Summer Carry Alongs

One of the worst aspects of summer driving is the driving itself. There can be endless traffic jams, even on a weekend. It's sitting in a hot car, sometimes hungry, almost always thirsty. If that's the case then have some healthy snacks and drink on hand.

It's horrible when hunger pangs kick in on a drive to the shore or mountains. It's tempting to pull over into a Parkway or Turnpike rest stop as  we have here in New Jersey. There's a wide variety of fast foods - from Popeye's to Cinnabon to Starbuck's to choose from. Yet most of these quick bites are loaded with salt, fat and sugar. They're also not that filling. If you're still on the road in an hour's time, those hunger pangs will return and it's back to looking for a place to eat. Some of the Turnpike rest stops do offer a somewhat healthy choice in salads and wraps. Yet, there could be the risk of salmonella or just old ingredients that have seen better days. Depending on the length of' your trip, buy sandwiches from your local grocery or make your own. You know what's in them as well as customizing them to satisfy your family's tastes. Fill sandwich bags with salted grape tomatoes, cheese cubes and crackers,Pretzels never go amiss.You can buy a small box of  pretzel stick snack packs . These are light and low calorie and will hold you until your destination.

One of the absolute must haves during a summer ride is water.A  cold bottle of either spring or carbonated is necessary. It not only keeps you hydrated but alleviates any hunger. It also will not leave you with a dry throat like some colas will. It's easy to buy a twelve or twenty pack and cool three or four bottles at a time in the fridge.If just pure water won't do it, then consider buying flavored ones. Stop & Shop has an excellent array, ranging from lemon to watermelon. Perrier has something similar with peach and grapefruit flavors. These are a refreshing change. Another good bubbly water is Poland Spring that offer all sorts of fun fruit combos like blood orange hibiscus and pomegranate lemonade. To keep the water from heating up in a hot car., invest in an insulated travel cup. These can be bought anywhere, from your local grocery to Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks. If you still want a sweet cool drink, then think San Pellegrino. These are tart tasting but revitalizing sodas that go very well with sandwiches and even picnic foods like cold chicken and salad.

A summer ride should not be a torture trip. Stock up with healthy foods and drinks to make the drive more pleasant. There's no need for a rest stop then. Just keep driving on that open road.

For The King

Father's Day is tomorrow and with it comes the usual barbecue and bottle of whiskey to say thanks. Yet, it's also a day to pamper the sire with tasty  and luxurious dishes , from morning to night . Indulge your father with some delicious fresh from the kitchen and grill dishes. It's a better way of showing your gratitude.

A good day starts with a good breakfast. One good choice -  omelets filled with dad's favorite ingredients.If he wants a bacon one then  honor his wishes. Add a dash of healthiness and color with diced tomatoes and green peppers. Make a large three egg one or fry up mini ones that can fit perfectly between a sliced English muffin. Another  spin would be a cheese one  but instead of the usual cheddar try one filled with Gouda or Edam. Mix it with baby spinach leaves for a richer, more flavorful egg dish. A different yet lush spin is a breakfast souffle. This is a surprisingly easy bake. All you need is a can of the Pillsbury crescent rolls and turning them into cups. Eggs, and whipping cream are whisked together to form a sort of savory custard. Cut up a green pepper and saute in butter . Add the egg mixture to this and cook til half way done. Working quickly add the eggs to the cups , then top with bacon and cheese. Bake about fifteen to seventeen minutes. You can serve with a fresh fruit cup and a Bloody Mary or blood orange screwdriver.

Carrying this luxury vibe into lunch and dinner.If the man of the house is a steak eater, then grill a few T-bones or even more deluxe, a filet mignon. Amp it up by serving it with a rich and flavorful bagna calda sauce.This Piedmontese favorite is usually a dip for various vegetables yet it is the perfect sauce for steaks, It starts with anchovies, oil and garlic being cooked in a small saucepan. Mash the fillets down with the back of a metal spoon. This ensures that they will melt into a smooth, satiny sauce. Add four tablespoons of unsalted butter and cook for about five minutes. Pour over the steak. A variation is placing the steaks on toasted and buttered white bread. Lobster is another plush idea. Try barbecued lobster tails,These only take twenty minutes on the grill and can be served with just a slice of lemon or with a sprinkling of pepper flakes for a spicy turn. Bring in scallops and crab for a total seafood feast. What to end it with? Try a dessert of chocolate stout ice cream which is an easy cook and freeze. It's heating whole cream and adding dark chocolate chips and sugar . When the chocolate and sugar are all melted , then add a pint of Guinness,. Put through an ice cream maker and freeze until ready to serve. Add hot fudge sauce and whipped cream along with crumbled bacon for a read "dad" dessert.

Fathers treat their families all the time. Treat them with a day full of delicious foods and drinks. They 're worth it.

Beyond Burgers Beyond Good

Recently there is a lot of buzz around Beyond Burgers. This next level of the classic veggie burger takes the food one step further - with real beef texture and taste. Is it true? Yes! It does taste, look and feel like the real thing.

I didn't set out to buy this latest craze in vegan eating.I had gone into my local Acme - which is rare -to pick up much needed Liquid Plumr (thanks to a dodgy bathroom sink).I did need something for dinner that night. The easiest choice was Gardein if Acme had it. However the Beyond Burger  pack caught my eye. I had to try  them.The patties are packaged the same as regular beef and turkey burgers in a yellow plastic tray with a clear wrap covering them. A quick glance and you wouldn't know the difference between them and the regular sort. The price is a bit steep - six dollars for a pack of two. Gardein's - my usual go to ,is only $4.99 for a pack of four. Morningstar Farms is $5.49 for a four pack.  I don't think Beyond Burger will be featured at any of my barbecues this summer. Even for a small party of five that's a pack per person which translates into $30 for the main course! Beyond Burgers will be only for very small get togethers  I'm thinking of turning the patties into Salisbury steaks with homemade mushroom gravy for Christmas. (a long way off, I know). They will be gracing a birthday party of three soon too.

Are they worth the price? Absolutely yes. You do get more meat, Each patty has the thickness of a quarter pounder.  I wish I had taken pictures of this  to show their meatiness. They fry up easily on an stove top grill- only taking about six minutes on both sides. The outside was a deep beefy brown  with the typical crispy exterior.The inside was tender and pink - the perfect burger. The taste was exactly the same as a regular beef patty  with a rich unami, mineral flavor. There's even a juiciness to it. What is this wonder burger made from? There's no soy or gluten in it. Surprisingly it's pea protein isolate that is it's base along with canola and coconut oils. Pea protein may sound new but it's been used for years in protein shakes and can add in muscle gain and weight loss.It also gives a feeling of fullness. To be honest eating just one was quite filling. Adding a bun, along with onions, lettuce and tomato would be too much. I'm looking forward to trying  their Beyond Sausage brats along with incorporating their crumbles into my homemade tomato sauce and chili.

Don't be on the fence about trying Beyond Burger. You'll be missing out on one of the greatest meatless products. Try it, You'll forget about beef with one bite.

Taiwanese Cooking- Coming Into Its' Own

Taiwan has been in both China's and Japan's culinary shadows. Yet this vibrant country has its' own original fusion cuisine, full of colorful and flavorful dishes. It will definitely be the next big cuisine , thanks to Taiwanese  chefs on both coasts, dedicated to bringing it into the American mainstream.

Julia Moskin interviewed several Taiwanese chefs in yesterday's New York Times Food section, visiting  several restaurants on both the East and West coasts. The cuisine starts with this island's history. It will always have ties to China, having been settled by Chinese fishermen 6,000 years ago. The 1600's saw the Dutch , Portuguese, Scottish and English settle and lived among the indigenous peoples. The last 130 years saw rule by the Japanese until 1945 and then the Chinese. The cuisine reflects those different eras. There are the foods of the native Taiwanese - roots like taro and sweet potatoes, wild herbs and greens , along with seafood. Regional areas contribute dishes.In central Chiayi City, locals grow up with rice bowl topped with locally raised chicken. The meat is shredded and dressed with its' own juices and fat.Coastal Tainan cooks improvised slack season noodle bowls when the weather was too rough for fishing. These contained pork stock, garlic and noodles to stretch whatever fish they had.The Hakka, Chinese who arrived from the mainland in the 1600's brought rice dumplings and pickled vegetables. The Japanese gave them sashime, bento boxes and udon or stew. There are even dishes like pulled bread from the Muslim Hua people of Western China and Fujan province settlers gave the cuisine braising liquids and three cup chicken.

Now these dishes are being served in Taiwanese restaurants in the US. Years ago, Taiwanese cooking was lumped in with Chinese. Now it's emerging as one unto itself. We've been drinking and eating it for years. Bubble tea, mango shave ice,popcorn chicken with five spices and steamed buns with pork belly - gua bao. There is more to the cuisine though as Baohaus , the famed restaurant by the Renaissance person, Eddie Huang (who created the ABC series, "Fresh Off The Boat"). Some of the menu has a decidedly New York vibe, but there are traditional baos or rolls filled with pork, chicken and tofu, all spiced up with the Taiwanese holy trinity of cilantro, peanuts and pickled greens. An East Village  Taiwanese restaurant, Ho Foods, offers the popular and much beloved beef noodle soup which draws not only "Chinese aunties" but advice on what to add to Taiwan's national dish. On the West Coast there is Vivian Ku's Los Angeles based Pine and Crane in the city's Silver Lake district and Joy in Highland Park. Hers centered on the vegetable tradition of Taiwan. Her menu has smaller plates of marinated eggplant, fresh mushroom salad and edamame with black pepper. Even a non Taiwanese chef such as Trigg Brown has created such dishes for Win Son in Brooklyn. He has even used the holy trinity in a dessert.

Taiwanese food is on the rise here in the States.It is delicious , full of flavor and history. A new generation of chefs is making sure those recipes are getting out to a public hungry for different yet traditional cuisines.

A Salute To Maida Heatter

We recently lost one of the country's greatest bakers, Maida Heatter. An older generations of home bakers will be more than familiar with her work. She created the most heavenly desserts in an era where calories never counted. Now modern home bakers can enjoy recreating one of her most popular recipes.

Margaux Laskey a regular contributor and food blogger tackled Ms. Heatter's most famous recipe in today's New York Times Food section. It is chocolate mousse torte  that was one of the New York Times most requested and most famous recipes back in 1972. Ms. Heatter never started out to be a baker  yet she did start out in a creative industry - fashion design. This graduate of Pratt Institute could have easily gone into the family business of radio journalism. Her father was the famed journalist Gabriel Heatter. Ms. Heatter discovered baking when her third husband, Ralph Daniels opened up a Miami Beach restaurant in 1966. she volunteered her services which turned out to be a wild success. It was not her baking but her cooking that  caught the eye of Craig Claiborne, the  famed food critic and food journalist at the Times. She offered  an elephant omelet (!) made with real elephant meat (!)  as a promotional stunt for the '72 Republican convention. His article started out with that, but ended up promoting her bittersweet chocolate mousse and Queen Mother cake. From there it was onto cookbook writing where she finally was inducted into the James Beard foundation Cookbook Hall of Fame.

This recipe in today's Food section can be made by anyone. It is a classic chocolate mousse torte with the bottom being fine dry bread crumbs or cocoa powder. It requires eight large eggs, with the yolks and white separated (unfortunately you can't use aqua faba for this). A chopped up semisweet chocolate bar - and not chips make up the backbone of the recipe. There's also a tablespoon of instant espresso or coffee powder is also added for a mocha vibe. The chocolate is first melted in a bain-marie or double boiler. An easier way would be melting the chocolate in the microwave (watch out that it doesn't burn which can easily happen when nuking it). Dissolve the coffee into hot water and then pour it over the chocolate.it's then left to stand for five minutes, covered with a towel.If there are still bits of unmelted chocolate, return to the microwave for fifteen second blasts until everything is melted.  The yolk are then whipped in an electric mixer with the whisk attachment. The chocolate is added along with the vanilla Then the egg whites are whisked with the chocolate mixture being added in small batches.It's then poured into the pie plate and baked for twenty-five minutes.Pop into the fridge to chill  The mousse is topped with a lush homemade whipped cream and dusted with shaved dark chocolate.

Maida Heatter was a national treasure. The same can be said of this decadent dessert. Make it. Enjoy it. It is a rich classic.

A Glamping Cooking Experience

Glamping has been a vacation choice for quite some time now. It's a glamorous take on camping - think a Downton Abbey picnic stretched out for a few days. What do you bring to eat? Glamorous food - what else.

Usually camping cooking  and cuisine consists of wienies on a stick If you're lucky,it's a fish caught in a nearby lake or stream , steamed in a foil packet.Cooking gear can be any of the  twigs you can find along with tin cups and plates bought at the local sporting goods store..  Put all those away. Glamping demands fine food eaten on non paper plates .Most glamping sites have some kind of canteen however there are some with  outdoor kitchens for campers. There is usually a small two burner stove and a microwave.Some sites have a communal fridge with only enough space for one group of campers. Other glamping sites offer refrigerators with freezers for two glamping groups. You will have to bring your own plates and utensils as well as some cooking gear. Glam plates and glasses can be found at Amazon . They have a Picnic At Ascot-Surrey willow picnic basket,  complete with a coffee service for two. It comes with sturdy melamine plates and glass wineglasses. There are also metal knives and forks along with salt and pepper shakers. What else to take? Camping cookware. There are sets that contain kettles, pans for frying along with spatulas for flipping filet mignon burgers.

What foods to take on a glamping trip?Treat yourself to the good stuff. Start the day with eggs Benedict on slices of brioche bread. The bread can later be used for sandwiches., whether for lunch or  dinner. You can also treat yourself and crew to French toast with fresh fruit from the nearby farmer's market and maple syrup if you're near any maple farms. Lunch can be an easy mushroom pate, served on crackers or the brioche bread. A salad is also a good choice , along with it being an easy make. Again, take advantage of any of the farmer's markets and farms you passed on the way to the campsite.A  bowl of mixed , organic greens dressed with a homemade blueberry vinaigrette is always a good choice.  You can buy already roasted chicken  to cut up and put into it. Another idea is the Provencale sandwich, pain bagnat . This a a demi loaf of French bread stuffed with sliced hard boiled eggs, Genoa tuna (tuna in olive oil), tomato and red onions. A simple red wine vinaigrette give its its' flavor. As for dinner. if you're glamping by the coast, then take advantage of the seafood. Boiling lobsters can be messy - and traumatic. Buy the meat already cooked. Serve on toasted , buttered rolls or as a cold meal mixed with crab and shrimp. Dessert can be s'mores but use Valrhona dark chocolate and gourmet marshmallows in coffee or strawberry flavors instead of the usual fare.

Glamping is a fun spin trip out of the ordinary. It requires sophisticated cooking and foods. This is what makes the experience even more unique.

A Listening Kind Of Party

Last week the New York Times Food section ran an article by Ben Ratliff, about Japanese listening bars.This is where patrons go to hear jazz ,carefully curated by the bartender as they sip drinks or in some cases coffees and lattes. An idea came to me. What about a listening party? What would you serve for food and drink? It 's an open book.

I like this idea for both classical and jazz music. Listening bars are not meant for conversation. They're meant for savoring the notes and tunes. Add a layer of food and it can be a pleasurable experience. Parties , especially now, can be fraught with too many polarizing politics. These do nothing for the gathering, except cause all sorts of fighting and sniping. Forget eating.Guests are either too riled or too dyspeptic to enjoy any kind of hors d'ouevres. Yet a group solely listening to various jazz artists or Beethoven could turn a social occasion into a Zen happening. You do need a good audio system and vinyl albums or CDs. Which is better?Some prefer vinyl records because they have a warmer,fuller sound. You get to hear the music as the band intended it to be. Of course CDS also work as does a tablet playlist. The best bet for a listening party is pick one artist.Have his or her work on rotation for the duration of the gathering. Seating arrangements can be one table with the food and drink,. Scatter  chairs and small tables for setting down the refreshments and food.

As for the food, keep it to savory hors d'ouevres and dessert bites.For jazz listening, think a New Orleans themed listening party with spicy miniature po' boys. Add oysters for a more decadent bite. Create baked rice cups in a muffin or mini muffin pan and fill with gumbo and/or jambalaya. A variety of pastes and pates  served on slices of cocktail bread (which can be found at any major supermarket's deli counter).The pastes and pates can easily be made from deviled ham, chicken and beef, Add anything from a drop of champagne to scallions to make the pastes truly unique. This can also work for a classical music listening party. Have people take plates of raw veggies and dips to their seats. You can set up a dip bar with such varying dips as a simple vinaigrette to homemade French and ranch dressings.Cheese and crackers will never go amiss.Think a cheese board with Brie Edam, and Gouda for a start .Aldi has an excellent cracker box , with an array of crackers, ranging from butter to sesame and poppyseed. Dessert can be cookie cups filled with fruit and cream.If you're listening to classical, then think both classy and classical. Go with homemade petit fours and macarons (the last can be bought) Start the evening off with wine or champagne. End with demitasse and different teas.

A listening party is a great summer party. Guests can enjoy good food and good music. That's it. No debates. No opinions save for liking or not liking the music choice.In short, the perfect get together.