In Honor of Juneteenth

"The people must know before they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press."

~Ida B. Wells

I learned about Ida B. Wells, journalist, suffragist, anti-lynching crusador, brave woman -- I learned about her in my first American history class in college and could forget all that she'd done. When it came to choosing a major, she inspired me to pursue journalism.

Here's the Juneteenth article I did for the San Angelo Standard-Times.

Also, as a person who loves food, I have long known this truth: good food can come from any kitchen. So in honor of all the nameless, talented Black women who cooked and fed generations after generations, who kneaded, breaded and whipped Southern cuisine into shape...I'd like to introduce to a fascinating blog: The Jemima Code.

Remember & reflect.

A Pie to Celebrate the Past & Present

The first American food I fell in love with is pecan pie.

I discovered pecan pie in my college cafeteria during my first semester. It was my first fall in America, an unusually (for Houston, TX) cold and gray day. I was missing my parents and home, my favorite foods, in Bangladesh, and sought comfort in something sweet.

Now, we don’t have pecans and pies back home. Bengal (the geographic areas of Bangladesh and Calcutta) enjoys a legendary reputation for sweets, but they are different: sweet orange yogurt (mish-ti doi), puffy white cheese balls in syrup (roshogolla), various pithas (winter sweets), the convoluted hot jilapi (deep fried batter that’s created into intricate circular shapes). The cafeteria didn’t offer any of that, so I had to make do with a selection of unfamiliar pies. Not wanting to hold up the line of hungry students, I grabbed the nearest one.

Since I was in the middle of a personal pity party, I started my meal with dessert. One bite and I fell in love. The whole world faded – the conversations, laughter and shuffling all around me grew muffled, the sharp bite of nostalgia that had gripped me eased and slipped away. I was only aware of the pie and its sweet taste dancing on my tongue.

So when my twitter buddies picked pie for June’s #Letslunch, the choice was obvious: Pecan Pie. But I wanted one that would recognize my roots and celebrate West Texas, a place my heart now calls home.

The first home I knew belonged to my paternal grandparents. Coming from a joint family tradition, we lived in the same house until my grandparents passed away. What I remember best about it is the luxurious garden my grandfather planted with fruit trees like mango, guava, jackfruit and coconut. I always loved the coconut. It’s broad, tall trunk swooping to the sky, only to end in a firework of leaves at the very top. So I wanted the aroma and flavor of coconut and found myself a coconut oil crust recipe.

For the filling, I went to my mother-in-law. I often tell the Cowboy that one of the reasons I married him is his mother’s Pecan Pie. He thinks I’m joking. :)

Anyhoo, I asked for the recipe and she said “Oh that’s not my pie, I got the recipe from my mother-in-law.” Then she passed it on to me.

Pie Crust: Adapted from a recipe I found on Coconut Oil Online website (I figured since they are in the business of selling coconut oil, they’d include recipes that work).

2 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoon sugar
¾ cup chilled, unsalted butter (I ended up putting ½ cup since that’s what I had)
6 Tablespoons coconut oil
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
¼ cup ice water

Directions:

Use a food processor to combine the dry ingredients with the butter and coconut oil. Pulse until the largest bits of butter are pea-sized.
Dump this mixture into a bowl.

Add the cider vinegar to the water. Then add this mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time to your flour mixture, toss with a fork.

At this point, the pie crust mix should be forming balls. You can squeeze and pat the mix into one big ball, but DO NOT knead.

Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Wrap in plastic wrap and press down to make a thick disk. Refrigerate for at least an hour before using.

Neat trick I picked up from a friend: When rolling out, place each disk between two sheets of plastic wrap (or plastic wrap & wax paper), roll it out. Remove the top plastic, then using the bottom and a pie pan flip the dough over and into the pan. Now it’s ready to be filled!

Grandma Pauline Michalewicz’s Pecan Pie filling: I love this because it’s not as sweet as some other pecan pie fillings and it’s a family tradition.:)

¼ teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons flour
1 cup brown sugar (I replaced that with ½ cup of Splenda brown sugar)
3 eggs
¾ cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup white syrup
2 cups chopped pecans

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together salt, flour and brown sugar. Set aside.

In a larger bowl, incorporate the liquid ingredients: eggs to syrup.

Mix in the dry mix. When it’s a caramel colored slurry, add in the chopped pecans.

Divide the filling between two unbaked pie shells.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until lightly golden. Note: the coconut oil pie shells are paler than butter-only shells. But oh my, the house smells like a tropical vacation!

Here are other #Letslunch posts for you to enjoy:

FreeRangeCookie's Dirt Pie with Compost Cookie Crust

Chezus' Summer Chicken Pot Pie

Cheryl Tan's Japanese Curry Pot Pie

Hobnob's Spanakopita & Rhubarb Crisp

Showfood Chef's Nutella Hand Pies

Zestbakery's Lime Custard n Curd Pie

Step-By-Step Crepe Making

My first foodie conference --the International Association of Culinary Professionals' 33rd annual conference in Austin last week--was intense.

From Wednesday to Saturday, I attended sessions, took notes like crazy, and met people from all over the world. Sessions started as early as 7 a.m. and ended as late as midnight. I saw so many personal kitchen heroes (Dorie Greenspan, Martin Yan, Nancie McDermott and more) and writing heroes (Robb Walsh, Kim Severson)that I SQUEED myself hoarse. So Sunday, instead of rushing home, I took some much needed downtime.

The family and I woke up early and explored downtown Austin. By 8 a.m. we were ready for breakfast, unfortunately Austin is a brunch town. Then we lucked in to Le Cafe Crepe at 200-A San Jacinto, which served a multitude of sweet and savory crepes. Better still, the cafe had a glassed in kitchen. A meal and a show. WooHoo!

The ladies behind the glass worked fast, fingers and crepes flying in a blur. As I watched, my hands itched to grab the camera. But I hesitated. Would whipping out a camera be considered a faux pas?

Then award-winning, globe-trotting photographer Penny De Los Santos spoke in my head. I remembered her sharing the story of a photo shoot in India, where she hunkered down in front of a group of men and waited "until they forgot about the crazy American woman and her camera."

I took a deep breath and decided to be the crazy Asian woman with the camera. Thanks IACP for a great conference!

The ladies working crepe magic at La Cafe Crepe.

Pour the Batter

And spread it out.

Let it cook until light golden

Flip it!

Swirl the chocolate into an artsy pattern.

Fold in half and spread the Nutella. Yum!
And fold again...

And here's the finished product:Chloe's Crepe w/Nutella, strawberries, chocolate syrup and whipped cream.

Here's the inside of what my crepe looked like ~ a feta, spinach, tomato, avocado concotion.

The Cowboy got the Norwegian: smoked salmon, boursin with herbs,tomatoes, capers.

As George, part-owner of the cafe, would say: "Bon Appetit, Y'all!"

The Cowboy & the kids loved their crepe, I had a blast, and --I'd like to think-- the gracious staff of Le Cafe Crepe (once they got used to me and the camera) had fun. Penny was right, celebrate your subjects and they will welcome you with smiles. What an honor to be able to capture the art of crepe making.

San Angelo Eat Local Challenge

I once had a very interesting conversation with a young lady about bread. I asked her if she knew where bread came from. Her quick quip: the bread aisle in my grocery store? Yes, she was being funny, but she'd also never made bread.Never selected the flour, never seen yeast bubble, never let her hands play with a ball of dough.

Unfortunately I've had too many conversations like that with too many young people. And I started wondering, why? Circumstances.

Growing up in Bangladesh, I was very lucky to have a baker for a mother. I grew up swooning on the smell of fresh baked bread. The house I grew up in was surrounded by a huge garden filled with fruit trees -- mango, papaya, jackfruit, and guava. We grew spinach, potatoes and gourds.

As an adult, I'm very lucky to have married into a West Texas farming family. For generations, the Cowboy and his family have been raising their own food and raising crops to sell.

Most of the meat in my freezer comes from freshly butchered animals from the one of the family farms or 4-H projects, and deer hunted by hunters in the family.

When building a house together, the Cowboy and I chose a 1-acre lot just so we could garden. We've grown eggplants, peas, potatoes, acorn squash and tomatoes. Every year, we try something new. What we don't have we get from the gardens of family and friends, or we supplement by shopping at the Concho Valley Farmer's Market.

The bread conversation, and others like it, has made me emphasize local food, gardens, farmers, and cooking to my own kids. I want them to know food, enjoy it, celebrate what it take to bring to the table.

Then I found out about the NOLA LOCAVORES and their first annual New Orleans Eat Local Challenge. I was awed, impressed and inspired. What a great idea.

This led me to embark on my own Eat Local Challenge, create a facebook page and led me to write an article to rally other West Texans. So from June 1-30, I'll be doing my best to Eat Local. Want to join us?

Chef Dave Cruz of Ad Hoc on Vacations

Recently I had the good fortune to chat with Chef Dave Cruz, the Chef de Cuisine of Ad-Hoc, considered one of the “Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants” by the San Francisco Chronicle and part of the Thomas Keller group of restaurants. He happened to be visiting family in West Texas.

Naturally, our conversation turned to vacations.

Now my idea of a perfect vacation would include eating my way through exotic lands like Greece, Italy, France, Singapore and…the list goes on. Sometimes, it's running off to a deserted island all by myself with a good book.

For Chef Cruz there are two types of vacations:

1. Checking out restaurants and eating.
“So much of what you do as a chef relies on our food memories,” he said. “You taste something, and you know it.”

2. Coming home to his family. For more on that, check out my article.

I don’t know about you all, but it’s not that often I get to lunch with a famous chef. So for once I zipped up and let a man order for me. Every time he tried to ask for my opinion, I just shook my head and said, “Order the way you would if I wasn’t here.”

“When I go to a restaurant, I order a lot of food so I can taste across the menu,” he said.

My response: “Go for it!”

We ended up sharing a ceviche, a salad of crab cakes and field greens, and Mahi-Mahi tacos with a mango salsa. But the best part, for me, was about three hours of conversation about food: cooking, ingredients, philosophies.

Of course, I came home totally inspired. So after I worked on my article for a bit I tried out a recipe from Ad Hoc At Home, a cookbook featuring family style recipes and a project Chef Cruz collaborated on with Chef Thomas Keller.

Sautéed Lamb Loin Chops

12 1 ¼-inch-thick lamb chops (about 4 ounces each)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Canola oil
4 thyme sprigs
4 garlic cloves, slightly crushed, skin left on

Directions:

1. Remove the lamb chops from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Set a cooling wire rack over a baking sheet.
3. Season the lamb chop generously with salt and pepper.
4. Heat some canola oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking.
5. Add 6 of the lamb chops to the pan and cook until well-browned on one side, about 3 to 4 minutes.
6. Turn the chops and add half the thyme and garlic, and cook, basting the meat with its own fat, until browned on the second side.
7. Transfer to the cooling rack, along with the thyme and garlic. Repeat with the remaining chops, thyme and garlic.
8. Transfer the chops to the oven and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the meat is 128 degrees to 130 degrees. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest in a warm spot for 15 minutes for medium-rare.

Excerpted from AD HOC AT HOME COOKBOOK by Thomas Keller (Artisan Books).
Copyright 2OO9. Deborah Jones photographer.

The recipe wonderfully showcases the flavor of lamb, with the garlic adding a nice flair. Frying the garlic creates bits of golden crust on the outside, but the later roasting makes the inside sweet and buttery soft. I loved the garlic so much, next time I’m going add more cloves.

Romance Magicians: Why your fiction should transcend life? Author Jod...

I managed to garner a great guest post on the craft of writing for the Romance Magicians. Check it out!

Romance Magicians: Why your fiction should transcend life? Author Jod...: "I 'met' author Jody Hedlund on Twitter where she posts writing tips and links to posts full of common sense, quiet encouragement and insight..."

Get Figgy With It! Banana Bread w/ Figs & Caraway

The Cowboy recently had a birthday and requested banana bread for his cake. Seriously. I mean I like banana bread. It's a classic because it's good, but it's so...no-frills. That would be the same as me asking for a vacuum cleaner for our anniversary. Not in a million years. Totally anti-climatic. But the man had made up his mind and he wanted Banana Bread.

Fine he'd get his banana bread, but it'd be one heck of a special banana bread. I had some dried figs on hand that I'd been trying to figure out uses for, and figs to me are rare and luxurious ingredient. So threw in some figs.

And, I'd recently attended an amazing #Spicechat on twitter and was totally inspired about Caraway Seeds, and especially about using them in a seed cake. While Caraway seeds have an unassuming appearance, one bite can knock your sock off with robust flavor reminiscent of liquorice, citrus and peppermint. Just the kind of zing to push it out of the realm of ordinary.

To enhance the citrusy taste and add some color, in went the zest of an orange. I reserved the juice of half the orange, and ate the other half (see, I told you this Banana Bread was good for you).

Once baked and sliced, it revealed it's inner deliciousness. A surprise of color, aroma and flavor.

And yes, birthday boy did enjoy every bite...almost as much as I enjoyed making the cake. :)

Get Figgy With It Banana Bread

2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons Caraway seeds
zest of one orange, juice half of the fruit and reserve for later
1/2 cup baking Splenda (or you can use 1 cup sugar)
1/4 cup butter softened
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup dried chopped figs

1. Preaheat oven at 350 degrees
2. Coat the inside of a 8 1/2 X 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with a cooking spray
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, caraway and orange zest
4. Cream together the butter and sugar in the bowl of your mixer at medium speed
5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to blend after each.
6. Add in the banana and sour cream, beat to blend.
7. Spoon in the flour mix, a little at a time, until a moist batter is formed.
8. Add the figs and gently fold into the batter.
9. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for about an hour, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out dry.
10. Using the same toothpick, poke tiny holes at regular intervals on top of the hot cake.
11. Drizzle with the reserved orange juice (Use just enough to moisten, but not flood)
12. Cool and serve.

Here's another post on Caraway by a #SpiceChat friend.