Citrus season is looming

The season of citrus is nearly upon us and I'm pleased to report that I've got my first 'take' behind me now. My fruit bowl is filled with nearly 3 dozen limes in this photo. I made a key lime pie this past weekend. This coming weekend I'm going to make pomegranate-lime juice to quench our thirst and I'm going to cut the peel into strips and 'candy' them. Well that's the tentative plan, at least.

Gift Idea

Mr X took this picture while gallivanting about in Japan. I just never got around to posting it for your viewing pleasure. In honor of the upcoming season of gifting I thought I'd post this gift-worthy watermelon. I would be pretty ecstatic to receive this, but I don't believe one can purchase them here in the US. They're spendy little things too - Mr X reports this one was around $60.

Just for Briana: Sulu Kofte

Because I haven't been blogging lately I received a phone call from my lovely friend Briana, demanding to know if I was dead or not. (Thank you so much for your phone call and for keeping in touch, Briana!)

I'm not.

I just haven't felt like I had anything worthwhile to write about. I haven't been going to any exotic places other than Buckeye, Arizona. I've just pretty much been working a lot, working out when I can, baking and surfing the Internet for travel destinations in an attempt to live vicariously through other people's fabulous experiences. Though yesterday I attended a formal cooking class that turned out to be very blog-able. More on that later though...

Meanwhile, Briana also wanted a recipe from me, so here it is:

Sulu Kofte (Turkish meatballs in tomato sauce)

Kofte ingredients:
1 pound ground beef or ground lamb
1/4 cup short grain rice, washed & drained
1 egg
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)

1/2 cup flour

1 onion, grated
4-5 Tbsp crushed tomatoes
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
2 cups water
salt & pepper (to taste)
chopped parsley (optional)

Place the flour on a large plate. Knead the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. Break off small pieces and roll them into a small ball shape. Roll them in the flour.

Meanwhile saute the onion with the olive oil and butter for a few minutes in a medium sized pot - until they are soft and tender. Add the crushed tomatoes, water, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.

Gently drop the floured Kofte into the pot and stir slowly. Cook for about 20 minutes on just below medium heat. Sprinkle some chopped parsley on top and then serve.

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Acibadem Kurabiyesi (Turkish Almond Cookies)

1 cup ground almond (available in specialty stores)
1 2/3 cup powdered sugar
3 egg whites, lightly whisked
Garnish: slivered almonds or almond halves

Place all ingredients except the garnish in a medium sized pot. Stir constantly at just under medium heat. Do not let the mixture boil. To ensure that the temperature is right, dip your pinkie in the mixture - it should be warm but shouldn't burn.

Pour the contents of the pot into a heat proof dish. Let it cool down. Oil 8 paper baking cups. Once the mixture has cooled down a bit, spoon it equally into the oiled baking cups. Place the almonds on top and put the cups on an oven tray.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Then turn down the heat to 240 F and put the tray in the oven. Bake for about 45 minutes without opening the oven door. If you open the door, the cookies will droop. Let the cookies cool before serving.

Kings in other countries

Several weeks ago I headed to the back of the building in which I work seeking out a few of my IT coworkers to ask them a question about something or other. There is room in the back where that has become their workspace/offices. It was a once cavernous stockroom that is now cramped and overflowing with cords, adapters, monitors, CPUs and all sorts of other technical IT necessities. Often the actual IT personnel can’t be found in this office because they’re out bustling about fixing things and causing trouble (the latter part is just my opinion). But on this particular day I got lucky and there they were…several of them…sitting around chatting and enjoying Moon Pies. I have never, to my knowledge, come across a Moon Pie before so I had a rather quizzical expression on my face when I saw the treats. But my coworkers apparently have guilty consciences and they somehow all decided that my facial expression conveyed disappointment in their snacking choices.

One of them desperately blurted out, “You know, we would be KINGS in other countries!”

To which I replied, “What on earth are you talking about?”

Coworker: “In some other countries they LOVE fat people because portliness is a sign of their power and wealth.”

Me: “Well it’s unfortunately then that you live in THIS country in THIS century then, huh?”

Coworker: *sigh* “Yeah, it is.”

After they discovered that I had never experienced the (apparently) delectable joy of the Moon Pie it was all I could do to get out of there before they had the chance to jam one down my gullet. And I never did get around to asking them my question.

In case of emergency

In Mr X's hotel these signs are posted up on the balconies between rooms. Apparently in Japan, if there's an emergency and you need to escape quickly, you really ARE supposed to karate chop your way to safety.

To Market, To Market

Here are some random shots from Mr X's ventures out and about. The first is from the local market. The second is a photo of the local beach. Mr X reports that it's always this crowded.

Ready for some home cookin'

As most of you know, I love pictures of food. So before Mr X left I instructed him to be sure to take lots of food pictures for me. He's done a great job with it too. This first picture is one of his more recent meals. He wasn't pleased at all when they placed this feast before him:



The next picture is another memorable meal. I've included an excerpt from Mr X's email describing it:

"I ate lunch at the Latin Oasis. They have tacos on the menu and their special is taco rice. You would think it's a taco with rice on the side. Nope - a bed of lettuce, a pile of rice, little bit of meat, a couple of beans and some crushed chips."

I think the crushed chip looks like a Dorito rather than a regular corn chip.

The next picture is from a shopping excursion. Here's what Mr X had to say about that:


"I stopped by the store in the neighborhood. The glasses in my room are too small. I wanted a big giant cup I could fill with ice and water but they only sell tiny little glasses for the tiny little people. So I bought a couple of beverages. CC Lemon Zero. It's 'the new zero calorie refreshment with a plentiful of vitamin c'. That's what it says on the bottle. It tastes like lemonade that never got stirred up."

Then I challenged Mr X to quit with the disappointing restaurants and go to the store and find himself something a little more palatable. This is what he came back with:

Teriyaki Chicken with plain white rice. (Slightly boring, right? But probably decent to Mr X.) And below we have "Apple Pie" from a french bakery. He said it was more custard-y and didn't taste quite right.