Do yourself a favor and try these!

As my close friends know, I've recently become absolutely and completely obsessed with shopping at Whole Foods.

Unfortunately, the closest one to me is near work but an hour away from my home. Fortunately, it is SO close to my work that I'm able to stop and get one of their prepared foods (okay, who am I kidding, I get sushi. Every. Damn. Time.) for lunch.

On my way home from work Monday night, I decided to stop at Whole Foods to pick something up for dinner for the three of us, and came upon something... (sigh) wonderful. Positively wonderful.

There, calling my name, beckoning me, if you will, were these beauties.



Yes, you're reading that correctly -- pickled green tomatoes.

I will admit that I do get some delight out of telling people about my sometimes less-than-conventional food choices (my mom still squirms when I tell her about sushi... weirdo). I do tend to buy things that are maybe a little off-center, because I'll give anything a try, and so when I saw these, I HAD to buy them. Trust me, my friends, I did not regret it.

These amazing tomatoes have a wonderful vinegar and dill bite, and yet have not lost their crunch. They don't taste exactly like pickles, they definitely have their own flavor. But if you enjoy the flavor and crunch of fresh (even homemade or locally-purchased) pickles, you'll enjoy these. They're packed in a deliciously garlic brine (some of which I'm planning to reserve for hot dirty martinis) with fresh dill and grape leaves, and the whole pieces of garlic inside are fantastic even on their own.



I'm not being paid anything to say this, and I have no incentive for telling you about these, but I'm so in love with them that I just had to share. My half-empty container speaks for itself!

The other thing I LOVE about these, besides the taste which, seriously... yum, is that they're local. Grillo's Pickles is in Boston, and their address is right on the container. When given the choice, I'll pay a little more to support my local businesses.

Find out more about Grillo's Pickles at http://www.grillospickles.com. According to their site, they're available in the produce section at Whole Foods in Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as a few smaller chain stores (you can find the exact list here -- http://grillospickles.com/store.html). They also have a Twitter -- you can find them at @GrillosPickles.

You may not have a Whole Foods near you, but trust me -- these are worth the drive!

We have winners!

This morning, I used Random.org to pick the winners of my Pastene Giftbasket Giveaway, and here they are --

Congratulations to

Shirley (#17)
Amanda (#6)
Meeyeehere (#26)

I'll be emailing all of you for your shipping information later today.

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Celebrating with a giveaway! *Giveaway closed*

It's been a good year, and Madame is celebrating!



As you may or may not know, this past Monday, August 30th, was my 1st blog-iversary with Madame Menu. For the last year, I have loved sharing my recipes and my family’s recipes with you. I have loved getting your feedback and building relationships and making connections. I have some very exciting ideas about where this blog will be “going” over the next year, and I can’t wait to share them all with you.

I am so grateful you have stopped by and voted for me and let me know what you thought of my recipes and I decided to pass that appreciation onto my amazing readers by celebrating the milestone… (wait for it)… with a giveaway!



In several recipes I’ve posted over the last year, I’ve mentioned Pastene products. I love the brand because the freshness, taste and quality are authentic and unparalleled. It’s convenient that I also don’t have to head to a specialty foods market to buy their products – they’re right in the international section at the local grocery store.

As luck would have it, the folks at Pastene were equally excited about my anniversary and decided they wanted to celebrate with me.

That’s why the amazing and generous people at the company have sent me THREE of their Holiday Favorites gift baskets to give away to my readers.



Each basket (which I will ship directly to you) contains some of my absolute favorite products – marinated artichokes, spaghetti sauce, roasted peppers, pasta, San Marzano tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and even a Pastene Great Cooking cookbook. Exactly what you need to make a delicious Italian meal!

Want to enter? Here’s how.


Mandatory entry: Leave me a comment on this post telling me which Pastene product (http://store.pastene.com/merchant2/) is your favorite or which you would like to try. Make sure you leave me a valid email address so I can contact you if you’re the lucky winner! Please note – you do not have to be a blogger to win!

Extra chances to win – each is worth another entry. Please leave a separate comment for each extra...

- Follow Madame Menu on Google Friend Connect

- Become a fan of Madame Menu on Facebook

- Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post

- Tweet the giveaway (up to twice a day – leave a link to your status)

You can enter starting right away, up through midnight PST on Tuesday, September 7, 2010. The winners will be chosen a week from today – on Wednesday, September 8, 2010 – via Random Integer Generator from all entries submitted, and notified through email. I apologize to my non-US friends, but this giveaway is only open to all legal residents of the United States.

Good luck, everyone! Thank you for staying with me for a year. Here's to 25 more! :-)

Baby's first farmers market

One of my fondest memories from childhood is going apple picking with my mom and sister at a local orchard.

We’d put on our jeans and our hoodies and head to the orchard. We knew we’d be coming home with bags upon bags of fresh, delicious, juicy red Macintosh apples, and that meant fall was here, and apple-based recipes (particularly my mom’s apple crisp) were on their way.

It’s not that our mom couldn’t have taken us to the supermarket and gotten apples, but she wanted us to have the experience of getting delicious food while supporting our local farmers. As convenient as it may be to run to the supermarket for fruits and veggies, it’s far more satisfying for me to patronize our local growers by buying from area farmers markets, and that’s something I’ve decided I want to teach our son about.

That’s why I considered this week-long blog-a-thon celebrating the statewide Massachusetts Farmers Market week a perfect chance to bring my son to his first farmers market. The blogging extravaganza is sponsored by In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens. Please consider making a donation to support Massachusetts Farmers Markets, and donate here!



So this past Sunday, we put on our rain gear and headed out to see what we could find at some of the farmer’s markets near us. Living in Webster, we don’t have too many venues around us for markets, but we’re willing to drive a bit. Since the Charlton market didn’t happen because of the rain, we headed to the Mass Pike. While some might think it an unlikely locale for a farmers market, we Massachusetts-ians know better.

You begin to see the signs at the mid-point between exits 9 and 10. Though it may seem odd to have farms selling their wares at a Pike rest area, you’d be surprised (or shocked on this rainy day) to see just how many travelers had stopped to check out the stands.

On this rainy Sunday in sideways-blowing drizzle, we were lucky to see three local vendors with tents at the stop. Best-Fresh Gardens of Charlton had some beautiful tomatoes, chard and herbs, as well as a huge selection of fruit preserves and spreads, Honey Bees R Us had jarred honey and fresh combs, and a third tent whose name we weren’t able to catch had fresh peaches, tomatoes, squash, corn and zucchini available.









Though the little guy was getting drenched, he wasn’t too wet to smile at the ladies, and show off his cool new Curious George raincoat.



He was particularly interested in the honey display, or maybe just the pretty lady behind the counter! We were particularly excited with the fact that one of the vendors at the market mentioned they’d be on hand through November with preserves and pies. Once the weather clears (not that we have much room to complain considering the mild summer we’ve had), we’ll definitely be taking our little boy back.



Though we would have loved to sample a little of everything that was available, we ended up buying two large zucchini, a carton of peaches, two hothouse tomatoes, a jar of raspberry preserves and a piece of zucchini bread (from Best-Fresh Gardens, and I have to say… it was worth driving in the rain to taste!). All in all, some amazing purchases.



Later this week, I’ll be posting some recipes using the fresh fruits and veggies we purchased. The little guy has been enjoying them all this week (particularly the peaches), and he’ll be my test critic with my other recipes.

Though it may have been wet and rainy, the trip to Charlton was worth it. Besides the delicious spoils of our trip, we got to show our son that buying local is best, and supporting area farmers is critical. Not only are we supporting our local economy, we’re buying the freshest ingredients our money can buy, and that’s always a great thing.

Not at all food related...

...but definitely worth a peak.

Kelly at Speaking From the Crib recently posted some of her finest "Dirtbag Moments In History," and asked her readers to share their own.

Well, since I spent many a pre-teen moment working toward becoming the sarcastic woman I am today, naturally I had many one to send her.

And as a result, a story from yours truly was featured in yesterday's post.

Check it out at the link below!

"I HAVE DONE SOME BAD STUFF. BUT THIS IS SUPER DUPER BAD."

Mom's Zucchini Pancakes

My mom will be the first to tell you she doesn't generally branch out too much with her cooking.

Off the top of my head, I can't remember more than maybe five or six dishes she made for dinner when I was a kid. It's not that her cooking was bad, because it certainly wasn't, but she stuck to the classics. She was on a budget and cooking for a picky husband (ew, cheese) and two picky daughters (ew, meatloaf) was no easy feat -- one of us wanted macaroni and cheese, the other chicken tenders, and my dad wanted beef stew.

But there was one thing the four of us could ALWAYS agree on -- mom's zucchini pancakes.

Though I haven't lived with my parents in some time, I can still remember the smell of them cooking. I can remember as a kid sitting and watching my mom make them, waiting for her to turn for a moment so we could swipe a fingerful of the delicious garlic batter. We couldn't have cared less that there were raw eggs in it -- it was amazing.

Mom and her two zucchini swipers. My sister Christina, left, mom in the middle, and I'm on the right.

The very idea of a "zucchini pancake" bothers some people. They think I'm talking about a literal pancake made of zucchini -- some breakfast food on fiber-filled steroids, but that's not it. Zucchini pancakes are savory and snacky and garlicky and delicious and all that is good and right with the world. They were different than the kind you'd read about in a cookbook or see on a Food Network show. For one, the zucchini was never shredded but diced, and my mom's had a distinctly souffle-like texture because of the amount of egg in them. Mix it with garlic and seasoned breadcrumbs, and you'd end up with a WHOLE lot of delicious.

For years, I've asked my mom for her zucchini recipe. It wasn't that she ever hesitated to give it to me, but she kind of just... couldn't. She didn't measure when she cooked, and she could give me her best estimation, but that was it. Until this weekend.

While visiting this weekend, my mom brought me a batch of her zucchini pancakes -- I may be 25, but to my parents, I'm basically still in college, and they're still responsible for feeding me.

While she was at my house, I told her I wanted to blog her recipe and she FINALLY was able to give me at least close approximations so that you too can enjoy them in your home. So here it is, after many, many years spent trying to pin it down -- my mom's (very short and very easy) zucchini pancake recipe.

Mom's Zucchini Pancakes
Yield is approximately 30 5-inch cakes

1 large zucchini, diced into half-inch pieces
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 yellow onion, diced
9 eggs
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1 cup olive oil

Combine eggs, parmesan cheese, garlic powder and bread crumbs. When well combined, add zucchini and onion.

In a frying pan, heat 3-4 tablespoons olive oil on medium high heat. When fully heated, ladle mixture into hot olive oil. Three or four pancakes can be cooked in oil at once.

When oil is dried up, pour enough to cover the bottom of the pan and repeat ladeling process. In my mom's estimation, you will need to add oil before every other batch.



Enjoy!

Boba Tea 101

Before I lived in California, my palate wasn’t all that diverse.

I stuck to the mainstream New England comfort foods and the things my mom made for dinner. I didn’t venture too far outside my comfort zone. But spending a few years living in a place where fish tacos are considered fast food and you can choose between any of the 10 types of ethnic cuisines within half a mile at any given time changed how I looked at things.

I remember my girlfriends talking one night about going out for “boba tea.” I had never heard of such a thing and asked what it was. They told me it was tea with tapioca in it, and that once I tried it, I’d be hooked. I was skeptical, but I went along with it anyway.

And man, they were right.

One sip of lychee tea with boba and I was in for the long haul. It was so tasty, and so strange, and SO delicious.

For those who aren’t lucky enough to have sampled boba tea (also called “bubble” tea in some places), you may be reluctant to try it, but trust a formerly reluctant yankee… you won’t be disappointed.

Boba tea is a broad term for a few different types of beverage – one is tea-based and flavored with fruit, another is milk-based and flavored with either fruit-flavored powder or syrup, and the third is a frozen flavored milk drink, similar in consistently to a milkshake. In the bottom of the cup for each beverage are large tapioca balls (generally about the size of peas), and depending on the tea house or your request, the balls might be green or black or even red and don’t have a strong taste of their own, unless sweetened. They’re soft and gelatinous, and although I know doesn’t sound particularly appetizing, you just have to try it to understand.

Though many people think the word “boba” is the name for the tapioca, “boba” actually refers to the liquid in the beverage. The tapioca grains are referred to as "pearls," but even some teahouses, when asking if you want the tapioca in your drink, refer to them as "boba."



I myself have always had a favorite type of boba tea – almond. It has a simple taste, isn’t too sweet or too thick. I miss it all the time.

Having left San Diego years ago and only visited once since, I really missed boba tea and had to find a way to make it on my own at home since there’s no place on the east coast outside Boston where it’s readily available. There’s just one problem though – I live in central Massachusetts… not exactly a hotbed of activity for specialty foods. I knew I’d have to turn to the internet.

Luckily, it didn’t take too much searching to locate a company I could order tapioca pearls from. I ordered them on a Sunday and much to my surprise they arrived early Wednesday, and I couldn’t wait to make some of the tea on my own.



Though the website also had a bunch of powders to flavor the boba with, I figured I’d rather give it a shot on my own and use fresh fruits, so I set out to the produce section for some exotic flavors. I ended up picking up a mango, a couple star fruits, two cactus pears, some pomegranate juice and a couple avocados.

I prepared each of the fruits and pureed them in a food processor. I used some cheesecloth to strain some of the pulpier fruits from their juice. I was set on not using any granulated sugar, so I sweetened the drinks only with honey. I then mixed each with about 6 ounces of skim milk.

The tapioca – the ‘five minute’ variety – were easily prepared: boil water, drop in pearls, wait five minutes, remove. I placed them in a bowl and let them cool before putting them into some cups (about ¼ cup of pearls in each cup – they go in before the milk) and pouring in the different flavored milks I’d made.



No boba tea or boba milk would be complete without the ONLY way you can eat the tapioca out of your cup – a giant ½-inch diameter straw.

I was thrilled with how my homemade boba milk came out. It required a little more effort than just walking into a teashop and ordering, but knowing a cup of delicious boba “tea” is five minutes away is even more satisfying. Enjoy!



*In case you’re wondering, I ordered my tapioca pearls and ginormous straws from BobaTeaDirect.com. They have great prices on each item a la carte – you can order straws, tapioca pearls, flavor powders – and deals on starter kits that include everything you need to make boba tea on your own. Order from them! (And they’re not even paying me to say that!)

*I used one entire 8.8-ounce package of tapioca pearls, which made about two cups of pearls once they were cooked.