A Particular Foodie Xmas Tree

Hola Everyone!

Christmas is getting near and I feel like having a particular Xmas Foodie Tree! I thought that it could be fun to have a little post hide and seek game. Every two or three days there will be a hidden link in the puzzle Tree to find! Tomorrow you can start looking for the "recipe-present-post" and you will get a Xmas food-drink-thought, which I hope you like. Isn't Christmas about sharing? I love to share with you all our Christmas food tradition. Have fun!

Wishing you the best for this Christmas Time... Lots of Love, Health and.... Good Food!!! Have a Merry Holiday!

Bon Nadal a tots aquells que el passareu fora de casa i els que seràn a casa també bones Festes!

Feliz Navidad a todos los que tengan que pasarla fuera de casa y a los que la pasen en casa también les deseo lo mejor!.

Special dressing: Jingle Bell Rock

First hidden post is set... Will you find it?

Iberian Acorn Ham

DECEMBER 1ST
Here is the King of the Spanish tables, the most desired, the tastiest, the exclusive, the only one... Ladies and Gentlemen... The Iberian Acorn Ham!!!

This extraordinary and special Ham deserves its own post, just like this, nude, alone, without sauces, without salads... its only presence is enough to have one of the best pleasures in life... only if you can eat it after ;-). The Iberian acorn ham it's exclusive from Spain. Iberian hogs are born, fed and raised in the south and northwest Spain (See it in the map). These facts, among others like the environmental and the acorn diet, make these hogs breed so special, their ham so tasteful and the recipes so exquisite!!!

Since I first tried it, many years ago, I am addicted to eat/it!!!
If you ever come to Spain and want to buy some in a specialised shop or buy it through Internet, you should ask for the advice of an expertise or go to a recommended grocer's/gourmet shop because you might disagree in the quality/price you pay.

I've been buying... and eating Iberian acorn ham for 15 years and I have always got the best quality, a good price and a very nice treatment in the same family shop. This family grocer's shop it's been running their business for 30 years now and it has never dissapointed me. Their shop is located in Barcelona in a very centric area nearby Rambla Catalunya (Reserva Iberica, Aragó, 242) and I must say they have the best ham in the world and they are the best in the art of slicing it! They also own a shop in the Boqueria Market (the famous Ramblas Market).

Visit their website Reserva Ibérica or drop by their shop at Aragó street and if you want to buy any of their products and you say you've known about them through this site, Spanish Recipes and say my name Núria, you will get a discount in the shop and a wine taste. For those of you who would like to buy through internet, say you've known them through this site + my name and together with your purchase you will get a present.

I do hope you try it, life is in black and white until you do!!!
Cheers!!!

Meat Stew with Potatoes

Special dressing: Tina Turner (turn player on)







It tasted as good as it looks, ... mmmmm. One of the kitchen smells I like the most is the Stew one, it stays in the air and it reminds me of winter days, steamy windows, and cold outside. It's a lovely sensation smelling and eating such tender meat and of course the potatoes... It's so easy to perform, you can do it this way or simply puting all ingredients inside a casserole and adding the potatoes at the end will also be a great dish!


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•Ingredients for 4 servings: 1 Kilo of veal meat cut in dices, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 1 garlic head, 4 ripe tomatoes, 25 grs. of flour, 1 glass of white dry young wine, 3 big potatoes, 200 grs. of green peas, a bunch of herbs: bay leaf, thyme, oregano, salt and olive oil.

•Fry the meat (previously add salt and pepper) in a pot with 1 finger of olive oil. Once fried, reserve the meat.
•Have the onion and carrot chopped and add to the pot together with the garlic head, have it cooking at low heat until the onion gets transparent.
•Add the peeled tomatoes and the herbs. Stir and let it cook until the tomatoe is done.

•You will see that the sauce is thicker and more homogeneous. It’s time to add the glass of wine. Stir and cook for 5 minutes .
•Add the flour to thicken a bit more the sauce.

•Let it cook for a while (5 more minutes) and
•Add enough water to cover all ingredients. Let it cook for 2 hours or until the meat is tender with the pot covered at low heat.

•After that time, take the meat aside and convert all veggies into a thick sauce. Use some of the garlic cloves too.
•Use the electric mixer and add back to the pot with the meat.

•Peal, wash and cut the potatoes and add them to the stew.
•5 minutes before the potatoes are cooked, throw the green peas inside and let them cook for another 10 minutes. Add more salt if necessary.

•My daugther loves to smash all ingredients and eat as a “purée”.

Nova's Marathon Challenge

This Nova program uses the story of a group of non-athletes who train for the Boston Marathon as the vehicle to introduce a lot of other great material about nutrition and health, the interaction between genetic and environmental influences on fitness and athletic potential, the possibility of changing health behaviors in mid-life, and (perhaps unintentionally) about the ridiculous difficulty of running a marathon. You may find it motivating even if it doesn't make you want to run a marathon in particular. The show features Professor Miriam Nelson, from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, in a starring role as both team scientist and inspiration.

The Rabbit and the chocolate (not a fairy tale)

Special dressing: Ebony Jackson (turn player on)






This month's Joust at Jenn DiaPiazza's is about Chocolate, chili, and grains (any kind). You will find this Event organized at the Leftoverqueen every month. I must say I have a great time thinking/performing/eating/participating/sharing in the Joust. Last month was my firs time and this will be my entry for December's. Jenn is the best hostess ever, just enter her place and you will feel like home!

Rabbit and Prawns with chocolate sauce. Sounds a bit funny? I must say this is the first time I perform a salty recipe with chocolate as an ingredient. And the result has been Wonderful!!! Please try it, it's delicious! It seems that there's a long tradition in Catalan recipes to use chocolate... now that I'm reading all these cookbooks I'm finding out this about my own cooking tradition... I knew there were some recipes, but I never dared!

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•Ingredients for 4 servings: 1 Kg of Rabbit cut in pieces, ½ Kg. of red prawns, 2 onions, 2 garlic cloves, 3 ripe tomatoes, a spurt of good brandy, wheat flour, salt, 1 teaspoon of hot red chili powder, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon of oregano, olive oil.
•For the final dressing: 1 garlic clove, 25 grs of black chocolate (at least 75% cacao) a spring of parsley.

•In a saucer pan with some olive oil add the rabbit previously cleaned, cut, salted and with some black pepper.
•When roasted, take away from the saucer pan.
•Clean the fresh red prawns from their long whiskers, let them dry, add salt to them and coat in wheat flour.
•Fry them in the saucepan in the same oil we roasted the rabbit, after 1 minute maximum, take them away and reserve.

•Now, add the chopped onions and the garlic and start a sofrito.
•Once the onion is transparent, add the tomatoes which have been previously converted into sauce, add a pynch of salt and stir for a while at medium/low fire until you get this oily and darker texture (see pictures in power point).

•Meanwhile prepare the dressing with the garlic, some salt, the spring of parsley, the chocolate and smash it all together until you get an homogeneous texture.

•Add the rabbit back to the casserole and stir so that all ingredients get mixed. Drop a spurt of good brandy on top, stir and after 5 minutes add 1 ½ glass of water, the red hot chily powder, the oregano, the bay leaf, and a pynch of salt. Let it boil (gentle boil) for a while until the rabbit meat is tender.

•When the meat is tender is time to add the chocolate dressing, use some of the stock of the saucepan to dilute the chocolate and add it to the rabbit. The heat should be low. The colour of the saucepan stock will change into a beautiful brown. Add the prawns back to the casserole and let it cook at low fire for 10 minutes, stirring now and then.

•Serve hot.
I can not give credit of how marvellous this dish turned out to be… I just love the taste!!!
If you are not much into eating rabbits, you can try the same recipe with any poultry or wild hunted birds.

Wansink Appointed Director of CNPP

Dr. Brian Wansink, who was recently interviewed on this blog for his receipt of the Ig Nobel prize, was appointed Executive Director of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) last Wednesday.

According to the USDA press release:

At CNPP Dr. Wansink will be responsible for overseeing the planning, development and review of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the food pyramid known as MyPyramid.gov and programs including the Healthy Eating Index, the USDA Food Plans, the Nutrient Content of the U.S. Food Supply, and the cost of raising a child.

Praise comes from Marion Nestle, the Ethicurean and Eating Liberally for USDA's appointment of a university researcher, as opposed to recent appointments that have come directly from various industry positions. Wansink's novel research on home and restaurant environmental triggers for unhealthy eating and overeating informs his book Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think- about how to modify immediate environments in order to change nutrition behavior, without creating new regulations or directly attacking individual behavior.

Trype Madrid-Style - Callos

Special dressing: Elvis Presley (Cook me tender, cook me through... ups! Love me tender, love me true)

I could understand some of you thinking... wow how disgusting... I would never try that! But, here in Spain is one of the most valuated traditional dishes. I never made it before because I'm not much into it, but my husband loves it and I decided to look for the recipe and show it to you.

I always thought that this dish was originally from Madrid but, to my surprise, (you always learn something new) it's originally from Asturias. If you look at the map notice that Asturias is in the North of the peninsula and Madrid in the center, and it's not the only recipe, you can also find Callos (that's how they are called in Spanish) in the Andaluzan-Style and Extremadura-Style too. I've chosen the Madrid ones for this recipe, but I've also find out that depending on who wrote the recipe some ingredients may be different and the method can change a bit too... After this looooooong introduction, here is the recipe.


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•Ingredients for 4 servings: 1 ½ kilos of veal trype, 1 veal’s hand, 100 grs. Pork fat, 1 ham bone, 2 black puddings, 2 farm-made spiced sausages, 1 garlic head, 2 onions, olive oil, parsley, bay leaf, flour, paprika, milled white pepper and salt.

•When preparing this dish, the prior cleaning of the veal’s trype and hand is of the utmost importance. My butcher sells it clean and I don’t have to go through all the cleaning process. (if not your case, see end of recipe for procedure)
•Boil the intestines and the hand in a casserole full of water, when it boils, leave for 5 minutes and discard all water.
•Add fresh water to the trype and hand and add the pork fat, the ham bone, the black puddings, the spiced sausage, one onion, the garlic, the bay leaf, the parsley and the salt and pepper.
•When it boils again, take the foam away and turn heat very low and have it cooking for 3 hours.

•In a frying pan drop some olive oil and lightly fry the onion, when transparent,
•Add the hot paprika and a spoonful of flour. Stir for 8 minutes aprox and pour to the casserole.

•Bring to the boil again and alllow the whole thing to simmer for 15 more minutes. Once ready, take the bones of the ham and the veal hand away and cut in medium pieces the hand meat.

•Callos taste much better the day after.
•The texture is very gelatinous and the taste… unforgettable!

•Hope you enjoy it! As a main dish (serve in individual earthenware dishes)
•Or as a tapa!
•The cleaning procedure is as follows: Scrap the intestines with a knife, scalding them in boiling water and, with the help of a brush, scrubbing them with salt and lemon juice or vinegar, until all the fat is removed. Then they should be rinsed several times.

Chicken Croquettes

Special dressing: Louis Jordan (Turn player on)







These croquettes are always welcome at home, but I only make them when I have chicken leftover from the meat broth and that only happens in fall and winter. They can also be done with roasted chicken and then they will get you to the 7th heaven (it's an expresion we have here). You can have them as a main dish with a salad or as a tapa. Their texture is crunchy on the outside and soft and tender inside... Mmmmmm.

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•Ingredients for 4 servings maybe more: Use the chicken leftovers from the meat broth (1/2 chicken), 1 big onion (I prefer a red one), ½ liter of milk, 4 flour table spoons, 1 tea spoon of nutmeg, olive oil, 1 egg, some breadcrumbs, a ham leg’s bone (small one) and salt.

•Place the chopped onion in a pot with some olive oil.
•Have it cooking until transparent.
•Meanwhile get the milk inside another pot and place the ham bone inside. Don’t let it boil! Just have it there infusioning for… the longer the better (1 hour) At very low heat.
•Once you have the chicken meat all grinded,
•And the onion is so transparent you can see through…
•Mix it all together, get a mass and add the flour spoons.
•The heat should not be too high so that the flour doesn’t get burned. Keep on stirring until you get an homogeneous mass.

•Once you have it, start adding the milk you had infusioning with the bone ham.
•Stir and add some salt and the nutmeg. Keep on adding the milk little by little.
•Your arm might get a little tired, because stirring is long and hard, but you will finally get a thicker texture.
•Add the ham that was adhered to the bone and mix.

•Now turn heat off. Let the mass rest and when it has cooled down a bit cover it with a kitchen cloth. You can put it in the fridge and fry the croquettes the day after… they will be better.
•Make this form with the cold mass and coat first with the egg and after with breadcrumbs.

•Fry them in olive oil. The oil should be at high heat, have them inside the oil for 8 to 10 seconds and leave them over kitchen paper.
•Once they are dry… They are ready to eat!!!!
•Great dish for kids,
•Great for tapas,
•Great anytime!!!

Duck's Wings' Rice

Special dressing: Barry Manilow (turn player on)

Yes, I'm crazy about rice!!! Having the method of Paella in mind... anyone can cook a "chooseyouringredients paella"! I like all kinds, such as rabbit, duck, seafood, mushrooms, sea and land, only veggies, lobster... Just think about an ingredient and see how it comes out!

Two or three weeks ago, we went to the Ebro's mouth (the most plentiful river in Spain) and found a little farm where they sell ducks. The owner told us that when they started the business 2 years ago, just two months after the opening the influenza aviar started to spread over Europe. People were afraid of getting this flu since it caused some deaths in asia and they were not consuming chickens, ducks and other edible birds. She nearly closed the farm, but little by little the fear was dissipating and she could maintain it open. Nowadays, she sells all kinds of duck related food and the paella came out perfect!
The area where the river flows into the sea it's well known for its rice fields, it's the second rice producer in Spain. Of course the rice I used is one of the varieties we farm. This is the ancient recipe this nice woman told me: there's always been ducks in the river wetlands and there's also been rice two, that's why the recipe is so easy and practical! Enjoy!!! This same recipe can also be done with eel, all restaurants there have it in their menu!

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•Ingredients for 4 servings: 8 duck’s wings, 400 grs. of rice (2 glasses), 2 onions, 5 ripe tomatoes, 150 grs. of green beans, 1 bay leaf, 1 carrot, 8 black pepper grains, a piece of duck’s bones, water, salt and olive oil.

•First of all prepare a stock with 1 onion, 1 carrot, 8 black peppers, 1 bay leaf, salt and the duck’s bones. Have it boiling for 1 ½ hours.
•Fry the wings, which you have previously cleaned and added salt to, with olive oil and when golden, leave aside and add the liver and the gizzard if you wish (optional).
•Chop the red onion and add to the liver and gizzard, when transparent,
•Add the sauce you made out of the tomatoes. Stir with a wooden spoon at medium heat.
•This is the sofrito’s part, just be patient and keep on stirring until you see that the tomatoe dissapears and it gets oily and dark.

•Add the green beans
•And the wings back to the casserole. Stir until the beans soften. Add some salt.
•Turn heat high and add the rice, stir so that all flavours get adhered to the rice
•Add the duck’s stock, which should be boiling when you add it to the casserole. You should add 8 glasses full of stock (same glass used for rice) and if it gets too dry too early, add a bit more. Have it 15 minutes cooking.

•After that take the casserole away from the heat, cover it and wait 5 more minutes before you serve it.
•It’s delicious!!! Hope you like it!

Grocery stores in poor neighborhoods

Economics webloggers such as Tyler Cowen and Mark Thoma are covering Nathan Berg's argument that low-income neighborhoods lack good grocery stores because grocery executives don't happen to know those neighborhoods well.

But, before we move on to diagnosis, can we ask first just how ill the patient is? Some of the best research I know on this topic comes from various USDA surveys of Food Stamp Program participants and low-income nonparticipants. For example, Ohls and colleagues (.pdf) reported in 1999 that one third of low-income respondents shop within a mile of their home and another third within one to four miles. Ninety percent use supermarkets as their major source for food shopping. Almost two thirds reported that their round trip to a grocery store required less than 30 minutes of travel time, and another quarter required between 30 minutes and an hour. In low-income neighborhoods of the East Coast cities I know best, food retail has improved since this report came out.

How can we square the USDA data on the moderately agreeable retail experience of a typical food stamp participant or low-income family with the widespread concern about food deserts in low-income urban neighborhoods? Consider first the low-income urban food desert you know best (I'll hold Anacostia in DC, or eastern Baltimore, or South Bronx in my thoughts). Then, ask yourself what fraction of low income people in the corresponding metro area live there.

For example, here's a map of DC from USDA's Economic Research Service around 2000. Consider not just Anacostia, but also the low-income neighborhoods with good retail. Dark green is highest poverty, and dots are grocery stores. Likewise, fiddle around with this wonderful interactive GIS map from the New York City Coalition Against Hunger last year.

Think both about what particular neighborhoods have the worst retail (it's pretty bad), and also about what fraction of low-income New Yorkers probably have pretty good retail access. I don't recommend writing off the most desolate neighborhoods, but fixing retail in those neighborhoods should be part of broader anti-poverty strategies. Certainly, a low-income New Yorker has other things to worry about besides this!

Good empirical work on the scale of the problem is important for clear thinking about policy remedies. I worry, for example, about tax giveaways to supermarket chains, at least without some hard consideration of other policy options -- including those that give a greater role to healthy food sales from smaller store formats.

A good warm Soup

Special dressing: The commitments. (turn player on)

I don't know what's going on this fall... It's sooo cold here already! Usually, we have higher temperatures by this time of the year but it's like Christmas!!! I feel like being home and having a good soup to warm me up. My mom taught me how to make this soup and it's so easy and so tasty that when cold days start you will always find it in my fridge. I use a huge pot and it lasts all week. This soup stays gently boiling for 3 hours and when it gets colder is so thick that you could awake a dead person with just a spoon table of the broth. With the left overs I usually do croquettes and a veggies cream (these will be another day's post).This meat broth can be used as the base for pasta soup, or could be a great thing to use when preparing a rabbit rice or pork noodles or simply a clear soup.

Ingredients for a long lasting meat broth (aprox. 6 days for 4 servings once a day):3 to 4 celery branches, 3 leeks, 4 to 5 carrots, 1 turnip, a small piece of cabbage. Meat- 1 pork hand, 1 pork ear, 2 salty dried pork bones, 1 cured ham bone, half a chicken, 3 chicken's bodies (only bones).

Place all ingredients clean and fresh inside the pot. Pour cold water until there's only 3 cmts. to the top. Turn heat on and when it starts making a white foam, take it away. When it boils, low down the heat to minimum and keep a gentle boil for 3 hours with the pot covered. The slower the better. All pork gelatines will show with this temperature.

When it gets colder strain the broth, reserve veggies for a cream (for example) and the meat for croquettes or any other application you want. Once the broth is cold you can place it in the fridge or frezze it.



This is how thick it can get once cold.

I'm Black, I'm Black

Special dressing: Michael Jackson (turn the player on)

Just wanted to make a silly joke on the Black Rice and the music "I'm bad" since it sounds so similar I felt like playing with the words. ;-)

I've seen a lot of people interested in the former Black Rice recipe and I found another one which caught my eye inmediately. The method and ingredients are a bit different, but the flavour... I tell you, it's sooooo good.

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First of all you will need a White Fish Stock. The following is really easy to perform:
•Prepare a big pot with water, 2 garlic cloves, 3 smelling cloves, 5 black pepper grains, half onion, 2 dry bay leaves, 2 olive oil spoontable, and let it boil softly. After 5 minutes low down the heat and add a bit of salt and half head of monkfish or any other fish, also some fish bones. Obviously the fish has been previously cleaned under tap water and it should be fresh.
•If you want to use frozen bones then let it defroze and when it has taken away all the water, clean and add to the boiling pot.
•The cooking time should not be more than 20 to 25 minutes since it starts boiling again and it should be a gentle boil.
•After this time, turn heat off and add a bunch of parsley so that infusions with the fish stock.
•Before using this stock, first strain and let it cool down. Always boil before another use.

•Ingredients for the Black Rice 4 servings: 4 cuttlefish, 100 grs. of onion, a bunch of parsley, 1 zucchini, 400 grs. of rice, salt and olive oil and white fish stock.

Get the cuttlefish prepared: It should be done the day before. Clean and rinse under water, separate the body from the rest, leave the inks aside and the inside juices also aside.
•Roll the bodies of the cuttlefish and place them in the frezzer.
•The day you perform the black rice have them out of the frezzer and cut the thinniest you can.
•I could have done it better this time!!! The point in having thin slices is that when you add to the heated pan they twist and look like ringlets. It's a stetic matter.

•Chop the onion and place in a pan with some olive oil. The heat should be low.
•When the onion gets this colour (golden) means that it’s done.
•Cut the zucchini in small dices,
•Prepare a big pan with some olive oil and when it heats,
•Add the zucchini and stir until it changes the colour
•When it looks this way means that is nearly cooked.

•In a small pot with some water place the legs of the cuttlefishes and all the other parts (not the main body). Turn the heat on and have it very low. Make the cuttlefish sweat with the pot covered. When the meat is tender, put away from the heat.

•Add the onion to the zucchini when it has also become golden.
•Stir and then add the rice. Let it get all flavours, stir a bit more and in 2 minutes
•Add the cuttlefish legs and its water. Turn heat high.

•Now it’s the time to add the white fish stock. Add to the rice when it’s boiling. If we had 2 glasses of rice (400grs) we should add 6 glasses of fish stock to start with. If it gets too dry you can add more after.
•Inmediately after, add the ink we have reserved from the cuttlefish (to dilute it, use some hot stock). Add some salt and the cuttlefish juice. Stir. The rice should cook for 15 minutes, being the first 5 high heat, and the rest medium. Let it rest for another 5 when the heat is off and with the casserole covered.

•Have a pan with some olive oil and when it heats throw the cuttlefish in threads.
•When it changes its colour add a bunch of parsley that you have previously cut in small pieces and some more olive oil, also a pynch of salt.
•Get a kitchen tin and do the shape with the rice. Place the cuttlefish threads on top and
•Ready to eat!!! Enjoy it!

USDA reports 10.9% of U.S. households are food insecure

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported today that 10.9% of U.S. households were food insecure in 2006. This measure of hardship is essentially unchanged from the previous year.

Food insecurity is determined from a survey battery of 18 questions about food-related hardships. About 50,000 randomly selected households around the country respond to the survey each year. Those households who answer affirmatively to 3 or more of the 18 survey items are classified as "food insecure."

Rates of food insecurity decreased from 11.9% in 1995, when national data collection began, to a low of 10.1% in 1999. Food insecurity worsened in the current decade, reaching 11.9% in 2004. Despite several recent years of economic expansion, rates of food insecurity remain high. The benefits of economic growth have not been reaching those Americans at greatest risk of food insecurity.

USDA reported today that the rate of "very low food security" was 4.0%, which is no better than the rate of 3.9% for the preceding year. USDA formerly described this level of hardship as "food insecurity with hunger," but the terminology was changed last year in response to disagreements over the appropriate official meaning of the term "hunger."

The lack of progress in the new report, authored by Mark Nord, Margaret Andrews, and Steven Carlson, contrasts with the federal government's national objectives for reducing food insecurity (see my illustration below based on USDA data).

In another previous goal-setting effort, the USDA Strategic Plan for 2002-2007 proposed that food insecurity with hunger among low-income Americans (with income below 130% of the poverty line) should be reduced to 7.4% by 2007. The corresponding figure for very low food security among low-income Americans in the most recent USDA data is much worse at 13.1%. It appears unlikely that the goals of USDA's Strategic Plan will be met.

A toast for foodie bloggers!

Hi everybody! I'm sooooo happy today!!!
La Vanguardia digital, which is the 1st online newspaper in Catalunya has published my blog!
This newspaper has a high reputation in my country. The paper version was founded in 1881 and has gone through many changes but it's still on top. It's the newspaper that sells the most in Catalunya. The digital version is much younger and not so long ago started with a Blog section where all kind of bloggers send their blogs, they make a selection and publish the ones they think of more interest... and here I am!!!!
This toast is for La Vanguardia digital, all bloggers in general, for foodie bloggers, for my foodmates and for me too, why not? Cheers!

Irish Beat

Special dressing: Van Morrison (turn the player on)

I just came back from Dublin, Ireland. And I just fell in love with their people, their streets, their pubs, their guinness beer, their irish coffees, their good mood, their food, their music, their proudness... What a lovely country!
I spend four days in Dublin, my husband went there for work and I went for vacation. I met two other "girls" whom also accompanied their husbands: Núria and Aitana. We didn't know each other and we immediately connected! The first day we visited the city and had such a good time! Aitana had been living there for 4 years and she knew the right places to go. It was magic!

The rain was an excelent excuse to adopt their tradition: Pubs, guinness, celtic music and irish coffee... the best way to keep warm inside. We had such good laughs.
In Dublin there's two big factories: the Guinness and the Jameson: Guinness, as you surely know is a dark and intense beer, it's part of their culture, they even have a contest every 4 years to award the best Guinness' barman's pouring. It's a great honour for the barman and the pub to become winners of the contest. Jameson is a wiskey's (that's the way they write it) factory and there is nothing better in the world than a Irish coffee done with Jameson! First pour the wiskey, then the coffee, after the cream and on top a bit of cinnamon or chocolate.
We went to some pubs to have a quick bite and to some restaurants to have a better taste of their food: this is what I had - Soups of the day, mushrooms soup, fish soup, - Irish stew - Suckling pig with potatoes - Seabass with white sauce - Monkfish with prawns and all kinds of beers. I really enjoy their food!

Suckling pig and Seabass with white sauce

Irish Stew and one of the beers

Monkfish with prawns


A message to misslionheart: We could not get a table at Trocadero!!! Full all time!!! We have a good excuse to go back to Ireland now.

Canada joins Brazil in challenging U.S. farm programs

Although the United States recently claimed that our farm subsidy programs meet existing trade commitments, Canada yesterday joined Brazil in claiming that U.S. farm programs violate those commitments. From the press release:

“Canada believes that the United States has breached its international obligations by providing agricultural subsidies that exceed the levels allowed by the WTO,” said Minister Emerson. “This panel request complements our efforts in the Doha negotiations to further discipline and reduce trade-distorting agricultural subsidies.”

“The government expects the United States to live up to its WTO commitments,” said Minister Ritz. “By requesting this panel, we are trying to level the playing field for Canadian farmers who have to compete against the large distorting agricultural subsidies provided by the U.S.”

It is Canada’s view that when trade-distorting domestic support is properly accounted for under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, the United States exceeded its WTO commitment in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005.

Canada’s concerns are shared by Brazil. Brazil is also announcing today that it is requesting a WTO dispute settlement panel on U.S. agricultural subsidies. Canada and Brazil have been working together to coordinate their challenges. Given the similarities, it is expected that their cases will be heard by a single panel.

The United States has agreed to report to the WTO the amount of its farm subsidies that is "trade-distorting." For example, a trade-distorting subsidy encourages farmers here to produce more than they otherwise would produce, which can lower the world price for a commodity and harm the interests of farmers in other countries. The United States has traditionally excluded some farm programs from these reports to the WTO. For example, our "direct payments" are several billion dollars worth of government checks to farmers who produced a crop at some previous point in history, regardless of whether they currently produce that crop.

Brazil and Canada have pointed out that these "direct payments" are still trade-distorting, because U.S. rules prevent our farmers from growing fruits and vegetables if they receive these direct payments. One upshot of the new Canadian complaint may be to increase pressure on the United States to stop restricting fruit and vegetable production. An end to these restrictions could save the United States grief in trade negotiations and at the same time make fruits and vegetables more affordable, especially for low-income Americans.

Here is the AP report about Canada's announcement. I first read the news at FarmPolicy.

Quiznos posts nutrition facts information

After several years of refusing to respond to consumer requests for nutrition facts information, the Quiznos restaurant chain recently began posting such information on the corporate website. Until now, Quiznos was the largest national restaurant chain that would not share nutrition facts information for most of its products online or in response to consumer queries.

It is not clear exactly when the nutrition facts were first posted. Apparently, this news has not been reported elsewhere yet. I first read about it from a comment yesterday on U.S. Food Policy (thanks Melissa!).

The federal government's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) encourages restaurants to post nutrition information on a voluntary basis, but federal rules do not require such disclosure. Yet, the federal government's beef checkoff advertising program -- sponsors of the "beef check" symbol and the slogan "Beef. It's What's for Dinner" -- has participated in at least two partnerships with Quiznos to promote high-calorie high-fat beef sandwiches. My efforts to request more information about these promotions from USDA, the Beef Board, and Quiznos have been stonewalled in the past.

Finally, U.S. Food Policy can report the nutrition facts information for a large Quiznos Steakhouse Beef Dip Sub with cheese and dressing, pictured below in a print ad endorsed by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (notice the beef check symbol in the corner indicating the federal government endorsement):

• 1030 calories
• 480 calories fat
• 55 grams fat
• 11.5 grams saturated fat
• 70 miligrams cholesterol
• 2415 miligrams sodium.

To find this information on the Quiznos website, one must go to the company's menu page, then click on a small link at the bottom to "Show Nutrition Information," then click on a particular product, then click on "large," and then click the two selection boxes for the sauces (even though I have been served the sauces as standard parts of the sandwich... oops, did I just admit eating there? ... well, it was part of this investigation).

A rule proposed in New York City would require chain restaurants to post calorie information on menu boards. After a court challenge from restaurants, this proposal is currently under revision and may yet be put into practice. In a sensible effort to avoid burdening independent restaurants and even small chains, the new rule was at first designed to apply only to restaurants who already share nutrition facts information for their standardized products. Reporters covering this controversy had commented on the fact that, paradoxically, this effort might allow a chain like Quiznos to avoid the impact of the new rule. A revised version of the New York City rule would more clearly apply to Quiznos along with other chain restaurants.

Update 11/9/2007: See also the news coverage and additional data at Fast Food News.

Time Magazine on the Senate Farm Bill

In the House of Representatives this summer, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) supported the non-reform bill from the Agriculture Committee, calculating that the political gain from trying to purchase political support in marginal Democratic districts in the heartland outweighed the loss from failing to stand up for good government.

After all, how many people outside of farm districts pay attention the Farm Bill anyway?

Well, perhaps more people than you think. To a greater extent than I ever recall in previous Farm Bills, the public is paying attention now, just in time for the Farm Bill debate on the floor of the Senate.

Consider Michael Grunwald's lengthy article in that obscure trade weekly, Time Magazine. He says that "if you eat, drink, or pay taxes," you should think of the Farm Bill as a big deal.

It's also a horrible deal. It redistributes our taxes to millionaire farmers as well as to millionaire "farmers" like David Letterman, David Rockefeller and the owners of the Utah Jazz. It contributes to our obesity and illegal-immigration epidemics and to our water and energy shortages. It helps degrade rivers, deplete aquifers, eliminate grasslands, concentrate food-processing conglomerates and inundate our fast-food nation with high-fructose corn syrup. Our farm policy is supposed to save small farmers and small towns. Instead it fuels the expansion of industrial megafarms and the depopulation of rural America. It hurts Third World farmers, violates international trade deals and paralyzes our efforts to open foreign markets to the nonagricultural goods and services that make up the remaining 99% of our economy.

I hope the Senate is paying attention to the fact that the public is paying attention.

Watchdogging the organic label

Economists use the term "credence attributes" to describe qualities that the food consumer must take on trust, because it is impossible to verify by inspecting the product in the grocery store. For example, the consumer must trust that the organic label truly reflects adherence to a certain set of standards about production processes and chemical inputs.

Maintaining the credibility of a credence attribute requires a fairly vigorous level of watchdogging. For example, here is a press release from the Government Accountability Project (GAP) last month:

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) requested that the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP) initiate an investigation into violations of organic standards allegedly committed by a mushroom production company based in California. A formal complaint from GAP was submitted earlier today against Golden Gourmet Mushrooms, Inc. (GGM) of San Diego County.

According to documents acquired by GAP, the specialty mushroom company may have violated organic standards and public confidence in several ways, including:
-- The sale of conventional mushroom products as organic
-- The manipulation of organic certification documents
-- Making false claims regarding the nature and origin of its mushroom products.

A copy of the complaint can be viewed on GAP’s Web site (.pdf).

GAP urges the NOP to immediately begin investigating GGM’s alleged violations of the organic standards and whether its supplier, Japan’s Hokuto Corporation (Hokuto), participated in fraudulent practices. GAP further asks the NOP to review the performance of private organic certifier Quality Assurance International (QAI) to determine if it is capable of and intent on fulfilling its obligations as a certifying agent.

“Every violation of the standards reduces public confidence in the organic label. It is critical that the National Organic Program thoroughly investigate complaints and weed out any bad actors now while the program is still young,” says Jacqueline Ostfeld, GAP Food and Drug Safety Officer.

An earfull about earmarks for grape research

See Katie Couric for the prosecution:

Congress has earmarked more than $11 million dollars so far for the building and hundreds of thousands more for research. That’s not to be confused with the $2.6 million they've earmarked to study grapes out in California.

It's not as if Uncle Sam wasn't already investing millions a year in grape research: there are 25 full-time federal scientists working on nothing but grapes. The special earmarks are tax dollars added on top of that by individual members of Congress.

And Dr. Vino for the defense:

A “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” story is shocked, shocked! to learn that $11 million of “your tax dollars” have been allocated to conduct research on wine grapes including a $2.6 million research facility at Cornell.

But they have it wrong: it’s not shockingly bad news, it’s new news. And it’s good news.

Ever since the repeal of Prohibition, the federal government has been reluctant to fund grape research. In fact, in the 1930s, after Repeal, FDR’s Department of Agriculture proposed a wine research facility to be funded with federal funds and help the industry get back on its feet. However, an influential Dry congressman unilaterally vetoed the project wanting to prevent the evil “fermentation.” Since then the federal government has been reluctant to fund wine grape research.

So this $11 million should be seen as a real breakthrough, evidence that the federal government is actually doing something to support wine.

You are all invited to these Tapas and Wine!

Welcome to my place!!! Please take a seat and enjoy these Tapas I prepared for you. Imagine it's a beautiful sunny day, you are on a bar terrace in front of the beach and the table is set with these tapas and a glass of Spanish wine! Those of you with more imagination... imagine... imagine... you don't need me to tell you what else is on the picture, right?

These tapas and good wine is my way to say Thanks to Jenn DiPiazza for letting me be part of her foodie blogroll. I had a great time participating at her month's Joust and I encourage everyone to take part in it... it's so much fun!!!

Congratulations to the winner Ley for her creative mushrooms panneer!!! Congratulations to Holler for the beautiful pumpkin fondue and also more Felicitaciones to Dharm and Judy for their third place!!!

Also I wanted to thank the people who voted for my Snow white recipe invention and also to all participants. It was great fun! Thanks Jenn!

All the tapas you see here are very easy to perform, surprise your family! If you don't find the wines... a good cold beer is always a great choice for the tapas.
Tapas is the way we call a small portion of a dish. They are usually eaten at Bars with a cold beer or a glass of wine. There's as many as you can imagine, you can have a tapa of Spanish omelette for example or a tapa of sauteed mushrooms, or russian salad, or these that follow hereunder.

Potatoes with Allioli on top. Make the allioli with 2-3 garlic cloves and it will be perfect! First boil the potatoes and after fry them. Eat when it's still hot.

Clams with green sauce. Use parsley, garlic cloves and olive oil for the sauce. Get the clams in olive oil, garlics and parsley and heat until they open. When they are done add more garlic and parsley.

Chorizo Asturiano. Just fry it with a bit of olive oil and medium/low heat... Delicious! Have the slices of bread in the oily pan for some seconds and add the chorizo on top.

This is a young and dry wine. It should be drunk when it's cold. Perfect for tapas and also good for Seafood and fish dishes such as Lobster rice, Monkfish with Romesco, Hake Galician Style... It will soon be on the market the 2007 vintage.

What is in the federal government's dairy advertising report?

USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is required to give a report to Congress each July, explaining the activities and budget of the federal government's fluid milk and dairy checkoff advertising programs, sponsors of the "Got Milk?" slogan, the "Milk Mustache" ads, and the "Real Seal."

Last year's report, which was finally made public in October 2006, emphasized the government advertising program's use of dairy weight loss claims, which are controversial in nutrition science circles and are not consistent with the government's own Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The weight loss claims were especially odd when set against the dairy programs' heavy promotion of high-fat cheese through marketing collaborations with restaurants such as Pizza Hut.

Just a few months later, the Federal Trade Commission contacted USDA to raise questions about this advertising message, and USDA agreed to discontinue the high-calcium weight loss marketing. The campaigns have many other good messages they could use instead, such as the possible role of low-fat dairy in protecting against weak bones, but their marketing research had shown consumers to be especially responsive to weight loss messages.

It will be interesting to read how AMS describes these developments in the July 2007 report. While July is long past, the report is not yet being shared with the public. AMS folks tell me it is "still in Departmental clearances."

Codfish and Potatoes

I know, I know, too much codfish... you might think, but I tell you, this recipe is sooooo easy and soooooo tasty that you will probably like to try it! It is said that when you have a baby and you are breast-feeding her/him, this recipe helps you to get high quality milk!!! I eat it many times when my dauther was a baby and it worked... she had the pinker and thicker cheeks in the world!!!

Get the PowerPoint recipe
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•Ingredients for 4 servings: 4 pieces of desalted snout codfish (I don’t know if snout is the right word – I mean the front side of the fish), 5 potatoes big/medium size and olive oil.
•Have the codfish desalted. Please see my post about codfish. Rinse and dry with kitchen paper so that you take all the water away (important).

•Cut the potatoes in irregular sizes and cover with cold water. Turn heat on and let them boil until they are nearly done.
•Take the codfish and add to the casserole. The heat should be very low. Have it 2 minutes one side and 2 more minutes the other side. Turn heat off and let it rest for 2 more minutes.

•Carefully place in a plate and drop some olive oil (the best one you have – an extra virgin one would be perfect -) on top.

•Don’t eat the black skin. You have to peel it once in your plate.

Food stamps twice monthly?

Most Food Stamp Program families operate on a sharp monthly food spending cycle. The greater part of food stamp benefits are spent within a few days of being credited to the EBT card, the debit-style card used by the program to issue benefits. Colleagues and I have written about this cycle in articles for the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (2000) and Journal of Consumer Affairs (2001). At the same time, many food stamp families report food insecurity and hunger at some times of the month, generally near the end of the food stamp cycle.

For a couple years, I have been following the progress of a proposal in Michigan to have benefits issued twice a month, which might help families budget more smoothly over the course of the month, perhaps leading to healthier choices and less hardship in the second half of the month. See coverage in the New York Times and NPR.

The twice-monthly distribution is similar to what happens when your 401k plan adopts adequate levels of savings as the default option, but still allows you to opt for lower savings if you desire. Research suggests that many workers will accept the wiser default savings position. Similarly, with food stamp distribution, a family that prefers to shop once monthly is still welcome to do so, on the occasion of the second benefit credit each month. The twice monthly benefit delivery does not force people to shop twice monthly. If needed to keep some participants from being inconvenienced, one could even allow a more formal "opt out" mechanism, which would allow people to receive traditional once monthly benefit delivery on request. My own hunch is that many participants would like the new twice-monthly delivery schedule.

Advocates for the Michigan proposal, including grocers who would like to spread their sales more efficiently over the month, think they may be nearing success in the Michigan state legislature. Yet, they fear their efforts may be overturned by the U.S. Senate, which is reported to be considering language that would forbid twice-monthly benefit issuance. I haven't been able to track down the exact language of concern in the Senate's Farm Bill under debate. It seems twice-monthly benefit delivery should be considered, at least on a pilot basis. Certainly, it seems like a bad idea to cut off exploring this program innovation by federal fiat.

Update 11/6/2007: A reader sends the relevant text, which is available in section 4203 of the bill on the Senate agriculture committee's site: "MULTIPLE ISSUANCES.--The procedure may include issuing benefits to a household in more than 1 issuance only when a benefit correction is necessary." Thanks!