Don't burn the red chile, but it's ok to burn the turkey.

Why is it ok to burn the turkey but not the red chile?  Because you can drown your burnt turkey in red chile and everything will be just fine.

You can really put red chile on anything.  Bananas, cereal, cupcakes, m&m's... ok maybe not those things, but you can seriously put it on your potatoes, turkey, stuffing, corn, ham, green beans and  pretty much anything else thanksgivingy.

So I dedicate this post to my grandma, Mem.  She makes red chile every year for Thanksgiving, and every year I eat so much that I can't physically get up from my seat without staring at my empty plate for 47 minutes and thinking about anything but food.  One time I asked my sister if she would take me out in a wheel barrow, just because that was her favorite joke when she worked at a restaurant (not).  But seriously, I definitely wouldn't eat that much if everything wasn't covered in red chile.  It is THAT good. 

This picture sums up the day pretty well.  We went to my grandma's house yesterday to make the chile.  She waved knives at us and showed us how to make it.  I took pictures and graded Kira and Doug on their cutting skills (I did contribute a bit to the cooking process).

After about an hour of prep it took about another hour to cook. And we put our heart and souls into that chile, Mem almost put a little blood in it but luckily found some duct tape.

This is the before (left) and after (right) (duh).






So the moral of the story is that red chile should be a food group.  It's good for the soul, it makes you sweat a little and can make anything taste 467 times better.

I tried to learn how to make it as perfect as Mem but it was sometimes difficult to follow.  I will just have to watch a few more times before I learn how much salt or oregano to add.  When I would ask her, "Hey Mem, how much salt did you put in?"  she would reply, "However much I felt like!"

Dang that chile is good.

I don't even know where to begin...

I'll start you off with some eye candy.  Less candy and more delicious Chinese food.  I could eat dumplings everyday of my life and not complain.

If you click on it you can more closely examine some of the deliciousness.

So, where the hell do I begin?  I couldn't use this blog from China, I think they blocked it like they blocked facebook so I sadly couldn't blog about some of the individual meals I ate... but it probably was a good thing since each place I went to was completely unique and pretty dang delicious.


I was hosted by Jimmy, a family friend and the head of the Nathan Yip Foundation, which is why I went to China in the first place... (you can see that blog here) and he was a very generous host and knew all of the good food spots around Shanghai and the other cities we went to.  He explained to me how there were 4 main different types of Chinese food.  Szechuan, Hunan, Cantonese and another one I can't remember right now (any help?) or probably pronounce/spell correctly.

We did a lot of eating too.  Every time we stopped I think we ate. Immediately when we arrived we went to go eat something, and something spicy.  I loved the good ol' spicy Chinese food.  I asked for that chili sauce at about every restaurant (or I had Jimmy do it since I speak zero Chinese). 

I ate chicken knuckles, eel, dumplings, soup, lots of pork, vegetables disguised as meat, tons of veggies, spicy stuff and more dumplings. I'd have to say the chicken knuckles was probably the most interesting thing that I ate.  We were in Shanghai when Jimmy ordered a ton of plates.  One came out that looked like a regular chicken plate with cashews, Jimmy told me to take a bite first, so I did.  Then I quickly asked him, "Wait, should I eat the bones? and what is this?"  Turned out you are supposed to eat the bones and I think it was mostly cartilage.  They crunched like bones that were surrounded in a piece of chicken... and they tasted AWESOME.  They were spicy too.  Jimmy had a funny smirk on his face, then told me, "I like to order dishes like this, this is the stuff you can't order in the USA."  That's definitely true.. and even if you could, would you really order chicken cartilage?

Another fun adventure besides the actual eating of the food was the communication (without the use of language) and the table manners.  I'm always a bit cautious about eating with new people, I never know what may be offensive or completely fine.  In China I was especially conscious of how the other people were eating, where they put their napkin, which glasses they used to say cheers, which drinks they cheers-ed us with, their posture and how they ate some of the unidentifiable dishes.  But after a few observations, everyone was pretty relaxed... the coolest part was that we shared all the dishes, there was never an individual dish for one person, everything was communal (is that what communism is?)

It was fun, and an experience.  This post is long and scattered... and probably not that interesting since my mind is thinking about the 34826346 experiences and thoughts I had with food (and trying to condense it all). I could write forever about this stuff so if you took the time to actually read the whole thing, I'll buy you a beer the next time I see you and tell you a fun story about how a guy spit milk on my dad. That story is also on the other blog!

PEACE!

A confession

I spent this weekend with a generous cousin who somehow put up with me and three of my friends living in her  condo on air mattresses and couches.  It looked like a refugee shelter for a couple days.  Although with the 4.27" Polaroid brand flat screen TV it turned out to be pretty cozy but made it slightly difficult to watch Always Sunny if you sat more than 32 inches away. It was a pretty awesome weekend and hopefully Angela had fun too.

Besides the warm weather and some aesthetically pleasing aspects belonging to Arizona, they have In-N-Out Burger.  While I hate to admit that I like fast food, I truly do.  I started eating fast food in high school.  What else do you eat after a hockey practice that ends at 11 pm? Wendy's, McDonalds or Taco Bell.  Sadly I've been eating it occasionally ever since but always giving up fast food for Lent just to reassure myself that I can go without it.  I usually do it in private.  I put on sunglasses, a hoody and only get it to go.  Otherwise I like to pretend like I only go to more local and healthy spots.  I think I can also blame my love for hamburgers.

Let's forget about Mcdonalds and all those other chains we find everywhere and talk about THE BEST fast food restaurant on the planet.  Mother nature gives us beautiful skies, the amazing rocky mountains, the Grand Canyon and In-N-Out Burger.

Sadly we don't have one in Colorado, and probably never will since they ship their products fresh everyday and Colorado might just be a little too far from their shipping grounds.  It could possibly lose it's consistency and we would never want that. 

I somehow also managed to go to In-N-Out about 4 times over the weekend and I will proudly admit it.  I will even post a photo from my blackberry of its fresh never frozen beef, non-preservative bun, fresh cut potato fries and straight from the garden fresh lettuce and tomatoes. I can't forget the yummy sauce either,  Try animal style on the fries if you get the chance.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to confess about my secret liking for fast food.  I am still talking with my therapist about it and working through it.

I don't always eat fast food but when I do I prefer In-N-Out Burger.  Stay hungry my friends.