Italian Cornbread with Sundried Tomatoes

It's a little weird that I conceptualized making this dish because it was Fil-American Friendship day (June 4, our old Independence Day). However, cornbread is an American delicacy, and even if polenta is Italian and this cornbread is full of Italian-inspired ingredients, it still is American. Er, Italian-American. I love cornbread (if you've seen me at a Kenny Roger's Roasters you'd know I dip those muffins in gravy), but this recipe was new to me as it was not sweet. Looking back, I would have put sugar and chili powder in it, because I'm a little deranged. In any case, it still is very wholesome and chock-full of vitamins and fiber. Paired with baked beans (to add sweetness to the table), it was a perfect light lunch. (Recipe can be found here.)

Darling, Did You Know That Something Happened To Us?

Right before the pustule and right after the pus?

Sorry, I just thought up that particular lyric-mangling now (the correct lyrics are here: http://www.uppercutmusic.com/artist_c/company_the_lyrics/everlasting_love_lyrics.html). Anyway, I hope this joke will make up for the fact that I don't have any new pictures. I actually made some desserts and a meal, but the sun was not agreeing with me (so I could take a proper photograph) so I decided to postpone eating them. No new photographs tomorrow, either, since I'm spending the day in the province 'cause it's the 9th day since my grandfather died. See you in 2 days!

A Dumb Grocery Story

I was buying the cherries when I lined up at the Express Lane to pay for them. The woman in front of me was next, and she had a cartful of groceries, so I told her, "Excuse me, this is the Express Lane." She turned around, planted her BMI=40 body, looked at me with ptotic eyes and said, "So?" I couldn't believe what I just saw and heard. Trying my best to control my anger, I said, "It's only courteous to the people behind you that you keep the number of items under 8..." Anyway, I didn't finish when she told her daughters (?) to take some stuff out; apparently they divided and the first one will pay with an express card and the second with cash. Now, I did my best to control myself, but here's what I would have said if I really cut loose:

LISTEN UP, YOU INCONSIDERATE SWINE. IT SAYS "EXPRESS LANE, 8 ITEMS OR LESS." EITHER YOU'RE TOO MUCH OF A MORON TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS, OR YOU'RE PART OF THAT SUBSET OF PEOPLE WHO ARE SO STUPIDLY, SELFISHLY THOUGHTLESS THAT YOU THINK YOU CAN INCONVENIENCE OTHERS MORE THAN LOOKING AT YOUR FACE ALREADY HAS. NOW FUCKING TELL ME, WHICH ONE IS IT? WHICH ONE? WHICH ONE?!?!?!?!"

Whew. Anyway, I just let them pay twice for their groceries. I didn't care that it slowed me down a little; I cared more that they were inconvenienced and made to see what kind of people they were. But you know, people like that are so lacking in self-awareness that they probably wouldn't care if anyone exposed their hideousness. But how did you think I did on the anger management? Serenity now! Serenity now!!

Clafoutis aux Cerise (with how-to)

(Cherry Clafouti) I think someone heard my prayers and stocked fresh cherries at Crossings supermarket. The even weirder bit is that they only cost $1.40 for a little more than 500 grams. I bought that much because I thought I'd be making pie (in hindsight it wasn't nearly enough for pie), but I thought, what better way to bring out the unadulterated taste of cherries than with a clafouti? I can always buy cherry pie filling, and I've tasted that before. I've never had clafouti before. It's a rustic french dessert that resembles many things: a pudding, a flan, a thick crepe. But I used part of a recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets, with the recipe here.

The recipe called for pitted cherries. It's traditionally with the pits since it intensifies the flavor and prevents the juice from coloring the custard pink, but I liked the idea of easy eat-ability. Kind of a mistake. The juices ran out of the cherries and water-logged my clafouti. After a while, though, it reabsorbed the juice, so it was saved. The taste was great, but it relies too much on the quality of the cherries, which I don't think were the strong point of my cheap ones. But still, we finished it in less than twelve hours.

My dad had to ask me how in the world did I get all the pits out? It's a simple trick that requires a paper clip unbent to an "S" shape.

Take out the stem of the cherry and plunge one of the ends of the paper clip into the exposed stem end.

Take a feel for the pit and loosen it with the paper clip "spoon," then hook it around the lower end of the pit.

Flick out the pit. Sometimes the flesh will be so adherent to the pit that this won't be easy without causing some damage, but it's not a big deal.

Voilà! Minimum damage and a minimal exit wound (also the same as the entry wound, by the way, heh heh). This also works on olives, by the way. If you plan on doing this a lot, I would recommend a cherry pitter, just because it's faster, less messy, and won't strain your fingers, but who wants a one-job wonder for a few dozen cherries?

Another trick you can use is to drive three nails through a board so that the points are the vertices to a small triangle, then plunge each cherry through this, leaving the pit on top and the cherry perforated. However, the safety aspect of it is not so hot.

My Grandfather

I wrote something for my grandfather Antonio "Anto" Manguerra, who died last June 27. He was 83.
If you want to read it, click here:
http://drmanggy.blogspot.com/2007/07/my-grandfather.html