Marinade

Since I'm pretty much doing half the cooking in the family now (to give my mum less housework and more rest time), I figured I should learn how to cook animals. So, I've been browsing through the Costco cookbook since I figured, hey, let's just get the gist of cooking animals, right? I personally find cookbooks more useful than the internet when I'm a complete neophyte at cooking something (in this case, animal flesh). They're not for me to follow, though. They're just kinda... there. As a guideline. Something for me to manipulate.

I've never made any marinades before. Today, however, I made dinner and I made some sort of stove-top grilled tofu with this sweet and sour fruity marinade. To appease the rest of the family, I also made stove-top grilled pig flesh (pork chops) with the same marinade. Apparently, 1 cm-thick pork chops cook pretty quickly, and I overcooked the first three chunks (I mean, how was I supposed to know whether they were cooked or not? I can't taste test them...), but they were still edible. The rest of the chops turned out fine, though.

My mum and brother definitely liked the marinade. Although my brother didn't comment much (he did say they were "juicy" though, and he couldn't figure out what sort of marinade it was), I felt really pleased because his fork kept transporting chunks of pork chop to his bowl. My sister responded to this new dish by saying "Eww", which is the norm. The only comment from my dad was that it needed more salt. Meh. I wonder how it's like when I'm not at home. *Here comes the bitter snide comment* I wonder if my dad would cook dinner if I hadn't been home today. My mum had to take my sister to a party today, and didn't get back until 8 pm (which is literally when I finished stir frying the bak choi - I started making dinner around 7), and my dad was just watching TV, and he'd been home for half an hour. I mean, would everyone wait until 9 for dinner?

Anyway. To get the general gist of a marinade, I read the recipe from page 105 of Favorite Recipes The Costco Way 2007. It's a recipe by Paula Deen called "Pork Chops with Ragout" which isn't that great of a title in my opinion because in translation it's "Pork Chops in Sauce". My marinade is extremely loosely based off of Paula Deen's recipe, there is no butter in it. At all. Funny, huh?

INGREDIENTS

A.

Small clove of garlic

60 g onion

100 g (~1.5 stalks) of celery

4 leaves fresh basil!

B.

1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp coriander

5 cut dried juniper berries

1 tsp nutmeg

Salt

Pepper

C.

150 ml apple juice

70 ml balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp vinegar

2-3 tbsp olive oil

Juice of one lime

D.

1 kg marinade-able objects (in this case, half tofu and half boneless pork chops in two separate containers)

E.

1 tbsp all purpose flour

METHOD

1. Finely chop stuff in Group A.

2. Mix stuff in Group A, B, and C together, in a container with a lid. It will be liquidy.

3. Cut marinade-able objects into pieces that are about 1 cm thick. For tofu, a thickness of 0.5 cm is better. Stick objects into marinade.

4. Leave container in a fridge for at least 4 hours.

5. FOR TOFU: Cook marinaded tofu in a frying pan on medium heat, uncovered, for 3-4 minutes on each side. If you like crunchy, burned exteriors, 5 minutes on each side is pretty nice too.

FOR PORK: Plop pieces onto the frying pan on medium heat, and cover for 1-2 minutes. Flip. Cover for 2-4 minutes. Keep uncovered and check frequently for doneness. This is quite difficult if one doesn't actually eat pork...

Remember: Sizzling is good.

6. Promptly remove marinated objects from frying pan, and scrape all the leftover marinade into the frying pan.

7. Stir (with the same spatula you've been using) on medium heat. When the marinade starts to bubble, add in E. (1 tbsp flour). Continue stirring until you end up with a thick sauce.

8. Pour sauce onto marinated objects and eat!!

I didn't take a picture of the pork chops but if I would say that they had neat grilled-ish exteriors and were squishy. They looked pretty fantastic on the inside too.

The marinated tofu tasted pretty good...it wasn't sweet enough for my liking, though. Still, I had leftover marinade so I marinated more tofu! :)

Polenta.

I'm starting to be a hermit in my room. I really don't enjoy being around my apartment-mates (I guess I'm just antisocial) even though they're nice and all. I guess I'm just really self-conscious when I cook food in front of strangers, especially when it involves vegetables, because apparently my apartment-mates don't consume vegetables (at least, they don't store vegetables in the fridge.)

It's pretty awkward when your apartment-mate's boyfriend asks "What's that?" when I take out some (smallish, not globular) eggplants from the fridge and set them on the cutting board, while waiting for my apartment-mate to finish using the sink. It gets worse when he asks, "So what's that?", and points to one stalk (Yes. One.) of chard that's sitting in an empty glass, and I answer "It's chard...uhh... it's like spinach but it's got pink parts."

And then when they leave and I finally start smashing up the tube of polenta (I know, I should make polenta from scratch. I'll do that one day) in a saucepan, another apartment-mate comes down and sticks one plate and one fork into the dishwasher and starts the cycle. She glances at my food and perhaps thinks, "woah, what is that?! It's like pink mashed potatoes!"

It turns out that pink (actually, "rainbow") chard and eggplant turns polenta a grungy shade of pink. It also appears that eggplant ought to be diced, rather than chunks, when on a stove with lumps of polenta. Over time, though, the polenta got thick and smooth, while the eggplant just... didn't fully cook :(.

Unfortunately, adding an ounce of cheese did nothing to make the polenta taste cheesy. I should've just eaten the cheese by itself!

My mum asked me to incorporate juniper berries in my cooking so I added a few. I couldn't really taste a difference, but I didn't really enjoy the taste of it when I chewed one by itself.

On the bright side, TVP pairs very well with polenta! My second batch of polenta included bak choi and curry powder, although I don't think I added enough curry powder. However, it looks more appetizing, and I decided to cook earlier (while everyone was asleep).

Good times to be in the kitchen:

Weekdays:

Before 8:30am, from 5pm to 6:30pm (any later, and they are cooking/drinking with friends)

Weekends:

Before 11am, not 12pm to 2pm (Any other time is unknown territory/up for grabs)

The Spice Corner!

I'm sure you've all encountered that incident in which you spend $2+ for some tea at a restaurant, and all you get is a teacup of boiling water and a Lipton tea bag. It's a complete rip-off and doesn't make you "fit in with the group" because everyone else is also getting shoddy tea. Let me tell you about a place that gives you at least 20 teacups of blueberry tea for one dollar (hot water not provided).

The Spice Corner, a little bit off of South St., at 9th Ave. A large, what appears to be handmade sign directs all visitors to the small front door. On one side sits a restaurant that has a human-esque cut-out that boasts "Never trust a skinny Italian chef", and on the other side is a street alley. Today, a group of men were performing with guitar music. Cosy little nook.

The firs thing I noticed was the baskets filled with zip-top bags that were filled with a variety of herbs. The baskets were sitting outside the store; evidently, the store-owner, a woman who looked sort of Asian, trusts people won't steal her herbs. As I approached the baskets, another woman opened one of the bags for her husband to smell. They seemed pleased with the smell - and who wouldn't be pleased, given all the choices? Hazelnut, chai, raspberry, chocolate, spearmint, and names I had never heard of - these little packets of herbs (for tea) were only $1 a bag.

Why did I run to 9th, all the way from 41st? Well, I've decided that I can run errands while running, because it not only gives me a distance goal, but also allows me to explore Philadelphia, since I didn't have time during the year. Next semester, I've decided that my grocery shopping will be throughout a whole list of places so that I get to literally run errands, instead of feeling bored in a gym. After all, each food place specialises in only a few aspects. E.g.

Chinatown: eggplant, 白菜 (bak choi), fruits and vegetables

Farmer's Market @ Clark Park: fruits and vegetables

Wawa: milk.

Fresh Grocer: carrots. I need to find a place that sells cheaper bread.

The Spice Corner: Wish I could buy the store!

Reading Terminal Market, Wholefoods, Trader Joe's: I'll see.

What was the errand? Well, my mum wants juniper berries and lemon balm. As a believer in alternative medicine, she thinks that they will help her heal because she's been feeling kind of frail for the past few months (I lean towards the scientific method, but after taking Comparative Medicine (great class!), I've realised that I shouldn't question other people's beliefs, because I'd feel terrible if everyone I knew kept telling me I was wrong).

To my surprise (not really), juniper berries aren't sold at the spice rack of Shoprite. Lemon balm was found as an ingredient in a tea at Shoprite, so I got that for her a week ago. After Googling for places to buy juniper berries in Philadelphia (after unsuccessfully wandering around Chinatown in a half-hearted attempt to find some), I ended up with Wholefoods and The Spice Corner.

So, I ran to Wholefoods, tried a sample of kiwi kefir and tea, and found organic juniper berries in a glass container at the spice rack for $3.66/ounce. They didn't have pure lemon balm, so I decided to run to The Spice Corner. I'm so glad I did, because it's so much better than the spice rack at Wholefoods, Shoprite, or anywhere, really (except perhaps that herb store in NYC, at which I only glanced).

"Can I help you?"

"Do you have lemon balm?"

"No."

"Do you have juniper?"

"Juniper berries?"

"Yeah!"

"Here. 1.39 for one ounce."

OH YEAH. Sure, it's not organic, but it's cheaper, more "local" (not a company like Wholefoods), and in a small zip-top bag so I can run back with it in my hand, sans problem.

I also bought a small packet of spiced chai for $1, and tried a piece of espresso biscotti that the woman had on the table next to the cash register. It was stale from sitting outside all day and made me really thirsty. Oh well. Then I ran to Fresh Grocer to buy some bread. Sigh. I have to get used to living in the city. A loaf of packaged whole wheat bread for 4.49 isn't that cool. Maybe the Farmer's Market will be cooler when I go next Saturday (as opposed to going on Thursday).

I used about a teaspoon of the dried herbs/spices and about 400 mL (i.e. more a teacup) of boiling water and added a packet of sugar. It's pretty refreshing and smells nice. There's no milk in it, so it tastes a bit watery, but flavourful.

Most impressive.

The Spice Corner, 209 S 9th St. Philadelphia PA