Pancit Palabok (Filipino Seafood Spaghetti)

Despite enjoying other cuisines readily available living here in Chicago, there's nothing like going back to the foods I ate as a child. Pancit Palabok is definitely one of my favorites. This is a rice noodle dish with a flavorful shrimp sauce, crispy pork cracklings, sliced egg and a bit of lemon juice. Maybe think of it as a shrimp flavored seafood spaghetti of sorts. The combination of ingredients may be odd to those unfamiliar with Filipino cuisine, but I assure you that this dish is a favorite of many Filipinos. I can easily devour this since it brings back so many memories! I previously made this using a packaged mix [gasp!] but after much pract

Read more »

BBA: Kaiser Rolls

This week's Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is Peter Reinhart's recipe for Kaiser Rolls (which you can get from his book below, starting on page 175-177). Friends joined me in the kitchen and together we had a lot of fun making mini kaiser rolls.The bread starts out with a pate fermentee, a yeast starter, which is then cut into pieces and introduced with the other dry ingredients - bread flour, yeast, salt, sugar, oil and water. Unlike previous weeks when I used my stand mixer to do the kneading for me, we call took a quarter of the dough and kneaded it by hand. We found bread baking as a group to be pretty enjoyable as we kneaded the together ove

Read more »

A Dose of Controversy Breezes Over Most Autism Vaccine Issues But Was Fair to Wakefield

I was actually pleased with the Matt Lauer/NBC coverage of the Wakefield/Deer and MMR/Vaccine Issues in A Dose of Controversy. I thought he was fair to Dr. Wakefield, giving him an opportunity to address allegations made against him. The program didn't go after Brian Deer for some of the allegations against him. While the program did give Paul Offit a free run to say what he wanted about vaccines and autism I thought he, of all people involved in the program, looked the most emotional and overwrought.The coverage of vaccine-autism issues was light and glossed over many important issues including the "science disproving vaccine autism causal connecti

Read more »

Meet This Week's Tattle Tasters!

Today I'd like you to meet some fellow What's Cookin, Chicago members! They have weighed in on some upcoming recipes and come to share their thoughts, some suggestions to put on a new twist on them and which dishes they liked best and least. This week, they are reviewing the following couscous recipes, which will be shared in the days ahead:Caprese Couscous SaladNicoise Style Couscous SaladCucumber Couscous Salad w/Buttermilk DressingRead on to meet this week's Tattle Tasters who will be sharing their thoughts in the next few days...Samm"I have worked part-time as a personal chef for clients and my motivation for this has always been and continues to

Read more »

Severe Autism Videos from CDFoakley: Do Not Watch If You Can't Handle Reality

The following videos show some of the hard realities, some of the challenges facing those who are most severely affected by autism and the family members who love and care for them.The autism reality of the young man in the first video is not the autism reality of someone who will excel in a difficult and complex post office work environment or go on to work as a researcher alongside a team of high functioning autism experts. This young man is unlikely to appear before a high appellate court, august political committees, or on national and international television as a self appointed spokesman for all "autistics". and opposing evidence based inte

Read more »

VIOLET PANNA COTTA WITH BLACKBERRY COULIS

LES BLEUETS SONT BLEUS, J’AIME MES AMOURS.- Victor Hugo from Les Misérables, 1862The rose is red, the violet's blue,The honey's sweet, and so are you.Thou are my love and I am thine;I drew thee to my Valentine:The lot was cast and then I drew,And Fortune said it shou'd be you.- Gammer Gurton's Garland, a 1784 collection of English nursery rhymesViolet and blackberry, the colors of love.Ah, romance! Fluttering hearts and breathy sighs, knowing glances and fingertips brushing quickly against the other’s, barely touching. Flushed cheeks and lowered eyes, we feel the electricity even when no words are spoken.We express our love, our passion, in so many wa

Read more »

Baking with Dorie: August Session

Every week on Tuesday, you'll often find me posting the weekly baking challenge I've completed for the Tuesdays With Dorie (TWD) baking group. I've had so much fun participating with this group since I joined in January, that I wanted to share the whole experience with members of What's Cookin, Chicago. Besides, what's more fun than having friends over and cooking/baking together? That's when I decided to have What's Cookin, Chicago members join me in the kitchen as we bake through Dorie Greenspan's recipes for the (TWD) group.Today friends came over and we tackled all the TWD recipes for the month of September. Having others work through the recipes

Read more »

A Nice Afternoon Trail Walk

The temperature is starting to cool a bit and turn toward early autumn after an unusual summer. With the cooler morning air Conor put on a Dad shirt over his shirt for some extra warmth. And we headed out on the trail this afternoon for a nice walk. My shirt seems to fit Conor a bit better around the belly than it does me. Hmmmm.autism var addthis_pub = 'AutismRealityNB';

Read more »