Reverb10 (26)

December 26 – Soul Food What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul? (Author: Elise Marie Collins)


I love food. I love food so much that I can eat until my stomach hurts (very literally) and often will and need to tell myself to stop. Food is interesting and fun. I like knowing why deep fried things are so tasty. I like learning how to make a good pie crust. I like figuring out how much heat to put into my cooking so that I get what I want. I like dumping spices and ingredients into my dishes and tasting them as they are transformed. I learned from my roommate that celery gives great flavor. I've learned from a book that super cold butter is essential for pie crusts because it helps with the flaky texture. I've learned from experience that lemon zest gets crunchy once all the oils are removed.

I have eaten so many things this year that I've loved and probably won't forget. Some are my favorite foods, others are new and exciting culinary adventures: stir fried kidney(my mom makes it and is one of my favorite foods), roast duck(from our favorite place in Dallas -- juicy and delicious with nice crunchy skin), hotpot (warmth, people, and so much food), deep fried tofu wraps (China -- with shrimp and veggies inside), spicy fish head (my cousin and his wife argued briefly over who would get to eat the eyeball), stir fried lamb liver (at home, mom made it with home made pickles, more tender than pig liver), home made sausage (my parents make them, sooo good), fresh garlic newly pickled (parents mailed it to me, perfection that makes me jump for joy and secretly hoard it away), perfectly seasoned pickled string beans (i love them seasoned with prickly pepper oil and my mom's spicy oil mix), seafood soup buns (Shanghai, delicious soup flows from the steamed bun onto a spoon. I drink it up and then eat the perfect bite size dumpling that threatens to burn my tongue, so good I can't describe it properly)... there really are too many things to name.

I think, for me, soul food needs to be comforting -- something I would want to eat when I'm miserable or when I'm sick. /My home made super spicy chili with cheese is one of those comfort food of mine. It neither awes me nor is super memorable; however, it does have all the flavors to keep me happy. Also, my dad's soup that he made up recently is really tasty and comforting. He calls it his twin winter soup (prettier in chinese) and it has winter melon and winter bamboo shoots in it. The flavors are simple but delicious -- one of those combos I can't get enough of. It's light enough that my stomach would take it even when it's revolting. It's delicious enough that I would be happier after eating it, no matter how I feel. I also love my friend's stuffing recipe. It's so moist and flavorful and delicious! I like the smell of sage that overwhelms the dish. I love how mushy the breadcrumbs become. I love the way the little pieces of sausage meat pack so much flavor. I even love how in my attempt at making it (7 am on Thanksgiving morning) I failed to process what "pepper" meant. I was annoyed that she didn't specify what kind of pepper, so I added cayenne. It was after adding cayenne that I realized she meant either black or white powdered pepper (so I added that). It turned out super tasty, but for me spicy foods are really comforting.

Speaking of spicy foods, I think the most random thing I ate that turned out to be surprisingly addictive are these deep fried chili pepper snacks my mom brought back from Chongqing, China. There's a nifty little area in Chongqing called CiQiKou where there are lots of little shops, stores, and food stops. Mom found these chili snacks stuffed with some sort of batter (post deep frying it's super crunchy and sesame filled) and as crunchy as potato chips. I devour them as if I would caramel popcorn from Garrett's (in Chicago, one of my best friends call it Crack Corn, which I pretty much agree with -- something else I had for the first time that I loved and will crave on occasion or maybe more often than occasion from now on).

All in all, I like food too much. :)
<3
Hao