Category Archives: individual foods or dishes

New York VS New Jersey Pizza

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New York my home away from home is supposedly the best place to get pizza. But I have to disagree with that claim because New Jersey my actual home has the best pizza i have ever had. Many people will dispute me on this but it also depends on what type of pizza you like. I am a fan of thicker pizza  with a thick crust. Many New Jersey pizza places make it the way i like it. There are other places that make it very thin and brittle which i do not like probably because as a child my parents always got thin pizza. Which is an interesting topic because i did not stop liking pizza all together just a different type.

The competition is high for pizza places in New Jersey because there are so many places that sell it. When there is so much supply and demand it causes many people to divulge in the business because you know you’ll make a profit. You know that a you will make a profit as long as your prices and location are good. In New York it is the same way where you can find a pizza place on each corner. It is a great example of the business world if you look at pizza places in either states because of the competition and the demand for it.

 

 

Trip to Astoria

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This past weekend my group and I visited Astoria, Queens. We didn’t really know what to expect driving into the neighborhood because we have heard and researched so many mixed reviews about it. However, we were definitely taken back while exploring all the different cuisines, beer gardens, and amenities that Astoria had to offer.

Before coming to Astoria we had researched that there was a scarcity of garbage disposals and trash cans in the neighborhood. While driving down 24th Ave, we noticed that between 31st and 26th street there were less than about 5 trash cans spreading across those 5 blocks. We were appalled by that how such a lively neighborhood and street can have such little waste disposal. Due to this, it contributed to the littering that took over the streets. But what struck me most wasn’t the power plant, or the littering, or the projects that we saw, but the vast variety of cuisine that was offered in the neighborhood. In just one block we saw a French and Italian bakery, a Greek restaurant, and much more. During our visit, we decided to stop by a little greek restaurant called BZ Grill. We read reviews about it which stated that this is the most authentic and delicious greek food in the whole neighborhood – and it definitely lived up to its word.

This is what BZ Grill looks like.

This is what BZ Grill looks like.

Its a very small place that has about 4 tables inside. The kitchen is right outside for all the customers to see and the meat is fresh and cooked right in front of you. image

It was crazy to see that this lamb was cooked and roasted on the skewers right in front of all the customers. My group and I decided to order gyros along with Greek fries that had feta cheese on them. To say that the meal was delicious would be an understatement. It’s safe to say that it was probably the most authentic Greek food I have ever indulged in. image image

Mentoring

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20151023_123620On Friday, October 23 I visited my mentee named Rebecca at Port Richmond High School. When the class bell rang, the students got straight to work. It was so interesting to see all of them grabbing pots, pans, ingredients, kitchen tools and getting down to business. I asked my mentee what they have done during the past week and what they have made. She told me that earlier in the week they had prepared fried rice and that today they were making chicken stir fry. I paid close attention to the ingredients used and how they made the chicken stir fry. The main components of the meal were chicken, bell peppers, and bok choy. They then added things like garlic, ginger, vegetable and sesame oil to cook the stir fry in. I am not much of a cook myself so to see these high school students handle and maneuver the kitchen in such a professional and knowledgeable manner was really inspiring. After they finished cooking, they started serving the fried rice and chicken stir fry. The room smelled delicious. I got handed a plate and after one bite I was so impressed. It tasted really good. This time around at Port Richmond High School, I learned from Rebecca and her peers more so than she learned from me. I was inspired by these students and their obvious passion for cooking. I suppose the great part of this mentorship project is that I never know what I am going to get. Sometimes I will leave feeling like I learned something new ( as I did that Friday) and other times I hope to inspire my mentee which will leave her feeling as I did after my visit. I can’t wait to see what other dishes, lessons, and advice I will encounter during this mentor partnership with Port Richmond High School. 🙂

PierSide Peel & Eat

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During my fall break I took a trip to the sunshine state of Florida. While in florida my vacation consisted of relaxing on the beach and eating. On my third day of vacation I left Miami and went to visit some of my family who lived in Fort Meyers on the gulf side of florida. When i met up with my family we went to Fort Meyers beach and ate lunch at the PierSide grill & Blowfish Bar which was right on the sand of the beach.

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Since I was in the Gulf Coast I felt that I had to have a meal that is soured locally and something that is a part of the culture in that area. I decided to go with peel and eat shrimp. I chose the peel and eat because I really love shrimp and some of the best shrimp in the world is from the gulf. The Shrimp that I got was fresh gulf shrimp sourced locally, lightly seasoned and you could either get it served hot or iced, I decided to go with iced. Locally sourced simply means that the food is from that are or region. It is important to eat locally sourced food because it supports the regions industry an businesses.

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When the shrimp came out it was perfect and the view made it that much better. I really only enjoy fresh seafood and you could tell that the shrimp was very fresh. I had a great time enjoying the amazing food, being outside in the warm weather, and hanging out with family on the beach. Florida is an amazing place with great food and I know that next time I go back I will get some more peel and eat as well as other foods unique to that area.

German-Jewish Immigrant Traditions still Present Today

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The presentation that was assigned to my class and I in History and LC was to read about a specific immigrant family that lived in one of the tenement houses on 97 Orchard Street in New York City. The family that my group received was the Gumpertz family. During my reading about this family I learned that they came from Prussia in order to start a better life for themselves. They faced many hardships coming to America but over came them and assimilated into the American culture. German-Jews in Prussia had very strict rules about the food they ate but once many immigrated came to New York these traditions changed a bit due to the availability of foods in NYC.

Gefilte fish is one dish in particular the German-Jews brought from Prussia. No one really knows exactly who came up with this dish but it is now commonly associated with the Jews. Gefilte fish is a dish of stewed or baked fish boiled in a fish or vegetable broth that is served cold.

A few days ago I was walking through the supermarket with my mom and I came across a jar of Gefilte fish. I was surprised to see it in jars in a supermarket and not in the fresh fish section. The Gefilte fish was in the a section of the aisle with all of the other Jewish products. Seeing the Gefilte fish in the aisle of the supermarket made me automatically think of the project I did in my class the other day . It made me realize that some dishes in many cultures have stayed the same and haven’t changed no matter how much time has passed. Even though some traditions may assimilate with other cultures they still manage to preserve some traditional ways. Just like the Gefilte fish in Jewish culture.

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Eating a Traditional Knish

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I recently visited Port Richmond High School, and I learned that I have been eating a certain food the wrong way my entire life. I walked into the school’s culinary kitchen and I sat down to eat the food my mentee and his classmates have prepared for my Wagner classmates and I to enjoy. One of the students brought a tray of snacks that looked delicious just from the aroma that it provided. When I asked my mentee (Erik) what they were, he said that they were just a simple knish. I was completely shocked by this; I never had eaten a knish like these before. These knishes were little potato balls made with starch and flour; they also were pointy at the top. My entire life I have been eating knishes that were flat squares and these knishes that I have been eating my whole did not even closely resemble the ones that were provided to my classmates and I that day. I had to even ask the students if these were what actual knishes looked like; sure enough, they had told me that these were traditional knishes. I was so upset that I had been eating knishes wrong my whole life! I was now so intrigued by these knishes that I just had to try them. Sure enough, these knishes were so soft and delicious. It was simple food made with flour, starch, and potatoes, but it was one of the best foods that I have eaten that whole week. What made this food even better was that I was able to eat the knishes with ketchup. I made sure when I got home that day to call out my mom and tell her that she had been giving me “fake” knishes to eat my entire life.

These are the type of flat knishes that I have been eating my entire life.

Friendly Food Cue

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Food cues are all around us at all times and they usually make us want to eat more. I thought I would post about one of my favorite dishes to make as well as examine the food cues associated with this dish in my life since I always make it when my whole group of friends get together. This dish would be my brownies!

My Brownies are made from scratch; no Betty Crocker boxes are allowed here! They are extremely time consuming and are a lot of hard work, but they are definitely worth it. Having to melt the chocolate just right and even deciding what kind of chocolate I want to use can take up a lot of time. I’m not going to post my whole recipe because I did make it myself, but I will always make them upon request.

This brings me to the food cue portion of this post. Am I the food cue? Are my friends the food cues? Are we all the food cues? When they come back from school, I want to do something for them to make them happy. A lot of them are having trouble adjusting to school and a nice treat always lifts everyone’s spirits! So perhaps they are a food cue for me to make and eat this dish. I had already planned on making the brownies for them since I always do when our whole group gathers (there are about 20 of us, so it’s rare when we can all come together). This would mean that they are a food cue for me. However, some of them asked me to make them as well. So not only are they food cues for me, but I’m also a food cue for some of them. The fact that the thought of hanging out with me makes them think of brownies means I am a definite food cue to them.

Another element of these brownies is commensality. The brownies aren’t just delicious treats and evidence of food cues, they are a method of sharing between my group of friends. The brownies will be on the table and around them will be all of us talking, sharing stories, and reliving memories. Perhaps these brownies will even be the reason we recall some memories, like the time I made them for the cast party after a lot of us were in our school’s drama production of Our Town. Not only are we being brought together with the brownies, but we are being brought together because of brownies. I guess you could say food does a lot more than satisfy hunger.

(The link in the beginning is a short explanation of food cues and how you can try to avoid some of the more common ones!)

Homemade Raviolis

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My grandma came from Italy when she was only 12 yeas old in 1959. She came with her mom, dad, five sisters and two brothers. In Italy, they made almost everything they ate homemade nothing was store bought except 11892358_1071945729483444_744013092827412635_ofor some ingredients. My grandma also grew up on a farm that had nearly every fruit and vegetable her and her family would need. When my grandma came to America, her and her family brought a lot of their traditions of cooking with them. The one thing that she loves to make all the time is raviolis.

It takes a lot of work and time to prepare and make raviolis. The first thing is to make the filling, my grandma makes her ricotta most of the time or she does something different like she did this time, and she made what she calls basket cheese that is pretty much ricotta just cooked and settled a little differently. She makes the cheese by boiling water and adding junket tablets to the boiling whole milk with lemon juice and little pieces of cheese start to float to the top and are spooned out and put into the basket mold to settle. The next thing she does is make the dough; she uses special dough flour that you can only buy in certain stores. She mixes the flour with eggs, water, and baking soda. She then rolls the dough into flat pieces and uses a ravioli mold to shape the dough into raviolis. First one pieces of dough is put1920031_764282193583134_537343406_n on one side of the mold, then the holes that are made are filled with the basket cheese that was made then another flat piece of dough is put on top of it and pressed down by another side of the ravioli press. The press then cuts and seals all the raviolis into individual pieces.

 

My Food Voice

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An important tradition in my Greek household that has been passed down from my grandfather is the preparation of the lamb. My parents immigrated to the United States years ago and brought this tradition from my small village in Greece all the way to my suburban home in Brooklyn. Before my parents left their homeland, their parents made sure to teach them all of the significant history and culture that was passed on from our ancestors to preserve our heritage. Lamb meat is widely used in the preparation of Greek foods but most importantly on Easter.

IMG_4425The night before Easter, my father with the help of his brother begin the preparation of the lamb. They season it with a mixture of olive oil, salt, pepper, and oregano that is called “ladolemono”. The next day after morning liturgy they place the lamb on a large spit. The lamb takes approximately four hours to cook completely.

This day is very symbolic for my family and I because it’s the one day, since I was a little girl, that all my family members gather together to celebrate Easter. Even though many years have gone by this tradition is still alive in my family. The memories I have made, are memories that I would want to pass down to my future family to be able to carry on this tradition.