NON-ALLITERATIVE TUESDAY: FOOD GIFTS

Non-Alliterative Tuesday: no obligations, no rhyme, reason or methodology other than that it's something relevant to food and goings-on in Kitchen Toro...

I love school, but unfortunately because of it this summer there's no getting away from the city for me, no cross-country jaunt, no Chico's Tacos, no In 'N Out, no bicycle trip to Denver, no visiting friends in other cities, no travelling. I'm hoping to get a weekend food-trip to DC in at some point over the next few weeks (sooner rather than later) but in the meanwhile, the traveling is going to have to come to me; luckily, when it comes to food, it has.

Gobind Sethi, an old college friend recently returned from a free cruise to Alaska he'd gone on with his mother, who was the ship doctor for two days. As payment she traveled and ate for free and she could bring one more person who could do the same. Gobind brought me back a book on Alaskan cuisine, "The New Alaska Cookbook, Recipes From The Last Frontier's Best Chefs." When I looked at the cover to see who wrote it I was surprised to know I knew the author. Kim Severson wrote the book and she is now a reporter for the Dining Section at The Times where I met her. I'm happy to have another book to add to my collection.

But wait, there's more. Midwesterners are far too generous (it's part of their rural, midwestern folkways I've been told), especially when bearing gifts from a roadtrip through the heartland. My partner in crime returned from a week and a half drive with jam and syrup from Deadwood, South Dakota.

The little town is apparently doing pretty well, especially with the HBO series giving it some more notoriety. The whole place is a historic landmark. There are acted-out "shootings" in the street and gambling is legal so the betting parlors have slots and even card tables. Sounds kitschy but fun.

One HBO-related piece of merchandise has got to the be the apron to the left. Mr. Wu's BBQ. Mr. Wu is the head Chinese boss who feeds dead gunslingers and other Deadwood detritus to his pigs to get rid of the evidence.

I was also brought back books filled with recipes from wagon-covered pioneer, gold-mining days and old-fashioned church standbys:

The Old West Baking Book by Lon Walters
Cookbook by Wall Drug Gang, 200 New Recipes
Colonial Holiday Treats

The prize among these books is of course, The Old West Baking Book. In addition to the recipes, the book is filled with sidebars about their origin, tools used, tales of wild plants, and fun facts.

And the gifts keep coming. At school, my friend Sampurna brought me some instant gulab jamun mix after seeing my unsuccessful attempt at Entremetier a few weeks ago (I've since gotten the dried milk and will have another go at it soon). She made a delicious vegetable dish last night, fried potato balls in panko crumbs. Wow. I've got to get the recipe (I'm also wondering if a pizza stone could in any way help me to create the hot environment needed to make naan in my home oven).