born-again foodie

[nephthys224]

I was reading through some of my old entries yesterday, and what really jumped out at me (besides the fact that I rambled on pathetically about my ex the whole time... thank god that phase of my life is over!) is how often I talked about baking cookies. Cookies as a reward when I was feeling good about myself, cookies to cheer me up when I was

Comments

[nephthys224]

Mmmm, Tex-Mex. I reallyreallyreally miss good Tex-Mex. I have a hard time getting ahold of the right ingredients here, so I don't make it as often as I'd like. I can find habaneros and sometimes even jalapenos (sorry, too lazy to look up how to do the ~ above the n), but definitely no other types of peppers, no pinto beans, no salsa, and certainly nothing involving corn, which apparently is animal fodder here. Whenever I'm in Texas, I always stock up on El Fenix brand salsa and masa for corn tortillas (among other things).

But while it sucks to not have good Tex-Mex, I have discovered the joys of Indonesian food, which is sort of like the Dutch Tex-Mex. Lots of spicy curries and stews which are super easy to make and reaaaallly tasty. :)

Hmm... I don't see any reason why the grain mill we have wouldn't work fine in an apartment. It's small, fairly lightweight (you could keep it in a cupboard somewhere and just take it out when you need it), and reasonably aesthetically pleasing. :) It's a bit noisy (okay, it's really freakin' loud), but as long as you're not milling at 2:00am or something, I think it would fall within the range of "acceptable noises". Here's a webpage with some info on the one we have: http://www.simply-natural.biz/Schnitzer-Pico-Electric-Grain-Mill.php
For the record, they're about 1/4 of the price shown on that page if you order them in Europe. :-P Actually, when I was living in the US I really lusted after this mill called the Nutrimill. It's an impact mill (as opposed to one with a grindstone like I have), which some people don't like 'cause it gets warmer, but you can grind more stuff with it than with the type I have (I can't do flaxseed, chickpeas or other beans, etc). They're still pretty pricey, though-- I'm not sure I would ever have gotten one if we hadn't gotten it as a gift. :)

And I totally have the hots for Alton Brown. He taught me everything I know about scrambled eggs/French toast/vanilla extract/roast turkey/you name it. :) I'm so sad we can't get him over here... though I bet if I tried hard enough I could find Good Eats online somewhere. My dad just got finished reading a book of his and has promised to save it for me. Yay!

And wow, I would loooooove to go to culinary school. You should totally do it! Then you can pass on lots of good tips and recipes to your adoring LJ audience... :-))