dona lupe

Mar

05

Utah – What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been

stories  Posted by / 0 comments
Each day the sky surprises me
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Arriving in SLC

I love that song by The Grateful Dead, What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been. My life summed up by a song title. What does it have to do with food? Well, I’ll tell you.

You may have noticed there’s not been much on Dona Lupe’s in a while. A couple of months actually. That’s because I moved to Utah for work and it’s been an adjustment to say the least.

I’m a California girl through and through. I’ve lived all over these United States and even in Mexico, but L.A. Is my home. The sunshine, beaches, mountains, the hills of Silverlake all make me feel complete. I love the smog, the traffic, the crazy grittiness of Hollywood and the placidity and family feeling of the little town of Eagle Rock where my grandchildren live, where I lived for years.

I arrived in Utah on a cold December day. There was about five feet of snow on the ground and as I walked out to my taxi with my son Phillip, I looked around and thought to myself, “Oh crap what the hell did I do?” This was SNOW. It was pretty and certainly not the first time I’d seen it having lived in New York City, but damn this was a refresher course in COLD.

I’m older now too, joints hurt when its cold particularly my fingers and knees. Yes I am loading up on Glucosamine lol and stretching a lot, doing Yoga and walking, yes walking through snowy streets.

We’ve been staying in an extended stay hotel until I find an apartment and on days it is not snowing, I walk the mile and a half to work and back. I’ve come to love those crisp walks. It wakes me up better than any cup of coffee and it’s great exercise. The hotel boasts a kitchenette with two electric burners, a sink and a microwave. No oven. I feel the snowy weekends are going to waste with no baking. I’ve become an expert in what I call commando cooking: using only two burners, cooking on a dreaded electric stove (I prefer a flame to red glowing rings) climbing up on a chair to reach the microwave and trudging through snow to find Mexican ingredients.

I’ve learned that when I hear rumbling at 4 or 5 am, it means the snow plows are out clearing the roads, that I can walk around in 40 degree weather without a coat and think, “it’s a nice day today”, you CANNOT trudge around in Ugg boots in slushy snow, that salt ruins leather and that a scarf is my best friend. I have yet to solve the mystery of why in Utah, in the midst of incredibly cold days and snow, everyone goes out and gets ice cream. Seriously, I’m fascinated by the obsession with shakes, sundaes and other ice cream concoctions here. All I ever wanted was hot chocolate, but lately, I’ve been craving a milk shake lol.

There’s a big Latino population here in Salt Lake and I’ve found quail, delicious purple tortillas made from purple corn, strawberry tamale masa and lots of the comforts of home. Beyond that, I’ve fallen in love with the people here and the amazing sky. People are just incredibly nice, friendly and helpful and I’ve made some good friends in a short time.

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Each day the sky surprises me

In two weeks, I’ll have a real kitchen again because yay, I’ve found a nice apartment and will be moving soon. So stay tuned for more in a few weeks. I’ll be blogging my triumphs and disasters, locations to find good, authentic ingredients here in Salt Lake and stories about learning to live with the weather. There’s no snow on the ground these days in March, but we’re expecting some on Tuesday. The photos won’t be perfect, because I lost my camera along the way but I’m working to get a new one and hopefully, the photos will get better soon.

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Taken from the taxi to the hotel

*These photos were taken on my Samsung Galaxy 4G phone I won from The Posada Foundation, Sprint and LATISM.

Jan

24

Aiden’s Midnight Fig Jam

family recipes  Posted by / 2 comments

figs 1024x768 Aidens Midnight Fig Jam

Frigidaire and Jennifer Garner are teaming up to inspire families everywhere to roll up their sleeves and get cooking together. Starting today, people can join in the Frigidaire Kids’ Cooking Academy ( www.maketimeforchange.com) to get great recipes, how-to videos and tips, all designed to help involve kids in the kitchen.

My kid-friendly recipe is one for a fig jam I made this summer with my grandchildren on a hot night when we couldn’t sleep for the heat.  It was tons of fun making it and I love the idea that every or every post submitted, Foodbuzz and Frigidaire will donate $50 to Save the Children.

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It’s 12:45 a.m after one of the hottest days of summer.  It was 105 degrees!

The grandkids who are visiting for this week can’t sleep, house is too hot and my a/c wall unit is icing over.  What to do, what to do?  In the fridge was a massive bowl of the past two days harvest of figs from our tree just begging me to do something with but it’s been too darned hot.  I took an almost midnight shower and came out to two small children that were hot, grumpy, tired and in need of something, anything to do to get them to relax enough to sleep.  I went to the fridge, saw that big bowl of figs and remembered the jam I had been intending to make.  “Who wants to have a midnight jam session?” I asked the kids.  “We do!”

I had had an idea in mind on how to make my jam, an older recipe that called for cinnamon, lemon rind, fresh figs and sugar but whenever the kids help me cook, things change.  I really like letting them improvise and find their way around my kitchen.  We discuss flavors and ideas all the time.  They’ve been cooking with me since before I started Dona Lupe’s so I’ve learned to trust them the way they trust in me.

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Insomniac grandkids

Aiden took charge of this jam session.  He just turned five on Friday the 20th and was in a very assertive mood.  He handed me a bottle of caraway seed and said, “Grammy use this, it almost smells like figs.”  Into the simmering cinnamon and water it went.  What the heck, how bad could it be?  I searched for lemons but we were out and being midnight by now, we were out of luck with a store.  David suggested the rice vinegar in the pantry for a little acidity and it made sense to me so I added it.  This was so not the jam I had planned on but as we all took turns chopping figs and adding them to the pot, the kitchen was starting to smell amazing.

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Chop, chop, chop

Once the figs were all in the pot, Aiden handed me a jar.  Surprised, I looked down at a square box of chili powder from the Indian store I frequent in Los Feliz.  “Put some of that in Grammy” he said seriously.  I nodded and added about two tablespoons, stirred it in with crossed fingers and tasted.  Oh. My. God.  That was some amazing jam!  Things happen in midnight jam sessions, things you’d never expect but surprisingly sweet and good.

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Jam!

We’re going on 1:00 a.m. now and the kids are drifting off to sleep while Aiden’s Midnight Fig Jam is slowly simmering on the stove.  When he wakes tomorrow there will be toast smeared with his jam and the day, however hot it turns out to be will keep that spicy sweetness.

Aiden’s Midnight Fig Jam

5 lbs of fresh figs, washed, trimmed and chopped roughly
3 c. Sugar
1 cinnamon stick
3 c. of water
Pinch caraway seeds
4 tablespoons of rice vinegar
2 tablespoons of dark red chili powder

Set a large pot with the water and cinnamon stick to boil, then bring to a slow simmer.

Trim off the points and ends of the figs and rough chop them.  Add the caraway seeds to the simmering cinnamon water, the sugar and rice vinegar.  Stir until well blended.

Add the chopped figs, the chili powder and stir slowly.  Let simmer for two hours till well thickened, stirring frequently so the sugar doesn’t burn and stick to the bottom of your pot.

Remove the cinnamon stick, let cool and store in Mason jars using proper canning techniques.

Best cooked at midnight to the strains of Luciano Pavaroti (you know we had to listen to Figaro), Lauryn Hill and Trio Los Panchos.  Insomniac grandchildren optional.

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