AND LIFE GOES ON!!!!!

It has been six months since the last time I posted a Blog… It has not been because I don’t have anything to say or that the universe does not want to hear my crazy stories… I guess I have just been playing the observer role and I have been sucking it all in like a sponge or a handy wipe!  Have you ever sat down to rewind your life and play it back like a movie in slow motion?  Have you ever paid attention to the characters in your movie…? Who are constant in all the episodes in your life; Who just had a “Cameo Appearance”; The people that helped you grow; The ones that gave without expecting anything in return;  The ones that just absorbed your energy because they were lonely stars traveling thought this universe without a light of their own;  The “faux” stars that promised you the world and turned out to be a lost comet disappearing into the darkness of the universe;  or the cardboard cutouts with shiny colors and luster but lacking of depth and soul.  Yes sometimes they made you laugh, sometimes they made you smile, sometimes you just Cried or just hoped you had never met them, wished to forget and carry on!  A person that crossed my path once said; “friends are just good when they are value added, and that you could not expect orange juice from a pear”, …and I will have to say… they were wrong!  How can you recognize the good, if you have never seen the dark side of the moon?  All these characters that we encounter throughout our path in life will provide us with valuable lessons and help us grow...  Life is what you want it to be.  The future…….it will come from within your soul. 

I know you might be wondering… how he will connect travel and food to this melodrama.   I have started and here it goes!  I asked myself …Self, what is beauty?; what is the ultimate travel?; what fills my soul?  I could say … standing at la “Piazza di San Pietro” or traveling through the streets of San Francisco or sitting under the Eiffel tower but no! The ultimate travel that fills my soul…would be…sitting on history … sitting on one of the walls of old San Juan looking at the ocean under a massive rain storm!  You could see how the rain clouds would come from the distance and would go right over your head, the clouds would create curtains of rain that will baptize your body and liberate your senses!  Feeling how the rain so gently starts massaging your body; the drops rolling down your face; listening to the roaring sounds of the wind and the galloping rain.  In an instant to be able to be with yourself, a moment to commune with the universe,  a special time to meditate and reach deep into your soul,  time to close your eyes and replay that movie we call life... again and again and again.  Relive the happy moments and the sad; learn from the teachings of the professors that life has placed in your path.

This tour of Old San Juan is not a vacationer’s tour; it’s a tour to reclaim yourself! To cherish your family and acknowledge the friends and angels that have blessed you through your journey.  It’s a travel through the simple things of life; the things that provide you with the energy to continue going on. 

San Juan is my source of energy, just sitting on the walls looking at the ocean, walking through its narrow streets, meditating on a pew of the Cathedral; watching my reflection on the wet cobblestones, the aroma of the earth after a downpour, the sound of the coqui, or feeling how the strong breeze at the “San Felipe del Morro” Castle elevates me like a kite to the highest level of consciousness.    It’s the music of nature and the smell of the land …. The land we call home.

Once again I sit in my room, close my eyes, rewind my life and play it back like a movie in slow motion.  A different place, different date, and different players, and I am trying the best, to always be true to myself.

GABE’S RAINY DAY COMFORT FOOD

Chicharrones de Pollo (Puerto Rican Fried Chicken)

Seasoning

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp vinegar
• 2 tsp orange or lime juice
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 peppercorns
• 4 garlic cloves

Chicken

• 3 lbs bone-in skin on, chicken
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 envelope sazon (seasoning)
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• vegetable oil for frying

Combine all the seasoning ingredients in a mortar and pestle and mash it all together, set aside. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle you can do this in a food processor.

Take 3 lbs of chicken; trim off any excess skin, but do not remove the skin. Using your biggest knife cut into the flesh of the chicken until you reach the bone, lay a towel over the back of the knife and pound it until it cuts through the bone. Do not saw into the bone because it can cause it to splinter.  Lay the chicken in a glass dish (do not use metal as it could react with the vinegar) and pour seasoning over the chicken, massage the seasoning evenly into the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

When ready to prepare chicken, heat enough oil to cover chicken in a large pot or dutch oven to 400 degrees.

While the oil heats, combine flour, sazon and pepper in a large ziploc bag, shake to combine ingredients.  In batches, place chicken in flour bag and shake until well coated.  Shake off excess flour and place on baking grid until all chicken pieces are coated.

When oil reaches 400 degrees, fry chicken pieces in batches for 3 minutes.   Remove from oil and drain on a plate lined with paper towels.

Lower the heat of the oil to 300 degrees and place all chicken back in the pot, cover and fry for 10 minutes.  Remove chicken from oil and drain in paper towel lined plate.

Raise the heat again to 400 degrees; fry the chicken in batches until dark golden brown, without burning.  Remove chicken from oil and drain on paper towel lined plate. Ready…..set…..EAT!

Canoas de Platanos Maduros (Sweet Plantain Canoes)

Filling

• 1 lbs ground beef
• 1 onion,minced
• 3 gloves garlic, minced
• 1 green pepper, minced
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 2 tsp adobo
• 2 tsp oregano
• 2 Tbs vinegar
• 1 envelope sazón
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 green stuffed olives, halved
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce

Canoas

• 4 ripe plantains, peeled
• 1/2 cup white shredded cheese (like Monterey Jack or Swiss)
• vegetable oil

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine, beef, onion, pepper, garlic, cilantro, adobo, oregano, vinegar and sazon. Mix well.

Heat a large skillet at medium-high heat with 2 Tbs of olive oil, add meat mixture.

Cook beef until brown and of the juices bubble up, add bay leaves, olives, raisins and tomato sauce. Mix and let simmer for 10 minutes, set aside.

Heat a large frying pan with about 2 inches of  vegetable oil, just enough to cover the plantains. Fry plantains for 8 – 10 minutes or until golden and slitely crispy. Drain on a plate with paper towel, set aside.

To assemble canoas: when the plantains are cool enough to handle, cut a slit down the inside curve of the plantain.  Using your knife and a fork, gently pry the plantain open until it opens and resembles a canoe.  Fill the plantain with some shredded cheese, stuff with meat mixture and top with more shredded cheese.  Transfer the stuffed plantains to a baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray.

Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned.  Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve immediately.

Bacalaitos fritos (Cod fish fritters)

Every day My Mom would give me an additional dime in order for me to have sufficient money to by a “Bacalaito” in the “comedor” (cafeteria) at 2 PM in the afternoon. My mom made these at home and I would go crazy…I love cod fish fritters, they are one of my favorite things to eat. Just the smell of the burning wood and the roaring fire (great place for Bacalaitos) in “Piñones” makes me happy.

1 lb dried salty cod fish
1 pound of flour
4 small sweet peppers (aji dulces)
3 garlic cloves minced
fresh oregano
fresh cilantro

Fresh Recao “Culantro”
achiote oil   (annatto oil)
salt and pepper to taste
all purpose seasoning (adobo seasoning)

Soak the salty cod fish overnight in water, until it is tender and not too salty.  Shred it and set it aside.
In a blender, mix the flour with water until you have a good batter consistency (like a pancake mix) add the garlic, oregano, cilantro and sweet peppers in a “pilon” (mortar and pestle) and add it to the mix.  Add salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning to the mix and taste the batter.  Add more seasoning if needed.  Add some “achiote” oil for color (not too much so it doesn’t make the batter to oily). Stir in the cod fish and let stand aside for about and refrigerate for an hour.  You can fix the batter the day before and place it in the refrigerator for the next day.

When ready to fry, just heat canola oil, take a scoop and fry by the spoon full.  They should spread like a thin pancake. 

TRIPLETA “Sandwich”

Ingredientes:

10 oz Cube steak (Freez it Shave it and cooked )
10 oz Roasted Ham (Pernil) (Shaved)
10 oz Boiled Ham (Shaved)
10 oz Swiss Cheese
4 oz Cabbage
2 tsp Mayonnaise
4 oz Potato Sticks (JULIANED AND FRIED)
4 tsp Ketchup ( a dash of curry powder)
1 lbs French Bread

 Preparing the steak

Ingredients:

 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
1 tsp. Goya Adobo Seasoning with Pepper
1/4 tsp. Oregano
1/4 cup Vinegar
2 lbs. trimmed loin or fillet of beef (1/4 inch thick slices)
2 tbsp. Corn Oil
4 large onions, sliced very thin

Freeze the meat and slice with a meat slicer extremely thin.  Mix garlic, black pepper, adobo, oregano and vinegar together and rub into steak.
Heat oil in skillet on low, cook onions until barely cooked (keep crisp and white). Remove onions and drain on paper towels. On high stir-fry steaks rapidly on each side until brown. Add the other meats. Cut the French bread the long way, spread the mayonnaise, add the cheese, stack the meats, the French fries already cooked, and the cabbage.
Heat the sandwich in sandwich press until bread is toasted.