The Bad Plus

Last night, I went to see THE BAD PLUS concert at Ram's Head Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland with my daughter. This is the second time the two of us heard them live and they have gotten "badder" than ever, really awesome. And David is King (of drums)! Goodness, he was wild and seemed tireless with all those almost violent acrobatic acts he was doing but he can be very gentle when necessary. I did not want to look elsewhere or I might miss one of his antics, haha. They are also very funny when they explain the story/reason behind the titles of their songs. Ethan Iverson (piano) announced they will be recording their new album next week (in England I'm sure), woohoo. Something to look forward to. The venue is intimate and the crowd was very enthusiastic. The best birthday gift to myself.

Also got one of my birthday wishes, a Last Holiday film soundtrack cd, good music, except for one track, The Awful Madeleine Peyroux (lousy copycat, create your own style!, how dare she to imitate one of my music icons, Billie Holiday, hmpph). I tried to listen to it but can't even finish half of it, I get irritated and had to make a copy WITHOUT HER SONG, grrr..... Ah, Nina Simone's Feeling Good and Isaac Hayes' Never Can Say Goodbye, goood music. I'm calm now..
By the way, Last Holiday is one of the best movies I saw this year, no sex, no violence, no swearing, no mindless car chases, excellent soundtrack, funny sweet comedy, Queen Latifah very good. She plays a very shy laid back woman whose passion is gourmet cooking. She prepares food then catalogues them and dreams of having her own restaurant and the man of her dreams... Recommended for everyone.

I was given by a reader two ice cream flavor recommendations, Choc-Nut, a Filipino peanut and chocolate candy, and dulce de leche. I was so excited to try Choc-Nut but our Philgrocer ran out of stock and will have to wait another 2 -3 weeks for their next shipment. I'll try the other flavor, dulce de leche or maybe I'll substitute Reese's Pieces. What to do.

Venezuelan Hallaquitas

This is a Venezuelan delicacy, hallaquitas or hallacas are usually eaten during the Christmas season. It is like tamale but the meat filling is so much different, it is more like the Filipino/Spanish pastel but encased in corn meal instead of pie shell. Like the Filipinos, Venezuelans also use banana leaves, not corn husk. I was given these bundles maybe 5 years ago around Christmas time by a Venezuelan couple friends. The wife told me they make it only on special occasions. I love it and had made it once, this is just the second time I made them. This delicious treat reminds me of the Philippines, both the banana leaves and the filling.

Meat filling: ½ pound each diced lean beef and boneless skinless chicken breast, 1 small can sliced vienna sausage, 1 cup raisins, ½ cup each diced tomatoes, red bell peppers, potatoes and carrots, 1 diced chorizo, ½ cup each chopped black or green olives and capers, 1 chopped onion, 5 chopped garlic cloves, 1 cup sherry, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Heat olive oil, add onions and garlic, saute for 2 minutes, add meats, saute for 5 minutes, add the rest of the ingredients, simmer for 30 minutes, making sure the stew does not dry out completely. It should have a little bit of sauce. Let cool completely before filling cornmeal.

Cornmeal: Mix 3 ½ cups lukewarm chicken broth, 2 cups of PAN cornmeal (this is the only brand that I use as do the Venezuelans I know in my area), 2 tablespoons olive oil. Mix well.

To assemble: You should have plenty of rectangular banana leaves already cleaned. Tear thin pieces for tying the bundles. Place about 2 -3 tablespoons of cornmeal mixture in the middle of leaves, spread into an oval. Spoon the meat in the middle of the corn, gather leaves towards the center, fold then fold both ends. Take another leaf and repeat, tie loosely at both long ends, each bundle should have 2 leaves to ensure filling and corn do not come out while boiling. Boil a large pot of water, submerge all the bundles and simmer for 20 minutes.

Vietnamese-Style Prawns And Fresh Figs Compote

The other night we had Vietnamese grilled prawns sprinkled with golden deep fried spring onions and chopped garlic and Thai basil. The dish is served with rice noodles (bihon), shredded romaine and mung bean sprouts and fish sauce (nuoc mam). It's utterly delicious. For tonight I cooked prawns with the same ingredients (I think), fried not grilled and served with rice. I only have a few spring onions so it's not worth heating up oil and the kitchen so I sauted them. I already have deep fried sliced garlic which I crumbled on top. It's really, really good. I will have to buy a LOT of spring onions to deep fry so they're ready for topping any Asian dish.

Fresh Figs Compote

I have a lot of fresh figs this week, it seems I'm the only one eating them. I cut them in half, mixed with calamansi or lemon juice, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons honey then let them chill in the fridge for 3 hours. I did not want to stew them, I prefer the uncooked method but substituted calamansi for lemons. For one serving, about 5 halves, I added a small squirt of whipped cream on top. The taste of honey/calamansi (honeymansi in the Philippines) is surprisingly a perfect match with the figs and with just a hint of cream it is wonderful. Mmm.

Spaghetti Hos

The easiest sauce to make for pasta in my opinion is the alla puttanesca. I don't have to describe what this is as I think everybody knows this style and its origin. I have regularly made this for more than 20 years since I and some co-workers got an impromptu lesson during lunch time from another office worker whose boss was Sicilian. I was going to use those large red/brown olives but couldn't use my olive pitter as the stones are too large and it takes too long to pit them by hand, they also break into uneven pieces so I used the black ones instead.

Unrelated to the above dinner, just want to share this hilarious video with everyone who loves sushi. Incidentally we were supposed to have sushi/Japanese food last night but the sushi place we wanted to go to was closed for no reason and ended up at the Vietnamese place, same thing happened 2 months ago , the same Japanese and Vietnamese places, deja vu all over again? Oh gee I never thought I'll ever use that awful phrase.