Author Archives: mbastien

The Smell of Lemons

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Plucking the gray hairs out of my Uncle Jose head, I leaded in to sniff his hair, the smell of citrus lemon went up my nose. “Do you wash your hair with lemon juice?” I asked, as he laughed he explained to me that in order to get the smell of fish off him, you have to rub lemon on you. Confused by why he would smell like fish, I questioned him again, “Why do you smell like fish if you work at the pizza place? People put fish on their fish?” Sitting up he laughed again, “No baby, I went fishing this morning and I was out at sea all morning. Afterwards, I rubbed the lemon all over me.” As I sat back and thought about all the things he showed me like, how to make pizza from scratch and farming, I wondered why he never took me fishing.

Yet, there was always a catch with him; every time I wondered something or asked for something, I would have to do something in return. When Uncle Jose used to pick us up after school he took us to work at Jino’s Pizza, so we could eat and do our homework. If we went out to eat and I helped cleaned the table, he would give me coins from other countries. In order to have cable, in the house, my sister and I had to keep our room clean. One day he made a pop up visit and our room was dirty, he took the box away and we didn’t see it for two weeks. That was the worst two weeks of your lives. Needless to say, Uncle Jose was aa fun person but also very serious, the way he put it, “That’s how the world works, you want something you have to do something to get it.”

This time around, he promised to take my sister and I fishing if we didn’t stress my mom out with our petty fights. Mom worked all day and school all night, our little fights was the last thing so needed so my sister and I worked hard on staying out of her way. Fast forward six months, it’s the night before Uncle Jose takes us fishing and I am really anxious. My stomach is tossing and turning and I feel like I’m going to be sick. My anxiety always gets the best of me, I have to be up at two in the morning in order to be at the dock by four. As my alarm goes off, I can’t tell whether my eyes are opened or closed. I bring my hand to my eye. Open. Definitely open. Searching for my alarm blindly I finally get it to shut off and get ready for my big adventure.

Okay, today’s the day I’m going to learn how to fish. After we got dressed and headed to the car, I must have fell back to sleep because before I knew it, we were at the dock. It’s still dark outside but the sky started to have gold strips run across, piercing through the deep indigo, welcoming the sunrise over Marina Del Rey Dock 52 (Appendix A). Sailing out into the open blue, it felt like the wind hit me like the Titanic hit the iceberg. Fishing wasn’t as fun as I thought it was going to be, there was a lot of waiting around, holding the rod or having it balance a certain way so it wouldn’t fall into the deep blue. Often times my sister and I went inside the boat to watch television and drink hot chocolate. When we got a tug on the line it was exciting, Uncle Jose would rush over to help us wheel it in as fast as we can. Many fish we caught we threw back into sea, some we kept inside a cooler with water. The catch of the day was with my sister threw the line out and it got caught onto a seagull. I laughed until my stomach hurt, teasing her about not being able to know how to fish. After wheeling in the seagull, we struggled to free it from its continuous flapping in fear of us. The experience was horrifying and yet hilarious.

After spending hours on the sea we came upon and spot that had lobsters. As I watched my Uncle Jose fight to not get pinched by the lobsters, I couldn’t wait to hold it myself. As he came back on board he showed my sister and I how to boil and cut the lobster. I helped him chop onions, tomatoes, and cilantro to make pico de gallo; while Uncle Jose showed me how to crack open the lobster. Placing the tortillas on the stove and pressing them, my mouth began to water. It was a long trip and it was time to eat what we set out to sail for. As I bit into the lobster taco the juices ran out the corner of my mouth.

Ever since that day, I’ had a true love of trying seafood in other ways and exploring ways to cook seafood. San Diego is a second home to me when my auntie owns a condo off Imperial Beach. On the strip, there are not only great lounges, bars, coffee shops, markets but has the best lobster tacos. Every time I travel that way it’s a must that I stop by IB Forum Sports & Bar Grill. However, driving to San Diego every time I want lobster tacos isn’t idea so my favorite place out here to eat lobster tacos is a place called Lobster & Beer. Today I enjoy the different ways in which lobster is used: pizza, mac and cheese, nachos, burrito, etc. The recipe for lobster tacos is something I use but there are many ways in which it can be done depending on the season.

Lobster Street Tacos

Time: Preparation: 20 minutes / / Cook: 7 minutes // Total: 27 minutes

Ingredients:

Lobster (claw or tail meat) (Appendix B)

Pico de Gallo (chopped roma tomato, ½ white or red onion (chopped), 3 tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro, salt, black pepper, ½ lime juice) (Appendix C)

Shredded cabbage

Chipotle aioli sauce

Flour tortilla (or corn tortilla, also can use lettuce wrap as a healthier option)

Lime (Appendix D)

Butter

Garlic

Canola oil

Directions:

  1. Preheat a lightly oiled grill pan over medium-high heat.
  2. Cut lobster tail in half (lengthwise alone the spine). Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Grill until slightly charred and shells have a bright color. Remove lobster meat from shells and chop.
  3. Warm shells
  4. Place lobster meat in shells and top with pico de gallo, shredded cabbage, chipotle aioli sauce and squeeze lime over them.
  5. Enjoy! (Appendix E)

Footnotes:

  • Can make them “Summer” by adding mango as a topping.
  • Can have slaw as a side.
  • Can use other toppings such as: avocado, cilantro

Reference

Anxiety. (2016). Wikipedia. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Gordon, J. (2015). Limes. Flickr. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Gull. (2016). Wikipedia. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Hot chocolate. (2016). Wikipedia. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

How to fish. (2016). Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

IB Forum Sports Bar & Grill. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Imperial beach california. (n.d.). GovOffice. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Jino’s pizza. (n.d). Kydia. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Kramer, E. (2014). Lobster tacos. Flickr. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Lemon. (2016). Wikipedia. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Lew, G. (2012). Lobster. Flickr. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Lobster & beer. (2016). Lobster & Beer. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Matt. (2008). Marina Del Ray. Flickr. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Marina del rey sportfishing. (n.d.). Web Domain Solution. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Phillips, B. (2013). Can you say pico de gallo? Flickr. Retrieved December 7, 2016.

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Appendix E

 

Pralines

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my-pralines

Praline’s also known as the “pecan candy” was originated in the seventeenth-century in France by chef of César, duc de Choiseul, Comte du Plessis-Praslin when he coated almonds with sugar. French settlers brought the tradition of praline’s along with them to Louisiana. When African-Americans began working in French migrants’ kitchens, they replaced the almonds to pecans and added milk. Throughout the 1800s, African-American women began selling praline’s in New Orleans, and those women became the most popular street vendors. During the 1900s, the tourism industry grew and French Quarters started opening up praline stores with life size “praline mammies” in front of the store.

As a child my grandmother on my father’s side used to always give them to me. I used to get them at parties or sometimes after dinner. My mother’s father used to take me to his favorite restaurant called, Margarita’s Mexican Café, on Crenshaw Boulevard and 50th Street. Growing up I thought of these as cookies, I just learned that it is a candy. Usually I would just eat one or two because they were so sweet. I’ve never seen praline’s been made before but it seemed pretty easy. As I was trying to follow certain instructions on how they are made, I quickly saw that the first batch wasn’t going to turn out to well. I sat and thought to myself, oh no, I’m the mom from the book by Ruth Reichl, I have completely destroyed these poor cookies. Feeling defeated but willing to try again, I did it. I learned that whatever you do, don’t stop stirring the mix. All I remember about my grandmother is that she was always in the kitchen, weather she was cooking, drinking coffee or watching mass, she was in the kitchen. Most, if not all of our talks were in the kitchen; she would have pralines set out on the table all the time and I would sit and break apart the “cookie” half way listening to mass and half listening to her. my mother’s father and my father’s mother were my two favorite grandparents and I no longer have either of them here with me. But this assignment has made me see that they are here with me all the time.

I decided to do my nutritional analysis on pecans since that was one of the ingredients that changed when it was brought into Louisiana due to the extensive amount of pecan trees. Pecans are a species of hickory that have a native to Mexico in the late 1600s and early 1700s. the first planting of a pecan tree was in Long Island, New York. The tree grows from 66-131 feet high, spreads 39-75 feet, with a 6.6-foot trunk. Since the pecan is considered a fruit, the seed part is edible and has a buttery flavor. The pecan seed is also used in wood making and flavoring of food. According to Shape, the National Pecan Shellers Association states that pecans are a healthy unsaturated fat and can help lower bad cholesterol. They contain over 19 vitamins and minerals and rich in age defying antioxidants.

In addition, today there are many forms and ways to make pralines. Many cover them in chocolate, pour it on top of brownies, add coconut, and even add ice cream.

Traditional Praline Instructions

Ingredients:

1 stick of unsalted butter

½ cup of light brown sugar

1 ½ cup of white sugar

1 ½ cup of pecans

½ cup of evaporated milk

A teaspoon of exact (vanilla or cameral)

 

Tools:

Wooden spoon

Nice size pot

Wax paper

 

Directions:

Before you start, make sure you have all your ingredients already measured out and have the space to set the candy down ready.

Put the wax paper on top of newspaper so you don’t mess up your counter top.

Put the pot on high heat and add all ingredients in the pot (excluding pecans and exact).

Always stir.

Allow the ingredients to come to a boil.

There are two boils that happen. First a rapid boil and then a medium volcano boil. You want the one the slow volcano boil.

Once you reach that, put the fire on low and let it stand for three minutes only.

Once that is done, take it off the fire, add in the pecans, and stir for about one minute.

Never stop stirring.

Add the exact and keep stirring until it comes to a creamy texture.

Put the candy onto the wax paper and let cool.

 

References

 

Borsari, K. “Pop a Pecan, Not a Pill,” Shape. Retrieved November 7, 2016 from, http://www.shape.com/blogs/fit-foodies/pop-pecan-not-pill

n.d. “The History of Pralines,” Southern Candymakers. Retrieved November 7, 2016 from, https://www.southerncandymakers.com/history-of-pralines

Nunez, M. C. “Praline or “Pecan Candy” Vendors,” New Orleans Historical. Retrieved November 7, 2016 from, http://www.neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/259

Pecans. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved November 8, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecan

Allow Me to Re-Introduce Myself…

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Hi everyone,

My name is Midori Bastien, but a lot of people call me Dori for short. I graduated from West Los Angeles College in 2013 with two AA degrees and transferred here Fall 2015. I am majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies in the concentration of American Studies as well as minoring in Communications; and I am graduating in Spring 2017. I’m not sure if I am continuing my education Fall 2017 (I don’t have the time to really get together applications for graduate school and maintain all my course work). Also, I’m not sure if I want to major in Communications or Social Work. My main focus after graduation is getting a job in my career field area, whether it is a non-profit organization of mass communications.

On to my food selfie, this was taken about two years ago one of my date nights with my partner. She took me to The Melting Pot in Torrance (it’s closed now but there other locations), but this ending up being an unforgettable night to me. What you see here is at the end of our meal (dessert is the best part if you pace yourself)! Anyways what you see here is the chocolate fondue, we choose the “Ying & Yang” which is dark chocolate and white chocolate. The items on the other plate that you dip into the chocolate are: fresh strawberries, blondies, bananas, pineapple, marshmallow treats, pound cake, and brownies.

I promise I like other food besides Creole such as: Mediterranean, Italian, Japanese/Korean, and Mexican but now I’m like food deprived with my Creole items. Therefore, I’m going to stress my habit to you once again. There are several items I like such as, gator bites, frog legs, gumbo, jambalaya, scampi, étouffée, po’boys, etc. I used to work at Harold & Belles and every year they host a crawfish boil and a Fat Tuesday celebration. However, the item I would like to describe you (the thing I wish I could’ve done for my food presentation) is a crawfish boil. In a crawfish boil, you must first boil water and all the seasonings, you just kind of start putting stuff in: salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, garlic, and a special crab-boil liquid. It’s all in the seasoning! You have to let that cook for a while and let it come to a boil; then you add in the corn-on-the-cob, potatoes and smoked sausage. After a while you add in fresh live crawfish. Then you cool it off and drain it. Cover the table with newspaper and dumb everything on the table and eat! There’s always something to drink too, mostly beer.