Monday, August 2, 2010
Out Here in the Fields
I don't leave the house often and when I do everything I need is basically within a two mile radius. A fifteen minute drive in any direction puts you out in the middle of the corn or soybean fields. I'm still not used to it. I'm a big city girl. I like concrete beneath my feet. We went out for a drive yesterday. Thought you might like to see some pictures.
I had a little fun with Photoshop for the above picture. I'll be cooking something by the end of the week. Got to put on my thinking cap!
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How about you make a "Potaje de Frijoles Colorados" you have the black beans here, now show us how you do the red beans :)
ReplyDeleteNathan, I don't have any special recipe for Frijoles Colorados and I think you already mastered that one on your blog. :)
ReplyDeleteC'mon, humor us, Nathan and me, and make some "bitching" Frijoles Colorados with papas, calabaza, chorizo, morcilla, etc., etc., etc.... You see, is not you only MAKING them, it's the entire process with your pictures and then the final process that is so fascinating and enticing... As far as the landscapes you show here today, they are absolutely gorgeous, but again, I am with you and don't know how you can do it: Give me dirt, give me smog, give me noise and people coming and going... Give me crazy New York, give me sweltering Miami, give me Havana crumbling... Heck! Even give me L.A. on wheels! But I would probably go nuts and have to live on Xanax if I lived in such a relaxingly beautiful "rural" place... I guess it takes love, an iron will and some pretty big cojones. Love and kisses.
ReplyDeleteLOL Pedro, let me give you three reasons why I can't make the frijoles you just described: calabaza, chorizo, morcilla... did you not see the pictures ––I'm in the middle of nowhere! Let me see if I can come up with alternatives. Love and kisses for you too!!
ReplyDeleteYvonne, if you can afford it, do the internet/mailorder thing. I am sure there are places in Chicago that have chorizo and morcilla (morcilla de cebolla, not morcilla de arroz). I could send you some myself. ¿Do they need some kind of refrigeration to be sent in the mail? As far as the calabaza, remember that summer squash substitutes rather nicely for it. Love to tease you a little, but always love you. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way. In Cuba, where chorizo and morcilla were a thing of the past even before I left in 1980, my mother used ham hocks or even ham pieces or pork chunks to add to the frijoles colorados and papas alone, when there was nothing else. They always came out delicious, I guess it was all in the sofrito. Here in the U.S., when I feel like making them but don't have all the ingredients, I have been known to even put chicken sausage or a leftover cooked bistec the palomilla in the frijoles, and your aunt Macuca makes an incredibly delicious pot of frijoles colorados by putting cooked picadillo criollo into it, which makes it irresistibly tasty and chunky... So, there you good, some "food for thought", if you pardon the pun LOL.
ReplyDeleteI'm loosing it: in the previous comment "good"="go". Duh!
ReplyDeleteThank you Pedro. Frances is going to Miami on Friday. She can bring me chorizo and I can find squash here. I've never used morcilla before so I won't miss it... and I was teasing you as well!
ReplyDeleteI.M.
ReplyDeleteThe Potaje de Colorados can be made with just pork meat (I love using pork spareribs cut into pieces for it sometimes) I cook colorados in soooo many ways i haven't put them all on my blog lol.
I recently saw a version with just pork meat, malanga, calabaza, and a sofrito seasoned with onlly with salt, pepper, and cumin. Oh the special ingredient in that one was culantro. I really wanna try that one.
Like since you live in wat u say "the middle of nowhere" whenever you crave a simple Potaje (these are the super simple one's in my home) simply boil the beans with pork meat (I use pork leg meat or spareribs) or beef stew meat, boil it together with teh beans, add a sofrito (garlic, onion, bell pepper and if using colorados, white beans, or pintos add tomato to it) when the beans are almost tender and just potatoes, season with salt, pepper and cumin. Those are the simplest humblest versions of a Potaje and still super good, I crave simple Potaje's like that sometimes nothing more nothing less real good.
I love your pictures of the midwest. We're going up to corn country tomorrow! We'll be in the mega-metropolis of Wyoming, Illinois:) Population about 300! Anyway I love visiting that area but I'm always glad to come home to Miami, near the ocean!
ReplyDeleteHappy cooking!
It is very different isn't it? I actually live in Bloomington,IL which is a decent sized city as far as these areas go, but we're an island in a sea of fields. There are many tiny towns around here where signs say "Welcome to So-and-So" and two blocks later a sign says "Thank you for visiting." LOL. Have a nice trip.
ReplyDeleteI.M.
ReplyDeleteSeriously I would probably go suicidal and roll over and die if i lived in corn country, or try my best to escape like i was fleeing communist Cuba lmao. you are a strong woman.
Like imagine a gay liberal city boy, who's use to dancing almost every night, out on the city, the beaches, lights, etc. loves to cook all sorts of crap stuck in corn country yeah not a good picture i wouldn't even fit in and get homesick :(
LOL Nathan. I used to go out dancing with my friends every weekend when I was young, although back then it was to the disco. Sometimes we would stay 'til the disco closed at 6:00am and from there head to beach where we would sleep on the sand as we tanned.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to make it sound like I live in a tiny place (pop about 100,000), we have two malls, and universities and movie theaters, but it's very conservative and there is not much to choose from as far as the ingredients I want.
I barely fit in, so I think you would definitely not. Smile.
I.M.
ReplyDeleteOMG that sounds like so much fun!!!!!! I need to try that sometimes I have one of my crazy Cubana friends and she's always like after the club "Vamonos a la playa", and I'm like "Pero chica estas loca! Nos vamos a enfermar! Y estoy todo sudado y tengo un hambre que me mata" (I know i'm being a worry wart lol.) when Im 21 I'll be able to go to the one that closes around 6 am. But I do wanna try the beach after the club sometime :)