Backward and Forward

Looking forward or back ~  look at yourself. 
Ste Annes. 

We are just about to leave behind that time of year when every form of media is dominated by looking back (on 2015) and looking forward (to 2016). There’s almost too much of that, but then it is a “too much” time of the year. 

I was recently reminded that “backward” and “forward” play a role in Hungarian superstitions.  To ensure luck, a New Year’s Eve / Day meal should, apparently, include pork. “Pigs symbolize progress as they root themselves in the ground before pushing forward.” Any creature that pushes backwards – such as chickens scratching – signify bad luck and are to be avoided. Fish is customary in Hungary on Christmas Eve, but not so at New Year’s because they “can swim away with your luck”.  (Source)

These lucky / unlucky food traditions seem to exist beyond Hungary. Do a quick internet search on ‘new year’s lucky foods’ and it turns out that many countries share similar warnings, and are proponents of pork for New Year’s luck – Austria Spain, Cuba – even Southern USA. Visit an East European delicatessen this time of year and do not be surprised to see “Santa treats” replaced by pigs. “Austrians and Germans are... known to decorate the table with miniature pigs made of marzipan.” (Source)

Also included by many on the list of lucky foods is lentils – shaped as coins, they symbolize wealth and good fortune. (In case you missed it, the UN has declared 2016 The International Year of Pulses – aka lentils. More on that in a future post.)

Lastly, Hungarian sites refer to “kocsonya” as a lucky food. Pronounced "kuhchunyuh", this is nicely (and deceivingly) translated as “cold pork aspic”. “Aspic” sounds so genteel, but this tends to be very rustic and features pig’s feet staring up at you from a soup plate, surrounded by the natural “jello” that results from cooking the trotters in a broth. There has not been a year of my life when I have not had to watch someone eat this. (It’s a fave of Mr KB.) Though I am all grown up, this remains one of my “ick” foods, thus the “luck” for me is that no one forces me to make it or eat it. (Inexplicably, I remain willing to eat Jello in any colour, and have fond memories of Jello Jewel Pie which could make a comeback since BuzzFeed lists “all things Jello” among the 16 Biggest Food Trends in 2016.)

While being encouraged to look forward, a few missives popping into my email box prompt a backward glance. I am getting reminders to renew my blog site and domain. Yes, it is coming up to the one year anniversary of this preoccupation of mine.

Someone wishing me well once said ‘I hope you get what you want from blogging’. It’s taken me about a year of blogging, attendance at the Canadian Food Blogger’s Conference, and subsequent interactions with the FBC Community to realize that I am doing this mainly for myself. When blogging (and cooking) I achieve "Flow".

Flow is a term adopted by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (that’s a lovely Hungarian name) to describe the state when "a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does… In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task."

Flow – don’t you want it? Is there anything better than that? As it turns out, there are some food bloggers who also want/need an income. Some have “monetized” their blog and by combining it with related entrepreneurial activities (and possibly the publication of a book) are making a living wage – or in the case of Pinch of Yum – an enviable income of about $33,000 per month!

I have no plans to undertake any monetization. I blog for Flow, Zen, self-satisfaction and to create a digital version of favourite recipes and family traditions that can be made and sustained by family and friends. A few of us FBC-ers are calling ourselves “legacy bloggers”.

Thus, I am not reporting to you any income – though I did win a couple of prizes last year – mainly by accident, and one by participating in a Twitter Party – will tell you more about that one day. I will share a bit about 2015 in numbers – and these numbers pale in comparison to those of big name bloggers. Anticipating that maybe no one would pay attention to the blog, I ended up with 2527 unique visitors to my site in 2015 and 12,200 page views – all from 52 countries. I am not entirely sure how all that happens, though I do post a bit on Instagram (160 followers) and Twitter (167 followers).

There’s never a week when I don’t learn some new – though arguably useless and unimportant - thing. For example, near the end of 2015, Instagram-ers were posting collages of nine photos, hash-tagged as #bestnine2015. Here’s my best nine – as in most “liked” by followers. They are not my favourite photos, but they say the public is always right…

Instagram: Most Liked in 2015 - total of 5250 Likes

Some of my favourite memories

Numbers offer the “quantity” story, but blogging also brought some quality. It became a gateway to new experiences and connections. Those “in the zone” must surely know that cultivating community and connections with people sharing similar interests is one of the tips for successful ageing, so thank you Kitchen Bliss for that! (Source)

And what’s in store for KB going forward? More and better writing; catching up on many recipes that have been enjoyed but not yet shared; continuing new food experiences at home and in restos.

I like to conclude all blog posts with a recipe. Clearly, this time, one has to be pork. I was astonished that Gulyás Soup was my only “pork post” so far, but given that it was my first post ever maybe this is a good time to re-visit it. I also posted a favourite recipe for easy-peasy Broiled Pork Tenderloin.

Lentils appear more often in the KB Kitchen and here. Check out Parisian Lentils, Curry Lentil Soup and Lentil Orzo Salad. Enjoy them all!

From a card given to my favourite Capricorn – “In life, we remember moments, not days. Hope your new year is filled with perfect moments.” 

For 2016, wishing you Moments, Flow, Zen and most of all Bliss!

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A (clean) apple a day

Honey Crisp (and... Sweet Tango!)

Kitchen Bliss shares recipes with short preambles, as well as longer reflective blog posts like this. I maintain a list of ideas I plan to blog about, then run afoul of plans when I experience convergences that become irresistible diversions. So it was with CBC’s recent re-run of “New Green Giants” (originally aired in 2013). It forced me to re-visit my thoughts and habits on food choices – including the world of “organics”. 

Warning: this blog post is filled with questions, reflections and dilemmas – and no definitive answers or personal advice. Comments are welcome if you wish to clarify, correct or enhance this content.

I do not routinely purchase organic foods partly because it is my understanding that there is not (yet) enough regulation or rigour attached to the use of the term. Yes it is also more costly, but perhaps worth it if there was a clearer guarantee re what I’d be purchasing – the CFIA’s label “certified organic” is aiming for that standard. The documentary turned up the heat a bit on my inner debate – organics – yes or no? And what does “organic” actually mean?

Here's the Wikipedia definition - “organic farming in general features cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers are not allowed, although certain approved pesticides may be used. In general, organic foods are also not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or synthetic food additives”. In brief – chemical-free food, produced in a manner that nourishes and sustains Mother Nature.

At one point, the documentary refers to the “Dirty Dozen” – a list of foods that have the highest levels of pesticides. I’ll pause here while you click on the link and look at the list. A fruit that always makes the “dirty” list is one that I eat every day – thinking there might be some truth to the maxim that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Is there? A 2015 Harvard study found that “evidence does not support that an apple a day keeps the doctor away; however, the small fraction of US adults who eat an apple a day do appear to use fewer prescription medications.”

My favourite apple is Honey Crisp and whether buying them at the market or the grocery store I close my eyes when paying because they are so expensive. Relatively speaking, they are a newer strain of apple linked to research at the University of Minnesota which copyrighted the name in 2007. The high price is linked to the mismatch between popularity and availability. The race is on to grow more of these pricey apples - even Nova Scotia is busy replacing older Macintosh trees with Honey Crisp. 

So how can I ensure that my favourite, healthy and expensive apple is not "dirty" - is free from chemicals, pesticides and other nasty stuff? To be safe, I have to clean it myself – and the solution involves water – running water. 

The goal is to optimally remove pesticides and chemicals – but let’s not forget about all the surfaces it might have come into contact with, as well as all the hands that touched that apple before I bought it. (Remember those scares when grocery produce was handled by an employee with Hepatitis A?) So, add germs, bacteria and nasty organisms to the list of what needs to be removed. A water bath or soak may only re-distribute all the nastiness – hence it has to be running water. So, I am trying to “be good” – I am eating healthy food and cleaning it – at the cost of seeing that valuable commodity called water go down the drain – and my water bill go up, because - don’t forget - this does not apply only to apples. Look back at the list – there’s celery, lettuce, sweet peppers and more… 

Is running water enough? The team at ATK’s Cook’s Illustrated did the test for us (removing pesticides and bacteria), and concluded that superior results were attained when fruits/vegetables were first sprayed with a vinegar solution.

If memorizing the Dirty Dozen is not enough, I am left wondering if the Clean 15 is really clean. Clean from pesticides, maybe… but I recall a warning some years ago about melons transmitting e-coli and salmonella. Seems this is more likely with imported melons, and since the organisms are on the exterior, we are advised to wash them before cutting. Symptoms from related illnesses may not appear until up to 72 hours later – so how do we identify culprits?

Perplexing? Troubling?

My aim here is not to be alarmist – I am simply reflecting back the information that pops up in everyday media. I have not (yet) developed food phobias, but sorting it all out makes my brain hurt and this does not even address the conflicting research results linked to the goodness or badness of chocolate or caffeine or red wine. What seems clear is the need to clean certain fruits and vegetables in order to avoid ingesting toxic chemicals. Clean is good, right?

Or maybe “clean” can also be bad!? We are now being routinely reminded that we may have “overdone clean”; that there seems to be a link between asthma/allergies and our little antibacterial worlds; that dirt is good. 

Dirt, as in soil - rich in good bacteria, microbes and organisms. Our use of words complicates things. There does seem to be an imperative to “clean” the Dirty Dozen foods contaminated with toxins. But “dirt” is good when it refers to soil that is rich with beneficial organisms and microbes. And bacteria is not always bad.

We are now hearing a lot about:

• Microbiomes. “Microbes are not only around us, they live on and in us. Although some cause maladies ranging from food poisoning to smallpox, there are many we couldn't live without. Beneficial microbes break down food and produce vitamins in our guts. They coat our skin, protecting us from attacks by harmful microbes. Outside our bodies, they decompose organic waste, fix nitrogen and produce half the world's oxygen.” [Source: Suzuki]

• Gut microbiomes. Scientists refer to the microbial communities on and in our bodies as "microbiomes". Every one of us hosts as many as 100 trillion microbes — our guts alone are home to 500 to 1,000 different bacteria species! And those gut microbiomes are being linked to more and more wellness topics - such as inflammation, obesity. Check out The Nature of Things' "It Takes Guts".

• Farm Effect. How kids living on farms have lower incidences of allergic sensitization.

• Dirt. That we should get outside and get dirty – and while we’re at it we need to pay attention to the soil crisis - the danger of it becoming seriously diminished by mid-century.

Crikey! When and why did growing, eating and digesting food become so complicated?

All in all, this has not been an upbeat blog entry. Maybe I'll think about it tomorrow, but “facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” (Huxley). My brain-hurting struggle with all this information may in part be due to the fact that I am not a science major. I have nonetheless aimed at reading and referring to reliable sources. 

I ponder as I reach for today’s apple. I still become easily excited about food and have noticed that “Honey Crisp 2.0” is in the works – it will arrive under the name(s) Sweet Tango and Cosmic Crisp! 

Footnote – I just got my hands on my first Sweet Tango. “Tango”… step, step, step, long pause – kind of describes the dance of trying to figure all this out. P.S. Not a fan of Sweet Tango…

Every blog post links to a recipe and this one calls for a healthy apple recipe – click here for easy Apple Clusters! Better yet - try the Legacy Tart from Jacques Pépin.

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And the net will appear...

Chat, chat, chat - food bloggers?

I Googled “know your audience” - 97,300,000 results in 0.51 seconds. Yup, seems to be an important concept, yet as I write I am not exactly sure who my audience is – perhaps not ideal for someone writing a food blog. But having begun in February, I am new to the game. A milestone on my blogging journey will forever be my first Food Bloggers of Canada Conference (held in Montreal this past weekend – 2016 will be in Toronto). Google Analytics tells me how many people visit my site each day and how many read the blog. Who are you readers? Some are family and friends. Now there is a chance that this blog post will be read by new colleagues I met last weekend.  

I use the word “colleagues” with purpose to convey my view that I just spent the weekend with 150+ talented writers, photographers, entrepreneurs - professionals. Interactions were warm and supportive – and the seeds of some friendships were sown. I met people who had been blogging for over five years, and surprisingly some who had not yet begun their blog. We all had food in common, though, for some, food writing intersected with other themes such as lifestyle, parenting, farming, tourism. A minority of attendees had “monetized” blogs and of these some had extended their writing to published books and other food and health enterprises. There was a point where non-monetized bloggers were referred to as “hobby bloggers”. That may have been the only moment in the entire weekend when I was startled – I had never considered what I was doing as a “hobby”. What would be a better word? “Avocation”? The thesaurus says they are synonymous, but the (perhaps personal) meaning I take from “hobby” does not capture what was going on at that event.

There were smiles and laughter and all around good will – but none of the discussions I had seemed trivial. I could never list them all, but they included – issues related to unpasteurized milk, the range of milk products available in Canada (Julia: Imagelicious wondering why can't you get that thing they make in Russia?), the nutritional value of molasses, the impact of the TPP Trade Agreement on farmers, Twitter or Instagram, and of course - did you like the bread pudding? I was fascinated by the number of bloggers who had a family history that featured food – a dairy farmer on land cleared by ancestors in the 1700s (Jennifer Hayes), and family involved in wholesaling fruits and vegetables for over 80 years (Holly Botner: Jittery Cook).

In the decades long life chapter I have recently ended, I attended more conferences than I could count. If there is a ”Perfect Conference” manual, it was brilliantly implemented by the FBC Geniuses who go by the names Melissa Hartfiel and Ethan Adeland. If that conference manual does not exist – they should be writing it! No detail was overlooked. (Ok… maybe one - burlap is funky but I came home with travel clothes that looked like I’d had a roll in the hay!) They rightly anticipated that some of us would be nervous. Some of my nerves were linked to my fear that I’d be the oldest participant. Once the conference began I forgot about that – though I still have bets laid on that likelihood. 

It was clear that this was going to be a “basic trust” environment and community. (Side note: spellcheck turned that last word into “tryst” – eek - that would be a different conference!) With each little disclosure came relief. For example – I was at least three months into blogging before I attached my last name to my blog (shy? unsure?). First person I shared that with said that it was the same with her. Second person said she had still not revealed her last name. Calm assurances abounded and based on others’ conference wrap-ups it is clear this community is growing and prospering and this support will continue.

I pulled together this “FBC2015 Conference By The Numbers” summary.

• $$$$ - cost figures when I added registration, hotel, travel – was super value for the money - being near TO and getting the alumni rate next year will be a bargain!
• 100 – the percentage of people who were constantly taking pictures of their food and then temporarily opting out of a conversation while they posted to social media – supportive social interaction rules! I still have to figure out how people took such fab pics when the room was so dark…
• 1 – number one best MC – Mairlyn Smith who set the tone for getting down to business with a smile
• 17 – number of business cards I brought home; maybe I should have done more networking, but most of these exchanges involved conversations and time was sometimes the enemy
• 6 +3 - the number of meals and break snacks – and they were indescribably amazing both in presentation and taste; break snacks included cookies from Ricardo, chocolate, oh my…; check out #fbc2015 for all the gorgeous photos posted to Instagram
• 5+ – depending on how you define “celebrity” there were many to meet – Ricardo, Mairlyn Smith, Greta Podleski, Andrew Scrivani and more; will admit that it did not occur to me to take any selfies with them – Holy Toledo / doh! Still learning.
• 50 – my guess at how many pounds that swag bag must have weighed. I was so glad to get that pre-conference heads-up to bring a suitcase large enough to fit it all into - books, yum-yums, wine, equipment - I cannot fathom that it was less than last year!
• 80 – the number of KB a site image should be if you want to maximize your SEO - good thing there was no test after that session – though my homework is to perform some of those recommended site tests.
• ∞ - the infinity symbol to represent the countless ideas for cooking and blogging
• $$$$$$ - the six figures that should be salaries of Melissa and Ethan
• And… I forgot the number of food films we viewed on Friday night! No to mention this video from Andrew.
• priceless – yes, it was…

The theme for the conference was “Leap…” which brings to mind the John Burroughs quote - "Leap, and the net will appear." For Canadian food bloggers the “net” is FBC!! and my gratitude goes to all in this community.

• New colleagues: consider subscribing for my monthly updates
• Friends and Visitors – here's this year's program in case you are interested.

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Postscript: FBC pulled together this re-cap of the FBC2015 Event - I am in a few of the photos!

Palacsinta - Hungarian "Pancakes"

Though I have posted various recipes over the past weeks, this is my first blog post since July!!! Part of the long gap can be accounted for by a sudden encounter with Baker’s Cyst – which has nothing to do with baking. I like to think of it as a “sports injury” since, as someone recently suggested – you don’t get it from being a couch potato. It did, however, turn me into a couch potato for several weeks. When you can’t stand or walk you are not blissfully in the kitchen.

Just before I met Baker C, we had made palacsinta [puh’ - luh - cheen - tuh] - which I usually describe as the Hungarian version of French crepes.  As I prepped the recipe for this site, I decided there was so much to say about this classic food that it deserved a blog post. So what follows are a lot of words – but here’s how I am framing it…

I recently sent my NYC tips to a friend. Told her if she was going to check out the High Line she should take time to watch this documentary. Why? Because in the words of Henry David Thoreau “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Surely it’s the same with food. The more we know about what we eat, the more we are “nourished” – in every way.

So, palacsinta… In my 1954 Art of Hungarian Cooking there is an entire chapter devoted to these delicate creations that came/come out of every single Hungarian kitchen - rich or poor. Wikipedia categorizes them as a pancake, which I suppose they are, but they are nothing like the thicker flapjacks North Americans are accustomed to. 

So are they a crepe? In truth, I have never eaten a bona fide crepe in France, but "crepe" does bring to mind a thin “pancake”. Crepes I have eaten in Quebec, while paper thin, have tended to be nutty brown and somewhat dry – and often immense in size. The Wikipedia entry for crepes claims Brittany / France as the origin and stresses they are made with wheat flour or buckwheat. That, for sure, accounts for the nutty brown look of Quebec crepes, and the first photo at Wikipedia offers an accurate image of these light brown papery creations.

That left me reconsidering my habit of calling palacsinta - crepes. Yes, they are thin, but never dry. They are pale with golden highlights, soft and moist, and almost transparent. The only things I have ever seen or eaten that resemble palacsinta are blintzes - which, it seems, have Russian origins, but are popular in Jewish cuisine.

If they are not really “crepes”, do they have links to France? My old Hungarian cookbook refers to their appearance in Rome and even Egypt. Given the expanse and influence of the large Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867 to 1918) it is not surprising that there are versions of palacsinta in many Eastern European cuisines - mind you... who influenced who? Much to my surprise, even Turkey has a version called krep. Hungarians familiar with their history know that the Ottoman Turks did get as far as Hungary in the 1500s (1541 to 1699). Did they bring the “krep” tradition or was it the other way around? Recently, flipping through a Food and Wine magazine, I also stumbled across a story about the Philippines where it seems Hungarian-type crepes are a big hit – filled with almost anything imaginable – think mango... Sure enough, the cuisine of Portugal and Spain also have a version of these delicate “pancakes” and must have “exported” it during their years of colonization.

[I am adding this after first publishing this blog post - just came across an ATK recipe for Swedish "pancakes" which appear to be like palacsinta - and as mentioned as an option in the recipe I share, they add soda water to the batter. Check out the descriptions of pancakes all over the world.]

My research has left me astonished about the global popularity of palacsinta-type "pancakes" – yet here it appears rarely on a menu. There was a time when one could get an authentic Hungarian palacsinta at the Coffee Mill in Yorkville (which, sadly, closed in 2014). Bloor Street’s Country Style is a last bastion of Hungarian cuisine in Toronto.

Whereas pancakes are breakfast (brunch) food, palacsinta is never a breakfast – unless you are inclined to eat leftovers for breakfast. They can be an appetizer or main dish – and are often dessert. How is it that a full chapter is devoted to palacsinta in my 1954 book? They offer one basic recipe (the one I use) and say it is common to eat it with a ham filling (though I have never seen or experienced that). Other options described are mushroom or cabbage fillings. Dessert options can also include ground walnut or almond filling. Some recipes suggest cutting the palacsinta into long broad “noodles” and mixing / serving them with whatever – even chicken paprikas. A dessert suggestion is to create a pile of palacsinta with cocoa between each and then slicing and serving this like a cake of many, many layers. In the KB kitchen palacsinta filled with ricotta, apricot jam or chocolate were/are the main event – they are supper – period. 

Hungarian cooks are under no pressure to serve meat at every meal, and when they do it is most often pork or chicken. Imagine the fantastic flavour combo in the Hungarian dish called “Hortobágyi Palacsinta” - shredded delectable, soft, pork or veal paprikas porkolt (stew), enfolded in a palacsinta and drowning in a paprika sauce – so yummy. 

The most famous dessert palacsinta is called “Gundel Palacsinta” – named for the iconic restaurant that lays claim to its creation. The Gundel first opened in 1910 and survived two wars and communism, continuing to operate today serving classic unadulterated Hungarian cuisine. Their signature palacsinta is presented not rolled, but folded twice into a triangle that is filled with a mixture of rum, raisins, ground walnuts, candied orange peel and whipping cream. This is all topped with a delicate chocolate syrup. I dusted off  Károly Gundel's cookbook, originally published in 1934. His book was apparently a huge success, translated into many languages including Japanese. He may well have been a celebrity chef of his times. He notes that in his own research of Hungarian cuisine he finds no reference to paprika – the national spice – until the 19th century. He suspects that it was the Turks who introduced paprika to Hungary and so it may well be that they deserve credit for palacsinta as well. I will have to stop comparing them to “French crepes”.

Here's the recipe. Will you make ever this? Some friends are waiting for me to post the recipe, so I suppose we shall see. Part of my blog goal is “legacy/archive” and so the recipe is now here as a torch for family and friends to pick up and carry on.

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