Today’s lunch No comments yet

Had a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Should have brough some noodle soup. I’m thinking of the salmon I am going to make for dinner today.

Columbus day weekend No comments yet

This weekend we went away to Syracuse, NY to visit Carla. There were seventeen people sleeping at the house. We got to visit an Apple Festival where I tried some delicious apple fritters and had an impromtu dinner with mango salad, shrimp and chinese noodles were on the menu.

Sinful breakfast No comments yet

For breakfast I made a fried egg, seasoned it with salt, and ate that as sandwich between two slices of toasted bread. I also made fried chouriço slices to accompany the egg sandwich.

Yesterday’s meals 2 comments

Yesterday I went with Elsa to Dana-Farber so we had lunch at the DF Cafeteria. I had the salad, which is buffet style. I concocted my own with artichoke hearts, lettuce, beans, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, couscous, cucumbers, croutons, eggs and seasoned  with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

At night I made broiled tuna steaks, which I marinade before hand with salt and crushed pepper, olive oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and lemon juice. It is a simple dish but provides much excitement to the gustatory glands.

Pizza 1 comment

Elsa made pizza with tomatoes from the garden, black olives and cheese. It came out very nice. The crust was thin and crunchy. She also made beet juice with garlic, mango and parsley.

I had an avocado that I bought a few days ago so I decided to eat that with plain youghurt. It’s a good combination.

When I was growing up in Sal, avocatoes were always a welcome threat in our home. My father would mash the avocado and mix it with sugar and a little bit of Scotch whiskey. A a dessert worthy of heaven.

Eggplant curry 1 comment

For lunch I had a ham and cheese sandwich accompanied by eggplant curry. The curry was quite hot and spicy. I enjoy the soft consistency of the eggplant, which can be eaten as a spread, although in this case, I ate it right out of the heating bowl with a fork.

Orange jam and brie No comments yet

For breakfast this morning I had some Portuguese corn bread toast with brie and orange jam. I like the sweet tart taste of orange jam mingled with the richness of brie cheese. It is a long tradition in my family to combine sweet jams with cheese or bananas. One of my favorite deserts is goiabada (guava paste) with cheese and or with banana. I have enjoyed this since I was little. I cannot really remember for how long this has been, so I must have started eating these combinations when I was very young.

While thinking about this I was also reminded of eating goat cheese with goiabada. When growing up in Sal Island, sometimes we would get goat cheese from Boa Vista, or Maio or Santo Antão. There were never large quantities available so as soon as they appeared, my mother with buy as much as she could get a hold of and we would savor it for the next few days. They were really, really good. The cheese from Maio was especially delicious. It had a very sharp flavor and I remember it being harder than the other ones. The cheeses from the Island of Boa Vista was not as flavorful, but I remember their texture. They sort of squished as you bit into them.

Uhm! Uhm!

Shrimp for dinner No comments yet

For dinner, my thoughs were that I would make shrimp. This is one of Filipa’s (my oldest daughter)  favorite victuals and since she stayed after school for theater rehearsal and I suspected she would come home tired as usual after rehearsal, I decided to make a special threat for her. The problem was that I did not have sufficient time to thaw and marinate the shrimp, as I would normally do, so after the shrimp thawed, I added a good heaping of salt and then experimented with different frying methods. None that I tried worked as I wanted, so I decided to sauté it in butter with a little oil, garlic, and added lots of lemon juice once it was done. She enjoyed the end result and so did Maya and Elsa. I also got some ideas to try next time.

Lasagna for lunch No comments yet

Vegetarian lasagna.

Maya, my youngest,  likes lasagna so I made, for the first time, a lasagna containing ricotta and mozzarella cheese, spinach and basil. That was last Sunday, and I had the remaining square today at lunch time. The basil added a special flavor that in combination with the spinach rendered a delicious and filling pasta lunch.

Writing with Food No comments yet

Yesterday I started a class offered by the Brown University Continuing Education Studies Department. It’s title is Writing with Food. It’s being taught by Carol DeBoer-Langworthy and runs from Oct 7 to Nov 18, 2008.

The first class went quite well. I am the only male in the class, which suits me just fine. I enjoyed  hearing from all the students. We did an exercise and I was excited to hear so many good stories from each and every student. I think there will be some good stories developed during the class.

We are using “American Food: The Gastronomy Story,” by Evan Jones. Carol knows the author’s widow personally.