CELEBRATE THE W'S AND LAUGH AT THE L'S IN THE KITCHEN

I’ve reached the age where I now have to consider dietary restrictions. Yes that bagel sounds great but the gluten free lifestyle I now have to live says NO! I am no stranger to diet restrictions. For religious reasons, I don’t eat pork or seafood which means I was reading labels at an early age in the 80’s before it was fashionable and because of that, I didn’t eat snacks like Oreos or any of the Hostess products, including Twinkies until they stopped adding lard to their recipes. Looking back on my childhood, I laugh at how diligent I was at such a young age reading those labels.

As an adult, I’ve had family members that have also had to make healthy lifestyle changes and making meals that accommodate everyone’s different needs has been a challenge. Imagine Thanksgiving dinner where sugar, salt, gluten and oils have to be monitored or replaced and taste like they used to be cooked when all of those items weren’t considered an issue. Talk about a tall task. We even had a faux vegan for a while! The point, while all of these obstacles, and they were obstacles, made us pause and regroup, they haven’t stopped us from enjoying those foods that are staples in our diet or from enjoying new foods that are always being introduced. In other words, they haven’t stopped us from being great!

Because my lifestyle has always been about adjusting my diet, the ability to recreate a meal that would typically use pork or seafood has become fun for me and it has opened my world to dishes that would otherwise be off limits. The same goes for my gluten sensitivity. While pizza will never be the way it used to be, I have developed a crust recipe that allows for the texture to be almost exactly like a regular pizza crust and that has made me happier than you will ever know! This is also why many of the dishes I make can be adapted to fit the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. I want us all to have a good time experiencing new flavors.

Food Tripping with Kirsten is as much about a culinary trip around the world as it is a trip around dietary obstacles. Many of the recipes you will find here have already been adjusted but just like I adjusted them to fit my lifestyle and preferences, you can do the same. My goal is to eat good (grammatical error intended). I want flavor and I want variety and while dietary issues can dampen the excitement eating a recipe as it is traditionally made elicits, there’s joy and excitement in learning how to recreate a dish so that it fits your dietary needs and allows you to participate in the experience eating a new recipe or an old family recipe that has been revamped, gives. So join me on my next foodventure where we will continue to travel the world one slightly adjusted dish at a time.

In a recent conversation with my mother, we were talking about beans taking all day to cook and I was reminded of my attempt to make one of my favorite childhood comfort foods, Split Pea Soup and how it was a complete fail. Let me start by saying Split Pea Soup is one of my favorite comfort foods so much so that I had to have my mother make it for me when I was pregnant with my first child. I’m not sure why I never attempted to make it myself but it was one of those recipes that I associated with my mother and the nostalgia that came along with her making it for us. Even my kids associate the dish with my mother so it never occurred to me to make the dish myself. That is until late last Fall/Winter.

We were smack dab in “comfort food season” and I’m the type of cook who doesn’t always know what they are going to cook in advance of actually going into the kitchen to see what is available to be used but I had decided the day before what I wanted to make and once I confirmed that we had split peas in the pantry, I got the recipe from the cook book my mother used to make her split pea soup and took the amount of beans needed for the recipe and soaked them overnight so they were ready to be cooked the next day. The next day, I prepped all of the other ingredients needed and once they were ready, I pulled out the heavy bottom pot I use for stews and got to cooking. 

Everything was going well and about an hour in, I began to check the texture of the peas to determine the remaining time left for them to cook and noticed they were still very hard. My thought, ”No problem”. I added more water, stirred the stew and went back to making my cornbread. About 45 minutes later, it was time to check the peas again and of course, they were still very hard. I added some more water and stirred the stew again but it was at this point that I decided to check the cookbook to see what the approximate cook time was because clearly, I had incorrect information. After re-reading the recipe and confirming that I had the correct cooking time, I began to be a little concerned but I still had plenty of time before dinner time so I just kept doing what I’d been doing, letting the peas cook. 

By the time we hit three hours of cooking time and adding water and stirring, I was officially annoyed. The peas had softened but still had a crunch to them and according to the recipe, they should have been done. It was at this point I remembered the old trick of adding baking soda to the beans to help break them down. I’d used this method before and it too had been a bit of a fail but after I’d tried it the first time, I’d researched the exact amounts of baking soda to add so I was feeling more confident about adding the baking soda to the split peas. I took out the measuring spoon, added the baking soda to the split peas in small doses so the beans didn’t boil over like lava and stirred the pot. They boiled over like lava. 

They boiled over like lava not once or twice but three times! Each time I cleaned up after them thinking that was it and a few minutes later, they boiled over again! You know I was mad. As the lava response subsided, I was able to see the texture of the beans and see that there had been change. I taste-tested a little to see if they were OK and then let them cook just a little bit longer. Once it was time to eat, I made myself a bowlful of the Split Pea Soup and a side of cornbread and sat down to enjoy my soup but that feeling didn’t last long. As I began eating the soup I noticed that there were two textures in the soup, mushy (the peas that had been obliterated during the lava flow) and crunchy. Not completely hard but they definitely had a bite to them. I was so disappointed. I even told the rest of the family to feel free to fix something else because this was a disaster.

I should have taken a picture of the stove and the pot but all I wanted to do was get rid of the evidence. I still have no idea where I went wrong. We speculated that maybe the dried split peas were too old but that was us just throwing something out there and I’ve vowed to never use that pot again to make Split Pea Soup. So this Fall, when l attempt a re-do, because I won't be denied my Split Pea Soup,  I’ll invite you to join me on my next foodventure but this time, I’ll use the pressure cooker and pray for better results.

When I think of the term “From memory”, it always takes me back to church as a little girl, where I had to memorize my Bible verses. It also takes me back to math class struggling to memorize my Multiplication Table and many other math concepts…that struggle was real! There is, however, no greater struggle than trying to get a family recipe from your mother/grandmother where the recipe has no measurements, just ingredients and you want to make it taste exactly like theirs. My mother on more than one occasion has told me, “You know I don’t measure.” Which, when you are learning to cook or learning to cook a new recipe, is the most frustrating statement to hear and in my home, the family recipes are all from memory so yeah…that was fun! 

As I learned how to cook and braved taking on learning the family recipes, I learned a lot more than just recipes. I learned how to trust my senses and I learned how to “eyeball” the measurements. Why it took me so long to figure out that cooking from memory is using the 5 senses is a mystery but my elementary school teachers would be proud! In our culture, we like to say we are, “Getting a word from the ancestors” which is a whisper or a feeling that lets you know what you are measuring or seasoning, is enough. This “knowing when to say when” is learned and since our family recipes tend to be passed down orally, committing them to memory is important. 

Orally passing down family recipes keeps the traditions alive and continues telling your stories. Stories of how you first learned how to make the recipe, how terribly you messed up the recipe or your first memory of eating the dish using the recipe. These stories that are attached to the making of these recipes keep you connected to your history with the recipe and the history of your culture making them all the more special. I love to get in the kitchen and just flow and when I’m making our family recipes, I fully zone out. It’s a vibe that can’t be explained but when you are in it, you feel it and this is one of the reasons it is so hard for me to write down our family recipes because how do I explain the magical measurements and the feelings they exude so that the person reading it, feels the importance of the dish, as well as, making sure it is made correctly?

It is for this reason that I began documenting our recipes. While I still find it hard to explain the feeling that comes along with making family recipes, making sure that every step is clear and every measurement is exact is a start, so when a family member who knows how it’s supposed to taste (my mother), tastes it, they give me the sign of approval and not the look of disgust. I’m going to continue the tradition of orally passing down our recipes because it matters. The only difference now is I’m going to document my steps preserving both the oral history accompanied by the written record. A WIN WIN! So join me on this journey as we ensure our traditions, new and old, capture the nostalgia and the flavors that keep us foodventurous.

When I was 20 years old, I had a friend whose co-workers worked weekends at the local race car speedway. They told her about this opportunity to earn some extra cash running the Tri-tip Pit selling hot dogs, “Ready Grilled” chicken breast sandwiches and Tri-tip sandwiches. Since the pit was a two person job, she asked me if I wanted to work with her and since making some money and getting to work with my friend seemed like an obvious win, I said, "Yes". I don’t think it even occurred to me that I’d never bbq’d before or that I should probably ask some questions about what to expect or you know, how to cook the Tri-tip? I was 20, needed money and jumped at the opportunity. Now it should be noted that at that time, my experience with bbq’s was to make the side dishes. It should also be noted that my family didn’t eat/make steaks at home so when I say I had no experience, I had no experience! 

Our first day was a whirlwind. We had to clean the trailer, learn how to do inventory, organize the space, learn how to turn everything on and finally, begin to cook. (I vividly remember needing to get help because I wasn’t able to turn on the gas grill which happened more than once that season.) The chicken breast and the Tri-tip were cooked on the grill so we decided to cook two Tri-tips at once and about a dozen chicken breasts to get started. Now please understand that I know that I have no idea what I’m doing with this cut of meat but I’m going to cook it and cook it, I did! Once we both decided it was done, we sliced the Tri-tip so they were ready to make sandwiches and prepared to open. 

Since this was the first race weekend of the season, the pressure was on and we were immediately inundated with customers and were in a literal sink or swim situation but as the night went on, we started to find our groove. We quickly learned that the Tri-tip sandwich was the star and we kept the grill going. Around the time there was a break between races, we started to get some feedback specifically on our Tri-tip sandwiches and the reviews…well they weren’t good. Hard to chew. Tough. Chewy. This was just a sampling of what we were told. Apologies were made and they were thanked for their feedback and for those that were really upset, refunds were given. It was at this moment that I learned that steak was not chicken and did not need to be cooked all the way through but should be tender and juicy. I made it my mission to never hear feedback like that again and thus began my journey to teach myself how to make the perfect Tri-tip. 

It took some time but they were never again cooked “hard” and eventually, I had customers, many of them the same ones that gave me the “bad reviews”, coming back and telling me how good the sandwiches were and giving us bigger tips. Three seasons later, when I decided it was time to move on, I was proud to say that the Tri-tip pit as we called it, was a success. At the time, I thought the only thing I took away from my experience was learning how to cook a great Tri-tip. It wasn’t until a lot of life experience later that I realized not only what I’d learned from the business and customer service aspect of working in the Tri-tip Pit that would serve me in both of my future careers but personally, I’d been fearless. I had no idea what I was doing but I didn’t let that stop me and because of this fearlessness, I’d helped build a successful food stall. 

Being able to reflect on my first taste of being fearless in the kitchen, I realize now how that has been a running theme throughout my entire life. I’ve never backed down from the challenge of being creative in the kitchen. I’ve created some dishes that weren’t worth mentioning ever again (but don’t be surprised if they pop up in the blog) and I’ve created dishes that have amazed me because of how well they turned out. The bottom line, don’t let the kitchen intimidate you. It’s a given you will have some dishes that don’t pass the edible test but those are the ones you learn from and eventually, become your favorite dishes to make. So as we continue on our journey of celebrating our wins and our losses, let’s remember to stay fearless in the kitchen and to always be foodventurous.

I grew up in a home where recipes were everywhere. My mother had recipe books, and pages torn from magazines but the recipes I loved to go through were the handwritten recipes that came from the recipe box. Well, not  just a recipe box, more like recipe boxes, custom handwritten recipe books and recipe binders where she put the recipe cards in plastic sleeves. Our house was serious about recipes…so serious that there is still an entire bookcase dedicated to recipe books! It’s her love for collecting recipes that started me on my recipe collecting journey but of all the different forms of recipes she’s amassed, my favorite are the handwritten recipe cards.

Many of my mother’s handwritten recipes have the name of the woman whose kitchen the recipe came from or from a magazine and some are just the recipe that she took the time to record. Some of the cards are worn or stained from use, some have been copied and never been made but as I write this, I think it was more about community than it was about making every recipe. For me, reading them is like looking through an old photo album. Asking my mother, who this person was and getting their history with our family or recognizing names of old family friends and reminiscing on funny interactions we once had or laughing at the fact that too much time has passed and she no longer remembers the person and laughs me off with a, “Chile…I don’t know, don’t start me lying!” or a, “You know I’m old!”... to which we both laugh.

Reading my mother’s old recipe cards takes me back to a time where the main mode of communication was through handwriting. To me, her handwriting was always special because I thought it was perfect and I always wished I could emulate it to the point where I used to sit in church and practice her signature…that would prove handy in high school but that’s a story for another time! Her handwritten recipes connect me to a time when her community shared recipes as a means of learning something new and more importantly, staying connected. 

Taking the time to sit and transcribe a recipe meant something. It meant you wanted to try the recipe, it meant you trusted whose recipe you were copying and it meant you were part of a trusted community. While the traditional method of handwriting recipes is no longer the norm, the reasons we share recipes still remain the same. Sharing recipes and being part of a trusted community are still goals. So let’s learn something new together and grow this community of food traveler’s and as always…remember to stay foodventurous!

It can be exhausting having to think of what to make for dinner every night. It can be exhausting  thinking about what to order from a restaurant. Because we are all busy with our lives both inside and outside of the home, thinking of food, something you have to have every day, can just be one more thing added to the long list of things that drain you. The funny thing is most people love to eat...at least everyone I know does! Food is comforting as well as life sustaining but eating and cooking are very different and cooking is often just extra work. So the question becomes, how do you overcome the monotony of having to find or make something to eat every single day?

For me it’s become stepping out of my comfort zone and looking to cuisines outside of my traditional recipes.I won’t say that I wasn’t open to learning how to make cuisines from other cultures however, I didn’t go out of my way to learn how either. I always prided myself on my ability to cook “my foods” but it wasn’t until 2011, when I was very unceremoniously fired from my job as a banker, that (1) I finally had some time; and (2) I traveled to Puerto Rico and upon returning, was inspired to learn how to make the foods that I’d experienced. This was also when I got into watching Youtube videos for entertainment and one day decided to look up how to make Puerto Rican dishes and down the internet rabbit hole I went. I was all over the place learning how to make cuisines from around the world and learning how to incorporate spices in ways that weren’t traditionally paired together with the dishes I was used to making. 

Dinner became a lot more fun and my kids really got into it too! They began to ask, “Mom, what are you making tonight?” I learned that many of the dishes I loved weren’t as hard to make as I thought they were and while it took a few tries for some of the dishes, I eventually knocked them out of the park! I became more adventurous in not only the cuisines I was making but I also began to create my own recipes using these new found techniques and using the ingredients I had in our kitchen. My point…cooking your way around the world is fun and to this day, I strive to make at least one new dish I’ve never made before, each week, to keep our dinners exciting and adventurous. So as more recipes are added to the Food Tripping collection, join me as we continue to cook our way around the world and remember to always stay foodventurous!

I am a 70's baby which means I learned to do a lot of things on my own through trial and error. For me, the trial and error started in the kitchen. My parents had a rule that Sunday morning, they didn't have to get out of bed before  at 8 a.m. and for some reason, my brother and I would be wide awake at 6 a.m. One Sunday morning, we, probably led by me, decided to make pancakes for breakfast. I knew where my mother kept the recipe and since I was always around or watching her in the kitchen, I knew where everything was so pancakes for breakfast it was. 

Now I was around 9-10 years old which put my brother, the sous chef, around 6-7 years old. We got everything we needed to make the pancakes and I proceeded to read and execute the recipe. Everything was going well. All of the ingredients were added and fully incorporated and the only thing left to do was turn on the griddle and make pancakes! We got to spooning out the pancake mix onto the griddle and it was at that point that I realized...something ain't right! The pancakes were semi-setting and bubbling like they should but something was off with the consistency of the pancake and they weren't browning. I thought it was just the first pancake because we all know the first pancake is the test pancake but the entire batch turned out just like the first one. Me being 10ish and my brother 7ish, we still plated them, doused them in butter and syrup and ate them...but they weren't good and I don't think they counted as pancakes.

When my mother came down I remember telling her they didn't turn out right but I didn't know what I did wrong. Sidenote... I still laugh that she wasn't upset or shocked that I was in the kitchen making a whole breakfast...the 80's! Years later (and I mean years later) I realized when I was watching my mother make pancakes, that I'd left off a key ingredient. I hadn't added the oil the recipe required. Thankfully, I hadn't let this experience stop me from continuing to learn how to cook, though it was years before I attempted to make pancakes again...but I did make them! The point of this story, messing up in the kitchen is key to your success in the kitchen and years later, when I was helping my son make his first pancakes, I retold the story and laughed..but made sure that he read and reread the ingredients needed so that there wasn't a repeat of Pancakegate, circa 1982. 

As we travel around the world learning how to make new dishes together or learning how to reinvent old standards, we're gonna take the "L" and wear it with pride because we know 1.) we won't do that again and 2.) we'll now have a story to go along with the recipe! Welcome to Food Tripping with Kirsten and join me as we travel through the flavors of the world, one foodventure and misadventure at a time.

I’m obsessed with exploring and learning how to authentically make and experience a culture’s traditional dishes and I love finding ways to incorporate those flavors and techniques into my own dishes. Traveling through food opens your mind and expands your pallet and gives someone like me who gets tired of trying to figure out how to use ground turkey yet again, some options! So join me as we travel through the flavors of the world, one foodventure at a time.