I am a Foodie... (by JB)

(So, I still have full reign of the blog! Scary, isn't it? Wendi is doing well - still taking a break - but things are getting better. I will be on call tonight. I am on my internal medicine rotation, so I will be spending the night at St. Marys Hospital. Wendi said for all of you to feel free to email her or IM her this evening or during the day tomorrow so she doesn't get too bored. Not too much else is going on here. I had started working on a blog about food a little while back, so now you get to read it. Bon appetit!)

I love food. I must admit it. I am so thankful for God's gift of taste buds that grant such gastronomic pleasure. Now, I guess I could buy everything I ate already prepared; but my tastes have too much variety for the restaurant scene in southeast Minnesota, and my bank account is not padded enough to afford that either. Fortunately, I love to cook as well. I love to find new ingredients I have never used. I could, and often do, spend half an hour slowly going through the produce section looking for the perfect fruit or vegetable. If I spy something I haven't used before, I will stand and ponder for a bit. If I happen to come across something I have never even seen before... well, Wendi usually leaves, rolling her eyes, and says something along the lines of "I'll be back when you stop drooling and your hands stop shaking."

Thailand and a sampling of its cuisine.

From my love of food, reading, cooking, and my perfectionism (yes I admit it!), I have become a chef of sorts. My interests are in healthy dishes of Asian, Indian, and Mediterranean fares. So now, because a white-boy in MN can finally (after YEARS of trial and error) cook some pretty decent, pretty healthy, fairly exotic meals, I suddenly have a reputation of being a gourmand. And, I admit, my ego is boosted when people say I am a good cook. However, the truth of it is that I just have the right combination of interests to make good food.

The Mediterranean and a sampling of its cuisine.

The food I cook is actually no more difficult than say a lasagna or a casserole. Some can be more involved, more like a Christmas turkey, but some are as easy as barbequing burgers. Overall, it is just a matter of getting the right ingredients and following the directions (recipe). But that is the big problem with ethnic foods. First, the ingredients may be hard to pronounce (galangal and tuvar dhal for example), hard to find (where do I buy grachai, paneer, or rose water), hard to pick correctly (is this durian too raw or too ripe?), hard to substitute (can I use regular butter in place of clarified butter or ghee?), or just really strange to us westerners (fermented fish sauce and tamarind pulp). Second, it can be hard to find reliable recipes, recipes that you feel confident enough to try, and recipes you'll want to eat when you are done.

An Indian market and a sampling of Indian cuisine.

That is why I have decided to take you through the process of making one Indian meal, one Thai meal, and one Mediterranean meal. From going to the markets, picking the ingredients, doing the prep work, cooking the dishes, and final presentation, I'll guide you through it all. You will be able to avoid the mistakes I have made, and feel comfortable making these great foods.

I'll be back with the first meal soon...