Warning: This Gets Political

Alright, I need to get a few things straight about me and this blog. First, I do not want this blog to be about politics because thats not what I set out to do here. Second, in a political setting I am a liberal and registered Democrat. Third, I hate partisan politics and I believe the job of the government is to do what is best for our country not matter what side of the aisle that falls on, even if what is best for the country is not what the "people" want.

I am a teacher of a class that discusses politics on a daily basis. I have gotten very good and take great pride in keeping my own political opinions out of my classroom because my job is not to force my opinions on my students but to provide them the information for them to make an intelligent decision on their own. I also love a good political discussion. What I hate however, is political arguments between people who only know one side of an argument and are unwilling to see the other side. I also hate political rhetoric that leads to these arguments. I recently had to walk out of an establishement where I was having a political discussion with an elected Republican official and some of his family members whom I have a lot of respect for and have known for a long time. We were having an intelligent conversation about politics, government and the state of America, when all of a sudden a person I consider a friend just started spewing hurtful political rhetoric that had no place in that conversation or, in my opinon, in the world. I bit my tounge, smiled, and without as much as a goodbye, I left.

Soapbox: For the people who are "RA RA America," which I think is fine, the last thing our country needs is bickering. The only way our country will make it through tough times and disagreements is by having intelligent discussions not bickering.

My solution for myself (and maybe you): I am going to start looking into this new movement called "No Labels." From what I know about it at this point is that it is a group of people from both sides of the political spectrum that feel the US needs a little more conversation and a little less yelling. This group will seek to elect officials who will listen more and vote with their heart, not with their party. Hopefully, they will do what is RIGHT for the country and not what the "people" have "mandated."

Check it out: http://nolabels.org/
I'm signing the declaration.

Attempting to be a better person...

...for the world and for myself. I watched a documentary the other day called "King Corn." I thought it was great. It was basically all about how bad high fructose corn syrup is for you and how much Americans depend on corn (movies point: we are basically made of corn). Film is available on Netflix instant view, btw.

I am addicted to soda. Specifically Coke and Pepsi, and I would so that nearly half of my daily intake of calories, on days I teach and work at the restaurant, come from these two soft drinks. My day usually goes like this:
Breakfast - Pack of Peanut Butter Crackers and a 12oz Coke
Lunch - Peanut Butter Sandwich and 12oz Coke
Dinner - Whatever I can snack on at work and an outrageous amount of fountain Pepsi

As you can see the other half of my caloric intake is peanut butter and bread products. Sad I know. Thus, I have decided to attempt to quit drinking soda cold turkey. Not easy because I crave the taste of Coke... intensely. It has to be healthy to not drink that much soda.

On top of that I am trying to eat more sustainably, and more green if you will. I worked on an awesome farm this week during my spring break. I shoveled a lot of chicken crap, but it was fun none the less. I also had some great pork from their pasture raised pigs. They do everything there as natural as possible and sell their stuff at markets around the triangle. Check them out. I am also trying to participate in a virtual farmer's market in the Greenville area while I'm still here. Fresh local food with both produce, meat, bread, jams, honey, etc.

Who knows how long this will actually last for me, but it is nice to attempt. By no means will eat completely healthy, green, local, or sustainable (I say as I eat Moe's and drink a beer from Colorado) but I am going to try to do as much as I can.

If I could do it all again

Sometimes you make decisions that you realize later may not have been the best or the smartest. I am by no means unhappy with the choices that I made in the past but if I could do it all again I would probably change a few things.

1) 18 years old is too too too too young to sign a contract about anything. Turns out that I signed one that has taken away all of my big decision making abilities since I put my mark on the dotted line.

2) Being a professional educator is a strange, strange thing. My first six weeks as an educator in training has been eye opening to say the least. Teaching can be amazing and haunting and and terrible and ridiculous all at the same time. I'm not convinced that I like or dislike teaching. The jury is still out. Unfortunately, the aforementioned contract takes away my ability to even make that decision for the next four years. Students do not want to be in school. If they do want to be there its only to see their friends. Grades are becoming less and less of a leverage tool for teachers because they don't care about grades. All that being said, I am not upset that I have been in college for five years seeking an education degree. I have genuinely enjoyed my time here and learned a lot about myself and what I want from life.

3) 18 is too young to decide what you want to do with your life. Maybe there should be a 13th grade where all students do is try out different professions. Hobo and street musician should be included on the list of choices. The American education system is not very good because it does not prepare students for life or even for college for that matter. Oh well that is a whole different problem that I can not begin to discuss.

4) More colleges should allow a multi-disciplinary degree program. Me personally, I would love a degree focused around culinary arts, agriculture, business, and the history of them all. Practical? Applicable? Could it get me a job? Who knows? Who cares? That would be awesome and who says I'll get a job with my degree in History Education? But how would I know this is what I would want when I was 18? It took 4 years of a college education in something completely different to let me know this is what I enjoy. In the 8th grade I had to take a career placement test. Results? Nothing. I was not interested in any one thing or good enough at any one thing to even get a result. I jokingly said that meant I could either be homeless or the president (I was even cynical about government then, and they let me teach social studies). To be honest, that's how my whole life has been. I have lots of interests and I'm pretty good at a lot of things. Not amazing at anyone thing.

I am still left with that question from the 8th grade. What should I do with my life? The next four to five years are already planned out unless I come in to some money. But after that, everything is completely up in the air. Current plan is to move to New York to be a 30 year old entry level professional cook with no formal training. 4-5 years is a long time, and a lot of things can change and probably will.

Again, I am not unhappy with my life choices because these choices have led me down some amazing roads, introduced me to some incredible people, and it is never too late to change your mind.... I think. It may lead to me being a hobo but I don't think that would be such a bad thing either sometimes.

Cooking Tips from Me (b/c they were sort of asked for)

Back story: This weekend I was asked by a friend to give him cooking lessons. First of all, this is weird to me because I'm still not confident in my own abilities to even say that I can cook (though my roommate insists on calling me a chef to everyone he introduces me too). At best I am cook, and at the moment a home cook. I work at a "fast-casual" restaurant for pete's sake and the most real cooking we do is putting a bag of preseasoned meat on a flattop grill and flip halfway through. I did however come to the conclusion that I have learned some things that have made my cooking 1,000 times better.

1) Salt and Pepper- Seasoning is everything. If you don't use salt and pepper your food will be bad. If you're following a recipe use the measurements for salt and pepper as a guideline not the law. Taste the food until its where you want it to be in terms of salt content. Personally, I prefer using coarse salt (not in a salt shaker) because it is easier to manage and see how much you have used. Also, coarse cracked pepper (in a grinder or not) is easier to deal with than a super fine ground pepper in a shaker.

2) Fat- Use it! It tastes good! Butter and cured pork (Bacon or otherwise) are staples.

*Note on butter; it has a low smoke point mix it with some oil in a pan and it wont burn so easy.
*Note on oil; a good EVOO is great if you're going to use it raw. If you are going to put it in a hot pan don't waste your money and use your cheap oil of choice.

3) Good Stuff- For the most part if you put good stuff in good stuff comes out, and the other way around, if you put sub par ingredients in you get a sub par end product. Fresh veg is awesome and fairly easy to find if you know where to look (in Greenville? check out the Boss Hog's parking lot on 14th).

4) Medium Heat- Grown men (and probably women) love fire and really hot fire but when cooking its usually not the way to go. Unless you're trying to boil water or quick seer meat (and some other stuff), bring the knob down a bit.

5) Acid- This I have not quite mastered yet, but according to Top Chef and top chef's the perfect dish is a balance between fats and acids. Sounds easy but it isn't. However, don't be afraid of citrus, vinegar, mustard, etc.

Watch this video and get some of the same stuff that I just said but from one of the best chefs in the world. http://blog.aveceric.com/category/videos This an easy recipe and he is a bad ass. Ignore the white pepper thing though, you're cooking at home not in a 4 star kitchen, and the taste isn't that different.


That's all I can think of. If I can think of anything else I'll let you know. If anyone else has anything to add or corrections, by all means.

Revolution!!!

Alright I am about to try to create a marriage between history and food. Wish me luck.

The last few weeks I have been in a North Carolina history class that covered everything from the Lost Colony up to the women's movement of the 1970's. Through that study of just one state I have noticed that the time between 1900 and 1929 saw breakneck speed changes that effected everyone. In some it created a new world of information, ideas, transportation, and exploration. For others however it created a desperate need to cling to the past. And for still others it created a need to fuse the new with the old, although not very successfully at the time. My question is are there other time periods in the modern world where things are changing that fast? Are we in that time now? Is the information technology age the same as the progressive movement of the early 1900's? Here is the marriage with food part. When were these times in culinary history that things changed dramatically in such an abrupt fashion? Are we in that kind of change in the culinary world now? Is the mixture of advanced science and cooking one of those water shed moments that send some people headfirst into the new realm and others clinging to meatloaf their mom made every Wednesday? Are there still others that are trying to make "molecular gastronomy" and traditional "home cooking" meet in the middle? Are they successful in doing this? What about the side by side growth of this new scientific world and the "farm to table" "nose to tail" organic green movement? Will there be a battle for supremacy? Will the two coexist separately or will those who are combining the two (they do exist) be the new force that wins out?

As an inexperienced foodie, more inexperienced food historian, and hardly able to call myself a historian, I am asking more questions that I can even provide guesses at the answers. But please respond if you have a thoughts.

Why I Love Folgers and Extra Crunch Peanut Butter

In this day and age you don't hear many people saying that they love grocery store coffee like Folgers or Maxwell House. Starbucks is the king of coffee even though they bastardize it whenever they can (ie macchiato?). But I have come to realize that there is nothing more satisfying than pouring a good cup of coffee in the morning and just enjoying it for what it is. It may not be good to the last drop, mainly b/c I hate cold coffee. Folgers may not be changing the world or pushing fair trade organic beans, but it makes millions of people content with their lives everyday. I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that it is the small things in life that make you content that really make a person happy. A solid cup of coffee while walking my dog early in the morning before the eastern North Carolina humidity bears down on me is pretty satisfying. That white bread sandwich with extra crunchy peanut butter brings me back to childhood, whether it be with bananas or food lion brand strawberry jam (I'm not above it). Its not just the small satisfying things in food and drink that count, though food makes me really happy, but in everything. To all of my friends that joke me and say I dislike all things happy and fun; I seem to be having an off day because I am in a really good mood being extremely content with the little things. I am about to go have a very simple sandwich from a very simple deli run by simple people. Sounds like a good lunch to me.

New Recipe Idea - Cucumber Melon Tuna Tartar

I'm working on a new app idea for work. I was thinking about a regular tuna tartar (tuna, lime juice, salt and pepper, and olive oil) but adding cubes of cucumbers and cantaloupe and possible a little sugar to give it some sweetness. I want to serve it like sushi rolls. I'm looking for an idea for a sauce (maybe a key lime sauce?). Any feedback and ideas would be appreciated.