Let's talk about food?

The food from my country is very good. I love it. It has nothing to do with the Mexican style - I don't know why some people that I met here thought that we ate tacos and tortillas too. We do not.

But we do eat lots of rice and beans. Like the bread on a sandwich, rice and beans are the base for a meal (lunch and dinner) on a Brazilian table. Potatoes are usually prepared as side dishes. We only do not have rice and beans when the meal is composed of something like a lasagna, or any big pasta mix. My dad, though, used to eat beans with pasta... yuk!

Garlic is, usually, a main spice there. Most dishes are prepared with crushed fresh garlic and salt. Black pepper is not as common as it is here. If we wanted something peppery, we used a liquid type of pepper that, if we were not careful with, we would have our tongues and kissers burning for a long time. But that was not so common at home.

At home, it was a variety that included some German/Austrian/Hungarian dishes. Nothing fancy but, as Marie Barone (from Everybody Loves Raymond) would say, "made with looove".

When I arrived here, I thought that I would prepare lots of different dishes for Hubby. Mistake. Nothing that I prepared had the taste that I wanted! It was a total failure. Even if I found most of the ingredients that I needed, something was different.

Stupid me.

Of course.

Taste comes from the very moment a food matter is born. From the dirt to the weather, from the beef to the food the beef eats while growing. From the way the flour is industrialized to the aging of the rice grains that we find in the market. Having an "almost the same" dish is horrible, frustrating and that taste "in between" never goes well.

And I learned. NOT to try anymore. Forget it.

A few weeks after I arrived, Hubby took me to a Mom and Pop restaurant for breakfast. I was so excited but did not know what to order. I remember I ordered the simpler I could see, eggs, bacon and toasts. Hubby ordered the famous biscuits and gravy, and I remember that the hairs on my arm went up, when I saw his plate. I had never eaten it and thought it looked very unappetizing.

This attitude has changed now. Today, I feel very proud of being able to cook American! And I have a bone to pick with the Americans in general (just kidding).

You see, the real American food is fantastic! It is rich, it is tasty, it is varied, creative, and yum-yum! And I am constantly seeing Americans on TV talking, and drooling over the imported French style of cooking and serving. That's not right!!

Let the French and their concasser, mirepoix, aux gratin, and fricassé stay in France. I have absolutely nothing against the French but, this sissy type of crap to say roughly chopped, stewed vegetables, broiled and meat stew is just plain SISSY!

And the way the dishes are served? Oh my dying butt! One olive size piece of meat, in the middle of a plate, covered with a drop of a stupid crèmme de puff-puff, surrounded by a bed of three green onion slivers. Keep it Eiffel Tower!

Bring me the barbecued ribs, the stuffed pork chops, the chicken pot pie, the medium rare ribeye steak with mashed potatoes, coleslaw and GRAVY. Tons of gravy!

Oh, and bring me the biscuits and gravy for breakfast, or the blueberry pancakes with maple syrup!

Do you want to see real American food? Marvelous and easy to make? Check on the Pioneer Woman's blog. I bought her book, and loved it too!