Cibo – Travel Ninja

Buena!

It’s been a little over 24 hours since I’ve landed and I am already having Panamá withdrawals.

Currently, I am sitting in bed eating Panamanian chocolate, Whatsapping Roman, and researching where I can find some passion fruit.

On Wednesday, I had the misfortune of a 9 hour travel delay. Secretly, this was not quite a misfortune at all. I got to relish another Panamanian day of deliciously fresh jugo, booming city life, and one last opportunity to inhale the intoxicating smell of what Panama is… smokey, lemony, floral goodness.

I just love Panamá.

Yes. Panamá has my heart for many reasons. It’s home away from home. I don’t even like home because it’s cold here half the year. But… good schools, paying jobs, reliable hospitals, and friends help me stay in Cary. Besides… someone has to keep Cary fun!

This time in particular tho, leaving Panamá was a lot harder. The point of this trip was to visit family and allow my baby to stay in Panama to brush up on some Spanish, and do a little surfing while living with my parents this summer.

When we said our goodbyes, he cried and I cried. It was so hard. However, what kept me strong is knowing , this experience will be so great for him. I know he will be proud of his heritage and time spent with family is good for the soul. It most certainly was good for mine.

This day.

We decided to take a hike to the Tavida Waterfall. On the way up, we asked for directions from a police man. This police guy completely discouraged us from going. In typical Panamanian style, he inserted his own opinion on what we decided to do with our day.. he said, “why would you ever do that, it’s forever away”.

Thank you, sir! And maybe we should have heeded the warning. There was a fall down the mountains. A slip on the waterfall rocks. The attack of the colorful butterflies. And my personal favorite, a point in which 5 of the 6 people in the car had to get out of the car so my dad could drive up and over the mountain. My guilty conscience of over eating the extra breakfast weighed heavy.

We had plenty of laughs and enjoyed gorgeous views!

Relaxing days.

There were plenty of other days where we enjoyed beaching, pooling, and watching the rain coming and going.

Feast day -every day.

The eating was intense. But would you expect anything less of me? From my mom feeding me to our Panama City food tour…we had it all.

Family day.

Seeing my grandmother meant everything to me. A few weeks ago, she suffered some medical issues and is now on the way to recovery. I got to see lots of family- my mom and dad of course, and my aunt, uncle, cousins, and friends. This was the most meaningful part of the trip for me.

City day.

No trip to Panamá is complete without a Panamá city adventure.

Back home and I am already planning my next visit. Missing Roman bad, but thank goodness for ways to video chat and text. Kid is becoming a great photo taker!

NC Pizza Review Time

I tried quite a few gluten free pizzas over the past couple months. J & S Pizza in Apex and V Pizza in Cary were pretty good. Truth is, I don’t feel like I can be a gluten free pizza judge. GF pizza just doesn’t do it for me. If you have an amazing GF recommendation, please send it my way. I am really wanting to like gluten free pizza. As of now, at the end of the day… I’ll suffer with “gluten bloats” for a slice of real pizza.

I have 10 NC pizzas that are tied for number one. Honorable mentions: Riccis in Cary and Pizza Times in Raleigh… I just wrote about them in another post so I can’t double post. Right?! I don’t know. I love how I make up rules as I go!

Oakwood City Box Pizza in Raleigh.

Cugino Forno Pizza in Greensboro

Benny Capitale’s Pizza in Raleigh– because size matters

Brothers of NY Pizza in Cary

Pizzeria Toro in Durham

Pizzería Mercato in Chapel Hill

Hutchinsons Garage Pizza in Durham

Hummingbird in Raleigh-deep dish cheese pie

Roost Beer Garden Belted Goat at Fearrington in Chapel Hill

Tazza

* all pizza judgments are based on the plain cheese or margarita version. Pepperoni pizzas pictured because I ate the cheese prior to pics! Oops!

Perfect Paella

There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t think about my college study abroad trip.

I day dream of the sailboats at the Gulf of Trieste. Which for the record, is where I’d love to go back for a concert… bucket list item… Pearl Jam in Trieste, Italy. Sometimes, I reminisce over my crazy courage to go white water rafting in the Swiss Alps (umm… a category 4? What was I thinking?). Other times, it’s the small reminders of fascinations like visiting Mozart’s home in Austria.

These days, I sit in wonderment over how my parents let me study abroad at 19 years young! I can’t imagine my soon to be 17 year old… gone from me, exploring the world alone…in just 2 short years. Then again, I feel like I’ve trained my kids well in travel. My study abroad experience was so defining for me, that I have made a study abroad trip a requirement in college for the wee three.

Of all the cool emotional experiences, like jumping off cliffs and crying at the German camps…I’m always asked… what’s your favorite part of all the travel?

My answer, is generally the same as it was when I was 19 years old… simply visiting food markets. The food!! It is consistently thrilling.

When I returned from that European study abroad trip…just a short 98 years ago…the hardest thing for me to adjust to back in the States, was no piazza foodie center, no side ally market, no screaming negotiations from vendors, no fresh cherries, and no gelato.

Mercado de la Boqueria in Barcelona

So. Every time I can get to a food market, I’m one happy traveler. This is where I can try to blend in with the locals and get a true taste of the culture. Probably, my favorite market I have ever been to was the Mercado de la Boqueria in Barcelona.

The variety of foods were insane. The bustling feistiness of the locals…All awesome. Here, in Barcelona is where I tasted paella, like for real real. Of course. Go to the source if you want the real deal. And ever since, I can’t stop with the paella.

I won’t claim that I’m a Paella expert but, I do claim that I’ve made all kinds of tasty paella and it’s ALWAYS loved.

Have guest coming over? Paella

Need a fancy dish? Paella

Comfort food? Paella

Too cold outside? Warm up with some paella.

To hot outside? Seafood paella will make you feel like you’re cooling off by the ocean.

Lonely? Paella

What goes with paella? Paella.

Ok, well what goes well with paella is pan con tomate and Spanish wine, olives and cheese. And a second helping of paella.

Head here for a basic veggie paella recipe. The sofrito is the most important part. Add broccoli, chicken, clams…You do you boo!

Last night, I did a quick vegetarian paella. I cooked shrimp on the side for the meat eaters. Delicious.

“Quick” paella 🥘

Cheers… and someone get me to a European market stat!

Panama In 30 Seconds

This is the most requested meal in my house by a long shot. It smells amazing and it’s rare that I don’t have all these ingredients on hand. This is my own one pot, “easy week night” twist to … Arroz Con Pollo! No one makes it better than my mom and this is not super fancy… but it’s absolutely delicious. And. When you can’t be in Panama and you NEED a fix fast… Here it is in, 30 seconds. Enjoy!

Arroz con pollo

Arroz Con Pollo

*Heat up dat oil

*Place chicken to cook. Add salt and pepper to taste.

* I love garlic so I add about half a tablespoon. Add more if you are riding public transportation this week.

*While the chicken cooks, chop onions, peppers, black olives, and tomatoes.

*When chicken is cooked, take the best kitchen utensil ever, scissors, and chop the chicken. This relieves stress btw.

* Add the chopped onions, peppers, black olives, and tomatoes. Remember, recipes are just a starting off point. I love green olives so much better than black olives, but the kids don’t. So, mix it up!

* I was blessed with the “cilantro is super refreshing” gene, so I add it to everything. If you think it tastes like soap, just add parsley.

* Let all that chopped stuff cook and simmer together. (About 20 mins) In your rice cooker, make rice. (About equal time for rice to cook)

*When everything is looking good… Mix together. Add water, or my fav, strained tomatoes for more flavor or juiciness. Add extra spices if needed. Sometimes some red cayenne pepper is everything.

* Close your eyes… pretend you are in Panama.. NOT in 30 degree weather in boring Cary!

HomeMade NY Style Bagels

All I’m saying is… Watch out Big Dom’s…Cause Big Chanti made a dozen bagels and they were a huge hit! I promised a few of you the recipe. Please share if you enjoyed them as much as we did!

Just going to drop the NY STYLE BAGEL recipe here!

Follow it! I was a bit impatient, so, they’re not super pretty but they were super delicious!

Toppings:

Eggwash/Salt/Pepper/Garlic
Eggwash/Cinnimon/Sugar/Butter
Eggwash/Salt/Pepper/CheddarCheese/ParmesanCheese
Butter/Salt

Mostly Meatless Monday Menu

Let’s take a virtual culinary trip to France. Pour a glass of Shiraz and grab your Le Creuset…

Trader Joe’s Pacific Peak and whatever is clean and ready to use will do the trick too.

Confession: I rarely ever follow a cooking recipe.

The down side to not following instructions, like we were taught in 1st grade, is that I have never been able to rate a recipe online…. because I didn’t actually follow it. I also can’t really share recipes because I’m always like… Here’s my FAMOUS MEATball recipe, but DON’T put meat in it. (It’s not that bad, but kinda!) Nevertheless, there is a good thing about recipe rebelling. I am super flexible in the kitchen so I can whip up just about anything and…I can make most recipes deliciously vegetarian.

I am not willing to declare myself an AMAZING cook. What does it even mean to be a great cook? Heck, if I know. We’ve all been to restaurants that others LOVED but we hated it. It all comes to personal taste, I guess. What I do know, is I love food and my family’s consistent requests for me to keep on cooking, is flattering. When the kids voluntarily cook WITH me so they can learn their favorite meals…that means I am doing something right!

So.. I share my menus, occasionally, only for inspiration and a little escape. I don’t think I would ever enjoy recipe blogging. I am very, very, very, bad at giving out FOOD instructions. My poor kids will tell you how true that statement is. So many times they’ve asked questions like, “Mom, how do I cut the potatoes?” And my answer is usually… “The way you’d like to eat them!”

For me, the written recipe is the jumping off point. I adore those who can give recipe instructions so beautifully and eloquently. Thank you!

Menu:

Sometimes, we cook to escape.. and so we escape to France for a mostly meatless Monday menu.

Ratatouille, Veggie Quiche, Ham and Swiss Quiche, French Bread, French Cheese Board, Soufflé, Red Wine

Ratatouille:

This is my base guide for ratatouille. It is described as creamy and smokey because of the heavy cream and paprika. I am very visual, so seeing pictures and videos helps me envision recipes. I love that this recipe includes both!

https://tatyanaseverydayfood.com/recipe-items/creamy-smoky-ratatouille/

Recipe Rebel Edits: I didn’t have any eggplant, so that’s not part of my dish. Instead, I doubled upped on the zucchini and yellow squash. Wine was subbed for the sugar… I adore a tomato/wine sauce. I didn’t use heavy cream because the parmesan was enough creaminess I craved.

Vegetables vibrantly served!

Quiches:

Anytime we have guests over, I make quiche. It’s a little fancier than just scrambling some eggs for breakfast. This recipe is a great one for after the holidays so you can use some left over ham. Sometimes, I make individual quiches from the recipe by putting the mix in muffin tins. The kids love this personal take! Here is the base guide recipe for both quiches I made for our French night.

https://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/hashbrowns-and-ham-quiche/

Rebel Recipe Edits: Since I don’t eat meat, I made two quiches to accommodate. I don’t ever add the Italian seasoning from this recipe. For the meat eaters, the ham and Swiss quiche recipe was followed pretty closely except I added Gruyere cheese (and no Italian seasoning). I indulged in a veggie quiche which was made of left over ingredients I used from the ratatouille. For my veggie quiche, take out the ham and Swiss cheese, (and Italian seasoning), then replace those ingredients with double cheddar cheese and about a cup of zucchini, spinach, and tomatoes (combined).

They say they are meat eaters, but my veggie quiche is always the first one gone!

Soufflés:

Opposite to cooking, I don’t ever waver from baking recipes (unless I am doing a testing or comparison). Don’t mess with the sweets!

In 2008, I spent Christmas with my family in Versaille, France. We had the privilege of eating at Gordon Ramsey’s Au Trianon Restaurant. I instantly became obsessed with his soufflé and chocolate fondant recipes. There have been many many winter nights that I have whipped up one of the two recipes for comfort. These treats are always a perfect end to any meal and any day! Several years ago, someone gifted me Gordon Ramsey cookbooks, where I get these recipes from. I found them online, picture-less, but they are spectacular.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chocolate-fondant

https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/hot-chocolate-souffl-gordon-ramsay/267524