Psychedelicious: Post Midterm Update (Part 4)....

This morning, I tried the Organic Colombian--AGAIN. This time, I used 4 level Tablespoons of whole beans (which equals about 5 Tablespoons ground) with 6 (5 oz. each) cups of water. And instead of letting it sit for half and hour while I make breakfast, I brewed it 5 minutes before we sat down to eat. Mom and I took a sip...

Wow. It was a LOT better than yesterday. But Mom still thought it was too bitter. It's probably the grinder then...aw well... Someday I will brew that perfect cup of coffee.
Anyway, this week was Cajun & Creole Cuisine.

Day 1

Gumbo; Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce; Blackened Chicken, Cajun Fettucine, Braised Scallions with Hollandaise

Day 2

Front: Crawfish Etouffee, Red Beans & Rice

Middle: Cheese Grits, Jambalaya, Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas

Back: Pecan Praline

I've never had crawfish before, so I was quite excited for this week. It like shrimp with an earthy aftertaste...like....dirt. Towards the end, we had a lot of leftovers (as usual); I ended up with several Tuppers full of jambalaya, gumbo, and red beans. I'm pretty zealous about taking foods home--I hate to see foods get wasted. My classmates will just throw them away otherwise. One time I watched in horror as this guy dumped a whole vat of (buttery, garlicky, and good)mashed potatoes into the garbage can. Coincidentally, earlier that day, I had a lady break down in tears in front of me because she had absolutely nothing left in her cupboards and no money to buy food for her child.

So I took the leftovers home. Now what to do with them? I knew Dad wouldn't eat the gumbo. We tried to get him to eat it in the past, but he refused, saying that it "smelled like armpits and black people".

I was pretty offended by his comparison of African American people to a stew and stubborn refusal to try new foods. But this time, I had a plan. Come lunch time, I reheated the gumbo... then added a glop of Worcestershire sauce, a dollop of honey, a wallop of Chardonnay, and 1 tsp of curry powder. Served it over spaghetti. Dad wolfed it down hungrily, saying that this "Okra Curry" is delicious!

(MWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!)

So that was lunch. For dessert, I wanted to use the anko (sweetened adzuki beans) I made the week before, so I made Taiyaki. One of the many Japanese sweets, Taiyaki is like a thin waffle sandwich with anko filling.