#topped with cilantro my beloved

[joy-drops]

realized i never posted chili day ヾ(・ω・)

[whentherewerebicycles]

hello dear Jes, I am all out of good meal ideas!! I’m always in awe of your drive to cook and the great-looking meals you create. Any good recs for yummy and relatively easy / quick recipes? thank u 🙏

hello!! yes here are some very easy, low effort low prep recipes i love. the bolded ones are the ones i find myself making most often when i am like wow i do NOT want to cook but if i must do so, i wish to make the easiest thing ever.

shakshuka (all recipes are basically the same! i make it with canned tomatoes to cut down on prep, add a sliced jalapeno to make it spicier, and top it with feta and cilantro. if you are not crazy about eggs my sister often makes it with chickpeas and no eggs!)

thai peanut noodles (you can make as-is but i often add roasted broccoli and air fryer tofu if i have time!)

ricotta pasta with roasted broccoli and chickpeas (i roast the broccoli rather than broiling it as i am afraid of broiling lol but it's very easy and delish)

creamy corn pasta (my beloved)

spaghetti with onion-"bacon", corn, and basil

roasted sweet potato tacos (roast sweet potatoes, warm black beans on the stove with spices, and make easy quick-pickled onions if i have time - then you can add avocado, sour cream, cilantro, and any other toppings you like!)

potato egg and cheese breakfast tacos (i roast or air-fry small-cubed potatoes, scramble eggs, melt cheese into the eggs, and top with the salsa of your choice!)

migas breakfast tacos

tortellini with pesto and roasted veggies

caprese toasts (toast bread of your choice, then add pesto, sliced mozzarella, sliced cherry tomatoes, basil if you have it, and balsamic glaze... my all-time fave easy/no-cook meal)

pesto pasta with frozen peas (another super easy one i make when i want to barely cook at all - you boil the frozen peas in the pasta pot for the last three minutes of the pasta's cook time. then add pesto, grated parmesan, a squeeze of lemon, and halved cherry tomatoes if you have them)

easy asparagus soup (thinly slice a leek and cut 1-2 bunches of asparagus into half inch pieces. melt 3 TBS of butter in your pot, then saute the leek plus 5-6 cloves of garlic for 8 min. add asparagus pieces and 4-6 cups of veggie stock, bring to a boil, salt and pepper, and simmer for 30 min. transfer it all to a blender and blend, then add 1/4th cup grated parmesan and the juice of half a lemon. serve with crusty croutons and sliced chives)

roasted sweet potato & figs dish (you can also make with dried dates if you can't find figs!)

easy chana masala

nectarine, arugula, and feta salad (best in the summer when it's nectarine season but delish all year round... you can also use peaches. i usually serve it on a bed of quinoa so it's more filling/more of a main dish. the basil dressing is to die for i could eat it with a spoon)

avocado & egg sandwich (you can make this on a bagel, english muffin, or bread... just toast your bread, mash avocado onto the bread & sprinkle with red pepper flakes, and then scramble or fry eggs to your liking and put on top)

[cookingwithmemu]

🥑 Memu's Classic Guacamole Recipe 🍅

Welcome back to Cooking with Memu! Today, I'm excited to share one of my all-time favorite recipes: Classic Guacamole. This beloved Mexican dip is not only delicious but also incredibly versatile – perfect for snacking, topping tacos, or serving alongside your favorite dishes.

Ingredients:

3 ripe avocados 🥑

1 small red onion, finely diced

2 tomatoes 🍅, seeded and diced

1 jalapeño pepper 🌶️, seeded and minced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Juice of 1 lime 🍋

Salt to taste 🧂

Instructions:

Prepare the Avocados: Cut the avocados in half lengthwise and remove the pits. Scoop the flesh into a mixing bowl using a spoon.

Mash the Avocados: Using a fork, gently mash the avocados to your desired consistency. Some prefer a chunkier guacamole, while others prefer it smoother – it's all up to you!

Add the Ingredients: Add the diced red onion, tomatoes, jalapeño pepper, and chopped cilantro to the mashed avocados.

Season and Mix: Squeeze the lime juice over the mixture and season with salt to taste. Gently stir everything together until well combined.

Taste and Adjust: Give your guacamole a taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. You can add more lime juice, salt, or even a pinch of cayenne pepper for extra heat.

Serve and Enjoy: Transfer the guacamole to a serving bowl and garnish with additional cilantro if desired. Serve with tortilla chips, fresh veggies, or alongside your favorite Mexican dishes.

Tips:

To prevent your guacamole from turning brown, press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the dip before refrigerating.

For added flavor, you can mix in some finely diced garlic or a splash of hot sauce.

Don't hesitate to customize the recipe to suit your taste preferences – add more or less of any ingredient to make it your own!

There you have it – a simple and delicious recipe for Classic Guacamole that's sure to be a hit at your next gathering or Taco Tuesday. I hope you enjoy making and sharing this guacamole as much as I do!

Stay tuned for more tasty recipes and culinary adventures on Cooking with Memu. Until next time, happy cooking!

With love, Memu 🌮

image from Pexels.

[tasklinemgr]

✨ 🌺 🍀 🌂 for any of your ttcc guys

I'll answer these for Kit McCrane because I think they would be the most interesting with these particular questions

✨ - Honestly, I came up with Kit kinda on the spot because I liked how it sounded. And then I made up the surname McCrane because he's a construction worker and it sounded nice with Kit.

🌺 - Kit is dating my OC Terracotta, who is the father of my OCs Basil and Cilantro. Kit doesn't see any issue with herself, a cog, with a toon for a partner, because he feels he has more in common with toons than he does with the cogs at the top of the capitalist hierarchy. The two have only been dating for about three years, and Kit hasn't even met the kids yet. She hopes they'll like him. (Spoiler, they won't </3)

🍀 - Honestly, I'd started to conceptualize Kit a while after I'd already decided on Terracotta having a cog partner, which makes me feel a little bad because it reads like Kit was written to be a love interest and a love interest alone. (She has plenty of connections and relations separate from him, though.) They were written with a lot of traits that mirror Terracotta's.

🌂 - Cartridge, the city I made up in which Kit and Terracotta live (and Basil and Cilantro grew up in), is a bit of a gritty setting, especially compared to Toontown, so I could easily see Kit being the protagonist of some sort of dystopia.

And, just for fun, I'm gonna put the Kit lore I have written down under a cut in case anyone wants additional context for this or wants to learn more about my beloved goober. (Since I don't post much OC lore to tumblr)

This gentle construction worker is known by his peers as someone that gets easily distracted. They're a worrier, who can come up with about a million different ways any given situation can go wrong. She tries not to let this keep her from getting out and doing things, and actually has quite the adventurous side.

If Kit told you they have a criminal record, you'd probably think she was telling a weird unfunny joke. No, he hasn't been to jail or anything, but he's been slapped with fine after fine for the repeated offense of climbing skyscrapers in Cartridge. One might wonder why someone so anxious would do something so dangerous, but for Kit, it's the perfect outlet to calm their nerves. Her loved ones really want them to stop though, especially after seeing what happened when they fell down that one time. (If it weren't for a generous favor from a friend, she'd still be paying off that repair bill.) Honestly, Kit doesn't understand why everyone worries about him so much; he does more than enough of that already.

If he had a "dream job", it would be a costume designer; they're quite passionate about theater. But they're satisfied where they are, content to help her partner Terracotta make clothing as a mere hobby. (Their coat is actually a gift from him!) Kit loves asking his partner to sing for them; his voice is just so beautiful. They're also looking forward to being able to finally meet Terracotta's kids. She doesn't find it strange at all that they chose to date a Toon, after all, she has more in common with them than she does any of the wealthy Cogs of Cartridge. Strangely enough, one rich person, the mayor of Cartridge herself, has taken a liking to Kit; she even bought him and Terracotta live tickets to its favorite game show.

Sometimes, when Kit goes in for maintenance, people notice a strange file on their hard drive. Nobody's been able to decrypt it though, and Kit spends a lot of time worrying about what it is and why it's there.

[besuretocook-blog]

Pizza is a beloved dish that can be enjoyed in so many different ways. Whether you like a classic Margherita pizza or something with a little more pizzazz, making homemade pizza is a fun and delicious way to satisfy your cravings. With a few simple ingredients and a little bit of patience, you can create a mouthwatering pizza that will rival any restaurant's version. For this article, I will share with you two of my favorite homemade pizza recipes: a classic Margherita pizza and a flavorful BBQ chicken pizza. Ingredients for Margherita Pizza: - 1 batch of pizza dough (store-bought or homemade) - 1/2 cup pizza sauce - 8 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced - 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves - Olive oil - Salt and pepper to taste Instructions: 1. Preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C). If you are using a pizza stone, place it in the oven while it preheats. 2. Roll out your pizza dough on a floured surface to your desired thickness. Transfer the dough to a pizza peel or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 3. Spread the pizza sauce evenly over the dough, leaving a small border around the edges. 4. Arrange the sliced mozzarella on top of the sauce. Make sure to leave some space between the slices so that the cheese melts evenly. 5. Tear the basil leaves and sprinkle them over the cheese. Drizzle some olive oil over the pizza and season with salt and pepper. 6. Slide the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone or place the baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. 7. Remove the pizza from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving. Cooking tips: For a crispier crust, pre-bake the dough for 5 minutes before adding the toppings. You can also add some crushed red pepper flakes for a little kick of heat. Ingredients for BBQ Chicken Pizza: - 1 batch of pizza dough - 1/2 cup BBQ sauce - 1 cup shredded cooked chicken - 1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced - 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese - Fresh cilantro, chopped - Olive oil Instructions: 1. Preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C) and prepare your pizza dough as mentioned above. 2. Spread the BBQ sauce over the dough, leaving a small border around the edges. 3. Sprinkle the shredded chicken and sliced red onions evenly over the sauce. Top with the shredded mozzarella cheese. 4. Drizzle some olive oil over the pizza and place it in the oven to bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted. 5. Remove the pizza from the oven and sprinkle the chopped cilantro over the top. Slice and serve hot. Cooking tips: For an extra smoky flavor, you can grill the chicken before adding it to the pizza. You can also add some cooked bacon or avocado slices for even more flavor. Homemade pizza is a versatile dish that can be customized to suit your taste preferences. Whether you like a classic Margherita pizza or something a little more adventurous like BBQ chicken pizza, making your own pizza at home allows you to get creative and have fun in the kitchen. So gather your ingredients, roll out your dough, and let your imagination run wild as you create your own delicious and easy homemade pizza recipes. Check out more recipes on Besuretocook.org! {Delicious|Amazing|Tasty https://besuretocook.org/delicious-and-easy-homemade-pizza-recipes/?feed_id=352&_unique_id=66fae1b29f070 #Besuretocook #Foodie #CookingRecipes #EasyRecipes #HomeCooking #Delicious #Tasty #QuickMeals #RecipeIdeas #Yummy #FoodLovers #FoodBlog #FoodInspiration #Culinary #MealPrep

[mariacallous]

You never forget your first chicken-cilantro dog garnished with Caesar salad. The first time I ordered one was in autumn 2003, at Jeff’s Gourmet Sausage Factory, a small, glass-front eatery on a stretch of West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles known for its yeshivas (Jewish schools focussed on Talmud study) , mezuzah shops and plethora of kosher markets and bakeries. Opened by owner Jeff Rohatiner in 1999, Jeff’s (referred to colloquially as such) is something of a legend in L.A. On any given weekday you can find an eclectic mix of customers — students from the Chabad school a few blocks down, stroller-pushing moms in long skirts and sheitels (wigs), teenagers in sports jerseys and shorts — sitting at a sidewalk table outside of Jeff’s feasting on one of its popular fleishig menu items, from the classic Western burger to the spicy beef and lamb merguez. 

In 2003, I was not yet married (or divorced; that would come more than a decade later), living in Santa Monica in a one-bedroom apartment within walking distance of the beach and a row of coffee joints and fruit smoothie stands. But there were no kosher restaurants within a solid 7-mile radius. 

Thanks to a boyfriend whom I met at a friend’s Rosh Hashanah dinner and was the son of an East Coast rabbi, I discovered Jeff’s one balmy October afternoon. Said boyfriend suggested the chicken-cilantro dog — I mean, what a genius concept, a chicken hot dog laced with cilantro and topped with salad. It was love at first bite. 

The boyfriend didn’t last — he went on to marry a girl far more adept at the culinary arts than I would ever be; and I went on to marry (and divorce) a culinary wizard with whom I now co-parent two teenage children. But it was on that fateful autumn day in 2003, in that liminal space between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, that my obsession with Jeff’s kosher chicken-cilantro hot dog took eternal root. 

For years, it was my go-to lunch whenever I found myself in the Pico-Robertson section of town. I’d pick up to-go orders on my way home from meetings with Hollywood executives and editors at various publications. Later, after moving to L.A.’s eastside, an hour’s drive at the height of traffic, I’d take my kids to Jeff’s for dinner. My friend Ale and I would head to Jeff’s on Sundays where, over frothy, ice-cold Cokes — another amazing thing about Jeff’s: it carried the soda fountain crushed ice — we’d unpack topics ranging from parenthood to episodes of “Shtisel.” I’d buy the frozen packs for later use in pastas, sliced up and grilled and twirled around a fork with fettuccine. It was the ultimate comfort food, the pinnacle of hot dog glory. There were nights on which I craved that chicken-cilantro dog with a desperate, fiery ache. 

Then the pandemic struck. And like restaurants globalwide, Jeff’s was forced to pare back its menu. My beloved chicken-cilantro hot dog, topped with fresh Caesar salad and served in a toasted French roll, was yet another casualty of COVID-19. 

I mourned its loss like one would a photo scrapbook destroyed in a house fire, like a silly schoolgirl would an unrequited crush. It was absurdist the extent to which I navigated this heartbreak. For months — years — I could not, would not, accept that it was gone. I wanted to continue to support Jeff’s, and I did. I’d turn up and stand in line, perusing the available items printed on menus taped to the folding table functioning as a makeshift outdoor ordering counter and cashier. And when I approached the front of the line, even though the chicken-cilantro dog was nowhere to be found, I would ask for it regardless, knowing full well the dreaded answer to come: “We no longer serve that here.” 

I was steeped in unmitigable denial over that chicken dog. It was unfathomable to me that it had vanquished like a blast of air. “I’m sorry,” the man at the counter would say, remnants of flour and hamburger bun clinging to his yellow Jeff’s Gourmet Sausage Factory T-shirt. “It just wasn’t one of our more popular items.” 

I sampled everything else there was to order — hamburger, hot dogs, the award-winning pastrami sandwich. They were fine. One could say they were even good. Excellent, in fact. But they weren’t my chicken-cilantro dog. Perhaps it was because so many other things had been snatched away — my marriage, my family life, the promise of domestic stability. Millions of people died during the pandemic, people lost their livelihoods, their homes. The loss of that chicken-cilantro hot dog represented more than just a menu item. It triggered that collective loss that stung so many of us on a global scale. 

Then one day, I decided that enough was enough. I needed to fling myself into radical acceptance. So I walked over to Jeff’s. And I scrolled the menu. And some 20 years after that inaugural visit, I ordered something that I never had before: the fried chicken sandwich. Battered and fried, with a dollop of aioli spread across a brioche bun and a pile of kosher pickle chips on the side. 

Was it the chicken-cilantro hot dog served with a mountain of Caesar salad? No. But it was also one of the best things that I have ever tasted. Crispy, juicy, fresh. In that moment, I truly understood that the world had changed.  It was time to move on — to embrace new sandwiches. 

To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are infinite kinds of love, but never the same love twice. The fried chicken sandwich will never be the chicken-cilantro dog, and to expect it to be is a fool’s errand. But the fried chicken sandwich at Jeff’s Gourmet Sausage Factory is plump, it is spicy — it is delicious. And it is part of a new culinary journey that is only just beginning. 

[acetronaut]

Not usually up for these, but I’ll give it a go!

Name: you can call me A, Ace, or acetronaut

Pronouns and gender: she/her, I’ve also been trying out they/them but it doesn’t feel like sticking bc around; cis but don’t really feel an attachment to gender in a way I can’t really explain

Sexuality: Demi-asexual, also biromantic

Country: USA

Top 5 Fandoms: in no particular order and subject to (frequent) change:

1. Batman (especially Rogues, with the exception of Joker, all my homies hate Joker)

2. Sandman (mainly the show, though I do plan to read the comics) - Hob Gadling my beloved, his seemingly endless optimism and appreciation for life is aspirational

3. Disco Elysium (getting back into it bc my gf has gotten some of our friends to start playing it)

4. Good Omens - another one I’m getting back into, sooo hyped for season 2

5. Legend of Zelda - I don’t have tears of the kingdom yet but I’ve been replaying botw

Most forbidden snack: rubbery stuff. No notes

Would you pet a bug: depends on what bug it is, but. Usually No

A weird fact/story about myself: uhh I think I have an extra spleen? Or some similar organ. And I only found out a year and a half ago when my mom casually mentioned it in a conversation with family. I am an adult, wondering why I never knew about this earlier

What does blue taste like: idk the sugar water of blue otter pops?

Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen: that’s a rough one to answer, but I do like seeing really pretty sunsets, especially in scenic areas

Stupidest thing I’ve done: I’ll go with something in recent-ish memory that won’t be too bad for my anxiety to dwell on: (a) be entrusted with very sharp knife when cooking; (b) immediately cut finger trying to cut with said knife

Stupidest thing you’ve heard/seen someone do/say: I do road closure work for a local festival in the evenings (for noise pollution reasons, it’s in a busy part of town), this is my third year doing it, every year I still get people (most of them locals!) who think this is the first year the festival is closing the road

Hyperfixation song: Francesca by Hozier

Any meaning behind profile pic and username: I’m on the ace spectrum, I like space stuff, simple as that. As for profile pic, it’s an image I took when I went to the Omegamart in Vegas

Dream career as child: architect or translator

Dream career as an adult: working in theater (mainly from the technical side)

Thoughts on cilantro: I grew up in SoCal so while I don’t use it often I respect it, doesn’t taste like soap to me

Have I ever been banned from a location: not that I know of

Cursed food combination: idk, does pineapple on pizza count

Trans rights? Absolutely! I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t support them, given that my gf is trans

Ibid on forgoing tagging, join in if you feel like it!

@churromancermasterofchurros @dyinggoosenoises

Thanks for introducing me to this!

Name: You can call me Justin!

Pronouns and gender: I'm a man! He/him is fine.

Sexuality: Honestly, not sure. At this point I'd probably say bisexual. Is that a dumb answer?

Country: US

Top 5 fandoms: Hard question. Probably:

I love the Arcane Ascension novels recently.

Avatar-TLA is an obvious choice!

The SCP Foundation has taken up hours of my time.

The TTRPG community.

I'm throwing in the tumblr wizards here because that shit jives with me for some reason

What is your Most forbidden snack:

Sometimes I smell the cat treats and I get the urge to shove fistfulls into my mouth.

Would you pet a bug: I have pet bugs before.

Share a weird fact/story about yourself with the class:

I have like three eyebrow hairs that will seemingly grow infinitely long if I don't fucken handle them. Also I eat the tails of shrimp too.

What does the color blue taste like: The blue ICEE/Slurpees.

What is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen:

I love when the sunset hits the mountains and you can see rainclouds in the distance. It's one of my favorite vibes. Look at my blog's banner for reference.

What is the stupidest thing you've ever done:

I locked my keys in the car like twice in one week once. I know there are stupider things but my brain must be repressing them now.

Stupidest thing you've seen/heard someone else do/say:

I don't even know what to pick seeing as I worked in retail for most of my life. Probably any time a parent would let their kid try to pet the large birds at the pet store I worked at. Those things can amputate fingers.

Hyperfixation song: Currently it is Love's Not Enough by Lane and the Chain

Is there any meaning behind your profile picture and/or username:

Username is a portmanteau of a portion of my name and the word 'hermit.' My profile picture is of the plague doctor costume I made!

Dream career as a child: Veterinarian. Turns out you have to cut and stab things.

Dream career as an adult: Probably like successful Twitch Streamer or something. They make bank.

Thoughts on cilantro: I don't even know anymore. I thought I liked it but the last few times I ate it it tasted bitter. So yes I guess? Maybe I got a bad batch.

Have you ever been banned from a location and if so, why: Uh, not in real life but I was banned by the gamefaqs Pokemon Mystery Dungeon forum because I posted I was 12 like an idiot.

What is your cursed food combination:

I used to put mayo in a slice of bologna and roll it up like some sort of fucked up taquito.

Trans rights? Um, duh! Live your life, people. It has no bearing on mine. I wish I could give everyone struggling a hug. I have a few trans friends/relatives and seeing what they go through breaks my heart sometimes.

And instead of tagging people, if you follow me and you see this, feel free to reblog with your answers. I'd love to read them. :)

[the-eldritch-it-gay]

Okay so you're from a vastly different culture than me so I'm Incredibly Curious about a few food related things

What was That One Thing that was at every single kid's birthday party when you were growing up?

What are some foods that you eat when money's tight?

What are some of your favourite comfort foods?

Do you have the cilantro soap gene?

I feel I might be slightly disappointing in this aspect, as I was partly raised by a white woman (bio mother, and the foster mother I had for a bit), and I'm autistic which makes me sensitive and picky with foods. But nevertheless!

1.

These little single-serve tiny ice cream cups were everywhere and I loved them so much.

Also though at the good kids parties I always remember rebanditas being The Candy. They're little watermelon lollipops covered in this chili powder.

2.

I have a couple. Usually some variation of a quesadilla, like, not a proper quesadilla but melt some cheese on a tortilla and throw whatever else in there. I do a similar thing with making mashed potatoes, rice, or noodles and then tossing whatever else I have on hand (maybe I have some leftover meat in the freezer, 99 cent bags of frozen veggies, some sort of sauce). Sometimes if I have the time I'll make some fry-bread to then use as the base for "adding whatever I have on hand on top".

So, you know, the general way I go is take some staple (tortilla, potato, rice, noodles, fry-bread) and scrounge together some various additions (cheese, meat, veggie, sauce). It's simple and cheap enough, but also gives me some variety when I need it.

3.

My biggest comfort food is tamales. Tamales my beloved. If they weren't time-intensive to make or hard to buy in my area, I would have them all the time. I think it's just the perfect food, you can't go wrong with a tamale. I'm a fan of sweet corn tamales, but all tamales are good.

My other comfort food is orange chicken, or any beef + rice bowl.

4.

I do, unfortunately, have the cilantro soap gene. My white mother passed it down to me 😔😔😔

[natandacat]

may i 👀 have the recippy? please 🙏

!!!! Ok so there we go :

کوکو سبزی

aka Kookoo Sabzi (also romanized as kuku sabzi)

It's one of the best brunch/breakfast foods, but I have and will again eat it at any time of day because it's just (chef kiss).

Ingredients:

2 cups of chopped tareh or nira (garlic/chinese chives) or the green part of green onions (that's what I use most of the time, I'll even put in the white part if I have to)

1 cup chopped parsley (some say flat leaves are better cause closer to the iranian jafari but honestly I like curly leaves so go with what you want)

1 cup chopped cilantro (geshneez)

1/2 cup chopped fresh dill (shevid) or 1/4 to 1/3 cup dry dill

Other herbs you can add that absolutely slap: spinach (chopped), chives (chopped), even the tender part of a leek (finely chopped)

Optional: 3/4 to 1 cup small walnut chunks (my beloved)

6 large eggs

2 tbsp yogurt (thick rich yogurt like greek yogurt is preferred), can be replaced with thick cream or even skipped

1tbsp flour

1 tbsp baking powder

Salt & pepper to taste

Spices: a mix of turmeric (zard chubeh), cumin (zireh), dried rose petal powder (gole sorkh), cayenne (felfel ghermez), sumac (somagh), paprika, etc. (about 1 tbsp total I'd say? maybe less, maybe more, I do it with my guts)

For the cooking: enough oil/margarine/butter to coat your pan very well and even have a thin layer of fat

For the garnish (optional): about 6~10 whole walnut halves

(As you can tell, this is something I cook right after I've done the groceries, because of all the fresh herbs involved fjdnfndk)

(Some people put pomegranate seeds or zereshk in there. Personally I think pomegranate doesn't work because the taste fades when cooked and you're left with just the hard seeds, and I don't like zereshk 🧡)

Steps:

Put all the dry ingredients including the spices and walnuts in a large bowl & gently stir until well blended

Add the yogurt and the eggs and mix well

In a non-stick pan, melt your fat (it's better to have at least some butter or margarine in there, even mixed with oil)

When the fat is hot, pour the mix and smooth it so it takes the whole pan

Press down the walnut halves into the mix for garnish

(Here I used pecans as garnish cause I didn't have whole walnut halves, and it was great)

Cover immediately and cook on medium-low heat until the top is firm to the touch and the edges are sizzling (15~20min I think)

Now the part where you need to pray: we need to flip this baby. Iranians love crying and shaking and doing this often, like with tahdig. I love it and I hate it. Good adrenaline rush. Your friends and family can stand around ready to clap or make fun of you.

Place a plate on top of the pan, one whose diameter is slightly bigger than the pan itself

Now take hold of the handles AND the plate and flip it all upside down FAST (it should not be in a titled position more than like a fraction of a second)

If you hear a single "plop" you can breathe but you can't celebrate yet

Put the plate down on a flat surface and slowly lift the pan

If the kookoo is in one piece, congrats!

With the golden side up, just slide it back into the pan so the other side can also cook

Cover and cook for the remaining 10~20min (depends on your stove)

Do the same process to flip it into a plate so the garnish side is up again! This time should be easier but don't let yourself relax just yet

Inshallah the kookoo is on the plate looking amazing

Let it cool a bit

I like to eat half right away while warm and wrapping the rest in aluminum foil. Idk why but it tastes even better once it's cooled down in the foil.

Enjoy! You can eat it with cheese (feta or any kind of fresh cheese, goat is the best for this) and bread (noon e barbari and noon e sangak my beloved but alas impossible to find in the west)

(Without nuts it looks like this and is also fucking awesome)

The ingredients are pretty flexible! This is my preferred herb combo, but everyone has different opinions on this. As long as there's enough herbs in there, you can definitely adapt to what you have on hand. Same for spices, I know most people don't have dried rose petals lol.

[purplejan]

my bestie @petitmonde came up with this new tag game, thank you so much for tagging me, i had so much fun doing it 🥰

Favourite sandwich: hummus, mushorooms, cilantro and caramelized onions my beloved

Top 3 [blank] -> chai tea, hot chocolate and jasmine tea.

Last thing you dreamed about: that i was gardening with my mom?? i don't really know how to garden, but my mom always does and she loves it, maybe i'll ask her to show me someday.

Something on a ship: okay let's choose jasco cause i just read julia's latest prompt for them and the emotions are fresh. i really love how well they work together, like their personalities are different in a lot of ways but i think it makes total sense. i love how no matter who writes them bosco always teases jasmine in that fun loving way and to me is very endearing and yeah, jasco my beloved 💕

Fandoms you don't talk about: ay i thought a lot about this one a lot and couldn't really come up with one :c i just feel like drag race is the only one strong enough were i could consider being part of the fandom

Quirky trait: i'm always talking to myself ckjwnwevwee i just think it makes me focus more to be like reminding myself out loud all the things i have to get done, or sometimes it's just nonsense about drag race ngl ckjwenvkw

New friends: yes! always open to talking and making new friends, if we're mutuals you can always send a dm (i'm not the best at responding right away but i promise i try my hardest to keep the conversation going <3 )

i'm gonna tag (no pressure tags ofc): @inthehytes @moonshotsx @stillgoode @ellavaday @violet-amore @sweetestberryofthebunch @myhusbandharryhamilton @junosjukebox @that-art-hoe and anyone else who want to do it 💕

[juunimeta]

I’m not even a Reddit refugee, I moved here a year ago :D

1. Name- Juuni or Juunimeta

2. Pronouns - He/Him, Cis male

3. Sexuality - Straight

4. Country - US

5. Top 5 fandoms - Touhou, Monster hunter, Splatoon, Pokémon, Arknights

6. Forbidden snack - I want to stick so many metals and gems in my mouth tbh.

7. Petting bugs - Moths are nice

8. Weird story - I’m known as a good thief in my house even though I only have actually stolen a single muffin, which nobody I did for 8 months

9. Taste of blue - Like being hit in the head with the color blue.

10. Beautiful thing - Fog is so beautiful…

11. Stupidest thing - I didn’t know you had to take a car out of drive to take the key out of the ignition.

12. Stupidest thing from someone else - Met someone who thought you had two livers and one kidney… they were the child of a doctor

13. Hyperfixation song - I’ve been aggressively switching between long awaited omagatoki and Cheat against the impossible danmaku

14. Meaning behind username / pfp - My pfp is taken from a shitty ms paint meme about doremy smoking weed, and I took doremy from it and called it good. My username, I came up with Juunim on the spot and took meta from my old username of metalunalium, which has wayyy more history.

15. Dream career as a child - Family practitioner

16. Dream career as an adult - Pathologist, or really anything biochemical. If not, computer programmer.

17. Cilantro - MY BELOVED

18. Banned from a location - No, my autism would make that difficult as I struggle to talk to people lmao.

19. Cursed food combo - I’m not picky, so I can eat most stuff fine, which caused me to never experiment. But I totally still mix every soda in the machine every now and then.

20. Trans rights - Hell yeah brother

Idk who to ping, so I’ll just let the chain stop with me and leave it to someone else. Too many blogs that follow me that have been here for years lmao.

“I just came from r/196” ask game

Saw another post. I think I should invite y'all to one of our longstanding traditions. Answer the questions then tag 10 (or more) people. I'll go first.

Name? Frankie

Pronouns and gender? he/they/it, transmasc

Sexuality? Lesbian

Country? USA

Top 5 fandoms? Bungou Stray Dogs, Cosmere, All for the Game, Fundiesnark (not a series but I'm too deep in it to not consider it a fandom), .....the tornado fandom? (they're my special interest)

What is your Most forbidden snack? The preserved bones at the Atlanta Bodies Exhibition. They looked so crunchy...

Would you pet a bug? If it's big enough, it is pettable.

Share a weird fact/story about yourself with the class. I like to drive around rural areas and photograph old, sometimes abandoned locations in the dead of night. I have been literally chased out of towns by foot and by car on two separate occasions. The second time this happened, "See You Again" by Miley Cyrus came up on shuffle and that's the soundtrack my friend and I tore out of town to. Also every "guy" I've dated except for my most recent ex (who has big egg energy) is a lesbian now.

What does the color blue taste like? Creme brulee

What is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? The appalachian mountains of Tennessee in the middle of summer. There's kudzu everywhere. On the backroads, there were several old, dilapidated Baptist churches barely hanging to the side of the mountain. I wonder how many of them were still in use.

What is the stupidest thing you've ever done? Short version: my friend's house almost got broken into by this dude who'd been stalking us for months while we were home alone. Instead of calling the cops, we decided to confront him with a bow and arrow (me), a hatchet, and a baseball bat (him). The plan was that if it went badly, we would simply throw his corpse into one of the many lakes in the neighborhood and let the alligators eat his remains (this was Florida). Why? Because we were afraid of having our home-alone privileges revoked. Luckily for us all, the guy fucked off and we never saw him again.

Stupidest thing you've seen/heard someone else do/say? My ex thought that Jackalopes were real. Also, a nurse I was doing rotations with apparently thought that "Witness Protection" was for Jehovah's Witnesses.

Hyperfixation song? Young Enough + Bleach by Charly Bliss

Is there any meaning behind your profile picture and/or username? Profile pic; I'm transmasc and I'm currently obsessed with TriStamp. Username; It was my fake internet name when I was like 13. I won't change it because I want my mutuals to recognize me, and because I do have a viral post associated with this name.

Dream career as a child? Doctor (funnily enough I'm now in nursing school)

Dream career as an adult? Professional Jester. Not a comedian. I just want to be some weird little guy who dresses silly and you can hire me to roast your boss at work parties.

Thoughts on cilantro? Delicious

Have you ever been banned from a location and if so, why? I honestly can't remember? Probably... but in recent memory I've mainly banned people from places.

What is your cursed food combination? Pineapple on a hotdog with grilled onions. It Slaps.

Trans rights? TRANS RIGHTS

Tagging: @rocket-mankoi @mostlymarco @atleast8courics @jazzlike39 @gemsweater72 @limbobilbo @ameliaaltare @redcrane112 @theoneofwhomisblue @twinkenjoyer @theultimatecarp and anyone else who wants to jump on

[radioduo]

OOOH that sounds so cool!!!!! what scents did you choose for the top three?? id probably choose like,,,, chocolate/cinnamon/honey stuff XD cozy food scents my beloved

(ALSO I KNOW RIGHT?? TEN YEAR OLD ME JUST WANTED TO SHOW MY (very poorly made) CANDLE D:)

i chose anjou pear, honeysuckle, nd rain! it’s got a very light, flowery/fruity aroma and I really really like it :D they had some strange scents there hxbska i saw like aftershave, santa’s pipe (cigar smoke + cherry and some other christmasy scent), cilantro, lettuce.... it was really really cool though!

[toddlazarski]

The Best Bites of 2019

Shepherd Express

2019. The year before, hopefully. The prologue to 2020’s change, maybe. God or Kali or whomever you wish to charge with these sorts of responsibilities, willing. The end of the beginning of the end of discord, the endless fire, the storms and dread, the corruption of soul we’ve all learned to live with over the past few years that feel like a lifetime.

In Milwaukee, 2019 was the year we were rewarded the Democratic National Convention, and the year we immediately tried to grapple with how we would handle hosting the Democratic National Convention. It was the year, as if we were Austin, as if we were Portland, as if we were ourselves a plucky place of progressivism and forward-thinking, our very own food truck park opened. And, at the same time, it was the year it became impossible to log onto any social media without being inundated by hems and haws and shouting-at-cloud mewls that the city suddenly had legal electric scooters on the street. It was the year Syrian civil war refugees opened a Mitchell Street gem of kefta and baba ghanoush and good nature at the most destination-worthy restaurant in town. And it was the year a racially-charged acid attack occurred against a Latino man entering a southside taqueria. It was the year Sherman Phoenix rose, literally, out of the ashes of the 2016 Sherman Park riots. An opening that barely preceded Milwaukee becoming the first city to name racism a public health crisis.        

For me, calorically, it was also a calendar stretch of one step up and one back. It was a time of too many fancy burgers, of swearing off fancy burgers, and then reading about The Diplomat’s Diplomac, and then the Birch & Butcher happy hour special, and then the other one with the ampersand (Glass & Griddle). It was the time of swearing off meat entirely, tempering that to limiting meat, trying to go “Impossible” meat, then realizing my daughter had never been to Sobelman’s. A frigid Monday, empty dining room, impossibly cheery waitress and a jalapeno and three cheese-smashed double patty was all that it took to fall back off the wagon. Or is it on the wagon? Either way, it was also the summer that felt like I spent half of, at least, inside a car with intermittently functioning AC, pit-sweating, contemplating which tiny to-go plastic container of bright green or dark red or burnt orange sauce to douse on yet another pastor taco. I ate at every taco truck in the city in ‘19, or tried, or got close, maybe. Out of curiosity. Out of assignment. But as much so out of moral obligation, as some kind of personal corrector to the current tenor of division, of strife, of unease. And as a reminder of comfort, of the spicy, dangerous, gaseous whiff of hope.  

Here are some of the other ways I’ll remember ‘19.    

13. Italian Beef - Rosati’s

I grew up in the hyper-regionally-specific sandwich heaven of Buffalo, NY. There a “beef on weck” order from near any corner bar or grocer or butcher will yield a horseradish-spiked roast beef stack piled within a crusty German baker concoction known as a kimmelweck—a roll topped with caraway seeds and coarse salt grains of the likes you might use on your sidewalk in February. Whether it’s a little bit drippy or dry, it will likely singe sinuses, bloviate with beefiness, finish with unnecessary and addictively enjoyable sodium-ness. Everywhere that isn’t there, you can find Western New York ex-pats gathered in some corner of some bar, Bills hatted, commiserating, whispering of favorites from places with foreign-sounding names like Schwabl’s, bemoaning the wonder of why it’s so hard. But there’s a difference between hard and unknown. 

Here, Chicago’s Italian beef is another simple, but under-served regional sandwich delicacy. Offering even an apt representation of the au-jus-dripping bombs that can be found on every other corner in our big city neighbor to the south would be itself somehow singular. Rosati’s is a Chicago chain that serves just such a purpose. 

Of course, aesthetically or on paper, there’s not much list-worthy about a soaked Italian hoagie roll, barely holding it’s earthy contents, leaking greasy debris all over wax paper like it was an old Saab who’s main attribute was character. But then you get closer: it’s a living sandwich form of a closeup on an Arby’s commercial, with infinite folds of beef wedged like an overfull linen closet, so bursting with folded towels you’re afraid to open the door. The thin rug of plasticky, half-melted mozz is optional. Though the glossy, shimmering hot giardiniera should be mandatory, with its oil-slickening and bright, peppy pickled punch.   

But this is still a package of lizard brain enjoyment, of Ditka-esque machismo, with an essence and soul that is all two-fisted, garclicky pigout. It’s the perfect brown meal when you’ve had too many, when it’s too cold, when football is on, when it is followed by a slice of either thin or deep dish—both also apt Chicago representations here. Enjoy life and don’t be ashamed. You can love an Italian beef and still, later, after you swallow, sing along to “the Bears still suck.” 

12. Sloppy Johnny - Boo Boo’s

A 6-buck price tag and a name that harkens cafeteria appetites and Adam Sandler jams doesn’t really inspire notions of much other than a nostalgic budget lunch.    

But then you see one on the table in front of you, alongside the inspired rotating roster of obscure hot sauce bottles, and ideally next to a steaming bowl of creamy onion-cheddar soup. The sandwich, which derives from a New York City bodega specialty known as a chopped cheese, comes in a fresh-baked, beautiful baguette—crusty outside, pillowy inside—which houses barely visible meat, all the scrags seductively tucked under blankety rivulets of piping white cheddar and pickled peppers and rumors of mushrooms. While I used to come to this address for whiz-spattered ribeye, the Johnny is a bit perplexing in its polish. It is fat guy food all cleaned up, as button-down and put-together a presentation of chopped beef indulgence as might exist in town. 

Giving the flat-topped package a second to cool off is the only challenge. Along with the lack of alcohol to wash it down, or assuage said wait. But there seems to be no other shortcomings to the lunch, or anything about the quirky, aggressively friendly spot that replaced and immediately made us all forget the Walker’s Point Philly Way. The sister biz of nextdoor Soup Brothers, Boo Boo’s shows the Milwaukee Soup Nazi’s comfort food flavor rigor and peculiar touch extends neatly to the realm of sandwiches. 

11. Carbonara - Zarletti

It’s hard to balance summer in Milwaukee. There’s an at-once need to makeup for six months of living in a place where it hurts your lungs to breath natural air with an overwhelming roster of stuff to do. Of stuff to do outside. One solution might be doing something of calendar noteworthiness with a level of relaxed removal. For me I’ve found an annual tradition of attending Bastille Days’ nighttime 5K. Yet instead of stretching and putting on too-short shorts, I park myself at a table on Milwaukee Street, sip a Negroni, spoon roasted lamb and perperonata onto charry bread, and await a big, hearty pasta while watching the more ambitious sweatily charge toward a finish line and away from their true appetites.  

Zarletti’s sidewalk cafe on a summer night can feel very European, very sophisticated, well-heeled. But the carbonara is at it’s core quite basic. Yes, it is the embodiment of those aspects of Roman food anyone recently back from the Old Country will annoy listeners with: simplicity, freshness. Egg, Pecorino Romano, garlic, onion. Here too there is a vomitorium-like abundance of sauteed pancetta. And a reminder of how that perfect deep bowl of al dente can somehow hit all the comfort points of all the different life epochs: childhood mac n’ cheesiness, first apartment spaghetti nights, that trip to Italy. And now, in the night’s growing darkness and fanfare, it’s a special new tradition to feel apart from the race, and part of a different one—finishing every last salty morsel of piggy meat before my stomach says to stop.

10. Tacos de carbon, desebrada, chorizo, pescado - El Tsunami

I’m not entirely sure the silky, sour creamy, Serrano-based light green emulsified salsa found about so many southside taquerias is homemade—such is the ubiquity. And, at this point in our relationship, I’ve gone too far to ask. So, I will continue to happily, ignorantly, scoop and spurt over every possible meatstuff served between National and the Airport, from 35th to the Lake.  

Of these, the fare at El Tsunami holds a special sort of siren song sway, pulling me past La Canoa, away from my beloved Chicken Palace. In fact, of the two locations of Tsunami, this is the one without alcohol. And the fact it is still somehow preferred should be all the endorsement necessary. The petite counter-focused diner always feels like a happier, spicier Edward Hopper vision, especially with snow falling and cozy smoke plumes billowing about from the flattop that seems to be always full of approaching-happy meat. 

In taco form, an order of carbon yields smoky, charcoal-forward, tiny-diced and juice-spurting nodules. The desebrada is a chocolatey, shreddy deep-stewed beef, with the depth and earthiness of the kind of thing grandma might cook when it’s cold out, when she hasn’t seen you in a while, when she got up real early, even by her standards, to start. The chorizo balances salty, greasy, satisfying pork bombast with foodie subtlety—what is that? Cinnamon? The pescado makes fish fries seem benign, lacking abundantly in tortillas and salsa. 

There are other routes—the diablo sauce, a color only seen in dangerously fast and tiny sports cars, is a special coat for any fish dish. But it is the tacos, cilantro-y and satisfying, that remain the supreme vessel for green salsa dousing. And, either way, I’m leaving with some to go: a few containers of verde, just enough to carry a little Tsunami with me back home, to the fridge, enough to pull me through the far too many non-taqueria meals of life. 

9. Any pizza - San Giorgio

Maybe it’s because I’m not a car guy, and get no thrill from “peeking under the hood,” and not enough of a cook to have much interest in “seeing how the sausage is made,” but I’ve never cared a great deal about the concept of “open kitchen.” They wear aprons, can handle industrial-grade pans, are comfortable working close to a flame—I get it.   

But then I found myself for the first time at San Giorgio’s “pizza bar,” contemplating how beautiful a concept, how perfect a term, when I heard one pizzaiolo, upset about peel placement or arugula quantity or something or another say to the other, “I’ll kill you.” Huh, I thought. They really care. 

While few inside the scene seem to put any stock in the VPN certification (the official delegation delineating true Neopolitan style pizza, regulating everything from oven type, to temp, to how much your dough balls must weigh—yes, it’s a bit ridiculous, and, yes, it’s a cost), all aspects of the pizza pedigree of San Giorgio show just such immense, aggressive, sure, threatening, pursuit of craft. In the Sopranos sense of the word, all ingredients, all dishes, seem to be worthy of respect. 

Try the Quattro Formaggi, a delightfully oily meld of mozz, provola, fontina, and gorgonzola. Or the San Giorgio, bright with arugula and fennel, salty with crispy pancetta, topped, almost unnecessarily, somehow cohesively, with a sunny side egg. Pay plenty of appropriate focus on anything featuring San Marzano tomato carnage. As a gravy it goes well with anything from basil to spicy soppersata. As Instagrammable goopage, it is bright and popping, with no need of a filter, reminiscent of all things you picture of Italy in your mind.   

It all still ties back to the beating heart. And by that, I mean the 900 degree Stefano Ferraro oven, hand-crafted, of course, in Italy. It is a muscular, room-dominating hulk, a ravishing blue-tiled beauty, fire-kissing, turning doughiness halfway to toast, letting the Maillard Effect do its enzyme action work, warming, blackening, making a messy marriage of tomato and cheese. Airy corpuscles form around the crust edge, yielding heartening bites of carb char. It is quick cooking, piping hot delivery for all satisfaction points. What pizza was for us as children, pizza can be for us again, here, downtown on a classy wine-soaked date night or pre-Giannis show.  

On subsequent visits I’ve found myself, while pulling away the first slice, lifting the edge and checking  the undercarriage to admire the cooking and note the sweet char. Each pizza pattern is unique from the last, like the spots on a Jaguar. So, maybe I am into looking under the hood afterall.   

 8. Burger - Foxfire

The last thing anyone needs from the internet is another burger list. Or even a list with burgers on them, ranked, in some kind of personal application of rules and regulations that strives toward objectivity, scientific method, a justification of juiciness pontificating. 

Yet, in 2019 arriving on a listicle is the only validation. And the burger at Foxfire, served Thursday’s out of the back of Hawthorne Coffee, deserves to make listicles that aren’t even covering burgers. So, while Palomino griddles the best sit-down double-digit-dollar burger in town, and Kopp’s remains the heavyweight of gluttonous eat-in-your-car, American Graffitti old-school comfort and mouthfeel joy, Foxfire strikes the perfect balance between craft and simple. The double patty package is reasonably affordable, is cooked basically to temp, is coated with unfussy American cheese. But the availability is limited, enticingly so. It is topped with only pickle and onion. But the counter is suggestively stacked with esoteric hot sauces. It is what to have for workday lunch, generally, in a coffee shop. But the meat crust and luscious give are worthy of foodie discourse, elevated terms like elevated. The duality in a microcosm: the fries here are reminiscent of the stringy, crispy spuds found at McDonald’s; but they can be topped with little-seen Aleppo pepper.    

My grandfather used to say that it is impossible to declare a “best,” that such distinction has to be qualified. He lived in the innocent era before internet lists. And, unfortunately, before being able to try the burger at Foxfire.  

7. Chicken 65 and Garlic Naan - Cafe India

My wife often jokes that I only want to eat food in taco form. And they say all good jokes are based in truth. So it came in handy that my natural instinct for bread-as-vessel kicked in when, aggressively, irresponsibly, I ordered my Chicken 65 “extra hot” at the Bay View Cafe India. Within two fork bites it became clear something, anything, more than water, was needed to extinguish, to buffer, to assuage boiling buds. Garlic naan was handy, was originally used like a starchy tongue sponge, and then, somehow inspired, I packaged all subsequent chicken bites within the cozy, garlicky, craggy confines of the bendable bread. Thus my version of Indian tacos was born. Built out of necessity, maintained out of deliciousness.   

The Chicken 65 has long been my Indian deep-menu go-to. Huge-bite, deep-fried chunks of tender boneless chicken, bathing in fiery, oily, red-orange stew chocked with hunks of pepper and onion and curry leaf. With its shimmering finish and intense afterburn, it’s a dish that often feels like a turmeric-laced Southern Indian version of Nashville chicken. 

Apparently nobody really knows where the dish name came from—some claim the number just refers to the birth year. Others, to either the number of chile peppers or the number of pieces of chicken. It doesn’t matter, historians likely have just had too difficult a time stopping eating, or slurping water, or fanning the mouth. But now at least we all have documentation of the dawn of the Chicken 65 taco.   

6. Chicken Shawarma, Kufta Kabob Sandwich - Pita Palace

Sometimes go-to’s are made by convenience, sometime laziness, maybe it's economics, every now and then it just comes from plain exceptional, ceaseless taste, of the kind you never tire of, week after week, appetite after appetite. When I became Iucky enough to stumble into a house purchase a pita toss from this sprawling Layton Ave chateau of Mediterranean comfort food, the “go-to” calculus began to spin endlessly, like a slowly turning vertical rotisserie.   

From hummus to arayes to lentil soup, all of the counter service spot’s dishes ring true. But it’s the sandwich section that brings me back, never wears out, with cheap, voluminous meat torpedos nestled inside tender, stretchy shrak bread. They are made of tight, but ambitious construction, braced by pickle buttons, onion and tomato wedges. The chicken yields variable cubes and scrags of spitted meat, some crisp, some soft, velvety garlic sauce making the bundle swim, sing. Or there is the kufta kabob, two skewers-worth of beefy, grainy-textured links, slicked with creamy tahini, the whole deal rife with mint, parsley, sumac, and the kind of otherworldliness that you watch Bourdain for a taste of. Kick either up with a side of the piercing, pungent Thai chile garlic sauce, a sauce with a confrontationally acidic spice profile, a flavor reminiscent of little else at all, just this side of a manageable amount of mother-in-law spleen.  

It’s the kind of place you spot from the air on approaches back to General Mitchell, a giant red neon glow of ‘Welcome Home;’ the kind of place your realtor might not mention, but you find it and know your property values will sustain, that it will also salve rote Mondays of yawns and kitchen ennui for years to come. It’s the kind of place you are endlessly happy to live near by, for when you don’t know what to cook, or, really, even when you do.  

5. Xiao Long Bao Dumplings - Momo Mee

“Eat with care” the menu warns, an enticing challenge, like something you might find on a waiver from a restaurant you learned of from “Man vs. Food.” To me it reminds of an internet-learning wormhole of food blogs and Youtubes on where to find the Shanghai delicacy in a back alley shop in Chicago’s Chinatown. And then, more challengingly, more importantly, how to actually eat a dumpling filled with soup. As an experienced Xiao Long Bao taster—twice—I can state the process is mostly so: Put a drop of soy sauce in your soup spoon, lift the dumpling from the top, place in the spoon, nibble a tiny hole in the top as a steam valve, slurp some broth out, and then, when the temp feels right, shoot it like an oyster. Then you sit back and feel worldly, self-satisfied, sated. 

But as long as you don’t puncture and spurt, or, really, as long as you “eat with care,” you are bound to end up happy, letting umami zest and warm salty pork wedges in hand-crafted dough baste the tongue. The disparity of eating this, here, in the base level of a building seemingly still warm from the factory, hits with the arrival of the steaming bamboo basket. Or, really,  with the Schezuan wontons, or the Cantonese claypots—anything you can order amidst the plasticizing Walker’s Point condo sprawl. As the neighborhood loses its soul, it’s character, one more hastily constructed Millennial molehill at a time, Momo Mee more than holds the line.   

4. Alambre - La Flamita

Certainly one of the buzziest events in town this winter would have to be a recent Ash Kitchen takeover, featuring James Beard-nominated Minnesota chef Jorge Guzman. The spot, an open hearth concept from Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite, is the new restaurant of the Iron Horse Hotel. The event spotlighted Mexican street food. Yes, at one of the priciest hotels in town. Black beans were $6; rice, a cool $5. And while probably delicious, probably well-intentioned, it sounds a bit like paying Fiserv prices to see a really great high school team: gimmicky at best, condescending at worst, and to any that spend time contemplating what and how we eat, a bit puzzling. If you want taco truck fare, why don’t you go to an actual taco truck? 

That very same Sunday night anyone with the hankering could have taken a short cruise west, on National, and subjected their appetites to La Flamita’s weekly special of one-buck pastor tacos. Cut by a big man with a large knife, direct from the trompo—one of the few of the Lebanese-rooted vertical spits in town—greasy, salty, piggy turns of earthiness are spiked by pineapple hunks, upped by arbol salsa that pokes through each bite like it has something to prove. Or, even better, it being Sunday and a day of fun after all, you could have an alambre. Mix your pastor with asada and with chorizo and with gooping, melting queso, the whole thing congealing into a warm, grandmotherly embrace of a taco mix mash, everything punctuated by peppers and onions. Plopped on top is a steaming baked potato, because they want you to be happy, full.   

It is the ideal meal for someone who can’t decide, yes, but also who wants it all, who won’t settle, who wants to soar, like Costanza on the wings of Pastrami, to an Epicurean taste fete of grease and meat sweat pleasure. But you can also stay comfortably on the street, barely 12 bucks in the hole, with leftovers certainly, alone in the car, beyond judging eyes or the formalities of waiters, to ponder life and appetite decisions, and wonder how many more you have room for. 

3. Tlayuda - La Costena 

If you have little kids you probably go to the Domes 300 times or so per year, or so it seems; and because it’s there, you probably go to Honeydip Donuts across the street maybe just a few times less. Heading south then, passing La Costena and it’s beckoning redness, the HGTV optics of an A-frame mini house-cum-taco truck is refreshing, promising in its cutesiness, alluring if only for the hope of something different. 

And different it is. Start with a pastor, my personal barometer of a taqueria’s worth. So often simple scraps of salted pink pork do the trick, but here it is decidedly less piggy, moister, deeper, somehow more seasoned and cheffy. Or try the asada, a 100-level taco order, but here redolent of butcher freshness, liberal salt, flattop love. Really you can tell from “hola,” by the friendliness, by the slowness, by the perfectly-quoted wait times from the counter man: Costena may well be the premier taco truck in town. 

Then, working your way through the menu, you get here, to a Mexican pizza, a NYC-slice-consistency, corn-shelled ship of salty flavor. The tlayuda is basically begging for you to take a picture, posturing with the bright allure of the flag of our neighbors to the south, popping with the reds of tomato and chipotle salsa, the greens of lettuce, avocado, the whites of queso, svelty sour cream, it all kept grounded by a swab of creamy refrieds, topped by a generous smattering of your carne of choice. Objectively, that choice should be chorizo, the grease-running ground sausage bits so rife with garlic, so equally charry and wet, that it makes any other kind of meat cover seem a bit tepid, a bit too-healthy.   

And sometimes this is how traditions are born, out of a need to get a little person out of the house, out of a desire to let them sleep off dreams of cacti and sausage fruit trees from Namibia in the backseat while dad sates creeping hunger and insoluble curiosity. Such is the joy of family, when you realize even proximity to Sobelman’s, to Oscar’s, can be beat, by this, a whole new world of car-meal, of pizza-esque joy, of something different. Long live the Domes.  

2. Brisket Burger, Hot Chicken Sandwich, Pimento Cheese, Cheese Curds - Palomino

It’s hard to keep track: Where are we all now on Palomino? Are we still mad they raised prices? Disappointed that it’s less bar and more restaurant? Stuck in a provincial mode that makes us yearn for cheap frozen tots and Bingo? Are we upset that they took a look in the mirror, didn’t coast, made an effort, and made their food much, much, much better? Or have we all just kind of forgotten it?  

Maybe I shouldn’t question. Just appreciate the fact I can walk in on a Friday night at 8, find whatever table I want, or a spot at the bar, and order any one or combo of my favorite things to eat in Milwaukee.  

There’s no better way to ruin an appetite and a doctor’s wishes than starting a feast with the curds. Elongated oblong bricks of a battered, sheeny shell, barely housing liquefying magma ooze, seem to get almost transported from fryer to wherever I’m sitting and leaning forward. Such is the temperature, the still oil-shimmering, post-bath promise. Stretchy and rich, airy and crispy, endlessly goopy, it’s a snack only matched in Southern-leaning decadence by the pimento cheese. This is piquant-popped velvetiness, the dream of what grown-up grilled cheese can embody, when plopped atop the accompanying charred toast.  

It takes will, recklessness, irresponsibility to keep going at this point. The hot chicken thigh, barely saddled inside a buttery brioche, is helped by two things: greasy slicks of mayo and house hot sauce aid gullet passage; also the heft is constructed so that if you put it down, it might fall apart. One must push forth, in delicious punishment. Then there is the brisket burger. No other burger in town is so good at avoiding overtopping, overhyping, overpricing, a balance of kitchen art and pleasure. Like it is no big deal: fresh ground meat, American cheese, onion, pickle, silky mayo-y special sauce. Here is what it would feel like if you could sit down at a Bay View bar and eat a Kopp’s masterpiece sided by an IPA on a chill Friday night, where you can also remember your growth-spurt 16-year-old appetite, even while pushing 40.

If there were ever a case to be made for it being OK to find a rut, to never stray or explore, to find your caloric Cheers and never think about going anywhere else, Palomino would lead my argument. 

1. Bahn Mi - Pho Hai Tuyet

There’s rarely a person that borrows my phone that doesn’t make the comment, the note: “You have a Pho Hai Tuyet app?” It’s there, near the front, proudly prominent, a bit out of place near Lyft and Instagram because it’s a by-the-airport dive in a converted fast food shack with endless out-of-commission fish tanks, and, for some reason, a stage. It is also known, has garnered a bit of a cult following for a fat guy sandwich of near-perfection. Or, it was, actually. 

Pho hai shuttered quietly, but inevitably, to anyone who’s been recently, sometime between this past spring and the future of our discontent. Still there was shock to those of us who thought the sandwich would always be there: the big French baguette bed, crispy, succulent pork scrags, garlicky mayo, heaps of cilantro, crispy jalapeno punches.    

To write about it hurts, like a eulogy, where you need to remember the bad and mix it with the strange to paint a picture. As it happens I have a friend who informed me that, once, while eating inside, he could hear something audibly scampering in the ceiling panels. Out of loyalty, out of sandwich-love, I practiced willful ignorance. I have another friend, a writer sort, who sports a Pho Hai polo shirt in his author bio pic. It seems like some sort of hipster ironicism, unless you know how much he loves—loved—the sandwich. And, really, what are we but not physical manifestations of our past meals and meal memories? A collection of those calories and reminisces.

Even as we look ahead, to more eating, to big city, big event pedigree, to maybe ending the national embarrassment, to 2020, to a promise of new vision, as we yearn for responsibility and reason, to, well, to... who knows? Whatever happens, whatever is next, I will never delete my Pho Hai Tuyet app.

[thedisneychef]

Exploring The Delights of Chicken Enchiladas

Welcome to the enticing world of Chicken Enchiladas, a dish that embodies the vibrant flavors and rich heritage of Mexican cuisine. Through our meticulous testing and exploration, we have discovered that Chicken Enchiladas hold an undeniable allure, capturing the hearts and taste buds of food enthusiasts around the globe. Chicken Enchiladas are a tantalizing combination of tender chicken, aromatic spices, melty cheese, and flavorful sauces, all wrapped in soft tortillas and baked to perfection. This beloved dish showcases the artistry of Mexican cooking, blending savory ingredients with just the right amount of heat to create a truly unforgettable culinary experience. More Delicious Recipes You Will Love: - Grilled to Perfection: The Irresistible Charm of Barbecue Chicken - Crisp and Creamy Chicken Caesar Salad: A Delightful Dish - Comforting Simplicity: Exploring the Delights of Chicken and Dumplings The foundation of Chicken Enchiladas lies in the succulent chicken, seasoned with a tantalizing blend of spices and cooked to tender perfection. The chicken is then combined with other ingredients such as onions, bell peppers, and cheese, before being rolled into tortillas and bathed in a luscious sauce. The result is a harmonious medley of flavors and textures that will transport your taste buds to the heart of Mexico. What makes Chicken Enchiladas truly remarkable is their versatility. They can be customized to suit individual preferences and dietary needs. Whether you prefer a red sauce, a green sauce, or a creamy sauce, there is a variation of Chicken Enchiladas to satisfy your cravings. Additionally, you can personalize your enchiladas by adding toppings such as fresh cilantro, diced tomatoes, or a dollop of sour cream, further enhancing the overall experience. Chicken Enchiladas not only tantalize the taste buds but also provide a satisfying and wholesome meal option. Packed with protein from the chicken, fiber from the tortillas, and an array of nutritious ingredients, this dish offers a well-rounded and flavorful dining experience. Join us on a culinary journey as we delve into the world of Chicken Enchiladas, exploring different recipes, techniques, and tips to create an unforgettable dish that will impress both friends and family. Whether you are a seasoned cook or a beginner in the kitchen, Chicken Enchiladas will ignite your passion for bold flavors and introduce you to the joy of Mexican cuisine. So, prepare to savor the fiery and flavorful delights of Chicken Enchiladas. Immerse yourself in the aromatic spices, the melty cheese, and the tangy sauces that will transport you to the vibrant streets of Mexico. Get ready to embrace the cultural richness and culinary heritage that these enchiladas offer, and let your taste buds embark on a truly unforgettable adventure.   FAQ: Q: Can I use store-bought rotisserie chicken instead of cooking and shredding my own chicken? A: Absolutely! Using store-bought rotisserie chicken is a convenient option for saving time. Simply shred the cooked chicken and proceed with the recipe as directed. Q: Can I make the enchiladas ahead of time and refrigerate them before baking? A: Yes, you can assemble the enchiladas ahead of time and refrigerate them, covered, for up to 24 hours. When you're ready to bake, simply add a few extra minutes to the baking time to ensure they heat through. Q: Can I freeze the enchiladas? A: Yes, you can freeze the enchiladas for future enjoyment. After assembling the enchiladas, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and aluminum foil before placing them in the freezer. They can be stored for up to 3 months. To cook, thaw them in the refrigerator overnight and bake as directed. Q: Can I use corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas? A: Absolutely! Corn tortillas are a traditional choice for enchiladas and can be used instead of flour tortillas. Keep in mind that corn tortillas are more delicate and may require a brief dip in warm enchilada sauce or oil to prevent them from tearing when rolling. Q: Can I make the enchilada sauce from scratch? A: Yes, you can make homemade enchilada sauce for a more authentic flavor. There are various recipes available online that use pantry staples like tomatoes, chilies, spices, and broth. However, store-bought enchilada sauce is a convenient alternative if you prefer a quicker option. Q: Can I make the enchiladas vegetarian or vegan? A: Absolutely! You can adapt the recipe to suit vegetarian or vegan diets. Replace the chicken with grilled vegetables, tofu, or plant-based protein alternatives. For vegan enchiladas, use vegan cheese or omit it altogether. Q: Can I adjust the level of spiciness? A: Yes, you have control over the spiciness of your enchiladas. Increase or decrease the amount of chili powder and other spices to suit your taste preferences. You can also choose mild or hot enchilada sauce based on your heat preference. Q: Can I add additional toppings to the enchiladas? A: Definitely! Enchiladas are highly customizable. You can add toppings like sliced jalapeños, diced avocado, chopped green onions, or a squeeze of lime juice to enhance the flavors and textures. Q: Can I serve other side dishes with Chicken Enchiladas? A: Yes, Chicken Enchiladas pair well with various side dishes such as Mexican rice, refried beans, guacamole, salsa, or a fresh green salad. Feel free to explore different combinations to create a complete and satisfying meal. Conclusion: After conducting extensive research and experimentation, it is evident that Chicken Enchiladas are a culinary masterpiece that effortlessly combines bold flavors, tender chicken, and a delightful medley of spices. This traditional Mexican dish has captured the hearts and palates of food enthusiasts worldwide, and for good reason. Chicken Enchiladas offer a harmonious blend of savory and tangy flavors, creating a taste sensation that leaves a lasting impression. The combination of tender, seasoned chicken, melty cheese, and aromatic spices wrapped in soft tortillas is nothing short of delicious. Whether you prefer a red sauce, green sauce, or creamy sauce, the versatility of this dish allows for endless customization to suit individual preferences. One of the most alluring aspects of Chicken Enchiladas is their adaptability. You can easily adjust the level of spiciness, add your favorite toppings, or even make vegetarian or vegan variations. The flexibility of this dish makes it suitable for a wide range of dietary needs and personal tastes. Beyond their delectable flavors, Chicken Enchiladas offer a satisfying and fulfilling meal. With a generous portion of protein from the chicken, along with the nutritional benefits of vegetables and whole tortillas, this dish provides a well-rounded dining experience. Chicken Enchiladas also bring people together. Whether enjoyed as a comforting family meal, a crowd-pleasing party dish, or a special treat for a gathering, they have a way of creating a sense of community and celebration around the table. In conclusion, Chicken Enchiladas have proven to be a culinary delight that embodies the spirit of Mexican cuisine. They showcase the vibrant flavors, rich heritage, and sheer pleasure that food can bring. Whether you're a seasoned cook or a novice in the kitchen, Chicken Enchiladas offer a rewarding and enjoyable cooking experience that will leave you craving more. So, embrace the tradition, spice up your meals, and savor the irresistible combination of tender chicken, melty cheese, and flavorful spices that Chicken Enchiladas offer. It's a dish that brings joy to every bite and a sense of culinary adventure to your kitchen. Get ready to indulge in the mouthwatering world of Chicken Enchiladas and create memorable dining experiences for yourself and your loved ones. Read the full article

[abramsbooks]

RECIPE: Broccoli-Chicken Cheddar Curry Casserole (from Matty Matheson: A Cookbook by Matty Matheson)

There’s something to be said about casserole. I’m not sure when it became popular, maybe in the 1950s, around the same time as TV dinners and the rise of Valium. Grab a bunch of meats, vegetables, and starches, and add milk, cream, cream cheese, or something else that would hold this mess together. Finally, bake it in a glass casserole dish. The sides get crispy, the cream kinda splits, and the oils run up and down the glass dish, looking like a bubbling science experiment. My mother was never an amazing cook, but she made breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I don’t think she was a bad cook; she was more about maintaining three growing boys and a daughter on a tight schedule.

I would go to some of my Italian friends’ houses and see these massive dinners with handmade pasta, seafood in tomato sauce, prosciutto-wrapped melons, veal Parmesan, tiramisu, and other foods I hadn’t seen before. We were very much a meat-and-potatoes household.

This dish is one of those fail-safe meals that parents make when maybe there’s a little too much going on. I grew to love this dinner. I’d never had Indian, Pakistani, or any kind of curry, but I loved this dish. I fell in love with the broccoli, chicken, Cheddar cheese, and curry cream sauce. Served with a side of minute rice, you’re flying all over the world with a culinary freak flag. Every family has that one dish that your parents would make a few times a year that was misunderstood. This is that dish. It’s an underdog; the original recipe was probably on the side of a can or a box, but I fell in love. It’s a what’s-on-the-inside kind of dish. It means well and is pure at heart.

Serves: 6 to 8 Prep time: 2 hours

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes

4 boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes

Kosher salt and freshly ground

black pepper

Canola oil

1 yellow onion, diced

1 tablespoon grated garlic

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 teaspoons yellow curry powder

1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream

1 cup (230 g) cream cheese

2 cups (230 g) grated orange Cheddar cheese

1 head broccoli, chopped

2 cups (630 g) frozen hash browns

1 bunch green onions, sliced

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 limes, quartered

Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C). Season the chicken with salt and pepper. In a large cast-iron pan set over medium-high heat, pour just enough oil to cover the bottom. Sear the chicken on all sides until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside.

Add a little more oil to the pan. Cook the onion until lightly brown. Then add the garlic, ginger, and butter. Let the butter froth and melt. Add the curry powder and stir 2 minutes. Turn down the heat to medium-low and add the cream, cream cheese, and half the Cheddar cheese; stir until fully melted. You’ll see the mixture turn into a beautiful yellowy orange color.

Add the chicken, broccoli, and hash browns to the mixture; stir to combine. Pour into a glass baking dish. No need to use cooking spray—it’s gonna be a mess. Sprinkle the remaining Cheddar cheese over the top of the casserole and bake until bubbling and the cheese has browned, 20 to 30 minutes.

Let the casserole rest 15 minutes—it’s gonna be really hot. There’s no right way to serve this. Plate, bowl, fuck—serve it out of a boot. Scoop it out, sprinkle some green onions and cilantro on top, give it a squeeze of lime, and enjoy the one dish that still boggles my mind but is so good. Trust me!

Matty Matheson, star of Viceland’s It’s Suppertime and Dead Set On Life, reveals his favorite recipes and stories in a cookbook that his devoted fans have been waiting for.

Matty Matheson is known as much for his amazing food as his love for life, positive mental attitude, and epic Instagram account. This debut cookbook is about Matty’s memories of the foods that have defined who he is. With a drive to share his zest for life, he creates dishes within these pages that reinterpret the flavors of his youth in Canada, as well as the restaurant fare for which he has become so well-known. Interpretations of classics like Seafood Chowder, Scumbo: Dad’s Gumbo, and Rappie Pie appear alongside restaurant recipes like Bavette, Pigtail Tacos, and his infamous P&L Burger. This is a very personal cookbook, full of essays and headnotes that share Matty’s life—from growing up in Fort Erie, exploring the wonders of Prince Edward Island, struggling and learning as a young chef in Toronto, and, eventually, his rise to popularity as one of the world’s most recognizable food personalities. His no-nonsense approach to food makes these recipes practical enough for all, while his creativity will entice seasoned cooks. This book is like cooking alongside Matty, sharing stories that are equal parts heartwarming and inappropriate while helping you cook dishes that are full of love. Matty Matheson: A Cookbook is a new collection of recipes from one of today’s most beloved chefs.

For more information, click here.

[ecleir]

tag game

@jiminrose​ and @viatae​ tagged me in this tysm!! i love doing these 🤧

rules: tag 15 people you want to get to know better

relationship status: single 

fave colour: muted yellow

lipstick or chapstick: both! i like layering chapstick under my lipstick

three fave foods: tonkatsu, mohinga (a burmese dish that uses a broth made of catfish, lemongrass, garlic, ginger, and various spices + served with noodles, cilantro, egg, lemon, and whatever you want), poke

song stuck in my head: runnin’ (interlude) - kehlani

last song i listened to: outro: tear - bts

last movie i watched: ocean’s 8

top three tv shows: how i met your mother, while you were sleeping, any tvb drama with magic

books i’m currently reading: my beloved world by sonia sotomayor and kafka on the shore by haruki murakami

last thing i googled: chrome hearts rings

time: 12:21am

how many blankets do you sleep in: none but sometimes 1

dream trip: i wld love to visit hong kong by myself + go to fiji and belgium with friends/family ✈️

anything you want: lookism is the first webtoon i’ve ever read and the characters are v easy to empathize with; i highly recommend!!

i tag: @heartcushion​ @lostmybed​ @demo02​ @honeybreads​ @koosbaby​ @diorwlw​ @lvmaze​ @honeyop​ @taesleo​ @sleepbugs​ @yoongspd​ @chaoticsoftie​ @gukhopes​ @immortella​ @ddaengb1tch​