Watermelon

Early yesterday morning I was watching an old John Wayne cowboy movie on the Turner Classic movie network. The movie was called "Haunted Gold", from 1932. I was very surprised to see that John Wayne had a Black male sidekick. But anyway, besides that towards the end of the movie, the Black sidekick went back into a cabin located on top of a haunted gold mine to try to save John Wayne, who was tied up in a chair. Because he was a Black actor from the 1930's his character had to be afraid of spooks, haunts, ghost, and act like a buffoon. Then he had the nerve to put on the black see through sheet that belonged to the original person that played the phantom, who scared everyone else in the movie. Well to make a long story short, the Black actor was able to free John Wayne. After John Wayne left, the Black actor stayed back in the cabin to continue to scare the two bad guys that held John Wayne prisoner. He blew his cover by stupidly repeating, "I is the phantom, I is the phantom........". Then the two bad guys said to themselves, "why he is speaking watermelon language, he's not the phantom!" So they chased the Black actor and he fell into the haunted gold mine.

So I thought to myself, what the heck is this big joke about Black people and watermelon? It is an old 20th century and I guess 19th century joke, about watermelon and black people. As a little kid I remember the old cartoons that would have a black character with white lips eating watermelon. My mother also said there was a song when she was a child, about a little Black boy singing how much he like watermelon. But I did not get the joke then and I still don't get the joke now. I also remember an incident in Howard Beach, New York a few years ago, where Rev. Al Sharpton marched in protest of a murder of a Black man and the white people threw watermelons at him. What was that supposed to mean? Are Black people supposed to be afraid of watermelons or something? When the incident happened I even asked a white gentleman that worked in the office where I worked, who also lived in Howard Beach, what is the significance between Black people and watermelon. Why is it so funny or is it scary? He did not know the answer either.

I guess the joke then, is the same joke that there is now about Black people and fried chicken? I like watermelon and fried chicken :).

What do you think?

Barbeque Spareribs

Barbeque Spareribs

1 package of spareribs
2-3 cups of water
2 Celery sticks
2 Garlic cloves or 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
2-3 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
¼ cup of vinegar
1 large onion
1 bottle of barbeque sauce.

In a large pot add spareribs and pour vinegar on the ribs. You can cut the spareribs to fit in the pot. Chop celery, onion, and garlic into pieces and add to the meat in the pot. Add salt and pepper. Pour water into the pot, so that it is about half full. Let the spareribs steam for 30 minutes or until you have the texture that you like. Place in a flat roasting pan. Roast for an hour or more at 375°until it browns into the color that you want. After it browns, brush on the barbeque sauce. Let the sauce cook on the meat on one side. Then flip the meat over and brush on barbeque sauce. Cook until it looks like color and texture that you like. You can cook two packages spareribs; just add more spices, celery, onion, garlic, and vinegar.

Beef Pot Roast

My Pot Roast recipe is pretty standard stuff. I think I got my first variation it out of "Boys Life Magazine" when I was a scout as a kid. I'll just say at the top that the secret ingredient is (once again) ketchup.



Ingredients:
1 hunk of beef
some lowery season salt
a few twists of fresh ground black pepper
one onion, chopped
one potato, cubed
a couple of carrots, chopped
a dash or two of worstershire sauce
a dash or two of tabasco sauce
2 bay leaves
a pot of boiling water

Brown the beef in a bit of your favorite oil, (I like peanut oil because it takes the heat very well) in a dutch oven or roasting pan. At the same time, in a separate pot, boil about a quart of water. After the beef is brown on all sides, take it out of the pan so you can pour off the excess oil. Sweat the onions with a bit of salt in the roasting pan. At your discretion, add the carrots and potatoes. Add the dry seasoning. At some point when everything starts to smell good, place the hunk of beef back in the pan. By now, the water is certainly boiling in the other pot. Pour enough of it into the pan to almost cover the beef. Add the liquid seasonings and the bay leaves. Here's where I add the secret ingredient, about a half of a cup of Ketchup. I like Heinz. Stir it a bit. You could add some more water, at this point, until the meat is submerged. Cover the pan or dutch oven, and turn the heat down to a simmer. I like to cook it for about two hours or until the meat is so tender you can cut it with a dull knife. Adjust your seasonings from time to time and check to make sure the water has not boiled out. There it is,

Do You Like Fish? Well, I don't.

I'm not really a fan of fish, especially fish with skin and a head on it. I'll eat tuna salad, shrimp, crabs, fishcakes, and fish from the frozen food section (with more crust than fish). But fresh fish and lobster I do not really like. Even my cat Piggy does not like fish. She eats turkey, chicken, & beef. If I eat fish in a restaurant, I'll order the fried fish platter. So in order to get my ration of Omega-3, I bought some fish oil supplements.
My son loves fish, so I bought 16 trout from Omaha steaks. I tried frying them at first and that seemed like too much work. So I tried stuffing and baking them. I did not eat any of it, but I was told that the trout tasted pretty good. I made a homemade stuffing made out of leftover potato rolls and Italian sausage. After I stuffed the fish I tied them up with some string. So out of the 16 trout I have 8 left, maybe I'll attempt to eat it one of these days.
What do you think?

Mother Sylvie's Orange Carrot Cake

Here's another one of our family favorite recipes for orange carrot cake.



1 large orange
2 cups of unsifted flour
2 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of baking soda
2 teaspoons of nutmeg
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups salad oil
4 eggs
2 cups of grated carrot
1/2 cup of pecans or walnuts

1/2 cup of raisins

Preheat oven 350°

Wash orange and cut into eight wedges with a sharp knife. Remove the white center and remove any seeds. Place the entire orange with it's skin into an electric blender and puree.

In a large mixing bowl add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir together and add oil, orange puree, and eggs. Mix thoroughly. Blend carrots and nuts until fine. Add blended carrots and nuts to the flour mixture.

If your family has nut allergies, you can replace the nuts with raisins.

Pour into greased floured Angel food baking pan or a bundt cake pan . Bake in oven for one hour or until the cake tester comes away clean. The cake will start to pull away from the side of the pan. Remove from the oven. Cool cake in the pan for 5-10 minutes and remove from pan.

Dust with confectioner's sugar or add cream cheese icing, if desired.

If not used on the same day refrigerate.

Homemade Marshmallows

Homemade Marshmallows

3 1/2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup of cold water
2 cups of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of corn syrup
1/2 cup of hot water
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of confectioners' sugar

In an electric mixing bowl sprinkle gelatin over cold water. Let it stand until it softens.

Oil bottom of a rectangular baking pan and dust with confectioners sugar.

In a large sauce pan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, hot water, and salt using low heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat until it reaches 240° on a candy thermometer or boils for 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat and pour over gelatin mixture. Beat the mixture on high speed until it is white and thick for 6-10 minutes. In a large bowl beat the egg whites until they have stiff peaks. Beat the egg whites, sugar mixture, & vanilla together.

Pour mixture into the rectangular baking pan. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar over the top of the entire mixture. Chill uncovered until firm for three hours up to 1 day.

Loosen the marshmallows from the pan using a knife. Drop it on to a cutting board and cut marshmallows into 1 inch squares. Place marshmallows into a plastic storage bag with the rest of the confectioners sugar and toss until they are evenly coated. Keep marshmallows in an air tight container in the refrigerator or freezer. The marshmallows will not freeze.

Great Grandmother's Old Fashioned Pound Cake

Many years ago, as children, we sat around listening to our Great Grandmother tell stories about her experiences and she gave us a recipe for pound cake. She said that the cake's ingredients should have a pound of everything in it, like a pound of flour and a pound of sugar. So here is the recipe for Great Grandmother's pound cake.

3 3/4 to 4 cups of sifted flour (1 lb of flour)
2 cups of sugar (1 lb of sugar)
1 teaspoon of salt
10 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 teaspoons of lemon extract or almond extract
1 lb of unsalted butter or 4 sticks

1 teaspoon of mace could be used in place of the lemon & almond extract for that old fashioned taste.


Preheat the oven to 325°

Eggs & butter must be at room temperature. Place butter, sugar, & salt in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until light. Add vanilla & lemon or almond extract to the creamed butter. Beat in 5 eggs, one at a time. Then reduce the speed of the mixer and add 1/3 of the flour, beat until smooth. Stop the mixer to scrape the bowl. Then add another third of the flour. Beat in the last of the eggs. Scrape the bowl. Then add the last third of the flour until the batter is smooth. Pour batter into buttered loaf pans or ring pan. Bake from 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours until the cake is risen and brown. To test if the cake is done, stick a toothpick or fork in the cake and it should come out dry. Cool cake for about 5 minutes and then take out of the pan to finish cooling.

Try it and see if it works out well.

Grandma's Sweet Bread With A Cup Of Tea

Grandma's Sweet Bread with a cup of tea


6 to 7 cups of unsifted flour
2 packages of dry yeast
2 cups of sugar
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 sticks of butter or margarine
2 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of water
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of salt

Filling
2 cups of shredded fresh coconut or packaged shredded coconut
2 cups of raisins
2 teaspoons of Cinnamon
1/2 cup of sugar

Sugar water
1/2 cup of water
4 tablespoons sugar



In saucepan combine milk, 2 cups of sugar, butter, and salt. Heat until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Put it aside to cool. In a large bowl add 6 to 7 cups of unsifted flour. In a smaller bowl combine dry yeast, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and a 1/2 cup of water. Mix the yeast until it is dissolved. Add the cooled butter and milk mixture to the flour. Add the yeast mixture to the flour and milk mixture then mix thoroughly. Then place on a floured board and knead until smooth and elastic. The more you knead the better. Place in the large bowl and let rise until double in bulk. Punch down dough once and let it rise again until it doubles in bulk again.

Combine shredded fresh coconut, cinnamon, and sugar or raisins, cinnamon, and sugar in a bowl. Mix thoroughly.

Empty dough on to the floured board or mat and divide into pieces. Knead and flatten one piece and spread the mixture on top of it. Roll it over and shape. Place in a loaf pan or desired baking pan. Let it rise over night. Work the other pieces of dough the same way.

Combine water and sugar until dissolved.

Pre-heat the oven 375°. Brush sugar water on the top of the loaf. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until done.

Remove bread from pan, slice, and serve with a cup of tea.

Lentil Bean Soup

Lentil Bean Soup Recipe

2 carrots

2 stalks of celery

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic (or more)

1/4 cup of olive oil

1 can of whole tomatoes and basil

2 tbs of ketchup

1/2 bag of dry lentil beans

fresh ground black pepper to taste

salt to taste

fresh oregano

fresh tyme

1 bay leaf

Soak lentil beans in water, overnight. Rinse. Boil a quart of water. Heat some of the olive oil to slight smoke in French/Dutch oven. Add chopped onions. Add some salt to sweat the onions. Add chopped garlic. Stir with wooden spoon. Add chopped celery. Add chopped carrots. Add tyme and Oregano to taste. Add lentil beans. Stir. Add a can of tomatoes. Stir. Add half of the boiling water. Add Bay leaf. Add Ketchup. Add the rest of the Olive Oil. Cover and simmer on low/med heat for an hour and a half.

Serve with a small ball of Mozzarella per bowl. Two Calamata Olives.

Recipe For Barbadian Style Fish Cakes

Here is one of my favorite recipes for Barbadian style fish cakes.

Cod Fish Cakes

2 lbs. salted boneless codfish (bacalao) or salted pollack
1 large pot of water
2 cups of Bisquick or flour with 2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 large onion
1 large green pepper
2 large white boiled mashed potatoes or 2 cups of dry potatoes
2 large eggs
2 cloves of ground or finely chopped garlic
Barbadian style hot sauce
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon black pepper
Oil (vegetable, corn, etc.)

Soak fish overnight, pouring off the water several times. Then boil the fish in water until soft & flaky. Taste the fish to see if it is too salty. If too salty, throw away boiled water, add fresh water and boil again. Drain the water from the fish.

In a bowl, flake or pound the fish into the texture that you like.

Chop onion & Green pepper, not to fine and not to chunky.

In a frying pan, saute half of the onion and the green pepper.

Add the other half of raw onion & green pepper to the fish.
Also mix the garlic, hot sauce, & spices into the fish.
Beat the eggs.
Add eggs, Bisquick, mashed potatoes, & sauteed onion-green pepper into the fish mixture.

Additional hot sauce & spices could be added to taste if it is not spicy enough.
If the fish mixture is to wet, more Bisquick & potatoes could be added for texture.

Heat oil & spoon the fish cakes into the size that you want & fry.

Enjoy!

How do pronounce the word plantain?

From the time I was a child my family always pronounced the banana type fruit plantain as plan' tin. Lately I have noticed more and more on television that people are pronouncing the word as plan' tain, with an emphasis on the tain. The first time I noticed people saying plan' tain was when Cosmo Kramer from the "Seinfeld" television show went shopping for fruit and he told Jerry that he bought a plan' tain. It may seem a little nuts, but I had to look up the pronunciation of the word in Webster's New World Dictionary and Thesaurus and it states that plantain is pronounced plan' tin. Then I said to myself, "ah ha", I knew that I was right. If we start saying plan' tain then we might as well start saying moun' tain and foun' tain instead of pronouncing them as mount' n and fount' n. Some people even try to separate green plantains from the sweet plantains by saying that the sweet plantains should be pronounced as plain' tain and the green ones should be pronounced as plan' tin.


What do you think?

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