Monthly Archives: June 2020

Salads of The #UpperWestSide of Metro Phoenix AZ – Phoenix Glendale Peoria

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Maybe half the meals that I ate out or take out are salads. Lately I’m mostly but not entirely supporting restaurants that are near to home. I thought others might like a taste of the salads of the #UpperWestSide of Metro Phoenix AZ. The Upper West Side are parts of the Way North Phoenix, North Glendale and North Peoria and are zip codes 85383, 85382, 85310, 85308 and 85083.

Up above is. really great salad from Sala Thai in Peoria. It’s the spicy lemon salad with chicken and is among my favorites.

Here is the select your own salad from Phila-Deli in Glendale. It starts at only around $7.50. It’s fast food priced but it’s a whole bunch better than fast food.

Basically across the street (or highway) is Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale and they also offer really nice $7.50 salads.

On the left is a gyro salad and on the right is chicken kabob salad.

I got a few salads from Fabio On Fire in Peoria.

Up above is the pear salad.

Here’s the strawberry spinach salad from Fabio On Fire.

My favorite meal from Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol in Glendale is the Chicken Fajita Salad.

It is usually inconsistent. The amount of chicken is either a lot or small and either moist or dry. Seasonings differ. It might include the peppers, onions and avocado or not. The ingredients differ some on each visit. Instead of dressing I use their tasty salsa that is currently the best salsa in town.

Pita Kitchen in Glendale makes one of the most delicious Chicken kabobs in metro Phoenix so I get it on a Greek Salad.

They marinate it with delicious seasonings. It has a delicious char taste and 19 out of 20 times it is insanely juicy and is always delicious.

The meal I get most often at Cucina Tagliani is their Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad with Chicken.

Sometimes I get one of their Caesar salads.

Caesar with chicken….(and one of my dogs)

Caesar with salmon, artichokes and pine nuts……..(and one of my dogs)

The Black and White Cafe in Glendale offers a few salads.

This is the California Chicken Salad from The Black and White Cafe.

I got several nice salads from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante.

Farro Salad with avocado, pesto, mozzarella and chicken. (this one was way more than one meal….I think they gave me extra by accident)

Salad with added Sicilian Tuna

Strawberry Chicken Salad

I did get a few nice salads from The Social on 83rd in Peoria but the ones I got are no longer on the menu but both salads were very good.

Those are most of the salads that you can find on The Upper West Side of Metro Phoenix AZ.

Everything is subject to change….We hope things change for the better.

The Forking Truth

Take Out In Metro Phoenix During The CoronaVirus Pandemic – Week 13 – Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante, Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery, Fabio On Fire, Skewers Mediterranean Grill, Collins Small Batch Kitchen

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Leaving your house can be deadly. Nothing is for certain and you can never be careful enough. Take out is a safer option than dining in. Our first take out of the week was from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale (#UpperWestSide). We shared two of the seasonal specials – Chicken Piccata and Pappardelle al Funghi.

Both dishes were delicious and intense with flavors. Our fur friends were also very excited to try the dishes too!

Next stop was Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They are a pho-free Vietnamese restaurant and offer around a dozen different banh mi baguette sandwiches and most of your favorite Vietnamese dishes except for pho.

My husband got the pork rice plate and I got the curry chicken with rice.

Portions are around double for some people but we had our usual help with that.

Next we did curbside take out from Fabio On Fire in Peoria #UpperWestSide. They have a 100% no contact service. They communicate by text, pay on line and they sanitize a table for your take out. I had the halibut Mediterranea special. My husband had the meatballs and the orecchiette.

The halibut was prepared to perfection and everything was delicious!

I had some help with the large portion of halibut.

Then we did Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale/Arrowhead #UpperWestSide. They serve very nice salads that are fast food priced (around $7.50@) I also like trying their side salads (most are around $3.00@)

Pups enjoyed the chicken and gyro meat from Skewers.

Last take out of the week was curbside take out from Collins Small Batch Kitchen in Phoenix.

We had the wood fired Scottish salmon with herb butter, sweet blistered tomatoes and cauliflower, the braised beef short ribs with risotto and Brussels sprouts and for dessert a Ghirardelli mousse pie. All was delicious and this traveled well. Our pups were very enthusiastic about helping out with the food.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together”

This week we did take out from –

Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante – Glendale

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery – North Phoenix

Fabio On Fire – North Peoria

Skewers Mediterranean Grill – North Glendale

Collins Small Batch Kitchen – Phoenix

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.

The Forking Truth

Vindaloo Flavored Chicken Stew Recipe inspired by Milk Street Magazine

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I was paging threw my Milk Street Magazine and was reading the recipe for Vindaloo Chicken. I thought it sounded great but I wanted to make a complete meal that was a little healthier with lots of vegetables. I cook this way because the meal comes out delicious and is very anti-inflammatory to boost your immune. We all need this these days. I converted Milk Street’s recipe to quasi-stewing a chicken (parts or all thighs ) with Milk Street’s flavors. I did a great job thanks to Milk Streets recipe and my expertise on quasi-stewing chicken. I do note that the skin of the chicken will not be edible and you will have to pull all the meat. You also might want to chill the vegetable and soupy liquid over night (with the chicken separate so you can scrap the fat off the top and then re-heat for serving. For this recipe you can use any kind of bone in with skin chicken that is 3-4 1/2 pounds for this recipe. The amount of servings will differ…and my idea of serving size will differ from your idea of serving size. You can pretty much count on 4 dinners with extra chicken…The extra chicken leftover will be around 2-4 lunches of chicken.

Ingredients for 4 servings (with some extra pulled chicken)

1 L onion – diced

3 ribs celery – diced

2 L carrots – diced

2 bay leaves

3 garlic cloves – chopped fine

1 teaspoon vegetable base

1 cup water

1/4 cup white vinegar (vindaloo paste)

12 garlic cloves – chopped (vindaloo paste)

1 teaspoon granulated ginger (vindaloo paste)

2 Tablespoons sweet paprika (vindaloo paste)

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar (vindaloo paste)

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (vindaloo paste)

2 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric (vindaloo paste)

2 teaspoons cumin seeds (vindaloo paste)

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (vindaloo paste)

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (vindaloo paste)

1 hot pepper chopped (I used a Serrano) (vindaloo paste)

4 lbs chicken skin on with bone (I used thighs)

1 Tablespoon ground sea salt or to taste

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper or to taste

fresh cilantro to finish with

Directions

Set oven to 400 F.

Make the vindaloo paste.

Blend together the vinager, 12 garlic cloves, ginger, paprika, brown sugar, cloves, turmeric. cumin seeds, cayenne, cinnamon, hot pepper, salt and pepper. Half the vindaloo paste stays on the bowl and the other half gets rubbed all over the chicken or chicken parts and put to the side.

In a big pan to half buffet pan add the onion, celery, carrots, bay leaves, 3 garlic cloves. in a bowl or pitcher mix together the water, vegetable base and the remaining half of the vindaloo paste and pour it over the vegetables. Now lay the chicken or chicken parts on top of the vegetables. (if it’s a whole chicken breast side down) Coverly tight with foil and place on a middle rack till the chicken is at least 165 degrees F (165-180 is ideal) It will take around 2 hours. Maybe a bit less Maybe a bit more.

When done remove the chicken so it can cool.

When the chicken is cool enough to handle remove the skin and pull all the meat off the bones and put meat in a container and refrigerate.

When the soupy vegetables cool down to around room temperature you need to refrigerate over night (if desired) and the next day you can scrape the fat off the surface.

Reheat and add additional leftover vegetables if desired. Finish with a small amount of fresh cilantro.

Vindaloo Flavored Chicken Stew

It’s FORKING DELICIOUS!

A special THANKS! to Milk Street Magazine for their delicious recipe for vindaloo so I could make my inspiration of Vindaloo Flavored Chicken Stew.

The Forking Truth

Grocery Shopping Week 12 During The CoronaVirus Pandemic In Metro Phoenix

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The stay at home order has expired and we had dramatic increases of covid-19 among residents in Arizona. We just might be in the second wave oof the virus now. Nothing is for certain and you can never be careful enough. These days during the global pandemic shopping for groceries can be deadly.

I’ve been getting most of my groceries delivered to avoid other people who may be carriers of the virus. Over the weeks and months we experienced errors, substitutions and disappointments getting groceries delivered. I didn’t know about the dramatic increase of covid-19 cases and deaths on the day I went out grocery shopping. If I knew how bad things really are this would have been a different story.

It might have been foolish, hazardous or possibly fatal but we went out grocery shopping this week. We might (or might not) have been partially protected from catching the CoronaVirus. Wearing a mask only stops other people from catching your germs but when you add a filter you possibly are filtering out a little of what its coming in. I also read that NONE OF THE FILTERS WILL PREVENT YOU FROM CATCHING CORONAVIRUS. You have to look at it this way….You might be slightly protected (if your mask fits correctly with a filter). So that means if you get maybe less % of the virus. It’s a possibility that you might get struck with the virus but maybe might have better chances of surviving because you won’t get as much of the virus in you. Of course you have to still worry about distancing, hand washing and possibly eye shielding. I also use onion goggles to shield my eyes. But there is GOOD NEWS TOO…Most people won’t catch a significant amount of the virus. Most people will not die from the virus……Or so we’ve been told.

I thought Costco would be a safer choice for grocery shopping because they don’t let customers in without a mask. They now don’t limit the amount of shoppers like they did in prior weeks.

Nearly everyone at Costco was wearing a mask. I did see one person without a mask and a few other people pulled their masks down under their noses to breath.

Costco was stocked up on most things and seemed to carry most of what they normally carry.

The check out lines seemed much longer than normal….I guess the distancing makes the lines much longer. Plexiglass shields have been installed between you and the cashier.

That was week 12 of Grocery Shopping during the CoronaVirus Pandemic. Not sure how I will be shopping next time.

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.

The Forking Truth

Baharat – Spiced Eggplant with Pickled Onions Hazelnuts Amarena Cherries Herbs and Urfa Peppered Feta Recipe

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This recipe is inspired by Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson from Food & Wine Magazine. I’m sure the original recipe is spectacular and I never would have came up with this exact recipe if I never came across the Kramer/Hymanson Recipe. As great as it sounded I had to make many changes for a few different reasons. I made most changes due to what I had around my house that I had to use. (different eggplants, different onions and different cherries and different dairy product) I also changed the cooking method to the eggplant because I am not going to fry an eggplant twice….because eggplants are sponges for oil…For me that is way too much oil to absorb. For my taste or due to my ingredients the recipe made too much seasoning for my four eggplants so I say season to taste. maybe the last biggest change was that I made urfa peppered feta to go on top of the eggplant instead of lining the plate with lebneh that I didn’t have. If you want to do the original recipe it is very easy to find on the internet. I suggest to read both recipes and see what is better for you. I need to note that this recipe takes two days to prepare. Chefs Kramer and Hymanson came up with a method to brine the eggplants that I never did before. I tried it and maybe it made a difference….You also should pickle the onions the day before two. My idea of serving size may indeed differ from your idea of serving size. This recipe makes around four servings.

Ingredients for around servings.

4 eggplants (if using Italian eggplants score 1/8 deep in quarters long ways or of using Chinese eggplants just score long ways 1/8 deep once)

1 1/2 cups kosher salt

1 cup sugar

8 cups warm water

2 small onions peeled and sliced very thin crosswise (this makes more onions than you need but extra stays good for about three weeks)

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 Tablespoon allspice berries

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

3/4 teaspoon whole cloves

1/2 inch cinnamon stick

1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns

1/4 teaspoon cardamon seeds

non stick cooking spray

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove – ground to paste or microplane

1 lemon -fresh squeezed juice + zest (zest is for finishing)

1/4 cup Amarina cherries – drained (finishing)

2 Tablespoons hazelnuts – toasted and crushed (finishing)

1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves (finishing)

2 Tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves (finishing)

3 oz feta cheese – crumbled (preferably a quality creamy not too tangy feta)

1 1/2 teaspoon urfa pepper (usually sold in Middle Eastern Aisle of Asian Market)

Directions

Day one Brine Eggplant and Pickle Onions Make Baharat Spice.

In a large bowl mix together 8 cups of warm water with the 1 1/2 cups of kosher salt and the one cup oof sugar. Brine the scored eggplants. I put my eggplants in gallon ziplock bags that rest in tubs and I used plastic wrap to hold them in the brine and they sat in the refrigerator over night.

In a small bowl soak onion slices in ice water for 15 minutes and then drain. Mix up 1/2 cup of warm water with the vinegar salt and sugar and add to the drained onions, cover and refrigerate over night.

in a small dry skillet on medium high heat you need to heat the spices till fragrant. (allspice, coriander, cumin, cloves, cinnamon stick, black peppercorns, cardamon seeds) Let cool and grind to powder.

Next day

Set oven to 500 degrees F. Spray baking sheets with non stick spray.

Eggplant gets cut into bite sized pieces and goes skin side down on baking sheet(s) and stays in oven till brown (but not burnt around 45 minutes.

While eggplant is cooking get a small fry pan on medium high heat with olive oil add garlic to olive oil cook till fragrant and take off heat. Add fresh lemon juice. When eggplant is done pour garlic olive oil over eggplants and season lightly with sea salt. Put back in oven for about 5 minutes.

In a small bowl mix the crumbled feta with urfa pepper.

Take out of oven and assemble.

Spread out eggplant on a platter. Add cherries, peppered feta, parsley, tarragon, hazelnuts, pickled onions and top with lemon zest.

Baharat – Spiced Eggplant with Pickled Onions, Hazelnuts, Cherries, Herbs and Urfa Peppered Feta

It’s delicious and Different enjoy!

A special THANKS to Chefs Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson and Food and Wine Magazine for this Inspiration!

The Forking Truth

My 2nd Patio Dining Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic – Cucina Tagliani Glendale AZ #UpperWestSide – Healthy options and comfortable patio

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Nothing is for certain. Leaving your house can be deadly during a pandemic. You can never know if you are careful enough to avoid catching the coronavirus. For me it is far too dangerous to dine in with others. I feel somewhat comfortable with take out because I wear a filtered mask and eye goggles (my onion goggles that don’t look too bad) I feel that I am 80% safe and won’t fully catch the virus protected that much. Some scientist believe with distancing that you won’t catch enough of the coronavirus in outside air to be deadly. With that information I feel less risk dining outside. This past Saturday the temperature wasn’t too high for Phoenix so we took a chance and dined out on the Cucina Tagliani Patio in. This is an American Italian Restaurant that offers most of your usual American Italian favorites and also several healthy options and lots of vegetable choices. I don’t know of any other restaurant that offers around a dozen different vegetables that you can add to a meal or have on the side.

Today I ordered a Caesar salad with salmon and added on artichokes and pine nuts.

Got a decent piece of salmon and it’s prepared reasonably well. The greens are fresh and the dressing is house made. I guess they forgot the croutons but I don’t need them anyway because there’s complimentary garlic toasts on the table. Oh did I mention that the patio is officially dog friendly?

My husband got the spicy rigatoni with added sausage.

I think they gave him extra sausage?……….Well that was nice.

I can’t believe how quiet the patio is today.

We were the only ones dining here at lunch.

We’ve been coming to Cucina Tagliani for years. It’s close to home, I like the healthy options, my husband likes the American Italian food and we enjoy the comfortable patio with misters and funny old fashioned Italian music that fills the air here.

Louie is no longer with us but was a big fan of Cucina Tagliani.

The Papa’s Platter (with Louie) Veal Parm, sausage lasagna and two manicotti

salmon with asparagus and spinach

SPAGHETTI SQUASH lasagna

My usual goat cheese, strawberry and chicken salad.

chicken piccata over SPAGHETTI SQUASH instead of pasta

Chicken Caesar salad

chicken pasta pepperchini

chicken wrap with healthy fruit side

Stromboli

GRILLED chicken parmesan (instead of fried) over SPAGHETTI SQUASH

sausage lasagna with meatball

minestrone

steak gorgonzola over SPAGHETTI SQUASH

chicken dynamite

take out salmon dinner with asparagus and spaghetti squash

I don’t get dessert here often but the chocolate mascarpone cake is very good.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together” “We also are available to help you with your leftovers from Cucina Tagliani any time”

That was my second patio dining during the pandemic at Cucina Tagliani in Glendale. I appreciate the healthy options and the comfortable patio with misters.

www.CucinaTagliani.com

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.

The Forking Truth

Take Out in metro Phoenix AZ During The CoronaVirus Pandemic Week 12 – Desert Island Eatery, Taco Fusion, Fe La Cubana Cafeteria

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These are the worst of times and all restaurants are struggling. Many restaurants have permanently closed from lack of business due to the pandemic. If you want your local or favorite restaurants to stay in business then you should support restaurants as much as you can. Your money is their life source. Many restaurants in metro Phoenix have reopened for limited dine in service and you can dine in but there is risk. We still are in a serious health emergency and I don’t feel ready to risk dining in so I am doing mostly take out but I do consider patio dining. Some scientist believe that you are less likely to catch the virus outside so patio dining can be an option if the weather is nice.

Our first take out this week was from a Caribbean Restaurant that also serves Vegan Caribbean options in North Phoenix called Desert Island Eatery.

Since my last visit they added outside tables.

I always get the combo plate of curry chicken with jerk chicken, rice and peas with cabbage. Tonight my husband got the same and a side order of jerk shrimp.

Everything is delicious and flavorful. Portions are very large and I have extra for another meal even with sharing with my fur buddies.

Our next take out was from Taco Fusion in Glendale.

Since my last visit there I noticed that they added two outside tables and installed some sort of take out window in the glass wall. (left side of photo)

We ordered a variety of tacos and a quesadilla and their new vegetarian black beans. They also added two different rice dishes to their menu and will be adding breakfast dishes soon.

Gosh everything is amazing! The sauces also are very good! Today they offered red, green, black and pineapple salsas. I usually don’t enjoy carne asada tacos anywhere but the carne asada is tender and has a delicious mesquite taste. The Pineapple salsa with pico is really great on the mild chicken habanero tacos. The tortillas are also hand made and are better than from most places. I like the corn on most tacos but I think flour goes better on the asada. Everything here is really great and all this food was only around $26. We had our usual help with all this food.

Last take out this week was from Fe La Cubana Cafeteria in Glendale.

This is a TINY Cuban restaurant. They have food prepared in a steam table and they serve you a platter in a styrofoam container. They make the most amazing Ropa Vieja on earth in this little hole in the wall kind of place.

They put together your platter from the steam table.

We got-

BIG GIANT platters of tender chicken with yucca and black rice. My husband got the Ropa Vieja with black rice, pork chickpea soup and an oxtail. The Ropa Vieja is incredible….You might consider driving across town for that dish but everything is good.

Our pups were waiting for theirs.

Don’t worry we are in this thing together.

This week we did take out from –

Desert Island Eatery – North Phoenix

Taco Fusion – Glendale

Fe La Cubana Cafeteria – Glendale

We also dined out on a patio at Cucina Tagliani. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow!

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.

The Forking Truth

Some of the FOOD THAT MATTERS in Metro Phoenix that I Enjoyed!

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I thought I’d feature some of my favorite Caribbean, Ethiopian and Southern American Food that I’ve tried in Metro Phoenix. I do note that I haven’t been everywhere so there are many other great places out there. These are just some of my favorites that I enjoyed most.

I have to start out with Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix because they served me the very best Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken that I have ever tried anywhere. (that includes one place in the Caribbean too!)

Combo with Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken

It’s the best! So flavorful…..So Delicious! Just falling off the bone and full of flavors…..Just the BEST!

I also enjoyed Caribbean Cuisine in Glendale a number of times and everything I tried there was delicious.

I also liked how they had some fish dishes that were different to me. I really enjoyed this escovitich fish. It’s a mild white fish that seemed like it was marinated with herbs and spices and maybe vinegar and seemed lightly fried. The rest of the plate was scrumptious too.

My husband always liked the oxtail here but sometimes it’s not available due to it takes many hours to prepare.

I’ve tried Ethiopian Food from various food festivals that I enjoyed but made the trip to Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe in Phoenix.

Here we got our own mini buffet of many things. One of the BEST chicken dishes I tasted in Metro Phoenix has to be this Doro Wat in the middle of the platter. Everything was delicious here but that doro wat was really special.

Hot Chicken Sandwich

Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen now operates from a food truck. They serve New Orleans Cajun type foods like po boys, red beans and rice, jambalaya and more. I had this (I think it was called Louisiana Style Hot Chicken?) sandwich. It wasn’t like other hot chicken sandwiches but it was uniquely delicious.

Shrimp Po Boy

My husband enjoyed a shrimp po boy and an andouille sausage dish.

There’s also a modern southern American restaurant in downtown Phoenix that serves many FORKING AMAZING DISHES called The Larder and The Delta.

I had two different dishes there that were among THE BEST I’ve tried anywhere.

One dish was the Hoppin John.

It’s made of Sea Island field peas, Carolina gold rice and herb salad. It taste earthy, a little spicy, it’s deeply flavorful with interesting textures and crispy rice. It’s insanely delicious. You won’t be able to put your fork down till it’s down.

This next dish isn’t often on the menu but should be.

The K. F. C. Sandwich a mildly spicy fried chicken thigh sandwich with slaw and pickles.

I’m not sure what K. F. C. stands for here but it taste like it might mean Kentucky Forking Crack Sandwich. It was made of that special seldom found AMAZING MOUTH WATERING JUICY SUPER NATURAL DELICIOUS CHICKEN. It was THE BEST Chicken Sandwich I’ve ever tasted. It just could not be more delicious. The combination of the perfect not too big, the delicious slaw, amazing thick pickles and that oh so wonderful chicken was a taste bomb of deliciousness! I love great chicken sandwiches and there are a few of the super great chicken sandwiches out there but this is the first one that actually taste like the chicken was still on the bone. That perfect juicy chicken enhanced with delicious spices, flavors and textures. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

These were just Some Of The FOOD That Matters in Metro Phoenix that I have enjoyed!

Desert Island Eatery – North PHX

Caribbean Cuisine – Glendale

Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe – PHX

Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen – Food Truck

The Larder and The Delta – DT PHX

Give them a try and you will be glad that you did.

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.

The Forking Truth

Make your Deviled Eggs Rosy

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I discovered that it looks prettier to make deviled eggs into roses. It’s not very hard to do but might require a bit of practicing. The eggs come out delicious but you need a smooth filling or the rose tip will clog. Make any smooth recipe for deviled eggs. I usually just do a basic deviled eggs with Amora brand dijon and dust them with French red pepper. I suggest to season the egg white slightly too with a little bit of crushed sea salt and whatever pepper or paprika you like. Below is a cream cheese rose but the method is the same for just about any kind of rose you want to make.

First you need a rose tip.

Both tips are for roses but I used the bigger #104 Wilton Brand Tip

Then you insert tip (with out without a coupler) and fold down pastry bag and stuff.

Twist bag and push down filling to hold in filling and twist again. The shorter end of tip is away from you when you decorate.

Then you make a little mountain or Hershey Kiss size drop on a rose nail.

needed to use apple so I’d have a hand food my cell phone.

Then you squeeze out a little filling around the pointy tip and move the rose nail while you are squirting the little mountain.

Slightly below the tip make around three petals around the tip…

Then make at least five petals around the three but slightly lower.

Then a little lower make around seven petals. Scoop the flower off with a small spatula or butter knife.

That’s how you make a rose. Happy Decorating!

Deviled Eggs
The Forking Truth

Watermelon Rind and Sweet Mango Achaar Recipe Inspired by chef Cheetie Kumar’s Recipe Green Tomato and Watermelon Rind Achaar.

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I was watching chef Vivian Howard’s Food Show called Somewhere South on PBS. She visited chef Cheetie Kumar and she made this green tomato and watermelon rind achaar that sounded delicious. Last week Safeway had these watermelons for 65cents each and I had a lot of watermelon rind so I wanted to make this recipe. I didn’t have all the ingredients but I had enough to get it to taste similar. I didn’t have green tomatoes but a traditional ingredient for this recipe is green unripe mango. I didn’t have that either. But Costco dropped off a package of 6 mangos that I didn’t order so I decided I would use them here. Chef Kumar would not approve of this recipe because you must use an ingredient called mustard oil. I don’t have mustard oil and I’m not l’m not searching for it during the pandemic so I ground some mustard seeds instead. My recipe is very different from chef Kumar’s recipe but it did come out amazing and I did use the majority of her seasonings. I also note that my idea of serving size may differ from your idea of serving size.

Ingredients for around 8 servings

1 watermelon rind – green removed and cut in planks (around 3 lbs)

1/4.cup kosher salt + water to brine watermelon rinds

6 mangos (I used yellow) skin and seeds removed and cut in planks

1 teaspoon kosher salt – to salt mangos

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

4 Tablespoons canola oil

1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

2 teaspoons nigella seeds ( also known as black cumin)

1 Tablespoon fennel seeds

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder

2 oz white sugar

1 oz turbinado sugar

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1/4 cup white vinager

Directions

Toss the watermelon rinds with 1/4 cup kosher salt and place in a colander and put in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Toss the mango with 1 teaspoon kosher salt and place in either a bowl or quart ziplock bag and let sit in the refrigerator along with the watermelon rind for four hours.

After 4 hours drain and rinse the watermelon rinds and just drain the mango and keep to the side.

Boil the watermelon rinds in water for 5 minutes and rinse and drain watermelon rinds again.

Combine vinegars and sugar. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer. Add rinds and cook till rinds are clear. Remove from heat and drain and discard liquid.

Grind your spices together and then mix with the three ounces of sugar and one teaspoon salt.

In a wok or deep skillet heat up oil toll it’s hot and add the spices mixed with the sugar and salt. Mix well till fragrant. Add the rinds and mix well. Add the vinegar and let it boil a few minutes and then shut off heat and fold in the mango.

It’s delicious and full of flavors you will love it!

Watermelon Rind and Sweet Mango Avhaar

I special THANKS to chef Cheetie Kumar for your wonderful recipe to inspire me to create this delicious dish.

The Forking Truth