Day 79: Soft Shell Crab

Doesn't that photo look appetizing? About as appetizing as biting into a fried spider.

Unfortunately, this one was a bit old and had probably been sitting around for too long. So I'll have to try again at a later time. But the meat was tasty - tastes like sweet crab and the shell and little legs are pretty much, soft, which should have contasted with the crunchy batter had my dish been fresh. But loads of mayonnaise pretty much hides everything... oh wait, sorry it doesn't.

On Soft Shell Crabs: Soft-shell crab is a culinary term for crabs which have recently molted their old exoskeleton and are still soft. In the United States, the main species is the "blue crab", which appears in markets from April to September. In Japan, various species are used to make sushi, including the Japanese blue crab or the shore swimming crab. In Italy, the soft-shell of the common Mediterranean crab is a delicacy typical.

Day 78: Collard Greens

Collard Greens are maybe a kid's worst dream. Green (very green), potentially brown, they're mushy, they're  bitter, and did I say it before, oh, they're green. But I had these bad boys at a show in New Orleans and they were pretty damn good. Too brown for my likes, but that comes with the steam table I guess.

I usually prefer them, though cooked with something smoked and fatty, like bacon or ham hock.

On collard greens

Collard greens are various loose-leafed vegetables, from the same family as kale, spring greens, cabbage and broccoli. The plant is grown mainly in Brazil, Portugal, the southern United States, many parts of Africa, Montenegro, Spain and in India. The name "collard" is a shortened form of the word "colewort" (cabbage plant).


Collard greens are a staple vegetable of Southern U.S. cuisine. They are often prepared with other similar green leaf vegetables, such as kale, turnip greens, spinach, and mustard greens in "mixed greens". Typical seasonings when cooking collards can consist of smoked and salted meats (ham hocks, smoked turkey drumsticks, pork neckbones, fatback or other fatty meat).

Day 77: Cheese Mankeesh

Cheese Mankeesh: A soft bread  that bends and folds as soft as a piece of pita bread, but with a crispiness of being straight from a hot oven. It tastes a bit like a nice, buttery pizza. One of my favorite $3.99 snacks (incl tax!) on my way home from work at Paramount Middle Eastern Restaurant.

On Mankeesh (from wikipedia): Manakish, also manaqish, manaeesh or manakeesh (Arabic: manāqīsh) is a popular middle eastern food consisting of dough topped with thyme, cheese, or ground meat. Similar to a pizza, it can be sliced or folded, and it can either be served for breakfast or lunch. The word manaqish is the plural of the Arabic word manqūshah, meaning that after the dough has been rolled flat, it is pressed by the fingertips to create little dips for the topping to lie in.

Traditionally, one would bake dough in a communal oven in the morning, to provide the family with their daily bread needs, and would prepare smaller portions of dough with different toppings for breakfast at this time.

Day 76: Taylor Fladgates Late Bottle Vintage Port

One of the most incredible drinks to have at the end of a meal, that warms up the tummy, makes your head slightly fuzzy, but is nice and sweet on the tongue, and can go with cakes or creams and cuts right through that fat. Probably doesn't eliminate the fat, but at the least, makes you feel less heavy.

As the reader may know, port is a sweet dessert wine. But this bottle had an interesting mushroomyness to it. Its nice and warm on the back of the throat, and an almost instantaneous buzz as the warm fumes rise straight to your brain. At less than $20 a bottle, a real steal, especially considering in about 3 years when it gets to that magical 10 year mark, it would be double the price.

On Port:

Port wine (also known as Vinho do Porto, Porto, and often simply port) is a Portuguese fortified wine produced exclusively in the Douro Valley in the northern provinces of Portugal. It is typically a sweet, red wine, often served as a dessert wine.

Fortified wines in the style of port are also produced outside Portugal, most notably in Australia, South Africa, Canada, India, Argentina, and the United States. Under European Union Protected Designation of Origin guidelines, only the product from Portugal may be labelled as port or Porto.

Port is produced from grapes and the wine produced is then fortified by the addition of a neutral grape spirit known as aguardente in order to stop the fermentation, leaving residual sugar in the wine, and to boost the alcohol content. The wine is then stored and aged, often in barrels stored in a cave before being bottled.

The wine received its name, "port", in the latter half of the 17th century from the seaport city of Porto at the mouth of the Douro River, where much of the product was brought to market or for export to other countries in Europe.

Late Bottled Vintage (this particular bottle), as the name suggests, is bottled later, remaining in wood between four and six years. This is in contrast to Vintage Port which is kept in wood for only twenty months or so before being transferred to the bottle where it will continue to age. Therefore, Late Bottle Vintage was developed as a high quality but more affordable and immediately drinkable alternative to Vintage port to be enjoyed by the glass on everyday occasions. Late Bottle Vintage is the most popular premium Port style in both England and Canada,

On Taylor Fladgate:

Taylor, Fladgate, & Yeatman (often simply Taylor Fladgate) is one of the largest port wine houses. Founded in 1692 in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal by Job Bearsley, becoming Taylor, Fladgate, & Yeatman when Joseph Taylor, John Alexander Fladgate and Morgan Yeatman formed a partnership in 1838, it is also one of the oldest. The house ships almost all types of port including vintage, tawny, ruby, late-bottled vintage, and white. The house invented the style of late-bottled vintage port. Taylor Fladgate's vintage ports are some of the most sought-after and expensive ports in the world.

Day 75: Mezzo Mondo Wine

When I look for a nice, simple, sipping wine at an amazing price, I almost always go for this one - MezzoMondo brand Negroamaro Salento. You're not going to find anything bold or loud. You may even find it a little too tanic. But for under $8 a bottle, all that doesn't even cross your mind because it's just so far off the radar.

Why do I like cheap wines? Because it plays second or third fiddle to the conversation, it's something you don't even notice - it's neither fantastic nor terrible. But THAT'S the way I likkke it baby.

On Negroamaro
Negroamaro, also Negro amaro, is a red wine grape variety native to southern Italy. It is grown almost exclusively in Puglia and particularly in Salento, the peninsula which can be visualised as the “heel” of Italy. The grape can produce wines very deep in color. Wines made from Negroamaro tend to be very rustic in character, combining perfume with an earthy bitterness.

Although 100% varietal wines are produced, Negroamaro is more commonly used as the dominant component of a blend including such varieties as Malvasia Nera, Sangiovese or Montepulciano.

Day 74: Jaipur India Pale Ale

I am a sucker for a good India Pale Ale (IPA). This really is a well balanced one - the fruits, hops, bitter, sweet... nothing overpowering. Grapefruit flavours, a hoppiness that doesn't get you high, but a round bitterness that hugs your cheeks. A caramel sort of appears at the end, like a ghost. The price is a touch higher than Ontario craft IPAs, something like $4.50 for a 500mL bottle. But well worth it.

On Thornbridge Breweries:

With over 200 industry and consumer awards over the past 7 years their beer continues to highlight the importance of traditional ale in the British pub. Thornbridge branded beers were first brewed in early 2005 in the UK and now operate from two brewery sites.

On Jaipur IPA:

From a rought count on the website, this beer has won 88 of the 200 awards. The website describes it as: "A citrus dominated India Pale Ale, its immediate impression is soft and smooth yet builds to a crescendo of massive hoppiness accentuated by honey. An enduring, bitter finish."

On India Pale Ales (from wikipedia and about.com)

IPA descends from the earliest pale ales of the 14th century. A pale ale is an ale which has been brewed from pale malt.

But in the early 1700s Britain had a problem. Troops and British citizens living in India as part of the colonial rule did not have access to good British ale and any attempts to ship the malt British ales to them resulted in spoilage. India Pale Ale, or IPA, was the solution. The generous amount of hops in this brew protected it from the heat and motion of the British sailing ships of the day.

IPA could have faded into history but a fateful shipwreck in 1827 wrecked and damaged some of the casks of IPA on board. The casks were sold there in England and the unusually hoppy ale was a big hit. Soon the new brew was in demand and a new style.

Lots of pale ale and a bit of crystal malt give this styles enough malt sweetness to stand up to the demanding hops. A good IPA will have a pleasantly hoppy aroma. The flavor should be equally hoppy with plenty of balancing malty sweetness.The overwhelming hops flavor of this brew make it a tough beer to pair foods with. Almost any sort of spicing clashes with the hoppy character. Roasted meats can work with a subtle barbecue sauce. Many prefer this beer alone so as to savor the hops.

Day 73: Kettle Corn (Popcorn with salt and sugar)

Something so simple, but something so amazing is popcorn. And we're not talking about microwaveable variety with plastic butter an a million carcinogens.

I like to use air popper at home ($12 at Walmart), which is nice because there's no clean up, and no need to monitor is as it goes. And it comes out nice and fluffy. And it's cheap. The same $1 bag of microwaveable popcorn is probably ~5 cents if you pop it on your own (I don't buy name brand popcorn - I generally try to avoid name brand anything for that matter). And if you don't feel like eating a whole bag, you can only pop a little bit. And you don't end up getting a burned by steaming air when you open it. So many reasons to pop it yourself.

I like to add butter, salt (ground up in a mortar and pestle), and some sugar. Why grind up the salt? Because it sticks better to the popcorn. The same technique can be used for fries or chips.

The best part is mopping up the butter on the bottom of the bowl with the last few remaining kernals so that it's little soggy bits on your fingers.

ON KETTLE CORN (FROM WIKIPEDIA)

Kettle corn was introduced to the United States in the 18th century. It is referenced in the diaries of Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania circa 1776. It was a treat sold at fairs or consumed at other festive occasions. The corn, oil, sugar and salt together is cooked in a cast iron kettle, or possibly a Dutch oven, this produces a noticeable sweet crust on the popcorn, however this method requires constant stirring or the sugar will burn, or a batch of plain popped corn can be sweetened with sugar or honey before adding salt. The combination was widely popular in the early 19th century but fell from wide usage during the 20th century.

In the early 21st century, kettle corn has made something of a comeback in America, especially at 19th-century living history events. As of the 21st century, it is cooked and sold at fairs and flea markets throughout the United States, especially art and craft shows.

Popcorn, or popping corn, is corn (maize) which expands from the kernel and puffs up when heated. Corn is able to pop because its kernels have a hard moisture-sealed hull and a dense starchy interior. This allows pressure to build inside the kernel until an explosive "pop" results. Some strains of corn are now cultivated specifically as popping corns.

Popcorn was first discovered thousands of years ago by Native Americans. It is one of the oldest forms of corn: evidence of popcorn from 3600 B.C. was found in New Mexico and even earlier evidence dating to perhaps as early as 4700 BC was found in Peru.

Air-popped popcorn is naturally high in dietary fiber, low in calories and fat, contains no sodium, and is sugar free. This can make it an attractive snack to people with dietary restrictions on the intake of calories, fat, and/or sodium.