donderdag 27 augustus 2009

Paella de postres

Howdy Berenjena,

Tssss... Silly me. How could I have forgotten that your colour is not yellow. It's GREEN. As in Kermit the Frog Green.
Sooooo Does mr. Chillipepper play Miss Piggy to your Kermit? Kissy Kissy!!! LOL

Well, what's in a colour? So you get green gloves. Heck, you use them yella gloves long enough on that there rancho toilet and they'll turn green anyhow!

"We are modest... unlike some persons"
HAH! Are you implying I'm not modest!!??
I'm the most modestest and humblest-est person I know!!! But I know quality in food when I taste it and my curry was top quality!

".. unlike some other people..." Tssssss.....

Today I made a stir fry with glass noodles. Now you are gonna ask: How do you make and eat noodles from glass?

Very carefully, dear! Hahahaha

I made it with spring onions (they were jumping all over the place.They shoulda called them "boinggg-Boinggg-onions"), courgette and chicken.
The chicken I marinated in soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil, together with finely chopped garlic, ginger and onions.

And just to show you how modest I am, I'll give myself a 7.5
Mother Theresa, watch out! Saint Onion's gonna kick your saintly but offa that chair on the clouds.

Yesterday I made Jerk lamb.
Boy was that lamb ever a jerk! Trust those islam lambs to be impolite hooligans! But I sorted that leg of lamb out all right!
Just dumped it in self-made Jamaican citrus jerksauce and roasted it in the oven. I'll write down the recipe next time, after I've improved it somewhat. It was not bad, but I could have done better. In fact I often HAVE done much better. But Miek liked it. So this jerky lamb was a 6, just about.

Mr Chilli pepper's paellas are always good. But if you give it an 8, it must have been special.
Banana Ice cream. Mmmmmm Must have been Tiny Ice cream, since your bananas were mini. LOL
But okay, if it tasted half as good as his choc-a-shock Ice cream, it must be great!

Still, I suppose one day, mister CP could make paella even more special by making an ice cream cake and put it in a paella pan. Yellow banana ice cream with bits of cactus fruit, passion fruit, cherries and a bit of kiwi for "paella" decoration. Load it in his little cart and cycle all the way to town to sell it. It'll be a hit! Paella de postres. Fabulosa!!!

Yes I know. You don't need to thank me. I'm a genius. A modest and humble genius,true. But a genius never the less.
Eternal sunshine in the spotless mind. That's me... Oh wait, that was a movie about a schizophrenic....

yellow gloves no way

howdy Cebolla,

I have been such a busy bee that I didn't have time to react on your last little story.
To start I would like to say that you are a true business onion. You see opportunities everywhere. The toiletcompany. The main problem I have whith this idea is the yellow gloves you know my favorite colour is green so NO yellow gloves. But I must say it does sound like another million dollar business, this beside the B&B our bananaplantation and Jello'07, our recipebook, need I say more we are nearly millionaires.........
Talking about banana's mr. chilipepper made ice cream of our own bananas yesterday mmmmmmmmm I would rate it at least 8 peppers. You see we are modest unlike other persons among us.
I know you are a good cook but be honest! to rate yourself 9 PEPPERS for a midweek curry that is the bloody limit!. You are as you say yourself not in your right mind
So as you promised you'll make the curry for us and then we will see what the proper rating is....

Tuesday mr. Chilipepper made paella. And altough it always tasts good this time it was really good. I dare to say 8 Peppers at least.

well better start making plans for dinner tonight

talk to you later

Berenjena

donderdag 20 augustus 2009

cooks, looks and toilets

Howdy doody berenjena,

You gave the same amount of peppers I did. How's that for sharing a taste eh? I'll bet ole Billy Bob peed in his pants for happiness.

This peeing business brings me to my comment on your blog about your dinner at the big ranch across the street from your house.
This place sounds interesting. Next time we're at your place, we'll go there.

Usually one should never look at the cook. certainly not if you're expecting a Brad Pitt look-alike wearing a chef's hat and a spotless apron.

Nope. Most restaurant cooks look grumpy, greasy and like they have trouble spelling the words c-l-e-a-n and t-i-d-e-y.
Handsome does does not fit in that package either.

Also,their outfit, an apron with last week's menu splattered all over the front, does not help.

So now you understand why they work in Hell's Kitchens. They just ain't gonna win no fashion shoot. Not with that no-hair- head, a 5 day, mangy Yasser Arafat beard and self-rolled cigarette hangin outa the corner of their mouth.

Still, as long as you don't order a raw steak tartare or think you can eat sushi and sashimi at their place, I believe you'll be okay. Just stick to the well cooked or fried stuff.

Just as a lot of ugly bulldogs are sweeter than they look, some of those cooks can cook better than they look.

As for toilets.... I guess in places as those, they look like the cooks huh? And stink like them too I suppose. I guess you need waders - those long boots fishermen use when fishing in the rivers - to get through all the mess.
That does nothing to stimulate the appetite or to keep your meal down, let me tell you.

Good thing you live just across the railroad tracks. Your guests can run back and forth to do their business.

Hey... That's a big bucks opportunity for you guys. You can charge the rancho guests 2 euro each time they hafta go pee. Just point an arrow to your place and place a chemical portacabin toilet on your side of the tracks.

Ahhh.... I can just see you sitting there every evening, wearing a floral print apron. Wee Yellow rubber gloves and toilet brush and WC Eend next to you. Reading penny romances or Mummy I love you-novellas by the light of the lantern posts while listening to Julio Iglesias, or crochetting your latest design toilet seat covers, priced at 25 euro a piece.

Is that not a wonderful sight to behold? ......

Whaddaya mean I'm not in my right mind!!??? LOL

Cebolla

Indian night at Bermejo

Howdy Cebolla,

Well finally here I am to write about the indian night we had at Billy Bob's house.
I promised to write my review about the food etc.
We started the evening with a nice cool tinto verano at the pool. A nice summer drink but dangerous as well because it tasts like lemonade only if you stand up you feel the alcohol.
Well at about 9 dinner was served. Because you already mentioned what Billy Bob made I will just say what I liked or not. Actually I liked everything. Unlike you for me it was spicy enough. My favorite dishes were the chicken korma, onion relish and the bread. But I also liked the other dishes. For me the rice was fine. I like the red/white rice. It looks very colourful.
I had about 2 big plates so that also says enough. And while helping Betty Sue with cleaning up I finished the last poppadum with the yoghurt mint sauce mmmmmmmm

We will definitely ask Billy Bob to cook for our guests one day.
The rating. Looking at the ambiance, company, food I'm giving this evening
8 chilipeppers.


I also have to tell you about our dinner at El Rancho Grande, acroos the street form our house. We heard dinner is very nice there as well. Since we have friends over and we didn't feel like cooking we al decided to go there.
It is a typical spanish bar/restaurant. that means no fancy tables etc and if you look to long at the cook you start wondering............
Anyway we alle ordered something different and as is almost custom in a Spanish restaurant the food is not served at the same time. So my friend got her fish first a sole that looked an tasted very good. Next were the hamburgers for the children, it looked good and according to the children it was good.
Mr. Chillipepper had a porksteak which was a bit greasy but ok. I had the mixed fried fish. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Nice and crispy served wiht a garlic mayonaise very nice.
Like I said if you don't look at the cook and the waitress, for that matter, to long you can enjoy your food a bit better. I would also skip a glance in the kitchen and use the batroom at home......
But the food was ok, ambiance very spanish, service ok. I would give 6,5 peppers.

thats it for now,

Greetings from Berenjena

dinsdag 18 augustus 2009

Bojo

A while ago I wrote something about a surinam style cake called bojo. It's easy to make and tastes great. So here is the recipe.

Surinaamse Bojo
1 kg. cassava
1 coconut
4 eggs
2 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. Almond essence
1 tbs. vanilla essence
200 gr. sugar
75 gr. butter
pinch of salt
1 large glass of milk
100 gr. Raisins or currants.

Peel and rasp the cassava. Crack the coconut and remove flesh (or buy a bag of already shelled coconut). Remove the brown skin and rasp the flesh. Whisk the eggs with sugar and vanilla and almond essence. Add to the rasped coconut and cassava.
Add milk and salt.
Melt the butter and pour into mixture.

Take a cake tin and rub sides with butter. Pour mixture in.
Put the tin into a preheated oven on gas mark 5/175 ÂșC
Bake for about 1 hour.

Shake some cinnamonpowder over it when done.

Cut and eat.

Bon appetit!

vrijdag 14 augustus 2009

Indian curry from the Scottish Highlands

It is amazing what one can eat anywhere in the world these days. I suppose if you were really trying hard,you could find a plate fried cod 'n chips in Tibet or a stamppot peen en ui in Uagadougou. But of course I don't travel to those regions. Too far away and what on earth can one do in places such as those?

So what did I find in the picturesque metropolis of Bermejo, Andalusia?
A curry dinner, cooked by a man from Glasgow, with a Danish partner. Right beside a swimming pool in de depth of the Andalusian foothills.

Imagine: Dusk. The setting sun throwing a watermelon pink eil across the hot spanish sky, inviting the stars to come out and play.
I'm holding a vino tinto, sitting beside the swimming pool of this wee house belonging the one of the nicest wee couples: Billy Bob, the not-so flying Scotsman and Betty Sue, his lovely Danish partner.Also present were assorted pets(2 boys, 2 cats 2 dogs and a painter-drummer Scot). Rod Stewart squeaking out of a box in the backgrond, asking if we think he's sexy...

Aahhhh.....Perfect ambiance for a fun and relaxing evening.

And it's not just any evening. It's an evening to enjoy a curry dinner cooked by Billy Bob himself, helped by is very able assistant, Betty Sue

Billy Bob is a laid back Scotsman, borrowing smokes of a cigar from his scottish buddy, drinking a few beers, waiting till it's time to heat he dishes he prepared in advance. Billy Bob says it takes 5 hours to prepare all that. Wow!

What is "All that" ?

2 types of chicken curry: 1 slightly spicey and one not at all spicey (korma), plain rice, pilav rice, curried chick peas, spiced lentils cooked with tomatoes, chapattis, poppadums, onion relish, tomato relish and raita, the well-known mint and yoghurt sauce to accompany the curries.

It was a feast, laid out invitingly. I'm not one to wait for an invitation. I just grabbed a plate and helped myself.

So, what did it taste like?
First, I must compliment Billy Bob on making 2 different curries with chicken breast. In my experience it's so easy to make the base sauce and add either meat or fish to give the curry another name. The taste however, would not differ much.

In Billy Bob's case, the 2 curries did taste differently, so that was excellent.
One mildly sharp and one very soft and creamy.

The chick pea dish was really good.you could taste each spice very well. I liked that a lot.
The chapattis were truly excellent! I truly loved them. Restaurant quality. Mmmmm...
The spicing of the pillav rice was again of restaurant quality. Very good indeed!

Cardamon, cumin, onion, garlic, tumeric, etc etc. The Alladin's cave of spices that make a curry. Wonderful.

On a more personal note, I would have preferred my curries more spicey (like: take-the-roof-off-my-mouth-hot!)and the sauce thicker, more condensed so that the spices hae even more colour on my palate. Perhaps the rice could have used 1 minute longer in the cooker as it had a bit too much bite to it for my taste.
But of course others have to be able to enjoy them as well, so he really chose the best options.

Please take note that this is my personal taste and maybe I seem churlish and nit-picky (and perhaps I am) but Billy Bob did ask me to give my honest opinion on this blog, so here it is.

But aside from these minor details, really, I loved the meal. Otherwise I would not have gone back for more twice afterwards!

Would I recommend that Billy Bob make a curry for you? Yes I would!!


It was a wonderful evening, surrounded by a warm, welcoming couple. They both great hosts, with a good sense of humor and empathy. I felt at home immediately.

So how many peppers for food, service and ambiance?

8 peppers!!

maandag 3 augustus 2009

Sausages 'n mash and salt 'n vinegar chips

Good afternoon my dear Eggplant,

There. That's this English politness over with.

Just read your s'cream post. Looks like mr. Chilipepper's doing a great job. Before you know it, he'll be a major competitor for Ola Ice cream. What the heck, let them make you an offer you'be be brainless to refuse, right?
I'll bet he could try his hand at making Milkshakes too. Rum and chocolate milkshake as in Frozen Lumumba.... Heavy on the rum. Mmmmm That's a tropical nightcap worth killing the bathroom scales for!

Ever thought of fitting him out with a little pull cart? He can hop on his bike pulling this wee cart filled with Ice cream. All well insulated against the heat naturally. He'd be the treat of the town. Great body, great bike and even greater ice cream. You guys 'd be raking in the cash and have to hire staff to keep up with demand.....

Just got back from the fab. city of London. If you have enough cash on ya, you'll never need to go hungry for even 1 second. Our hotel was situated just off Queens street. Q-street is FILLED with places to eat. Everything from pub food to luxurious dining in a sorta French restaurant where the prices are not mentioned on the menu cards. You understand of course, that we gave that last one a miss. I mean, imagine having to pay an arm and a leg for a plate fulla ex-cargos.... Slimy little buggers!! Wonder what they were before they became ex- ....

But okay, we of course sat down to an Indian curry at a place called (Surprise, surprise) Maharadja. Had king prawn vindaloo. Nice and Spicy. Just about kept the roof of my mouth intact. Great! Miek was not so lucky, alas, because the fish she had ordered was dusted with wheat flour and that is a no-no for someone with gluten allergy. Silly we had not thought to ask. None the less, I must say, her fish dish was great. I ate it all as she couldn't. Waste not want not, is another of my mottos. She had onion bhajee and lamb roganjosh instead. Our side dish was sag aloo (potato+spinach. Drinks = 1 bottle of still water. The price was not bad. 65 pounds for the lot.
The curries were all well nd delicately spiced and each tasted different. 7.8 peppers

The next day we went Persian at.... Persia!
The few times I tried persian/Iranian food in holland, I was not impressed at all. The food was dumped in all sorts of spices, of which cinnamon was the prevalent spice. Also it was rather sweet and I'm not fond of sweet main courses at all.
Persia on Q-street in London was different! It was perfect!!!
I had a BBQ-ed poussaint (chicken) in lemon, with fragrant rice and a smoked aubergine puree. The taste was ab-so-lu-tely gorgeous. The fine, fresh taste of lemon on the chicken, mingled with a touch of cumin, a wee bit of cinnamon and whatever else, bbq-ed to perfection. The rice, buttery and spiced with a bit of cardamon. The auberine puree was smoked and you tasted that throughout. It's an aquired taste, but it went very well with the chicken. Miek had a lamb stew with chick peas also cooked with lemon and tomato. A delight to eat. The lamb was soft, succulent and evenly spiced. Also served with rice and a fresh salad.A flat bread, resembling a naan, but thinner, was served with it as well. Of course, I ate that.
We were so stuffed that we only had roome for a mint tea afterwards. Drinks = 1 bottle of still water. The price: 32 pounds for the lot. We are now fans of Persian food!!! LOL 9 peppers

Next up was Italian. Quite good, but nothing we couldn't have here. Steak a la pizzaiola with spaghetti for me and grilled bream with veg. for Miek. Desert was gelatto limoncello, a sort of sorbet made with limocello liqeur, coffee and 4 liomoncello liqeurs. Price: a whopping 117 pounds!!!!! No way we're gonna do that again! 7 peppers

Our last meal was in an "all over Europe" restaurant in Camden Town. The Engineer.
Camden is a part of london where the canals used to supply the market folk. The canals are still there and so is the market. It sells everything from birds to carvings so 10th hand clothes I suppose. And food stalls galore!! Anything you'd fancy. Fish 'n chips, to moroccan, brazillian, chinese, indian, thai, you name it, the food's there.
I'll say one thing. If anyone says Hong Kong or Tokyo is crowded, They ain't seen Camden market yet! Like ants rushing all over a pile of sugar! If you're claustrophobic, don't go there!
But okay, on to the food. The restaurant is called The Engineer and serves Occidental food. Food from the european continent.
I had soup (carrot/pumpkin) Miek had salty fish and black bean salad for starters.
main: potato and mushroom tortellini and ruccola salad for me and Sea bass with mashed potato and summer greens for Miek. Desert was warm ginger cake with cream for me (mmmmmm) and white chocolate with vanilla mousse for Miek (double mmmm). Drinks: 1 bloody mary, 1 cider and 1 bottle of water. The food was very well done, very beautifully served and cooked to perfection. I wouldn't say it was highly unusual or absolutely superb, but the standards were very good, as was the service. Price: 70 pounds for the lot. 7.8 peppers.

Okay, gotta go now. The gym is holding a gun to my head! The bathroom scales have fled the country and asked for asylum in Eritrea. Smart assed corwards!!