Street Food

June 25, 2013June 25, 2013 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

Now here’s something that no longer means what it once did … street food. I recently came across an article on how the most amazing foods can now be found curbside in just about every city. This article focused on the Mid-Atlantic states.

How drastically have things changed? When I was a kid and we used to go in the city, there were food vendors here and there, and one of my favorites was those who sold roasted chestnuts. I remember there was always a “chestnut man” outside the Museum of Natural History, much like the one pictured here, (who is actually selling chestnuts in Spain.)

When I was older and worked in NYC, you didn’t have to go too far to find a street food vendor – they usually sold Sabrett hot dogs, hot pretzels and somewhere nearby there was always a souvlaki truck. selling souvlaki, (pictured), gyros and falafel. As I recall, everything was pretty tasty. And then more recently, working on a dead end street in an industrial area of a NJ city, (long story), we had a real food truck. It was standard silver and served a variety of pre-packaged lunch foods and sweets and on this truck, a few homemade Portuguese dishes cooked by Tony’s wife – they were always pretty good.

Now? There has been a meals on wheels revolution. Standard silver no more! Food trucks are rolling works of art and they are selling every type of food imaginable and are located all over every city – international cuisine, main dishes, desserts and beverages. What’s more, you’re going to find a line up to that truck, with fans waiting for their favorite food. Aside from cooking up fabby cuisine, the vendors are taking advantage of the digital world and tweeting the time and location when their truck will show up and/or posting it on their Facebook pages.

The food truck world has grown so that they even have their own accolade – the Vendy Award. These are awards given in a variety of cities where vendors sign up for a big food fest in a spacious location. Fruckies, as fans are called, buy tickets to the event and sample as many foods as inspire them. There are judges voting on the best food served and a People’s Choice award.

If you’re a foodie and want to check out this new expanded world of street food, check out this link for the Vendys – awards, events and how to find a great food truck near you.

p.s. There’s a Vendy event coming up in NYC on September 7th in Brooklyn!

p.p.s. Check out the NYC 2012 winner – a vegan, organic truck called Cinnamon Snail – operates in NYC and NJ – not what people – myself included – expect when they hear vegan!

Transitions

June 22, 2013June 22, 2013 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

Just like life is filled with dreams and plans, so is it filled with transitions.

Over the last 2 months, I’ve had a number. The most recent, though initially stressful, has been the now-happy upgrade of my beloved Mac, the primary tool of my trade. Reliant as I am upon my Mac to make a living, I was not happy to find it behaving increasingly squirrelly as of late. It’s stood up to the test of time, but has missed a few OS upgrades as well as the accompanying program upgrades. My Mac superhero, Steve, told me that right about now is when hard drives often start to fail. Gulp.

It seemed the time had arrived. So off it went to Steve to have a new hard drive and double the memory installed as well as the latest OS and other upgrades. He brought it back, did his on-site magic, and then the biggest transition began, my learning all the (sometimes) improvements of the latest and greatest software. Trust me … a transition! (I’m much calmer now.)

But the bigger transition has been – and will be – in my diet. While not really horrible by any means, my cholesterol was found to be sufficiently high that it needed addressing. Before you could say “lower your cholesterol,” I found myself plopped on 3 drugs — me who takes no meds at all, just vitamins and supplements, and eats largely organically, relatively low-fat and 99% vegetarian is suddenly infused with three. And so began a series of escalating side effects, med changes and so on … not a happy experience.

Meanwhile, at a recent picnic I was pleased and surprised that a friend bought me a book – Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. – which she read because of the benefit of the suggested diet to the prevention of cancer. I started reading. The regimen the author describes is beyond vegan in its restriction of fats, and a possibility, but has some very strong limitations. Still, I want to find a way to change my diet sufficiently to get off the meds, so I ordered additional books, one of which is pictured here, plus 2 cookbooks, Forks over Knives and the Joy of Vegan Baking and The Skinny Bitch Book of Vegan Swaps.

If I’m to consider going vegan, I need to know I have options … lots of them. I’m a bake it with butter, sugar and eggs kind of girl, and this is going to be a HUGE transition. And so I’ve begun reading, investigating, considering and shopping. That I already eat animals rarely makes one part easier, but giving up dairy? Now THAT’s tough. So I’m cutting out more dairy and animal fat than I already have and wading in.

I know plenty about the quality, or lack thereof, of our food supply and the toll it is taking on the health of millions of people as well as the planet and the horrendous suffering it is causing billions of animals. I’ve never wanted to be a part of that and have taken many steps over the years to limit my participation. Apparently, the next step – this transition – is mine to take.

Marble Cheesecake – Yum!

April 12, 2013April 12, 2013 / still a dreamer / 8 Comments

And now for a lighter – and more delicious – topic. (Vs. my last post, that is.)

Easter brings with it an invitation to the home of a friend and her family, and that means one thing for me … baking a delicious treat. Considering something that both adults and children might like isn’t always easy, and as I pored over yet-to-be-made recipes, I realized that many of them were more sophisticated in flavors than youngsters would like. So I hit my tried and true recipe box.

I came up with a marble cheesecake, and was happy to later learn that cheesecake is my friend’s husband’s all time favorite dessert. The original recipe calls for a crust made from dark chocolate wafers, but I like a traditional graham cracker crust made with butter just as well.

Above, the one slice I took home — as my host loved it so much, I left the rest there for him! Above right, fresh out of the oven with the crack that always appears.

I’ve had this recipe for so long I have no idea where I originally found it, and therefore cannot provide a link. So here it is below. Pretty easy to make and not for the cholesterol-conscious. Happy baking!

Marble Cheesecake

Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes

Crust:
18 chocolate wafers, crushed (1 cup)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Or: make traditional graham cracker crust. Just as good!

Filling:
6 squares semisweet chocolate
3 pkgs (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 container – 16 oz. – sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Make crust: Combine chocolate crumbs, butter and cinnamon in a small bowl. Press over bottom of 9” springform pan and chill.
2. Make filling: Melt chocolate over hot water; remove from heat, reserve.
3. Beat cream cheese with sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer `til fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time until well-blended. Blend in sour cream and vanilla until smooth.
5. Combine the melted chocolate with 1-1/2 cups of the cheese batter in a small bowl and blend thoroughly.
6. Pour 2-1/2 cups of the plain batter into chilled crust; place 1/4 cup chocolate batter on top pf plain batter. Cover with remaining plain batter.
7. Drop remaining chocolate batter by spoonfuls and pull a spatula through in swirls to marbleize.
8. Bake in a moderate over – 350 – for 1 hour and 10 minutes, Turn oven off and leave cake in oven for another hour. Remove to wire rack to cool. Refrigerate overnight. Enjoy!

Note: Top will crack and sink slightly.

p.s. I always wrap the bottom portion of the pan with aluminum foil, so the butter doesn’t drip onto the oven and burn.

A Brief (Muffin) Diversion

February 26, 2013February 26, 2013 / still a dreamer / 7 Comments

It’s a sad comment on how often I (don’t) bake that when I go into the kitchen and start getting out bowls and baking pans the cats show up to be fed. I mean … why else would I be coming into the kitchen at this odd hour, right? Sad, indeed.

However, much to their surprise, it was to bake something … muffins, in fact. I had pulled a page out of Parade Magazine’s monthly dash insert, (which is all about food), because it had a basic muffin recipe and a bunch of variations. Yes, it’s true – I am suckered in even by pictures of food. Figured I’d try them. By the way, the recipes featured in dash all come from bon appetit, Gourmet and epicurious.

What I liked about them was the low amount of sugar in the batch – only 1/4 cup – and they recommended canola oil, of which I have organic onhand. Made-from-scratch muffins really are incredibly easy to make and these were no exception. I decided to go simple and top them with a mix of cinnamon and the neat sanding sugar I’ve been waiting to use. You can see it best in the batter photo.

How did they come out? Beautiful, of course, but oddly enough, they could have done with a wee bit more sweetness. Want to try them? Find the recipe here with a link to the variations.

Food-ish Thoughts for the New Year

December 26, 2012December 26, 2012 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

I am not really one for New Year’s resolutions, but Christmas baking has me thinking of more than one thing I’d like to commit to in the upcoming year. For one, I really would like to cook and/or bake on a more regular basis. I love good, home-cooked food or from-scratch breads, cookies or desserts.

Take one of the items I baked for Christmas – quite simple – old-fashioned baking powder biscuits. With the addition of a good quality, extra-sharp cheddar, they became even better. This was not a major investment in time, and just reminded me that simple or more complex dishes of all kinds are not always that time-consuming. Good food is a gift we can give ourselves, (and others.) Why not make/find a little more time? Seems like something worth giving a try …

p.s. As I was lightly kneading the dough I started wondering what I’d use to cut the biscuits, and then remembered what I had … the biscuit cutter my Mom used to use when I was growing up. Perfect!