare ribs (about 4 pounds)
• 4-ounces Neely’s BBQ Seasoning, recipe follows
• 1 quart Neely’s BBQ Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

1. Place pork rib slab flat on a clean chopping board. Pull off membrane. Cut off the excess fat and meat. Season both sides of the slab with Neely’s BBQ Seasoning. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
2. Preheat your grill at 275 degrees F, using hickory wood and charcoal.
3. Place the slab on the grill away from the flame, using indirect heat. Cook the slab for approximately 2 1/2 hours with the curl side up. Flip the slab over to finish cooking for approximately 1 hour or until you get full “bend” in the slab.
4. For dry ribs: Pull ribs off grill, sprinkle Neely’s BBQ Seasoning over entire slab. Cut between the bones and serve.
5. For wet ribs: Pull ribs off grill, pour Neely’s BBQ Sauce over slab. Cut between the bones and serve.

Neely’s BBQ Seasoning

• 4 ounces paprika
• 2 ounces white sugar
• 1 teaspoon onion powder

Mix all the ingredients and set aside.

Neely’s BBQ Sauce

• 16 ounces ketchup
• 8 ounces water
• 3 ounces brown sugar
• 3 ounces white sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon onion powder
• 1/2 tablespoon dry mustard powder
• 1-ounce lemon juice
• 1-ounce Worcestershire sauce
• 4 ounces apple cider vinegar
• 1-ounce light corn syrup
• 2 ounces Neely’s BBQ Seasoning

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a stockpot or large Dutch oven. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Reduce temperature to low and simmer, uncovered, for at least 2 hours.

Have you ever gotten up and realized it was just too beautiful a day to waste doing your everyday routine? As a cool breeze gently made its way into my windows I woke up to song birds and the smell of magnolias. I thought I might still be dreaming, but I wasn’t. I heard my children get up for school, teenagers now, who don’t need my help. I lingered in bed, the sheets that perfect temperature, not too hot, not too cold. I’ve come to call that feeling PST (perfect sheet temperature). I did not want to leave my bed, but when opened my eyes I knew I had to get up and enjoy this wonderful June day.

With my boys off to school and my husband and I off from work. (Truly, we did not call in “sick”!) it was meant to be that we did something special with our day. The Marine and I packed a picnic lunch and headed out. We were off for a little mild trail biking along a beautiful river.

Our bike ride began through our neighborhood, an historic downtown area. The city began to unroll its sidewalks, merchants swept them and the train whistle blew at our backs. We made our way from the market streets to the streets lined with groomed lawns and victorian homes. The aroma of the blooms, the clicking of a sprinkler, a dog barking and the warmth of the morning sun created the scene from a charming movie.

We moved through neighborhoods until we rode onto the canal path. Aptly named as it is a path following a canal to a river, the path was speckled by sunlight as it shined down through the leaves with that warm glow particular to summer mornings that picks up the small etheral particals floating in the air. The narrow canal path widens as we enter the dirt trails that follow the river.

The trails are wide and flat for a while, but then, quickly they become hilly, rocky and winding, our bodies being brushed by the thick new growth of bright green summer leaves heavy and full having been fed by recent rains. As we bike further from humanity we can hear the river, see the glint of the sun bounce onto the bleached, round boulders lining the banks.

Some of these boulders are so flat and inviting that we stop, wade out to a particularly wide boulder of just the right shape and tilt. It is like a little island with reeds making a U shape around it. Perfect. The blanket is unrolled, the drinks and food are set out, but first, we lay on our backs, inhaling the scent of the river, watching the blue heron fly off in our periphreal vision and listening to the sounds of nature.

Our feast consisted of strawberries, cold water with lemon and left-over fried chicken. I love cold fried chicken with just a dash of salt. We didn’t have the luxury of carring a lot of food for biking and trails make it difficult to carry to much. So, what seems meager written on these pages was, for us a feast on a table set by mother nature.

Southern Fried Chicken

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• About 1 cup hot sauce
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• House seasoning, recipe follows
• 1 (1 to 2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into pieces
• Oil, for frying

Directions

1. In a medium size bowl, beat the eggs with the water. Add enough hot sauce so the egg mixture is bright orange.
2. In another bowl, combine the flour and pepper. Season the chicken with the house seasoning. Dip the seasoned chicken in the egg, and then coat well in the flour mixture.
3. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a deep pot. Do not fill the pot more than 1/2 full with oil.
4. Fry the chicken in the oil until brown and crisp. Dark meat takes longer then white meat. It should take dark meat about 13 to 14 minutes, white meat around 8 to 10 minutes.

House Seasoning

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup salt (The salt in the original recipe is 1 cup, which we found to be too much. Adjust salt to taste.)
• 1/4 cup black pepper
• 1/4 cup garlic powder

Directions

1. Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Six weeks ago, Camille and I were both faced with a health scare, like two sisters, we are so connected that we are the epitome of two peas in a pod.

After that scare I had with the tummy issue I have flashbacks in my head like a 60’s video reel playing memories of the worst kind: camera down my throat and the choking feeling when I would eat something because my esophagus was dealing with too much acid. I had a slight fever so I just didn’t know what caused that choking feeling every time I ate. Did I swallow something bad or was it the way I was eating? What is the bad bento that I had the day before, or was it that I was just eating way too fast. It seemed like a perfect epitome for psychedelic hallucinations. If only it were a hallucination. The problem was, I could feel everything!

On the bright side, I have been working on getting ready for the summer. That means toning up, and slimming down, clearly as my doctor obligingly told me, “Well, you are not doing enough. Cut the calories more and work harder.” Like a placid Hitler trying to be acidly sweet while every word was actually scathing! In a very matter of fact way, he also told me to get rid of my muffin top (what, this small thing?) and even went so far as to say, “You got a little bit of overflow on top of your jeans.” What??? This sure puts a gloom over the otherwise sunshiny summer! What joy!… Not!

Talk about rubbing salt into the wound. I was already feeling horrible, couldn’t eat without feeling like I was choking, and I have to listen to this lecture from my doctor. While I have been prepping for the summer and trying to lose any unwanted weight gained from this past winter, Dr. Hitler further states… tummy fat pushes against my intestines. I’m a pretty fit person (despite the muffin top) but this shows that not only does counting calories matter but also what’s in those calories (and it doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy my favorite comfort foods from time to time, blah blah blah… Hiel Doctor! (I eat a dessert once a week, that’s it) (I even calculate the 250 ml of cola, give or take) I just don’t relish the thought of actually feeling myself regurgitate every bit of it. Or worse, see what it looks like after being half-digested inside my body!) Who knows why that happened to me but it was a wake up call. I’ve always been on the go, eating too fast, and never sitting down to really enjoy what I’m eating.

Lest I face the wrath of herr doctor, I obligingly stuck to a strict regimen. Dare I say it was out of pride? Or was it fear for what harsh words I might have to hear yet again from ‘you know who’. I was on medication for two weeks, to curb the acid reflux, which took a few days to work but helped. I also went from 1600 calories a day to 1200-1400, and changed my exercise routine from moderate aerobics to an high incline on the treadmill for 45 min at 3.0 (broken into two.) I thought I was doing enough, clearly I needed to watch more of what I ate and increase my work out. This is on top of the other exercises, including the 30 day shred, but the treadmill kicks my butt into shape! Always has, but I never replaced my old machine, finally, I did. Doing the treadmill at a medium to high incline will MAKE YOU SWEAT. Oh, the things we do for our bodies! I am slowly but surely getting back into my skinny jeans. They hug my hips and I can’t button them yet.

So while it was a slight fever, and probably not what I was eating (bad food) or eating too fast, the muffin top comment from my doctor made me take my workouts and counting calories more seriously. I guess you can say… It wasn’t all for naught! ;)

Sometimes, I feel that certain experiences make me feel so helpless. I feel like some people around me, including family, have so much power over me when my mind and body is sacrosanct. Having stared adversity right in the face, I refuse to allow myself to have to go through those adversities again and have decided to take control. I believe that Japan has changed me from being meek and mild, to someone stronger and more centered. The “me” that I was once and had always been, essentially finding “me” again.

There are periods in our life when we are confronted with issues that we think might break us, but when we face off with adversity, it is best not to wave the white flag in defeat but to stare at the proverbial bull square in the eye and grab it by the horns. I guess after everything I’ve been through, all I can say is…Heil Me!

Here is to “Taking the bull by the horns” with an open face roast beef sandwich.

Sunday Rib Roast

Adapted From 2002 Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All Rights Reserved
Show: Barefoot ContessaEpisode: A Barefoot Contessa Holiday

Ingredients

• 1 (3-rib) standing rib roast (7 to 8 pounds)
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• Mustard Horseradish Sauce, recipe follows (we used pomegranate sauce)

Directions

1. Two hours before roasting, remove the meat from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (see note).
3. Place the oven rack on the second lowest position.
4. Place the roast in a pan large enough to hold it comfortably, bone-side down, and spread the top thickly with the salt and pepper.
5. Roast the meat for 45 minutes. Without removing the meat from the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and roast for another 30 minutes.
6. Finally, increase the temperature to 450 degrees F and roast for another 15 to 30 minutes, until the internal temperature of the meat is 125 degrees F. (Be sure the thermometer is exactly in the center of the roast.) The total cooking time will be between 1 1/2 and 1 3/4 hours.
7.  Meanwhile, make the sauce.
8. Remove the roast from the oven and transfer it to a cutting board. Cover it tightly with aluminum foil and allow the meat to rest for 20 minutes. Carve and serve with the sauce.

Note: Be sure your oven is very clean before setting it at 500 degrees F.

Mustard Horseradish Sauce

(optional) We used a reduction of Pomegranate sauce.

• 1 1/2 cups good mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Whisk together the mayonnaise, mustards, horseradish, sour cream, and salt in a small bowl.

Having researched a few Caribbean Islands since we began Tastily Touring (previously Worldly Wednesday) we have discovered that the Arawak Indians were the original inhabitants of many Caribbean Islands. Around 1200 the Caribs, coming from Venezuela, conquered the Arawak population on the island of Barbados. By the 1500’s the island of Barbados would be uninhabited due to frequent slave trading raids led by the Spanish. The Caribs were either taken as slaves or fled to other islands.

The island of Barbados is located most easterly of the Caribbean Island chain, northeast of Venezuela. Barbados gets its name from the Portuguese as they sailed to Brazil. Los Barbados, or bearded-ones, was chosen by the Portuguese explorer Pedro a Campos. The island had many fig trees, which had a beard-like appearance.

Despite the frequent visits by the Spanish, Barbados was first settled by the British in 1627. On May 14th 1625 Captain John Powell landed on Barbados and claimed the uninhabited island for England. Two years later, on February 17th 1627, his brother Captain Henry Powell landed with a party of 80 settlers and 10 slaves. The group established the island’s first European settlement, Jamestown.

The British settlers relied on cash crops such as cotton, then tobacco and finally sugar, being the most profitable under the large plantation/slave labor model. The slaves worked the sugar plantations until slavery was abolished in 1834. Barbados remained a British colony until it was granted autonomy in 1961 and full independence in 1966

When looking at Barbados culture, there are two very distinct influences; one is English and the other cultural influence is African from the days of the slave trade. The African influence is demonstrated in the music, dance and food of the island. The British influence is seen in the many churches, architecture, sports and food of the island.

The recipe we chose to represent Barbados is salted cod fish cakes. Salted cod has been eaten for hundreds of years in the Caribbean. During the period of slavery salted fish became a part of the slave’s diet. Today, salted cod fish is no longer inexpensive or easily available. However, it remains an important part of Bajan cuisine and salted cod fish cakes are readily available.

Salted Cod Fish Cakes (Traditional Bajan Recipes)

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
1 cup onions, finely chopped
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
Salt to your taste
1 egg lightly beaten
¾ cup milk
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp shallots (finely chopped)
½ lb, salted cod fish, cooked and flaked
1 large fresh hot pepper such as a jalapeno (chopped)

Directions

1. In a heavy frying pan, heat the oil and sauté the onions until they are just wilted.
2. Place flour, baking powder and salt in bowl. Make a well in center and pour egg, butter and milk.
3. Mix together lightly, and then add the onions, shallot, salted cod fish, salt and pepper.
4. Stir well. Drop by tablespoon full into hot oil, but do not crowd them in the pan. Cook for about 3-4 minutes until they are golden brown on both sides.
5. Remove from pan and drain on absorbent paper. Serve very hot.

How to get this shot:
Photography Tip: use 100 ISO taking advantage of metering.
Svetlana Kolpakova
ApertureFNumber: f/5.6
Make: Canon
Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
ExposureTime: 1/13
FNumber: 56/10
ExposureProgram: 1
ISOSpeedRatings: 100
MaxApertureValue: 3/1
MeteringMode: 5
Flash: 16
FocalLength: 100/1

Have you heard of the term “Facebook fatigue”? If not, then you are probably a smart cookie for not being too intimately involved with Facebook. We have not only heard of this term, but are currently experiencing it. We have Facebook fatigue. We just got arrested by Facebook, and are contained for Seven days.

Facebook for most bloggers and online businesses is a must. It is, in our opinion, a necessary evil. Don’t get us wrong, we love the idea of social networking. Staying connected with friends and family is difficult when you live hundreds or thousands of miles away from them so we are very much aware of the benefits of social networking. But, it is difficult to keep up with the amount of changes taking place on Facebook. Unless you live and breathe Facebook, which some people do and we call them addicts, then it is quite difficult to keep up to date with this social network that changes its rules as fast as we can point and click.

We could talk about the plethora of changes, the privacy issues and all the general annoyances of Facebook, but those issues in and of themselves could serve as a month’s worth of articles. What has us particularly peeved at this time is that we were blocked from adding friends for seven days. We were put in jail for seven days for allegedly sending out too many friend requests.

We understand Facebook’s policy which reads:

“Sending repeated friend requests to people you don’t know personally is considered harassment, and it is against Facebook’s Community Standards.

Facebook also has limits in place to prevent behavior that others may find annoying or abusive. These limits restrict the rate at which you can use certain features on the site. If you received a warning for going too fast when adding friends, you will need to temporarily stop this activity to avoid hitting a block on your account.”

Let us repeat this one sentence again:

“sending repeated friend requests to people you don’t know personally is considered harassment…”

We are currently trying to combine our personal Facebook pages into one page so that we can eliminate our personal pages. We feel that on the personal level Facebook is not for us, but for myFudo it is a necessity. We have been inviting our friends to join us on our new Facebook page. Naturally, knowing that we cannot flood the system, we have been doing this in small increments.

However, Facebook sent us a message: “We received feedback that you were sending friend requests to people you didn’t know.” But we do know of them, they are in our industry, we have from 30-100 mutual friends suggested to us by Facebook. We have been using a feature that our social networking guru, Mark Zuckerberg, has implemented, a side bar suggesting mutual friends. We thought Facebook was a social networking site. The fact that we were banned for seven days completely defeats the purpose of social networking.

We are conscientious and respect others. Within the framework of a social network we would not call 20 open friend requests high activity. Facebook has a system in place that is, perhaps, flawed. All our friend requests were accepted. However, when the person accepts a friend request they must also answer the question: “Do you actually know this person?” If, despite accepting the request, the response is “no”, we believe a red flag goes up. Then, (we must say this again, despite the person having accepted our request) we get a message stating that “someone complained”. Perhaps someone answered incorrectly by accident. There is no way to retract the answer.

If a person accepted our request logic would dictate that, even if they didn’t know us, which they do, they are able to make their own decisions. We are not spamming people. We are moving our friends and mutual friends to our new page and we are using the Facebook tool to find other mutual friends.

In essence, we are networking in a very professional and controlled manner. And, yet, we were barred from adding friends for seven days. Zuckerberg has manipulated the site in a way that has users scrambling to keep up with numerous changes. Facebook, more importantly, has collected an unprecedented amount of data to include an unrivaled photo identification network. How is it, then, that Zuckerberg’s policies restrict us from doing exactly what Facebook is designed?

We are not thrilled with Facebook which is why we are trying to shut down our personal pages and simply use it for business. Apparently, we aren’t the only ones who find Facebook a bit trying. Reports went out in June 2011 that Facebook lost over 6 million users. An article dated June 20, 2011 on CNN Tech states: “there are also some recent signs of “Facebook fatigue.” There is only so much you can do to socialize online, especially after you’ve exhausted your friend list. Some people also complain they’re spending so much time on Facebook that they’re short-changing the rest of their lives.

Evidence suggests a small but increasing number of users — at least in North America, where Facebook use is especially saturated — may be shunning the site. The site lost more than 7 million active users in the United States and Canada last month, according to data from the blog Inside Facebook, although Facebook disputes those figures.”

Facebook may have lost users this past summer, but overall, the company actually saw a net gain in users due to countries like Brazil, Mexico, India and Argentina. Facebook’s statistics are still impressive:

More than 800 million active users
More than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
Average user has 130 friends
Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
On average, more than 250 million photos are uploaded per day
On average, people on Facebook install apps more than 20 million times every day
More than 350 million active users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices

Why then, with these statistics, were we denied the ability to network by a social networking website? We are frustrated, yet, here we are in the same predicament as many running online businesses. We are slaves to social networking which means we need Facebook.

We will have to serve out our seven day sentence with no possibility for time off for good behavior. Then, we are back to networking. And, when we send a friend request to our husbands we can only hope that Facebook does not send us a message that says, “You are sending friend requests to people you do not know.”

Please join us Facebook jailbirds for a delicious meal of Salisbury steak, served with a little more panache than what we would find on the average prison tray. We’ve included a delicious macaroni and cheese recipe instead of the average mash potatoes.

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Sauce (Michael Chiarello)

Ingredients

4 boneless steaks (about 4 ounces each)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flour, for dredging
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups beef stock
8 ounces white button mushrooms, quartered
8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps quartered
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 onion, minced
1 carrot, diced
4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Use a jaccard steak tenderizing tool, or tenderize the steak yourself with a fork. Lay the meat out in front of you, pushing it flat with your hands or a meat mallet, and pull it gently apart with tines of the fork until the meat is slightly pulled apart and tender. Season with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. In a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil and brown steaks, in batches if necessary, on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Set aside, keep warm.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, reduce stock by half. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper, to taste. Sauté quartered mushrooms in the same pan as the meat, in the leftover olive oil, until very brown, about 5 minutes. Add butter, minced onion, carrot, thyme, and garlic. Cook until vegetables are caramelized, about 5 minutes, add balsamic vinegar and reduce for 1 to 2 minutes. Add broth, slide meat back into sauce, cover and bake until tender, about 1 hour.

Click here for our kick-ass Macaroni and Cheese recipe.

To marry ingredients from every continent in the world does not make a continental dish, rather an eclectic one. Your senses will surely be receiving an explosion of flavor, and you simply won’t know what hit you. Grilled chicken is always considered a healthy dish to prepare. But if you don’t use your imagination, it can be bland and totally not worth the calories that you might as well eat cardboard. Eating smart and healthy need not mean you have to sacrifice taste. In fact, creating the perfectly healthy and delicious dish should always be your end goal.

Chicken breast is the leanest part of the chicken. It has a tendency to get dry if not cooked properly. My secret ingredient to keep the chicken breast moist is to season it with fig sauce as well as to seal in the juices with potato starch. I serve the grilled chicken with Japanese potato salad, Japanese broccoli salad, and what I think is not only a garnish but a wonderful side dish that adds texture to make a perfect meal… fried lotus root.

Lotus root (renkon in Japanese) is the rhizome of a lotus plant. It’s a popular vegetable in Asia and is a rich source of fiber. It has become part of my everyday life and I love sautéing it with Japanese nasu (eggplant). Like most Asian eggplants, the Japanese kind has thin skin and has a sweet and delicate flavor compared to the American kind which is a lot bigger, with seeds which give of a slightly bitter taste.

Here is a simple recipe of fried lotus root that would add crunch to every dish. It has mirin, which is a basic ingredient in Japanese cooking. It’s made up of 40-50% sugar and is a kind of sweet rice wine. Chicken recipe can be found here and Japanese Potato Salad here. Please note that the broccoli salad is the same as the potato salad with ingredients used.

Ingredients:

Lotus root (Recipe Adapted from Cookpad by MOJ: Japanese Language Only, you can use the google chrome browser to automatically translate the site)

Water with a little vinegar to prevent lotus root from darkening.
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp starch
Salt according to taste

Peel and slice lotus root and put cut pieces in water mixed with a little vinegar to keep it from darkening. Mix with all the rest of the ingredients, coat with starch, then fry until golden brown.

To marry ingredients from every continent in the world does not make a continental dish, rather an eclectic one. Your senses will surely be receiving an explosion of flavor, and you simply won’t know what hit you. Grilled chicken is always considered a healthy dish to prepare. But if you don’t use your imagination, it can be bland and totally not worth the calories that you might as well eat cardboard. Eating smart and healthy need not mean you have to sacrifice taste. In fact, creating the perfectly healthy and delicious dish should always be your end goal.

Chicken breast is the leanest part of the chicken. It has a tendency to get dry if not cooked properly. My secret ingredient to keep the chicken breast moist is to season it with fig sauce as well as to seal in the juices with potato starch. I serve the grilled chicken with Japanese potato salad, Japanese broccoli salad, and what I think is not only a garnish but a wonderful side dish that adds texture to make a perfect meal… fried lotus root.

Lotus root (renkon in Japanese) is the rhizome of a lotus plant. It’s a popular vegetable in Asia and is a rich source of fiber. It has become part of my everyday life and I love sautéing it with Japanese nasu (eggplant). Like most Asian eggplants, the Japanese kind has thin skin and has a sweet and delicate flavor compared to the American kind which is a lot bigger, with seeds which give of a slightly bitter taste.

Here is a simple recipe of fried lotus root that would add crunch to every dish. It has mirin, which is a basic ingredient in Japanese cooking. It’s made up of 40-50% sugar and is a kind of sweet rice wine. Chicken recipe can be found here and Japanese Potato Salad here. Please note that the broccoli salad is the same as the potato salad with ingredients used.

Ingredients:

Lotus root (Recipe Adapted from Cookpad by MOJ: Japanese Language Only, you can use the google chrome browser to automatically translate the site)

Water with a little vinegar to prevent lotus root from darkening.
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp starch
Salt according to taste

Peel and slice lotus root and put cut pieces in water mixed with a little vinegar to keep it from darkening. Mix with all the rest of the ingredients, coat with starch, then fry until golden brown.

Most Asian dishes pair off really well with each other. Whether you use a Japanese sauce for your meat and a Korean vegetable side dish, the play of flavors in your mouth is an explosion of savory goodness. This dish is something that we’d like to make because chicken breast is something that we serve often. It is a healthy cut of meat, rather lean and mean, it’s our buff making machine (we couldn’t help the pun). As with a lot of the leaner cuts of meat, a lot of people have issues with it not being moist enough.

What we have found as a useful tip in making the chicken breast become moist is… are you ready for this? (This is an ingenious tip that will save you calories and still having a juicy piece of chicken) You can lightly coat your chicken breast in potato starch. When we say lightly, don’t dredge it, more like powder it. This seals in the heat, and keeps your chicken breast moist. It’s much more effective rather than using corn starch, and heck, we’re no scientist so we don’t know why, but it sure doesn’t add any fat to the dish but it does add just a tad more calories. We believe it’s worth a few more to have a juicy piece of chicken breast.

The dish is pretty simple to make that anyone can do it. Well, maybe almost anyone.

Prepping the Chicken

1.Cut the skinless, boneless, chicken breast into quarters (or whatever size you fancy, you can also have the skin on. If that’s the case, you can just go to your nearest KFC).

2. Season the chicken cuts with salt and pepper. Place the chicken into a zip lock bag with just enough potato starch and then shake. Make sure the pieces are coated but not overly coated. You can use a griddle to get the grill marks on the chicken.

We used a date sauce common to the Japanese, called “okonomiyaki sauce”, to top it off. It’s similar to Worcestershire sauce but is sweeter and thicker because of the amount of figs, most likely. (be careful to get the real stuff, otherwise it’s filled with preservatives) We were quite shocked to find out it had a lot of dates, actually. It’s not only used for okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancakes) but also for anything that would pair with those flavors, since the sauce is quite versatile.

As a side dish, we thought Korean kimchi! Why not?! It has the perfect combination of spicy and savory tartness that goes great with the sweet fig sauce. Kimchi is made from fermented vegetables with a lot of Korean seasonings. There are several varieties of the dish but the most common is baechu (napa cabbage). The common seasonings used are garlic, salt, ginger, fish sauce, Korean chili powder, and sugar or honey.

Presentation is a key factor when preparing a good meal, even when dining alone. Use beautiful plates, silverware, and a stem glass (even if you’re having soda). Light some candles and play some romantic music. It never hurts to feel as if you’re dining in an expensive restaurant in your own dining room.

Most Asian dishes pair off really well with each other. Whether you use a Japanese sauce for your meat and a Korean vegetable side dish, the play of flavors in your mouth is an explosion of savory goodness. This dish is something that we’d like to make because chicken breast is something that we serve often. It is a healthy cut of meat, rather lean and mean, it’s our buff making machine (we couldn’t help the pun). As with a lot of the leaner cuts of meat, a lot of people have issues with it not being moist enough.

What we have found as a useful tip in making the chicken breast become moist is… are you ready for this? (This is an ingenious tip that will save you calories and still having a juicy piece of chicken) You can lightly coat your chicken breast in potato starch. When we say lightly, don’t dredge it, more like powder it. This seals in the heat, and keeps your chicken breast moist. It’s much more effective rather than using corn starch, and heck, we’re no scientist so we don’t know why, but it sure doesn’t add any fat to the dish but it does add just a tad more calories. We believe it’s worth a few more to have a juicy piece of chicken breast.

The dish is pretty simple to make that anyone can do it. Well, maybe almost anyone.

Prepping the Chicken

1.Cut the skinless, boneless, chicken breast into quarters (or whatever size you fancy, you can also have the skin on. If that’s the case, you can just go to your nearest KFC).

2. Season the chicken cuts with salt and pepper. Place the chicken into a zip lock bag with just enough potato starch and then shake. Make sure the pieces are coated but not overly coated. You can use a griddle to get the grill marks on the chicken.

We used a date sauce common to the Japanese, called “okonomiyaki sauce”, to top it off. It’s similar to Worcestershire sauce but is sweeter and thicker because of the amount of figs, most likely. (be careful to get the real stuff, otherwise it’s filled with preservatives) We were quite shocked to find out it had a lot of dates, actually. It’s not only used for okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancakes) but also for anything that would pair with those flavors, since the sauce is quite versatile.

As a side dish, we thought Korean kimchi! Why not?! It has the perfect combination of spicy and savory tartness that goes great with the sweet fig sauce. Kimchi is made from fermented vegetables with a lot of Korean seasonings. There are several varieties of the dish but the most common is baechu (napa cabbage). The common seasonings used are garlic, salt, ginger, fish sauce, Korean chili powder, and sugar or honey.

Presentation is a key factor when preparing a good meal, even when dining alone. Use beautiful plates, silverware, and a stem glass (even if you’re having soda). Light some candles and play some romantic music. It never hurts to feel as if you’re dining in an expensive restaurant in your own dining room.

Bordered by Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Greece the Republic of Albania enjoys a rich food history with Mediterranean and Balkan influences. The foods of Albania are pleasantly spiced comfort foods. How could it not be with the many influences of the Ancient Greeks, Romans, Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Empire?

When searching for a recipe we stumbled upon a site called Retro Housewife. A recipe spoke out to us that might not be a reflection of the above paragraph. What we found was a dish that whispered of grandmothers in kitchens that may not have had the fortune to use expensive spices and ingredients. An image of older women, simple kitchens, vegetable gardens, pens with goats and a coop with egg laying hens played in our heads. All that these Albanian women needed were the wonderfully fresh ingredients that they had at their fingertips.

Perpeq. It is considered a dessert, but for us Americans, with our collective sweet tooth, it would be more likely to find a place at Sunday brunch. It was tempting to modify the recipe with a sweeter cheese, a little orange rind and a bit of sugar. But, it is the aim of Worldly Wednesdays to give you a glimpse into another culture’s cuisine.

We can picture Albanian women whipping perpeq as easy as 1, 2, and 3 for large families, eagerly awaiting this dessert. The recipe is simple. Rolling the silky dough is easy and satisfying to touch. And, the bright yellow color of the dish that comes from using farm fresh eggs will brighten any table. A unique texture appeared on the top due to the use of diced goat cheese. As there were no pictures available and Albanian grandmothers are rare in certain areas we hope that this looks and tastes as if it was rush shipped to us from an Albanian kitchen.

Perpeq
A recipe found on Retro Housewife and noted on that site as being a contribution by Mrs. Isold Gera, 1950.

Ingredients
15 tbspn. Flour
Water
Melted butter
10 eggs
7 tbspn butter
½ pint milk
½ pound goat or sheep cheese
Salt

Instructions

1. Mix flour with water and make dough a med-firm consistency. Work it with your hands until the dough feels silky. Roll out like a sausage and cut in about 25 small sections.
2. Roll out each section to the size of a saucer. Pile one sheet on top of the other, putting melted butter on each so they don’t stick. Don’t butter the bottom and top sheets.
3. When all dough is used, roll the whole pile, giving it the shape of the dish you are going to bake it in.
4. Butter the dish and put in the dough.
5. In a mixing bowl, beat ten eggs (whites and yolks), add 7 tbsp. of butter, ½ pint of milk, 1.2 lb. of cheese, mix well and add salt, if desired. Pour the mixture over the dough and bake very slowly.

Not sure how the goat cheese was prepped, for our purposes it was diced into pieces similar to that of crumbled feta. The cheese did leave an interesting texture. This dish was baked very slowly at 300 degrees.