Timotheos, even though Panama is right next door, I've never been there, and I'm dying to go to Bocas, hopefully I'll go soon.
About comfort food, where should I start...There's this one local dish called Olla de Carne, for some reason unknown it's a tradition to make it on Wednesday, my mom makes it on Tuesday though. It's a meat and veggie soup, with yuca, malanga, potatoes, plantains and corn. Picadillo de papa con chorizo is one of my favorites, with a side of rice and black beans. Arroz con leche or rice pudding reminds me so much of my grandma, she used to cook is as a treat when we went to visit her.
I think i could go on forever with my list of favorite foods, and there is still so much that I still have to try!
Food makes me happy :)
@timotheos: Hi! Let me introduce myself to you, I'm Rebeca and I envy you (in a good way) for travelling so much. You're really lucky. I haven't traveled much myself, but some of my fondest memories include food, hehe. I always relate a place with the food I ate there.
I remember this one time we were on vacation. Some of us were ticos (from Costa Rica), a couple of German guys, one Italian. Each one of us would cook dinner a different night. It was better than dining out! It was a mini culinary trip around the world.
You should visit Costa Rica when you have the time, you'll probably love it here. You'll definitely enjoy the food, the beaches are awesome, it's green year round, people are friendly and love to party.
I'll be more than happy to share recipes with you.
This is so sad. I'm in tears right now because of what happened to your Dumpling. He lived a happy doggy life, and was loved by everyone all around the world who had the chance to see his cute face staring at food. He was lucky to find such a loving family as yours. I'm really sorry for your loss.
Today for lunch I had a whopper with bacon, cheese and bbq sauce, onion rings on the side and a soda. There goes today's 2 hour workout... but I have no regrets. Last time I had BK was about 3 months ago.
Is there such a thing as a cheat week? Well, I've almost had a cheat month I think. I try to keep a balanced and healthy diet most of the time, but for the past couple of weeks I've had buffalo wings, potato skins, pizza, ice cream, my son's birthday cake, fried dumplings, fried plantains, choripan, empanadas and a bacon cheeseburger with fries, oh and a huge tortilla with cheese on top.
And tonight I might make some chicken wings again, this time with celery and carrot on the side so I don't feel that guilty. :)
I guess I'll be doing a little extra workout next week.
Thanks for the advice, I'm on my way to the store to see if I can find bok choy. If I can't find that either I guess you'll be hearing from me soon. :)
Thanks for the comment kitchenista. Since I'm in Costa Rica, I couldn't find that particular item in the everyday grocery store. We do get almost all the products as in the US, but that one is giving me a hard time. I still want to make my dumplings though.
Avocados are so good.. They' re in season right now and here we can get 4 for $2! I love them in salads, sandwiches, guacamole, sauces, with tortillas or as spread for bread, and I really don't care about the fat, since it's "good" fat. They're good for your hair too.
They taste good and make you look pretty, what more can you ask for!
Watery piña coladas, "frozen" mojitos and fruit flavored margaritas from "mexican" restaurants, specially the strawberry ones that taste like cherry instead.
Also beach resort drinks, they don't even use mixes. They're slushies with liquor/water. Even beer tastes like water in those hotels.
@yankeesgal, finewine: Hmmm...I really hate to ask, but what's the deal with green M&M's?
Here the typical breakfast dish is gallo pinto which is black beans, day old rice, onions and peppers. Usually you eat that fresh, it takes like 5 minutes to make it, The other day I saw canned gallo pinto in a store...that's weird. That same brand that sells canned gallo pinto also has arroz con pollo and seafood rice. I don't think I'll try any of those anytime soon.
I refrigerate almost everything, but mostly because there's a lot of tiny ants in my kitchen I can't get rid of. I refrigerate cookies and jam because I like them cold. I don't refrigerate avocados or any other fruits. I freeze sugar, because I hardly use any. And I've heard coffee keeps it's flavor longer when stored in the freezer as well.
Pasta salad with artichoke hearts, olives, cherry tomatoes, baby corn, broccoli, hearts of palm, pepperoni, bell peppers, with olive oil and vinegar or italian dressing,
Potato salad with hearts of palm and mayo served on lettuce.
Any sandwich with bacon and avocado in it.
Thanks so much for all the replies. There are so many options, I'll give some of them a try tonight!
I don't eat that many fries myself, but today I just have this HUGE craving. I want some fries! Not skinny fries though. I've never tried sriracha or malt vinegar, I guess I'll have to try a little bit of each sauce!
Honey and olive oil for a hair mask. use it once a week, it leaves hair soft and shiny.
Frozen chammomile tea bags for puffy eyes.
I had food poisoning by salmonella. Not nice at all, not more than 4 hours after eating poorly cooked chicken and I ended up in the hospital, totally dehydrated. A few months ago, more than 150 people got sick in a really popular beach resort. Same cause, salmonella. So, yes I think it's better to use the extra cutting board and kitchen utensils, better not take the chance.
@bleu: That's so adorable! Probably they laughed so hard when they realized what they were looking for wasn't exactly cheese!
My ex bf was unbelievable, he thought lettuce was the same as cabbage, papaya=watermelon, mango=chayote. He couldn't even boil water. I don't blame him though, because his mom taught him that "cooking was only for girls."
How sad!
Thanks for all the comments, they're really helpful. Where I live there's basically one brand of chicken, the one the store near my house sells, so that's the one I usually buy. Lately I did notice that it tastes a lot like additives/preservatives, so I rinse it before adding the marinade. I've tried whole chicken, thight and breast. For the marinade I use garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, bay leaves, a little lemon juice and oil. It doesn't matter if it marinates overnight or for a couple of hours, the chicken still has an "artificial" flavor when I cook it, which is less noticeable when I roast it.
So I think it's both the chicken and the way I'm seasoning it. I love chicken, if I eat it someplace other than my house, it's fine, but if I cook it in my house it doesn't taste right.
When I was 10 or so I was baking a birthday cake for my mom. Devil's food cake. For some reason I misread the ingredient list, so instead of adding 1 tsp of salt I added 1 cup! And then I was in such a rush to try it, that after baking it, I took it out of the pan while it was still hot, so it broke in half. It was a complete mess! It turned out sooo bad, it was totally inedible. Now whenever I'm baking something I remember about my super salty chocolate cake!
I won't forgive myself for missing Margarita Day! I'll have to go get some today. Hopefully I won't miss the Mojito Day, in case there's one! If you want to get the cheapest margaritas ever you should go to Bocas del Toro in Panama. A whole pitcher for $15 or so! Salud!!
@ jerzeetomato: I appreciate your concern. Because it is my child's health we're talking about, of course I asked for medical advice first. We visit the doctor every month and when he was diagnosed we also saw a nutricionist. So it's not medical advice I'm looking for, but recipe ideas.
I love all the ideas I've gotten here (even if the're from faceless people! hehe), but the one that really caught my eye was homemade sausage! He totally loves hot dogs, but they just have so much salt in them. How can I make my own sausages? How do I do that? I'd love to try it.
Thanks for all the ideas!
Chicken or beef chalupas or tacos with a variety of fillings and toppings. They're fun to make and fun to eat, not complicated at all. Also pasta with homemade tomato sauce.
HI! I want to make fried dumplings and the recipe calls for Napa cabbage. I went to a couple of asian supermarkets yesterday and I'm really excited because I found most of the ingredients on the list, but here they just have regular cabbage or what they call Chinese mustard, which looks similar to Napa cabbage. So I don't know what to do. Should I just use "chinese mustard" or regular cabbage?
Hi! I was looking at a tv show on aphrodisiacs the other day. I've heard about chocolates and seafood, but here some people still think that eating raw turtle eggs will make you a better lover. Yucks!
Have you heard of any weird aphrodisiacs? Do you think they actually work?
Any ideas for a dipping sauce for french fries or yuca fries besides the usual ketchup, mustard, ranch and mayo? I know it's a simple question, but nothing comes to mind right now.
Thanks!
I really don't know what I'm doing wrong but lately my chicken doesn't taste good at all. If I make it roasted with garlic/rosemary and lemon it turns out great, but if i try to cook let's say boneless chicken breasts or chicken fajitas in a pan they taste funny. Today I added soy sauce, garlic, OJ and honey...the result was awful, we had to throw them away. I've tried complete seasoning, italian dressing, salt & pepper and nothing good comes out of it. Flavorless, dry chicken.
Any ideas for tender, juicy chicken?
First I'd love to say how I totally fell in love with SE, can't get enough of it! Maybe you can help me here. I have a 5 yr old boy who's on a salt restricted diet. Right now he won't eat anything but pasta, potatoes, fish and chicken, somehow I feel he will get tired of eating the same thing over and over again. Can't get him to eat any fruits or veggies either. Any ideas of low sodium recipes pleeease!
Yesterday I told you I'd answer every single question you asked me. I thought to myself, "hey, here's an easy way to do a fun column this week without time to get into the kitchen. This'll be a snap! Dear Serious Eaters, I severely underestimated you and your ability to ask fun, challenging, downright thoughtful questions. It's been a hard day's night, but I finally got through 'em all. More
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That's so cute that you're trying to win a guy's heart thru his tummy, just make sure he also falls for you, not only for your cookies! Why don't you bake monster cookies, packed with nuts and chocolate chips. Most guys have a sweet tooth and he'll definetely love those, just be careful he's not allergic to nuts if you're using them! Or try Devil's Food Cake, that would be also super yummy.
Good luck!