miadish

About a Horned Mellon

Horned Mellon

In Season - Strawberries

Whenever I smell good strawberries — flavorful, juicy ones– they demand my attention. It’s so easy to pass their lackluster cousins in the supermarket, but the ones from Knauss Berry Farm demand a full stop. Their aroma is heady with memories of childhood visits to the Farm in Tata’s Chevy Nova. My grandparents and aunt [...]

CSA Show and Tell #6

After the lovely indulgence – read dessert for breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight snack — of the holidays, I’m ready to start my weekly cooking and writing again. I haven’t written a CSA Show & Tell since week 2, but I’ll start with week 6, since that’s where we are right now. I know that [...]

Platos Venezolanos de Navidad

My cousin’s wife, Mercedes, is an amazing cook. She will be making traditional Venezuelan Christmas foods like hallacas, torta negra, pan de jamon, and galletas de mantequilla this December. Hallacas are a Venezuelan version of what is commonly known here as a tamale. They look like Christmas bundles wrapped in leaves and tied neatly with [...]

Oh, but I do love those Thanksgiving classics

My mother does most of the cooking for our Thanksgiving. Even though she is Venezuelan, she serves a traditional Thanksgiving meal. We typically eat turkey with golden-crisp skin, raisin-flecked stuffing, Portobello mushrooms sautéed in butter and garlic, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. My aunt adds spinach casserole or arroz con leche. [...]

How About Some Canistel With Your Turkey?

    The Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock enjoyed a three day gathering with the Wampanoag Indians. They ate corn; waterfowl like ducks and geese, and maybe some cranberries. There is no evidence that they ate any turkey. I discovered this while listening to an interview with a historian from the Plimoth Plantation [...]

In Season - Zucchini

We are most familiar with zucchini as the bland, over steamed companion of chicken at the wedding dinner. Zucchini is mellow, mild and sometimes mushy. It’s like the nice guy at work that you would never date. It is self-effacing, never taking all of the credit. Zucchini is the edible equivalent of [...]

In Season - Avocado

We in Miami-Dade live in Avocado Central, when it comes to the Florida variety. Most of the avocados produced in Florida come from Homestead or the Redland. I’m an avocado lover all the way. So while I appreciate a petite Hass or California avocado, I am also devoted to our more voluptuous [...]