So this is my first personal post in a long time. Just don't have the time anymore juggling between school and work. Anyways made some time today to make coxinhas for the very first time. I've only ever had them once before and fell in love.

For those of you who don't know what a coxinha is, it is basically a chicken ball but you can make it with beef and cheese and get young, wild, and free with it just like Wiz and Snoop Lion.

I started off by adding minced garlic, cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt, thyme, cumin and a tad bit of chili flakes in a bowl and then added in my ground up chicken. I then got my breading station ready so one with flour, one with egg, and the other with panko mixed with a bit of salt and pepper.

I rolled the mixture into balls then pushed a little hole in the middle and stuffed it with cheese. I would have liked to use another type of cheese but I only had St Jorge cheese, you know the one I'm talking about, the one all us Portuguese people eat. Yeah I hope that's the name of the cheese. I then tossed them in flour then tossed them from hand to hand to dust off the excess flour then rolled it in the egg then in the panko breading and then placed them on a plate lined with parchment paper which I put in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes to let it set.

After a few games of FIFA, and yes I did win, I came back to my coxinhas and got the deep fryer going. It was set at 375F and I cooked them for about 5 minutes, but then I took them out and cut the biggest one in half and it was still pink, so I cooked it for another 4 minutes and then they were cooked fully but the color was a bit dark for my taste. I would have liked a golden brown, instead a got a darker brown but now I know for the next time I make them to use less per portion.

I made a Marie Rose sauce to dip them in and garnished the plate with a bit of freshly chopped parsley and a lemon wedge because why not?

It's been a short blog post, but I feel like I needed to post something and start getting into this again. Anyways, that is all she wrote and when I say she I mean me. Stay in school and stay out of the juice.

So for this assignment I basically had to choose a different diet and try it for a week. I decided to go trendy and do vegetarian for a week. It was terrible. I will never ever do this again in my life, I cant live without bacon.

Typical vegetarian menus can consist of tofu, salads and mushrooms which I've been told is what vegetarians use to substitute for meat since it sort of has a meatiness to it.

My favorite dish I made was the fruit salad. It was really good and is basically what I survived on.

- Handful of Bib lettuce
- 2 Tbsp pine nuts
- 10 Blueberries
- 5 Strawberries cut in half
- Brunoise green apple
- Lemon Vinaigrette

It was really simple and cheap to make and tasted really good, but I'm a carnivore at heart.

I thought that starting off it would be hard but as time went on it would get better. It was the complete opposite. I felt like someone who had not slept in days because my body craved meat, especially bacon.

The first two days were bad because while my family ate steak, chicken breast and ribs, I was stuck eating lettuce, mushrooms and fruits.

I know a few vegetarians, and they told me that they feel a lot more energized but again I felt the total opposite. I've been so much more sleepy and drowsy and mentally and physically drained. I also noticed I have been breaking out a lot more. I'm not sure if that is because of the diet or not but its a note that I wrote down.

At the end of the week, I felt back to normal because I knew come dinner time I was going to have as much bacon as I wanted. After turning back to my regular diet, I am back to feeling normal and the acne has slowly started to go away which I find odd because I read vegetarians break out a lot less.

As I said in the introduction, I will never eat like this again. I cant live without meat. I love all types of meat especially bacon, and I cant see it being taken out of my diet. I do recommend others to try eating like a vegetarian because it is a lot healthier.

Well before I begin writing this terrible blog, I would just like to mention that the "farmer" I chose first of all was not really willing to do this with me and also had some pretty bad English but I had to do what I had to do.

So I went to the Flea Market on Old Weston road and interviewed a guy whom I see a lot selling his produce. His name was Hassan if thats how you spell it and he is originally from Iran. He did not tell me much about his history but what he did tell me is that he came from Iran about 10 years ago and has been selling produce at that flea market for about 6 years now. He told me that back where he is from he is actually a Chef and was running his own place with his brother but then decided to move to Canada because of all the opportunity here. I then asked why he is not cooking right now and sadly he told me that because his English is not very good that no one would hire him which really sucks because I bet he is a great chef. At this flea market they grow there crops on site in a small garden but he also imports some product. He mentioned that he is trying to work on his English so he can get back into the industry but for now he needs to do this to support his family.

In terms of political stances and farming organic vs non organic I did not get that information because he did not understand the question. After about 3 minutes trying to reword it and get him to understand he still did not understand so I did not bother anymore. What he did tell me though even though it is somewhat off topic but he said that the reason he grows his crops and also imports is because for the first two years people would come in and ask for certain products and he did not have them. So what anyone trying to improve business does is what he did and that is import what the customers want.

I tried asking him to take a photo with me because I needed to for this assignment but he refused because he did not really believe me so I gave up because I did not want an angry Iranian man cussing me out or telling me where to go.

I did not learn exactly what was meant for me to learn doing this blog but I did learn something. This man is a Chef from where he comes from and I'm sure he is a great chef but no one is willing to give him a chance because of his English which is somewhat understandable but yet I find it disgusting. I know if I were running my restaurant and he asked for a job yes I would be skeptical but I would give him a shot. I mean does he really need to know great English to julienne carrots or do any sort of prep? So what I am trying to say is that you should always give the person a chance. If things are really not working out, the just fire the person, at least you both tried.

Before I get into this assignment, just wanted to say sorry I have been gone for a while, just been busy. I'm going to try and get back into the habit of posting every Sunday.

The animal I have chosen is pig, and I have selected the back ribs. To be honest, the only reason I chose this was because I did not know the market was closed on Mondays so I had to do what I had to do with what I had.

Naturally pigs enjoy living in the forests, especially where oak trees are that make acorns, because pigs like to eat them. The male wild pigs are called boars. But wild boars are very dangerous to hunt because of their long sharp tusks and teeth which they use to fight off humans. They are also very smart.



It is much safer to domesticate pigs, although even tame pigs are still very dangerous. People first started to tame pigs about 10,000 BC, in Central Asia. From Central Asia, tame pigs began to slowly spread to the eastern part of China, and South-West to the Western part of Asia as well as North Africa. People also tamed pigs separately across Europe, around the same time. In Central Europe, people combined their pigs with some salt from the big salt mines near by and became really good at preserving there pig meat by making it into delicious hams, bacon and sausages.



The pork back ribs are from the animals back, and can be cooked a few ways, but the most common way is barbecued and smothered with dry rubs or delicious BBQ sauce. I have had it braised before, but I much rather have them done on the BBQ.


You can cook them any way you want to, it is really all personal preference. The more rib bones there are, the longer it will take to cook. You can also do a dry rub with a variety of different spices or you can do a wet rub where you are constantly brushing on the sauce of your choice to the ribs. This creates a nice color on the outside as well as a wonderful flavor in the end.

Above is the ribs I have, and next week I'll be doing something with them for the next part of the blog assignment. Have a great week! :)

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/economy/pigs.htm

http://www.stemmlermeats.ca/How-to-cook-pork-ribs.htm#.VMbjHP54otc

The Soup I have selected is Calde Verde which is a soup my mom and grandmother have been making since I was a young lad. It consists of Collard Greens, Pureed Potato and Portuguese Sausage as well as a tablespoon of Salt and three tablespoons of olive oil. The reason I chose this is because I've been under the weather and did not want to do something extravagant so I kept it simple, plus my mother was going to make it anyways so why not.

Here is my grandmothers recipe for Calde Verde:

- 8 Collard Green Leafs (thinly sliced)
- 6 Large Yukon Gold Potatoes(rough cut)
- 1 Portuguese Sausage
- 1 Tablespoon of Salt
- 3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
- 8 Cups of Water

Equipment: 

- Hand Blender
- Large Pot(for smaller portions use less ingredients and a smaller pot)
- Wooden Spoon
- Tablespoons
- Chefs Knife
- Vegetable Peeler

Pour 8 cups of water into the pot and add the sausage in and put it on high heat until it boils. Once at a boil turn down to medium heat. Add cut up potatoes and let potatoes soften in water. Once softened, remove sausage and rest on plate. Now use the hand blender to puree the potatoes. After that is done, go back to the sausage and slice it thinly and add back into the pot. It is now time to add the collard greens into the soup. Give it a quick stir to incorporate  all the ingredients evenly. Toss in the olive oil and salt and stir once more. Place a lid on top of the pot, reduce to a simmer and let it cook for approx. 30 minutes but make sure to stir halfway to make sure nothing is sticking to the pot. After the 30 minutes you will have your soup hot and ready to eat.

Sensory Evaluation:

In this soup, I felt like it only met one of the 5 basic tastes which was salty because you have the salt of the sausage and salt which is added. You do not taste the potato or the collard greens. This soup is neither sweet, sour, bitter or umame.

Taste: I taste salt with the first spoonful, the last spoonful and every spoonful in between but it is not overpowering.

Smell: When preparing for the soup, I could smell the collard greens as I cut them and the potatoes as I peeled them and every ingredient that was part of the prep.  When I was cooking it, I smelt the sausage pretty much the whole time. When pureeing the potatoes it gave off a nice smell. When its all done and ready to eat you can smell the potato and olive oil.

Sight: I see the olive oil, the collard greens, the sliced Portuguese sausage, and the murky looking water which in my opinion always turns me off to eat it.

Hearing: When cutting up the collard greens I could hear the crunch. The water boiling was subtle in the background while I began slicing up the sausage. When pouring it into our bowls I could hear the liquid mixture and bits of sausage hitting the bowl. That is all I heard besides the TV and some yelling.

Touch: All the ingredients touching my fingers. Touching the pot when it was hot was not a pleasant feeling but as someone I know would say "shit happens bruh".

After eating the Calde Verde, it had a unique taste which made it way different than any other soup out there. There was no "Taste like..." factor here.

What makes this soup unique is the Portuguese sausage. That is really the main ingredient which gives the soup its flavor. I'm not huge into soups and I'm not the type of person to wake up and say I want to make soup today so it did not really intrigue me.

Something I learned about my palate is it really likes salt. When eating it, I had to add a touch to my bowl because it was not hitting the spot. What was weird was that the four other family members were satisfied with the salt content. I guess over time I've developed a strong desire for salt in a dish. 

No I did not enjoy this food. When looking at it, it is just murky and is not attractive to me, so I think as I forced myself to eat it, I did not enjoy it because when I took the first look at it, my brain was instantly turned off, which I guess turned off my stomach too. But hey, I'd eat this rather than cardboard.

Would I eat it again? I would only eat it if I had to. An example would be I have not eaten anything all day, I'm too lazy to make something(funny because I'm a chef in training) then yes I would eat it. Would  ever crave it or ask my mother to make it for me? No I would not.

Flavor wise, all I really tasted was the salt in the liquid and the salt and spice from the sausage. Other than that there were no other tastes. I do admit though, the sausage is what helped me get through this eating experiment.

This experience has made me realize that we really do eat with our eyes first. I had not even taken a spoonful yet and as I looked down upon my bowl, I began panicking because I started telling myself "you do not want to eat this, it looks gross". 

So where I had to get someone to try it, I used my mother because she is the only one who was willing to talk. She loved it. She eats this all the time, but yet again my mom eats anything and is not easily disgusted. 

The only real challenge involved was that I am feeling terrible today just like I have all week. I really did not want to be in the kitchen, I really do not want to be writing this blog, I just want to go to bed and sleep, but education first so I have got to do what I have got to do. Next time if I ever make it again for my family I might try adding some onion in there maybe to b brighten up the flavors a bit. Other than that, this is the recipe and it is staying that way or else ava will grab the chinelo. 


This experience did help me out because like said I realized that we do eat with our eyes so I need to make my dishes look nice now, and it will only get better and carry on when I am working in the industry. Just like Porky Pig says, that's all folks.







 

So I know I did not post last Sunday. I was busy and I also got lazy. I did make brigadeiros but I didn't do a post for them, but when I make them again in the future I will. This post is going to be short and sweet, just like me.

First off this recipe is not mine, I copied it off a video from YouTube. At the end of the blog post I will post the link. I have never made pickles nor have I fermented anything so this should be fun.

What I did first was placed the jars in water that was simmering to disinfect them along with the lids and caps. While I had that going I began my brine which was a mixture of white vinegar, water, sugar and pickling salt. I also had that on a boil. I then started peeling the garlic cloves and cutting the lemons.

After about 15 minutes I removed the jars, lids and caps from the water and placed them on top of a towel and let them cool down a bit. You can cut the cucumbers with a knife and make it any shape you want. You can make the circle slice pickles, the regular slices of pickles or pickle wedges. I had 3 jars and was feeling fancy so I did all 3.

I used a mandolin that I bought recently to make Scalloped potatoes for the circle slices and regular slices, and I cut the wedges myself. They came out near perfect. Once I had all the cucumber slices ready, I stuffed the jars with them. You want to pack it real nice, but don't do it all the way to the top because you still need to fit in 2 garlic cloves, lemon slices and hot peppers. Id say about 75%-80% of the way.

Once you have your cucumber slices inside your jars, begin putting in the spices. You can put whatever you want inside, I just decided to follow his recipe:


1 Bunch dill
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Tablespoon fennel
1 Tablespoon coriander
5-6 Spicy dried peppers
1 Small piece of lemon wedge

After packing your jars, you can now add the brine. Just be careful and try not to make a mess or else you'll get the chinelo just like me. Fill it up as much as you can and then place the cap on, twist on the lid and place it back into the simmering water for another 15 minutes.

The best way to take them out is with the thing Homer Simpson uses to touch the plutonium. I'm not sure what that thing is called, but since I do not own one I had to use tongs which did not work properly. Lets just say I caught another round of the chinelo and that I almost broke one of the jars. So, do your best to get it out safely and then place it on a towel somewhere no one will touch it and where it isn't in the way of anything. It then should take about 3 days for the whole process to be done and then you will have some spicy pickles. I probably won't keep you guys updated on this because not much to update on but I will have a little section next week where I explain how it tastes, if it tastes good and if I would do it again etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AA5U42r_0g
That is the link to the video where I got the recipe.

I know I usually post on Sunday and I was going to post yesterday, but I woke up late and I had CPR training so I didn't get to it, on top of that I also went to the Mystery Room late at night. I'd just like to say that I am now CPR certified and can save your life and that I did find that 6 and 8 in those rooms so I wasn't completely useless. Shout-out to Damian the mathematician, you the real MVP.

I did come up with the idea to do this, it is pretty simple and easy but I checked on YouTube and saw a video that basically was what I thought of doing. So thanks to Eugenie, I will put her YouTube link at the very end.

Don't mind the strawberries, just trying to practice my plating, don't judge. So since what I did and what she did is pretty much the same I am not going to go so into detail, the only thing we did differently was that she covered it with the lid to cook and she didn't add cheese.

So you first cut your slice of baguette and then you empty out the middle and make a hole. You can cut the slice as small or big as you want, just remember the smaller it is the bigger chance of the egg overflowing. I measured it with my two fingers so you can use that as a guideline, but just know that I have some chubby fingers so it could differ.

At this point put a very small amount of oil in a pan and heat it up at a medium heat. Yes Ryan, I am giving people advice about heat control. It's an inside joke which I don't want to explain. You wouldn't understand it, you'd have to be there to understand.

Cut your bacon into whatever shapes you want. You can use whatever bacon you want. I wanted to use the block of bacon but I forgot to buy it so I just used turkey bacon. You could even use sausage or hot dogs, whatever floats your boat. Put it into the pan and cook it until it is to your liking. I like my bacon crispy so I left it in longer. 

Now you can do one of two things. You can place the bread in the pan and crack the egg directly into the hole or place the bread into the pan and crack the egg in a bowl or cup and then poor it into the hole. I cracked my egg into a bowl just because I was scared if I cracked it directly it would have been messy so I didn't take any chances. I seasoned the egg in the bowl a bit with salt and black pepper.

The egg shouldn't poor out through the bottom at all or at least not so much. If the pan is hot enough it will cook the egg enough where it will block the rest from draining out from the bottom. Cook it for about 5 minutes on that side. Now this is optional but I placed some of the bacon inside the hole so when I cut it open I would have bacon in the inside. No need to do it if you don't want. I also placed some cheese on the top of the hole facing me because I love cheese. Again if you don't want cheese, then just don't put it.

After those 5 minutes, it should be ready to flip more or less. This can be tricky flipping it so make sure it is cooked on the bottom because if it isn't it will all just flow out and you will be sad. The best way is use a spatula and get it under the baguette slice. Then carefully flip it over without spilling the egg content. Once you have it flipped on the other side, if you want your egg runny cook it for a shorter period of time, if you don't want it runny cook it for a longer period of time.

This is now ready to plate and eat. You can season it a bit more with salt and black pepper like I did but you don't have to. Remember, it is all to your taste. You want to eat this while it's hot because cold egg is disgusting. If you want to eat it cold, then go ahead I won't judge you that much.

It is really easy to make, no talent needed to make this. I'll definitely be making this again, tasted great. Maybe next time I will add different seasonings or use sausage instead of bacon. That is it for this week, next Sunday I will be making Risotto if plans go accordingly. Now I have to go to school.... oh wait I have reading week. Hahahaha! Movies all day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJADI5mpuh8 ( Link to Eugenie's video )