Black Cherries?

Green Curry?

Coffee?

If Music Be the Love of Food

In response to Christopher Joseph Westgate's essay Semiotic Sound Bites, I have compiled a brief list of pairings of food and music (not so much particular songs, but rather musicians and bands) that seem to fit nicely together. Some food conjures the music and some the reverse is true. Hopefully this sonic palette will surely please the taste buds.

1. Coffee = the complete works of The Smiths or NPR. I'm sure many would agree.
2. But espresso says Scott Walker or Françoise Hardy.
3. Black cherries or black raspberries - My Bloody Valentine (especially the album Loveless)
4. Thai green curry with tofu - Bjork. Complicated tastes for a complex musician. Try with Medulla or the Drawing Restraint 9 soundtrack.
5. Guacamole, chips and salsa with the Cambodian/psychedelic pop of Dengue Fever(especially the self-titled album) or Ethiopian jazz of Mulatu Astatke makes me think of a garden party in the San Francisco Bay area in springtime.
6. A nice strong chai tea says "podcast" to me- perhaps Dan Carlin's Hardcore History or the Infinite Monkey Cage.
7. Oatmeal and bananas also says NPR. More morning staples.
8. Ah memories. Lexington barbecue from the southeast will always make me think of The Pixies.
9. PBR and cigarettes- my brother's band Autopassion and his other musical ventures.
10. A nice bottle of Argentine Malbec might pair well with Radiohead.

So what do you think? Does music remind you of any particular foods? Or vice versa?

Mood Food

This is my first blog ever and I know I really missed the bus by doing these on time. I just got back from eating Applebee's with a friend and she just had one of those days where she "had to leave" her apartment. When we got to Applebee's she informed me she was going to absolutley pig out and I instantly agreed to follow along. She ordered a drink- "Anything with Vodka." Yeah, that kind of day. Laughing it off that I still can't drink yet I ordered water. We got BBQ wings as an appetizer and steak and potatoes for dinner. My friend ate her food like it was going out of style and it kind of made me uncomfortable. She was literally scarfing it down without giving herself time to realize how much she was actually eating. She was done with her meal by the time I had only finished my steak. I'm probably one of the worst eaters I know of... I enjoy steak too much and even after watching Food Inc I still eat at McDonald's. I still think about the facts that they brought up and how all this bad eating will soon catch up to me, but I don't know, I enjoy the foods that I eat and haven't quite come to reality about what it will do in the end to my body. So, ultimately I wanted this blog to be about how people turn to food and how they eat differently in different situations. For her she said that she just needed some carbs, but I think the things that she had been dealing with in life had just made her break, and this was the one thing she could actually have full control over. Have any of you felt like this?

Family Function or Food Fest?

My family gets together for all of the right reasons, don't get me wrong but the foundation for which we really love getting together on Sundays is not only because we want to spend quality time together. It's because of a ridiculous amount of food. On the counters when entering my grandma's old, creaky house, you'll see at least four pies, a pot of tea steaming, a pot of black coffee brewing, a massive bowl of spaghetti, usually a vat of some sort of vegetable, a variety of meat for the men and two crazy uncles bouncing on the couch at the Bears game. Grandchildren are talking a mile a minute, the dog is barking and my aunts are drinking wine and stirring a bowl of something my grandma has been cooking all day. Last weekend was my brother's 17th birthday. He didn't want a party but there was no escaping the inevitable family party. We ate. We sang. We ate cake. We ate some more. We then proceeded to enter a food coma on the living room floor. We do this to ourselves every Sunday. It's go big or go home in my family. All of my cousins are girls so when we bring boys home to meet the family, they have to endure food-fest, or when it gets closer to the holidays, what my grandpa calls "festivus". If they can't handle Uncle Jay in a Bears hardhat with a beer in hand, eating at least three plates full of food and a five year old telling grandpa he's a crazy old man, they're out. Family is important. Food is important and what brings us all together are our matching dark eyes and love for food. Do any of your families love food this much? :)

New Use for Wonton Wrappers

So the other night I wanted to make dessert, but i really didn't feel like going to the store because it was cold. When I looked in my fridge I saw wonton wrappers (from when I made chicken potstickers), so I made these yummy cinnamon cream cheese and raspberry filled wontons. I loved them so I thought I would share the recipe with you.

8oz. cream cheese

3 Tbl cinnamon

2 Tbl sugar

25-30 Wonton wrappers

handful of raspberries

All you do is let the cream cheese sit out so it gets soft then mix the cinnamon and sugar into it. You can add more or less cinnamon and sugar according to your tastes. Then you crush the raspberries in a bowl. Next you lay out a wonton wrapper and but a small spoonful of the cream cheese and small amount of raspberry in the middle of the wrapper. Fold over the wrapper and seal with a fork. Once they are all filled, you fry them in a small amount of oil in a pan and they are done. I sprinkled a little more cinnamon and sugar on top and drizzled them with chocolate sauce and then I served the left over crushed raspberries to dip it in.