Cooked: Beef Ribs, Potato Salad & Garlic Sweet Corn

My neighbor Matt is the closest to a husband I will ever have he lifts things for me, helps me around the house watches my dog, even cooks for me fantabulous husband material & I swear the closest I will ever have to one, well his sister Keisha is too, that's another story NO ON PROP H8!!!

Anywho, we went to court this morning to fight a greedy developer that wants to build a craptastic 8 story complex on our teeny tiny lovely street.. we lost! Greed wins again, we were famished & broke so it was time for me to defrost something. We settled on having the beef ribs I bought in Little Tokyo a couple weeks back & corn, he offered to make the potato salad...

WOW it was ROCKIN'. It was raining outside so this was a perfect way to spend our day. So here are the pics of our meal & some pics from the Prop 8 march his sister & I went on after the court ruled for it... gosh what kind of world do we live in?

Between the greedy developers & the ignorant voters that voted against Gay marriage I have little faith in our justice system, furthermore I am even more disgusted & embarrassed at how much the Black vote influenced this decision.

How could one oppressed minority group stifle another? And don't get me started on how many Football playing looking brothers I see at the Abbey on a Sunday with their band tans or wedding bands ON cruising for some down low tail... TERRIBLE! Ok now off of my soapbox & on to the pics. Enjoy!

My Keish, my dog Divi's "other Mommy"

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Even Jesus showed up & says NO ON H8!

Keisha stating the obvious
Kathy Griffin's Mom

Yes I know it's him again... nuh duh it's the second coming!

Field Trippin': Hollywood Farmer's Market

Outside of the Farmer's Market on 3rd St & the Farmer's Markets I've been to on my travels I have never been to a local Farmer's market in my neighborhood... this one was so cool. Very small & intimate but packed with passionate people & fantastic flavors.

My BF Jen ♥ has a bun in the oven & this is her favorite thing to do on Mondays AND get her Tamale fix, seriously thee most MASSIVE Tamales I have ever seen! My favorites were the olive & tapenade table, the salsa & tortilla guy, the fish monger that had the most ginormous prawns I have ever seen... still alive, also! My absolute fave was Rose the honey lady♥.

She was so eloquent & passionate about honey, I love learning from someone that has such enormous respect for what they do & love expressing it. She used to be a truck driver, uncertain about what she was passionate about. On her travels she she met a beekeeper I assume they must have or she must have fell in love ♥♥♥...

I like to add stories to stories... sue me! She was just so delightful & informative about the process, the taste , the texture & the art of making honey. I've never been a fan of honey but thanks to Rose I am now... the avocado tree honey was my favorite. She gave me a pack of honey sticks & whole new respect for honey.

My other favorite moment was when Jen & I hit this vegetable stand on steroids! The size & pardon my expression... girth on some of these puppies were insane, for instance check out these eggplants: ♥♥♥

I squealed that I wanted to date one of them *snort*!

Seriously all the other eggplants at the other stands couldn't compare!

Jen of course had to one up me & go for the daikon... she's nuts & apparently likes 'em VERY big.

Oh man we were having a BLAST I wish I recorded it, giggling like schoolgirls & making all sorts of perverted comments, this cutie overheard us & suggested we check out the cucumbers... "they're packing too"

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... awesome, fantastic moment!

I kept posting onto & commenting to these pics on my Facebook, my friend Nick suggested I should do a show where I only cook phallic looking foods, I told them I would lose an entire male fanbase when I have to chop, grate, stick in a food processor & slice all that stuff up, I often wondered why Lorena Bobbitt didn't stick it in the blender before she booked it... HA, did I just say that out loud?!?!?!

My least favorite moment was the chicken guy with terrible social skills. He was just on my left one since I got there for no good reason. First insulting me when I brought my dog, Divi. I didn't know I couldn't have my dog there. Then he proceeded to insult my cooking when I asked were one half of the chickens roasting BBQ & the other half Lemon Herb?

He was like "those are for the Black people & those are for the Whites... Girl you must not know how to cook, those aren't cooked yet!" Dem are fighting words right dere "I CAN'T COOK?!?!?!?!" I am not a pussy willow at all I snapped back & said "And YOU must not know how to talk to women!" Douche!

I didn't say the douche part, just thought it HA! He was pretty embarrassed when his boy laughed at him. THEN came the remark that made me want to cut him! When Jen said she was pregnant, he said I was the one that looked pregnant... this guy must die! Don't buy his overpriced chicken or subject to his nasty attitude!

It amazes me how in this day & age we still have men that have absolutely no respect for women & get off on it, this is why I live between my headphones sometimes. Other than that it was a fantastic experience I will be back on a weekly basis, I will skip the chicken truck unless I feel the urge to show up there with some eggs & throw it at the Black Foghorn Leghorn on a budget!

The End.

Cooked: Langostino Quesadillas with Sweet Corn Salsa

SO... if you read yesterday about my non existent blind date with... I shall call him "Dutch Boy" I had to cancel because he wanted to go dutch last minute a mere 2 hours before our date on the day of my beloved weekly Taco Tuesday run remember I mentioned I would stay home & make Langostino Quesadillas instead? I like to take certain situations in my life & draw inspiration for new recipes. Usually on Taco Tuesdays at my FAVORITE Mexican spot Isla I would order Ahi Tuna Tacos & Lobster Tacos.

In the Ahi Tuna they use a creamy sauce & in the Lobster it's spiced with Latin spices, lime juice, scallions & onions... I figured why not combine the two & make my own but as a Quesadilla. I didn't have Lobster or Ahi Tuna so I used my favorite Trader Joe's Langostino Tails. They only sell this seasonally so trust me by the end of Spring my freezer is stocked! They're pre-cleaned & pre-cooked & TJ's REALLY knows how to spoil a Single Cook.... ♥ them for that!

I added some diced Jalapeno's, Sriracha, (you know I ♥ doing my Chino Latino thang) cream cheese, lime juice, Adobo & a pinch of Chipotle for a bit of smokiness. Unfortunately I ran out of Cilantro & Tomato so I used a cilantro base in a jar & Pace Picante Salsa.... this was still on FIRE so flippin' good.
The Star Studded Cast:

Adding Cream Cheese to the Mix:

Diced Jalapenos

Ready for the pan

Before

During

After

YUM!





This isn't the first time I've created a recipe due to an unfortunate communication gap between myself & a Man. I dated a guy once that made a terrible comment, sorry "joke" (his words)... about African American's oh I'm sorry "Darky's" affinity for Fried Chicken & Watermelon, I was livid but instead of reading him the riot act I came up with a Lobster version of a Cuban classic, Empanizado (Chicken Fried Steak) I bought a Lobster tail pounded the hell out of it (probably was pretending it was his face) breaded it in ground Club Crackers, so buttery, fried it up & then made it Milanesa Style by adding Tomato sauce & Mozzarella.

Ran out of plastic wrap so I used my Little Mermaid sandwich bags.. kind of ironic, huh? ZUT ALORS! I kept singing "Les Poissons" from the Little Mermaid♥


Lobster Empanizado (Chicken Fried Lobster):


Lobster Milanesa:


I remembered an AWESOME episode of Tyler's Ultimate where my home slice, Tyler Florence, made this wonderful Watermelon Gazpacho so I made that also with Watermelon skewers. It had Watermelon, cucumbers, onions, tomato & cilantro... super easy & all fresh ingredients. No cooking what so ever & all I needed was a blender... FAB! I friggin' LOVE that man! Just Gordon, Anthony & Tyler is all I need, my trinity... A-MEN.

Did I mention it was a SUPER hot day in June? So cool, so crisp so sweet, it really helped cool me off both physically & emotionally! I just remember eating them both & thinking this is great culinary revenge, I remember thinking "TAKE THAT you ignorant dirtbag!" Oh no, NOT Tyler, he's a dream... the dirtbag I dated! *snort*

Tyler's mouth watering Watermelon Gazpacho

I need a better camera!


On a more positive note some of my best dishes have also been inspired by some amazing Men! My Currant Glazed Lamb for Max, Carlos' Stuffed Cornish Game Hens, Chris P's Squid Ink & Angel Hair Pasta, Kenny's Shrimp Toast, my brother Andrew inspired a Prosciutto, Pork Belly & Arugula Pizza... oh the list goes on & on.

I ♥ drawing inspiration from the day to day of my life, I believe when you do that there is a lesser chance of screwing a new recipe up, especially when you are inspired by a person. You take your time, you think of the best & even worst things about them & you end up combining things together you normally wouldn't have & oh... when you ♥ a person it's a whole other ballgame.

A bit of spice, sweet, bitter, lot's of wine or beer, sauce, onions (I get a little verklempt when tears build up as I use an onion in a recipe inspired by someone) & all my heart... I can't sing, I can't draw I really don't have a creative way to express myself to another except for the fact that I can cook & there is no greater gift I can think of than that!

To watch the look on a person's face when they take that first bite & you know the entire time you they were in your heart & on your mind while you were making it is INCREDIBLE I can't thank my ♥Grandmother♥ enough for this legacy, I miss her SO much♥