Archive for the 'Food' Category

lo, mate

Published
by
Dough
on 28 February 2008
in Family, Food, Fun and Travel
. 0 Comments

So, I meant to write this entry about a year ago when we went to England last March. I wanted to write about cool things I saw and tips about traveling out of the country.

1. My debit card was the cheapest way to pay for things.

I’m not sure if this is the case for everyone, but I made purchases on 3 different cards (American Express, Chase Visa, and my Visa Debit Card). American Express and Chase both charged about 3% on top of the exchange rate (which was around 1.95 USD to 1 GBP at the time). When I used my debit card, I was simply charged the exchange rate my bank currently offered.

2. A lot of electronics actually work with a simple outlet converter (i.e. - not transformer).

I noticed my laptop power supply listed a voltage range of like 110-240V, so I used an outlet converter and plugged in my laptop to the 220V outlet, and it worked like a charm. I left it plugged in for nearly a full week, and was even able to log on to the Internet from an access point at the flat. My external hard drive also had no problems (and anything else with that wide of a voltage range).

3. Some buskers are awesome, you should tip them occasionally

Especially if they’re as hot as Natalia Tena (who plays Nymphadora Tonks in the Harry Potter movies, and who claims to have performed in the London Underground).

One day during the trip, I had a Shins song (Young Pilgrims) stuck in my head the entire day. That same day while we were traveling on the Underground, we heard a man playing and singing that same song; and he was pretty dang good, too. I only had enough to tip him like 50p, though (about $1).

4. Never rent a car to drive in London

First, traffic inside London is horrible, and is not fun to drive in (even if you have experience driving on the left side of the road on the right side of the car). On top of that, if you even so much as happen to cross into Central London (about a square mile in size right in the middle of Greater London), you have to pay congestion tax of £8. And, you don’t pay it to actually drive in Central London, they have cameras that track your license plate, and you get fined £100 if you get caught not paying it (from the people I’ve talked to, it’s near impossible not to get caught, so I just payed it so England would still let me visit them in the future).

5. Besides, public transportation in London is super awesome

It seemed like we could get anywhere we wanted to be within a half hour (except that I was cheap and only paid for the tube in zones 1-3, and buses in zones 1-6, so it was really only fast for us within the first 3 zones. There are 6 zones total in the whole London area, laid out in rings). Oh, and the Oyster cards they have are pretty cool, too; you just touch your pass to their automated machines, and it determines if your fare is paid (you can preload cash on the card, or pay for unlimited use per day/week/month). I’m pretty sure Becky thought it was neat when she saw Harry Potter and Arthur Weasley use Oyster cards, and actually knew what they were. Or maybe I’m retarded; it is pretty late right now.

6. Eat at Nando’s

If you like spicy food or chicken (note the key word, “or”), you should eat at Nando’s. Not only is the food good beyond all belief, but it’s actually affordable, even for the price being in pounds. I really like the PeriPeri sauce, especially the extra extra hot one. Anyway, Becky was in her first trimester of pregnancy with Kaelyn, so she was feeling great on this trip, especially in the mornings. She had specifically told me one day that she did not want to eat chicken, but I couldn’t stop craving Nando’s and talking about how I like their food more than a lot, so I took her there anyway (I had somehow missed that she said she didn’t want chicken).

She took one look at the menu and gave me a mean scowl, but decided to order a chicken pita, and asked for it not to be toasted. Luckily, she had just ordered a chickn pita from Chili’s the day before that was toasted (and hated it), otherwise she’d have never thought to ask. Anyway, she made me get her that same pita again another evening when she was having some pregnancy cravings.

7. If I think of anything else, I’ll write a new post; oh, by the way, I have pictures of our trip in the photos section of this site.

simple, sweet, habanero salsa

Published
by
Dough
on 1 October 2006
in Recipes
. 0 Comments

I have had a lot of friends and family ask me for my salsa recipe, and fortunately for them, AJ decided to ask me again the day after I set up my journal:

  • 8 medium-sized tomatoes (4-5 large or 10-12 small)
  • 1 green pepper
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 habanero (remove the seeds and white fleshy substance on the inside, or just use half a habanero if you need a milder salsa)
  • 1/4 - 1/2 onion (depending on how much onion you like)
  • 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • salt to taste (usually about 1 teaspoon for me)

Cut tomatoes, green pepper, and onions up in to pieces small enough to fit it all in a food processor, and add them to the food processor. Then crush the garlic and the habanero and add them to the salsa. Finally, add the sugar and salt, and turn the food processor on for about 20-30 seconds (increase the time for smaller chunks in the salsa, decrease the time for larger ones)

Tip: If you don’t have a food processor, simply cut the tomatoes, onion, and green pepper into as small pieces as you want, then put them in a bowl where you will then add the crushed garlic, crushed habanero (or cut very, very small; trust me, you don’t really want to run in to large pieces of this), brown sugar, and salt. Then simply mix with a wooden spoon until the salt and sugar are thoroughly mixed in. Let the salsa sit for about an hour to allow habanero flavor to diffuse throughout the salsa.

Tip 2: If you don’t have a garlic press, you can crush the garlic with the flat edge of a kitchen knife (easiest when you use a larger knife). Sorry, this doesn’t work for the habanero if you don’t have a garlic press, you’ll just have to cut it up into very, very small pieces. You do not want to run in to large pieces of habanero, unless you enjoy pain.

Tip 3: Either use gloves when handling the habanero, or wash your hands afterwards, and by that I mean to use soap for at least 30 seconds. If you don’t, there will be a day that you will forget you had just made salsa and touch your face with your hands. If you don’t follow this tip, hopefully you enjoy the burning sensation in your eyes or nose for the next few minutes.