No Water and Water makes Juan fill the blank

Coming home from work today I come to an amazing surprise, and drum roll please Pum Tum pum Tum ... We have no running water!!! The contractor mistakenly broke a pipe, which I am not surprise and on top of that the landlord apparently didn't know. The next day (Thursday) she mentioned how she hasn't washed her hands after using the bathroom. As gross as it was to hear that it saddens me that I didn't care. I fet that she wanted this, she is cutting corners and hired a plumber that doesn't seem licence. At the end of the firsts night with no water we convinced her to have the water turned on, and my roommate and I were able to finally cook and use the bathroom. My first impression on the dinner was " this will be alright" but to my surprise it was better than that.

Korean black bean sauce, brown rice, some eggplant mix my roommate made and some grilled chicken
These pictures are from a photo walk that I did the other day. I walked around brighton and this bridge by Fern St. has all this freshly painted plus past paintings all over the place. SWEEET!!!

Rainy Days seems about right

As I hear the rain bounce off the roof of my car, I see how experienced drivers revert back to fledgling drivers, as if they have never read the "How to Drive" booklet or taken a driver's ed class. They forget to drive on a green light; red light somehow means "Go" now and yellow light is non-existent. Rarely is anyone effervescent; they are just short tempered, foul mouthed gnomes, and not a hint of their prior selves exists. I flinch as people jump into the street, ignoring the street lights, but what else is new? It's Boston, my beloved city. Although I am overjoyed and bubbly that it is the weekend, I am also saddened by the crazyness that it involves. For starters, my landlord wants to put in a new bathroom where the pantry once stood. Which is a headache to even comprehend, but what made the day worse was that it was the first weekend that I ate by myself in a looong time.

I couldn't fathom what I would want to eat, because I was back to cooking for myself again. But just because I am not sharing my meal with the Lovely Joanne, it doesn't mean that I can't eat a good meal. So I fixed myself an interesting plate. It didn't fill me up as I had hoped, but it was pleasing to take pictures of the food in the spirit of Joanne.

Take Me Out

So the other day I got a chance to go a baseball game. Not a major league game but a minor league game. You can google up the differences personally outside of stadium and amount of enthusiasm from the fans there really wasn't much of a difference to me.
Anyway sitting there in the blazing sun, watching the Brockton Rox,seeing the "cheerleaders" dance their uncoordinated dance steps and watching the local fans not sheering as much just ordering food and what not. I came to feel a nostalgic feeling from when I was very young and my aunt Cielo taking me to a local game in Puerto Rico. Although the fans here seemed very lame, not enthusiastic about the game, like I said the beer next to their kids seemed more enjoyable than the time they were having with their kids. Looking at the mascot made me think of how lame that kind of job is, to get in a hot suit and get people riled on a hot sunny day, sweat running down every nook and cranny of your body,. Making a fool of yourself in front of both adults and children, hoping they will laugh and not throw things at you.Do Mascots get together and vent, do they get together to talk and hang out? Was there ever a "Glory Days" for these guys in a suit or has it always been lame? I can just picture one the guys iwho plays as a mascot, going to a bar after the game taking a girl home for the night taking her to his "penthouse" which in reality is just a trailer or some hotel room hmph if this was on the Simpsons this somehow would be funny but I cant imagine living that life seems like a joke...but I can't crap on his life just be amused by it at the end of the day he's just trying to make another buck just like the rest of us.
--
Juan

Rice 'n Chicken

So this is A medley of brown rice made with home made garlic powder, a handful of cilantro, a pinch of sea salt and a couple of shakes of paprika and Turmeric. The Chicken was made with homemade garlic spread, E.V.O.O. and plain vinegar. Once the chicken was cooked(on the outside) I added it to the rice as it was cooking so it can A) absorb some of the flavor from the chicken and B) tenderize the chicken a bit more.
The taste was worth the wait and I can't wait to eat the rest for dinner( I just had some for lunch.. and my student were romanticized with food with just a scent of it.
(cooked on 1/09/11)





--
Juan

DINNER...1.1.11

Dinner with some friends

Dinner
was Cous Cous made with chicken brother oregano, sea salt and tumeric mixed with roasted Bell Peppers.
The beef was marinated with plain garlic spread(home made) the chicken was slow cooked in yellow (gold) Garlic spread(also home made...with Achote BTW)
and wrapped in the marinated beef with chinese parsley a-float a thinly slice of chinese eggplants..hmmm
Tina made some Shrimp and I also made some home made cheese(from 1% milk from Trader Joes) topped with oregano and E.V.O.O. and our beverage was Chai Tea(trader joes) with 1% Milk (not water!!)
--
Juan

So Simple Right?....

So I was thinking what would be a simple dinner? I mean I'm going back to school(after 10 years..Daaaamn)So this is what I made Frozen artichokes with Garlic(not forzen no more though)Some Brown Rice(from Trader Joe's Frozen section./..thank you) and some Bulgogi from H-mart(stuff is Awsome!!)and I also added shrimp(frozen) which I also bought at H-mart

Thanksgiving Dinner

So here I made a Turkey stuffed with Sweet Plantains and dressed in homemade Garlic spread(with Achote) and I've injected Wine(red) into the meat of the Turkey.
For Appertizers I made Escabeche a Puerto Rican dish served cold
Its made wiSo tonight J&J (mind you this is on ThanksGiving)
made a Wine Turkey filled with (none other) WIne and home made Garlic Spread(its Gold...trust me it is...and you're missing out on it) Stuffed with Yellow Plantains and Potatoes and bathed in that Garlic Spread(yeah its THATgood)
Some Escaveche(which is the green banana's in teh cup with Chicken...)...its amazing its made with Jerked chicken Garlic Boiled Green banana's whole Black peppers caramelized Onions(with EVOO and Vinegar) and placed in teh fridge for taste(its also a cold dish anyway)
Some Buttenut and spaqhetti Squash soup decorated with Spaghetti Squahs strings ,Scallions, and White pepper on the rim and some traditional Rice and Pigeon Peas(except I used Brwn rice instead of WHite rice....its healthier(can't be no unhealthy latin eating man)
Sonme Coquito(aso traditional) which is TONS of Coconut and some Don Q
and a raspberry Tart nade by teh other J
--
J&J