Jim’s Brain Online

Posted by Jim at March 17th, 2006

I’m interested in food. Specifically I’m interested in ethnic foods. A country’s cuisine is the product of its available resources. The types of food used in a cuisine’s dishes comes out of the environment (all around the Mediterranean Sea people eat lots of fish). The techniques used to cook the food come out of the availabilty of tools to cook with–wood, coal, metal pots, stoves, clay ovens…

As a result of personal interest then, I end up cooking a fair amount of Mediterranean foods (particularly Morrocan, Provencal, Lebanese and some Greek foods), Indian, and Thai. There’s also a certain amount of old favorites from my own childhood (roast, burritos, various soups…) and sometimes vegetarian (I’m not a vegetarian, but I don’t think meat is a necessity in every meal).

There’s also a bit of Peruvian cuisine, but that’s mostly because Kristen once bought me a Peruvian cookbook.

I sometimes wonder what the effect of growing up with this sort of menu will have on my kids’ perspective on food. I get a glimpse of this every so often. On Thursdays, the school one of my daughters goes to has hot lunch, allowing her to eat something I haven’t made.

On Wednesday night, we had beef in spinach sauce–an Indian curry. My daughter ate it enthusiastically. On Thursday at school, she had mini-corn dogs. She removed the outer covering, but ate the hot dog inside.

Spinach based sauces with strange spices are okay, I guess, but hot dogs with a covering around them are just too weird.

Posted by Jim at February 25th, 2006

My wife informs me that I should be writing more blog entries that people actually want to read. By this she means entries that she wants to read–ones that do not talk about intricacies of various operating systems or role playing game theory/practices.

Thus today I’m writing an entry on something that touches everyone deeply: bacon.

I never really tried to cook bacon on the stove until about five years after being married. The reason for this is that microwaves are pretty decent at cooking bacon. Decent at any rate if you have the sense to buy one of those special plastic pans for cooking meat in the microwave. I don’t. I tend to cook bacon on plates and cover the plates with paper towels to prevent spattering.

Typically this results in well cooked bacon, but also bacon that melds into a solid mass on the plate. Worse, sometimes the paper towel gets mixed in with the bacon. Also, I’ve sometimes shattered plates in the process.

Thus, I’ve been motivated to actually start cooking bacon on the stove. This was harder for me than you might expect. I’ve burned a lot of bacon lately. It turns out that (so far as I can tell) the best way to cook bacon is to heat up a burner a bit on the low side of medium. That way the bacon gets slowly cooked, ending up entirely done but still soft. Cooking the bacon on medium (at least when I do it) is likely to result in the bacon getting simultaneously undercooked and burned in different places on the piece.

There we go… I have now written a post that does not include role playing games or computers.

Kristen, this one’s for you! *

* I wonder if Kristen will find this funny?

** Kristen, if you are reading this, see what happens when you leave me alone with only a mission, children, the internet, and my sense of absurdity to keep me company?

*** You’ll note that I didn’t mention my sense of humor. That’s on vacation at the moment.

**** Ugh. It’s nearly noon and all of us are still in pajamas. I wonder if I should do something about that?

Posted by Jim at February 9th, 2006

Jim: Planning on putting up more comics? I can guess you’ve been too busy to draw lately, but I’m looking forward to future comics.

Ed: You know, I’ve been pretty out of it the past few weeks, but I would sure like to get around to drawing more. Nothing’s entered my head as an obvious comic lately, but that’s OK — just sitting around trying to draw one usually gets me *something*, even if it’s sort of a “zen” “lyrics from a favorite song, acted out” comic.

Jim: Hmmn. Good thing you haven’t been listening to Yes or REM lately. “A season which to call you from the depths of your disgrace and rearrange your liver to the solid mental grace…”

Ed: I always heard it as “a seasoned witch could call you…” (the rest the same) That’d be an even better picture.

Jim: One can only wonder what the witch would be seasoned with.

Ed: hickory smoke I assume

Jim: I can think of several different curry powders that might be good.

Ed: mmm, witch! Yummy!

Posted by Jim at January 26th, 2006

I like food from India. It’s one of the things that got me interested in cooking ethnic foods. I’ve got a very basic understanding of the different cooking styles connected with different regions of the country.

This doesn’t stop me from screwing up every so often.

Yesterday I decided I would cook two dishes. One was basically fish in yogurt sauce. The other was cauliflower and scallions with black mustard seeds.

I’d managed to find black mustard seeds at a local store that specializes in middle eastern foods and I’d been wanting to find a way to use them. They turn out to be a little harder to use than I’d assumed. Basically what you’re supposed to do with mustard seeds is to heat oil to high, put the mustard seeds in, and wait for them to heat up and probably pop.

They never popped for me.

They just sat there, released their smell, and did nothing else. Mind you, I waited for them to pop. I waited while the edges of the oil blackened, began to smoke, and the smell became unbearably nasty. The air in the kitchen became hazy and everyone in the family began to cough.

According to the cookbook, I was supposed to wait for the seeds to turn grey before I put in the rest of the spices.

The seeds stayed black.

After several agonizing minutes, I gave up and dumped in the rest of the spices and turned on the ceiling fan. In the meantime, the pan that I’d been cooking the fish in had developed a dark, black crust that covered the pan. This isn’t as bad as it sounds because the fish was okay. It’s just that it had been dipped in flour, allowing the flour to combine with oil, making the crust nearly impenetrable.

Now, more than 24 hours later, the pans still soak in our sink and the house reeks of a smell like burned popcorn combined with mustard.

I shouldn’t complain. The food actually turned out okay.

Posted by Jim at January 13th, 2006

Just thought I’d make note of a couple changes in local restaurants.

Taste of India
First, the relatively good news. As someone who likes Indian food, I’ve occasionally gone to Taste of India. In my opinion, one of the best things about Taste of India was the buffet–$6.99 for adults and half that for children under 10. Though I tended to like the the food at Bombay Cuisine a bit better, Bombay has a more expensive buffet.

And I’m kind of cheap. So, we tend to go to Taste of India’s buffet when there’s no food in the house on Sunday after church.

Taste of India has new owners now.

As we drove up to the restaurant, we noticed that a sign hung over the empty storefront next door proclaiming that Taste of India was expanding into that space. I also remember seeing something about dancing. Also, they changed the buffet. Some of the stuff is still there like the tandoori chicken, but they added more entrees, more types of chutney, and from what I can tell, some of the vegetable dishes seem more fresh than I remember. Also, with regards to the tandoori chicken? They now make more than one kind.

As for the price? Just the same except that they no longer have hard and fast rules about what they charge for kids. For example, half the cost of one person covered both of our kids, making it overall cheaper.

Thus, while I’ll miss the old owners, it looks like the restaurant will improve.

There Can Be Only One
Looks like there’s only one ethiopian restaurant left in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ibex Ethiopian’s phone number has been disconnected. On the bright side, Little Africa still exists (and was pretty busy tonight), but, if you want Ethiopian meat dishes you’ll have to drive to Ann Arbor or Chicago.

Posted by Jim at April 27th, 2005

Kristen and went out to shop for a cousin’s wedding shower on Friday night.

Desperate for food, we also went to Thai House (6447 28th St Se, Grand Rapids, MI 49546). Our motivation for going was partially because we’d been curious about Thai House and partially because it wasn’t far from Bed, Bath and Beyond.

I haven’t been to a lot of Thai restaurants. Before this, the only other Grand Rapids’ Thai restaurant I went to was “Bangkok View” (which I like).

I’d describe Thai House’s decor as “strip mall storefront with tables and some ethnic stuff.” It’s a nice looking place, but they aren’t really investing in decorations. That’s probably just fine as the food is quite good.

We ended up bringing our kids along and that worked out pretty well. The waitress made an effort to entertain them, made sure that their portion of the meal arrived quickly (we ordered them satay–marinated chicken on skewers), and even allowed them to choose candy from a large basket of candy at the end of the meal.

We ordered one of the two person meals that combines soup, spring rolls, and two main dishes. The main dishes consisted of a chicken dish in what might have been a soy based sauce and a pork and green pepper curry in what was definitely red curry and coconut milk. Kristen seemed pretty sure that I’d made the pork and green pepper curry at some point.

I think she may be right, but I’m not sure. I’ve made a fair amount of Thai food at home, but I don’t keep track of which recipes. In this case, I think I’ve made a version that used chicken instead of pork.

Thai House had one thing that I hadn’t ever noticed before–”Hot Ginger Tea.” As a person who is irrationally curious, I decided to order it. The waitress looked at me, paused, and asked me “Have you ever ordered this before?”

I’m guessing that non-Thai customers generally don’t order “Hot Ginger Tea.”

She brought out a small cup of it for me to taste. Here’s what I discovered: It definitely clears the sinuses. It smells like a tea made out of ginger (i.e. strong). It tastes pretty good though–if you like ginger. Don’t expect sugar. It’s not available.

After I indicated that I liked it, she brought out a small pot.

The food that I had there seemed less sugary than I’ve gotten at “Bangkok View,” making me wonder if “Bangkok View” might be catering to western tastes a little more. On the other hand, Thai recipes that I’ve made also sometimes include a fair amount of sugar. It may be that we just ordered food that doesn’t have much. We’ll know more if we go back more often.

We’re likely to do that.

Posted by Jim at February 19th, 2005

When I was living at home, my Mom occaisionally made this cinnamon rolls recipe.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 cup milk
1 package (2 1/4 tsp) dry yeast
2 eggs
5 cups flour (white flour, but a cup or two might be wheat)

Directions:
Melt shortening. Mix with milk, salt and sugar. Let cool. Add eggs and potatoes. Add yeast. Mix in the flour.

Let rise for 1-2 hours. Knead a little. Cut the risen dough into egg sized shapes. Dip into a mixture of melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon.

The mixture:
1-2 cups sugar
1-2 sticks butter (roughly)
? cinnamon (add until you like the color/taste)

After dipping the cinnamon rolls into the mixture, put them into a 9 by 13 inch pan. You can dump any leftover mixture into the pan along with them.

Then let the cinnamon rolls rise till they double in size (this could take hours…).

Then bake at 350 degrees (fahrenheit) for 20-30 minutes.

My mom would make them for Sunday morning’s breakfast–but not on Sunday. She would make them on Saturday and warm them up. I made them for lunch today (in addition to soup). I probably should have made them yesterday, but so it goes. Despite the wait, they still tasted good.

Posted by Jim at February 5th, 2005

Prior to moving to Grand Rapids, my experience of Ethiopian food was non-existent. Up until five years ago, the same could be said of virtually all Grand Rapids residents (in fact, now that I think of it, that’s probably still true). Nonetheless, relatively speaking there’s been an explosion of Ethiopian cuisine in Grand Rapids.

“Explosion” may be an overstatement in that Grand Rapids has gone from having zero Ethiopian restaurants to having two.

For those of you who have never had Ethiopian food, I’ll mention a couple basic facts about the cuisine. First of all, you eat with your hands. There are no utensils. You rip off pieces of injera (a flatbread similar to a pancake), grab the food with it, and place it in your mouth.

The food ranges from vegetarian (beans, cabbage, squash) to meat (lamb, beef, chicken). More often than not, it turns out to be stew-like and can be quite spicy.

There are only two Ethiopian restaurants at present, but I’ll list all three that have ever existed in Grand Rapids:

Gojo Ethiopian: Located on Monroe mall, Gojo served a mix of meat and vegetarian entrees. Unfortunately, the owner of the building in which Gojo was located wanted to redocorate and told them to find a new place when their lease expired. They decided to close instead.

Little Africa: Located at Diamond and Fulton, Little Africa serves vegetarian food only. This is not because the owner is vegetarian. Loul Negesh (the owner) just isn’t convinced that it would bring in enough business to justify the expense. Little Africa’s the first place I ever ate Ethiopian food. I never missed the meat.

Ibex Ethiopian: Located in the strip mall on Kalamazoo near 44th street, Ibex serves both meat and vegetarian entrees. Kristen and I got take-out from there last night. It’s good. I may say more when I’ve had a chance to experience more of their menu.

One great thing about Ethiopian restaurants in general is that they’re pretty cheap places to eat. Entrees range from 5-10 dollars and you’ll definitely get full on even the cheapest meal.

Posted by Jim at January 8th, 2005

I like Indian food. By this I don’t mean American Indian food (which aside from liking fry bread, I haven’t eaten), but rather food from India.

Like many Indian restaurants, Taste of India’s entrees fall into four basic categories:

Tandoori: Marinated, roasted meats from northern India where Islam is common.
Lamb curries: Lamb stewed in a sauce. You’re supposed to put it over rice. Taste of India serves many of the more common lamb dishes such as Lamb Vindaloo (lamb in a hot tomato based sauce), Lamb Saag (lamb in a spinach based sauce) and Rogan Josh (can’t remember precisely, but I do like it).
Chicken curries: Chicken stewed in a sauce. I seldom get the chicken dishes, but some are a chicken variation of the lamb entrees.
Vegetarian entrees: These range from dals (bean curries) to palak paneer (spinach and cheese) to vegetable based curries (cauliflower, cabbage, etc…).

It also serves lassi (a yogurt based drink much like a shake), various appetizers and has a good selection of Indian flatbreads (roti). Roti are a bit like pita bread, but are often stuffed with vegetables (for example: potatoes, onions, peas…). I like them a lot.

I honestly don’t know whether Taste of India is a good Indian restaurant relative to restaurants in a larger city. It’s one of three Indian restaurants in Grand Rapids that I’m familiar with. The other two are Bombay Cuisine and India House.It seems that I’m more likely to see people of Indian descent at Taste of India than I am at the other two, but what that means I’m not sure.

Whatever the case, I enjoy the food.

If you want to try it cheaply, you might go during lunch. They’ve got a buffet. Taste of India is a 44th and Breton in Grand Rapids. It’s in the same strip mall as Horrocks and is just south of the D&W on that same corner.

Posted by Jim at October 30th, 2004

With no warning, Miller’s recently closed.

I don’t know why. All I know is that the city posted an announcement that there’s a lien on the the property. Next to it, there’s another announcement from a leasing company explaining that they’re renting the place out.

I don’t know what happened. They seemed to be doing okay. The family that owned it had operated a restaraunt for years so it’s not as if they didn’t know what they were doing. Aside from that, the business they took over had been around since the late 1800’s. It’s something of an institution.

I hope that whoever buys the business keeps it roughly the same. Also, I hope that they honor gift certificates from the previous version of Miller’s.

Kristen (my wife) lost one, recently found it in her glove compartment, and is very annoyed.