CSG_Slo's Open Salon Blog

Thanksgiving Dinner

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:11:21 -0500

Finally Thanksgiving came and I had the chance to truly eat as much as I could... my contribution to the dinner was a Yam and Marshmallow Side Dish... which goes as follows:

You will need:

8 Yams
Sugar
1Tbsp of Vanilla Extract
Ground Cinnamon
1/4 Cup Orange Juice
Ground Nutmeg
Enough Marshmallows to cover your oven dish.

The process is simple:

First, quarter the yams... then...

Boil (or bake) the yams (boiling takes roughly half an hour to 40 mins, baking takes 30 mins or so per pound of yam,)when the yams are really soft they are done.

Once they are ready, dump them into really cold water... this way the skin comes right off with minimal effort.

When the skins have been removed puree the whole lot of them... mixing in the Vanilla Extract, the Orange Juice, the sugar (to taste), Cinnamon (to taste) and roughly a tbsp of Nutmeg.

Once you have it dumped in your oven dish (in this case a simple ceramic dish) cover it in a layer of marshmallows. Get an oven pre-heated to 350F and stick it in, waiting for the marshmallow tops to brown (keep an eye on it, it doesn't take long.)

You can see the result on the left corner of the picture. Although the marshmallows on the very edge burnt a little, the dish was a success!

Finally, serve up as much as you can, and enjoy!

Winter Ambrosia Sidecar

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:11:19 -0500

Here is a donation from Chaparral Gardens for those of us out there that like good drinks for the festivities:

Winter Ambrosia Sidecar:

1/2 oz Brandy
1/2 oz Cointreu
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/3 oz Chaparral Gardens(tm) Ambriosia Vinegar

Mix together in a shaker with plenty of ice and strain into a glass with a lemon twist.

Enjoy!

Turkey Stuffing # 1

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:11:01 -0500

This is the turkey stuffing I used last time for Christmas Dinner in Mexico. I first heard of it on the UK. I decided to use cornbread instead of old bread and I was pleasantly surprised with the results.

It's a meat stuffing, so be warned! When stuffing the turkey make sure to make small balls of the stuffing to make it easier to put inside the turkey. It's very simple, just get the ingredients and mix.

I also put it around the turkey while it cooked and it absorbed the flavors flawlessly.

You will need:

olive oil to sprinkle at leisure
2 chopped onions (the finer the better)
Salt and ground black pepper
half a teaspoon of crushed nutmeg
bit of crushed sage
half a pound of minced pork
a bit of butter
and crumbled cornbread

Enjoy!

Winter

Mon, 9 Nov 2009 23:11:48 -0500

The cold air seeps into the streets of San Luis Obispo as soon as the sun goes down. Higuera street lights up with countless booths, people pack the few blocks, walking, looking, talking and buying everything from fresh vegetables to salmon.

The air smells of food, ribs, chicken, chinese, tacos, tamales, strawberry shortcakes, pies... it becomes full of energy as food vendors shout out encouraging banter between them as they fulfill orders; as people stop and form half-circles to watch dancers or listen to bands play music of all different kinds, each one just one block from each other.

A large sign in the middle of the street warns “No Dogs Allowed” as couples pass by oblivious to it, a dog on a chain wagging its tail happily. Chefs move purposefully from stall to stall, stopping to make orders, or confirm them, with the farmers and vendors. Some of them pull a cart with several boxes already full of produce.

Behind the booths, proud farmers and vendors watch the crowds that form around them and answer questions, barter and laugh.

This is the San Luis Obispo Farmers' Market, the weekly event that inspired this blog and which has not been forgotten!

Although some developments have kept my writing from here for a bit, my visits and love for it have not diminished.

Especially now that winter is in our doorstep, the last remains of Halloween are gone and people prepare for Thanksgiving and other season holidays and the rare opportunities to prepare large feasts present themselves (we need more of those, IMHO)

So, my intent in the next few weeks will be to find and share what the farmers and vendors from the Farmers' Market recommend for Thanksgiving. From tips to recipes, I will post quite a few here, even including the ones that made me a legend (in Mexico City) for Turkey dinners.

For now, I bid you goodnight, but I will be back soon....

SLO Chai Tea

Wed, 7 Oct 2009 15:10:34 -0400

As we know Chai tea comes mainly from India, and thanks to the British love for tea, it is wide-spread around the world today, and millions of people drink it every day.

This spicy tea has transformed into several new forms besides the classic boiling water plus milk and adding the tea leaves. Now we can find anything from Frappuccinos to chocolate mixes and the benefits of drinking Chai Tea regularly reach our ears through word of mouth, personal experience and articles.

My personal experience with Chai Tea goes back to my time living in the United Kindgom, where from time to time I had the chance to drink it. I found it to be very relaxing, and I still drink it to feel myself calm down and start a new day... which brings me to the article for today:

This week I interviewed Joel Pace from the well known “SLO Chai” fair trade booth at the San Luis Obispo Farmer's market. Needless to say, the sight of SLO Chai always intrigued me and I was really looking forward to talking to him about it.

The talk with Joel was very interesting, he is a man that has a unique perspective on things and is an extremely nice person, willing to share stories and information, he is well known amongst by the community and a few cafés in the area already carry his products.

He sees the SLO Farmers' Market as a great vehicle to pursue and offer the community a healthy product and at the same time promote Organic Agricultural Practices and Fair Trade.

He is a firm believer in sustainability and impressively enough, SLO Chai has Sustainable Educator Grants, which as the name implies, is designed to help educators that focus on teaching the younger generations about sustainable living.

Joel himself, used to be a school teacher, and when his firstborn son came into his life, he worried about spending enough time with him, as too much work would leave out much chance to be there for him.

And so, he and his wife started thinking about how they could start something that would allow them to have the resources they needed to spend time together and raise their child.

He then remembered his trip to India in 2000, a trip he undertook to learn more about the world and more importantly himself. It was there that he tried Chai tea for the first time. Flash-forward to October, 2004 when they made their first official batch of what today is known as “SLO Chai”.

SLO Chai has an impressive website with a lot of options to try. Anything from the classic Chai blend to Chai Ale and even Chai Chocolate- they sell pre-made flavored tea in a variety of sizes and options... a definite stop for anyone that wants to enjoy a great cup of Chai tea.

Joel himself enjoys having his tea with waffles, and suggested putting some on ice cream and even making milkshakes!

Clearly the possibilities with Chai Tea are endless, and a good place to start getting a bit of information and purchasing your own original SLO Chai tea is, again, at their Web Page.

For now, I bid you farewell, and as for myself, I'm going to drink a nice cup of tea.