So when I watched a cooking show where some odd and interesting spices were introduced to good ol’ chili, I had to try it, with a skeptical Kelly lingering over my shoulder.

“Cocoa?! You’re going to put cocoa in chili?” he exclaimed in horror. After a quick and curt lesson in the savory properties of cocoa, Kelly stormed out of the kitchen and I finished my preparations.

When the chili was tried and tested in the company of good (and honest) friends, the results were favourable. Even Kelly, who wanted to dislike it right from the start, couldn’t come up with anything other than “mshsmmsmsmshshmmmm” as he devoured the bowl.

Success! Here’s the chili recipe, with an unlikely set of ingredients that may raise a few eyebrows, but which passed the critical taste test:

2 onions, diced

1 stalk of celery, diced

2 cloves of garlic, diced

1lb ground beef

3 sausages (Italian is best)

2 tsp chili flakes

2 tsp coriander

2 tsp cumin

3 cardamom pods, crushed

2 tsp cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1 green pepper (“capsicum” in Australia), cut into chunks

1 small zucchini, diced

mushrooms…um….lots, sliced

1 large can of diced or whole tomatoes

1 can red kidney beans

½ can water

¼ cup tomato paste

In a large pot, fry the onions, celery, and garlic until transparent. Add the beef and sausages and brown. Add all the spices and mix well. Add remainder of ingredients and stir. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for a few hours if you can, until thick and delicious.

And although roasted pumpkin is typically quite sweet, the idea of serving pumpkin for…dessert…is quite foreign to Aussies.

“I should serve this how? With what? As what part of the meal?” was the doubtful response of more than one Australian when I presented them with my North American contribution to their holiday meal. The idea of making pumpkin into a pie – a dessert no less – was practically unfathomable.

And when it came time to sample the fare, the variety of polite cringes they tried to hide while raising their first-ever fork full of pumpkin pie to their mouths was comical. Even more comical was the instantaneous look of surprise and delight upon tasting pumpkin pie for the first time, along with the much larger second helping they cut for themselves.

As a North American, we eat pumpkin almost solely as a dessert in the form of pumpkin pie. Although some squashes like butternut are served as savoury dishes, more often than not, if you think of “pumpkin” in Canada or the States, “pie” is the most logical word to follow. Pumpkin pie is typically served around Thanksgiving and Christmas season, although with the availability of canned pumpkin, it can be made any time of year for lack of fresh pumpkin being available.

Trying to find canned pumpkin in Australia is impossible. An Aussie friend of mine summed it up nicely when she said “why would you eat canned pumpkin? You’d never get an Australian to buy it.” This is, of course, because they didn’t know about the beautiful thing that is pumpkin pie. Until now.

So in my efforts to introduce Australia to pumpkin pie, I bought a lot of fresh pumpkin, boiled and pureed it up, and then proceeded to use the recipe below to create my Canadian gift to my Aussie friends. Depending on how watery the pumpkin puree is (mine was pretty watery) you may want to adjust the other liquid measurements in the recipe. I left out the 2tbsp of water entirely, and in some cases reduced the amount of evaporated milk. The mixture can be quite runny (the eggs will bind it all together), but I am accustomed to raw pumpkin pie filling having some girth. Trial and error is the best way.

EASIEST PIE CRUST IN THE WORLD

I hate pastries. I abhor working with shortening, rolling out dough, and fussing with pie crusts. When I bake pies at home in Canada, I pull the ultimate lazy-person-stunt and buy the frozen prepared kind. In Australia though, similar to canned pumpkin, they do not exist, so I was once again relegated to making it from scratch.

The good news is I found a recipe for pie crusts that does not require rolling, kneading, freezing, or the inclusion of shortening. Happy days! Try it out…you will not be disappointed. For savoury pie crusts, cut out the sugar and increase the salt to 1tsp.

190 grams of flour

1 tbsp (rounded) sugar

pinch salt

120 ml (about ½ a cup) vegetable oil

2 tbsp milk

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees (200 Celsius).
• Place all ingredients into a 9 inch pie pan.
• Stir all together with a fork.
• Pat mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan.
• Poke holes in the bottom and sides with a fork.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until light brown.

That’s it. Really! It is that easy. Hurrah for easy pie crusts.

PUMPKIN PIE

1 ¼ cup pumpkin puree

¾ cup sugar

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup evaporated milk

2 tbsp water

½ tsp vanilla

pastry shell (see above for crust recipe)

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees (200 Celsius).
• Combine pumpkin, sugar, salt, spices, and flour in a mixing bowl.
• Add eggs, mix well.
• Add evaporated milk, water, vanilla, and mix well.
• Pour into pastry shell.
• Bake at 400 (200 Celsius) for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 (180 Celsius) for 35 minutes.

A word to the wise: check on the pies often. Reducing the heat is essential to the pie’s success, and you will need to be vigilant to ensure that the crust or filling does not brown too much on the top. I ate more than a few pies myself this season by making the mistake of not keeping an eye on them and letting them brown too much to give away…at least that is my excuse and I am sticking to it.

My hero, Jamie Oliver, was the one to show us this little number, although he uses it soley for pizza crusts. Once I got over my fear of using yeast in recipes, I embraced this one fully. It makes a huge amount, which is good because it’s messy to make, a little labourious, and you can freeze the extra quantities for quick and easy use later.

1 kilo bread flour

1 pint tepid water

21 grams yeast

pinches of salt

1 tsp sugar

Put the flour in a very large bowl (we don’t have a bowl large enough, so we use a large pot).

Make a well in the middle of the flour, and add the rest of the ingredients in order to the well.

Stir with a fork, starting with the middle and allowing the flour to slowly incorporate. As it turns into dough, roll up your sleeves and start kneading. You’ll probably find that there is enough flour in the bottom of the bowl to keep kneading, but if you need more, add more.

Roll the dough into a sausage shape, and cut into 10 pieces.

IN THE MEANTIME:

This recipe is best accomplished if you have a buddy who can simultaneously prepare the tin foil and organize it all while your hands are covered in flour.

Tear off 10 even squares of tin foil. Lightly grease each one with olive oil.

BACK TO THE DOUGH:

On a floured board, roll out each of the 10 pieces into a crust 20-25cms in diameter. (If you are making tortilla chips, then roll out the dough as thinly as you possibly can).

Put each crust on a piece of greased tin foil. Whatever quantity you aren’t using right now, you can pile on top of one another (the tin foil serves many ingenious purposes for this recipe, including separating the crusts in the freezer), put into a freezer bag, and freeze.

When you want to use the frozen crusts, you will simply have to pre-cook them for a few minutes so as not to be too soggy.

Now, here are the different applications for your dough creations:

PIZZA CRUST

This dough will make beautiful unleavened pizzas that have a gourmet flare and are great for preparing and sharing at parties. Put whatever you want to on top of the crust (I like fresh tomatoes diced and squeezed to get the moisture out, garlic, basil, fresh mozzarella pieces and salt & pepper), then put the pizza (on the foil) directly on the oven rack at the highest temperature for about 10 minutes.

If you like really crispy thin crusts, then pre-cook the crust for a few minutes, flip it over, add the toppings, and put back in the oven until it reaches your desired level of crispiness.

NAAN AND PITA

This Indian/Greek flatbread is excellent with any sort of saucy dish. Since it is both Naan and Pita bread, it is truly neither and yet still a bit of both. If that makes sense.

Put your rolled out dough (on the tin foil) directly on the oven rack at the highest temperature for 5 minutes, until slightly puffed and browning on top.

Remove from the oven, flip the bread, an put back into the oven for a further five minutes, until the underside (now the top side) is slightly browned.

For more “Naan”-y Naan, brush the bread with a little oil or melted butter. (For more “Pita”-y Pita, don’t).

HOMEMADE TORTILLA CHIPS

Yes, I know. Tortilla chips are made from corn. But like all things made by yours truly, this is one tortilla chip with a twist!

Use dough that is rolled out to be as thin as possible. This gives you the best chance of having crispy chips.

Put a very light coating of olive oil on top of the dough.

Put in an oven at the highest temperature for about five minutes, until the top has browned.

Remove from oven, flip the dough, and repeat with the other side. Depending on your oven, you may have better luck cooking this under the broiler, at least for the last half.

If you want super-crispy tortillas, flip over again and cook for an additional few minutes.

I happen to like it with one crisped side and a little bit of chewiness to the other side, so I only flip it once. It isn’t really a tortilla chip, but it goes incredibly well if cut into wedges and served with our Warm Mexican 5 Layer Dip!

And although everything we make generally has a healthy slant to it, we love food just enough that the constant act of creating (and eating) new dishes is sure to put on a few pounds if we’re not careful to get enough exercise.

Which is another reason we love living in the country – the exercise!

So in the spirit of creating healthy dishes with a gourmet flair, we masterfully came up with a bastardized version of the traditional Mexican 7-Layer Dip – with just 5 layers!

Each individual layer is homemade (save for the cheese – duh) and has its own recipe, so here are the layers, from bottom to top:

• Homemade refried beans
• Cream cheese with a twist
• Salsa
• Guacamole
• Cheese

If you can, make the salsa and guacamole in advance and refrigerate to allow the flavours to mix and marry.

The beauty of this dish is that the entire thing can be made and assembled in advance and cooked at the last minute – perfect for entertaining.

REFRIED BEANS

After our time in Hawaii at Popai, we learned to become true omnivores; we eat meat every other day at most, and enjoy cooking with legumes the rest of the time. We save a ton of money buying dry beans and cooking them up in larger batches, to be used over a number of different dishes. And with a hankering for Mexican food one day and some red kidney beans soaked and cooked, we tried our hands at refried beans.

1 can (or equivalent) Red kidney beans (or pinto beans, or pretty much any similar bean)
Water
2 tablespoons Lime juice
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cumin
1/ 2 to 1 tsp Cayenne

If you are using canned beans, drain and empty the contents of the can into a blender. If you are using dry beans, soak and cook them according to the package directions, then put into a blender.

Add water half a cup at a time and blend. You want the mixture to be pasty, but don’t worry if you have a mixture with lots of very small pieces – it adds a nice texture that isn’t necessarily characteristic of refried beans, but which works for this recipe. Don’t worry if you end up adding a little too much water, as it will cook off when you fry it.

Add the lime juice, salt, cumin, and cayenne. Blend to mix.

Heat up a non-stick skillet with a little oil in it. Add the bean mixture, and as the recipe indicates :refry those beans! About five minutes will do, stirring often.

Empty the mixture into the bottom of a greased casserole dish and spread evenly.

CREAM CHEESE WITH A TWIST

125 grams Cream Cheese
2-3 tablespoons Corn kernels

Whip up 125grams of cream cheese with a blender or fork until creamy. Add 2-3 tablespoons of corn kernels, either canned (and drained) or raw and freshly cut off an ear of sweet corn. Frozen corn will also do.

Spread the cream cheese mixture in the casserole dish over the refried beans.

SALSA

Feel free to play around with homemade salsa recipes. This one however, has flavours that aren’t characteristic of salsa but which really compliment the rest of the dip.

2-3 Tomatoes
2 tablespoons Onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Celery stalk including leafy top, diced
2 teaspoons fresh Coriander
Salt
Pepper

Dice 3 tomatoes and put into a bowl. Add the onion, minced garlic cloves, celery including leafy top, coriander, and salt and pepper to taste.

Spread the salsa evenly on top of the cream cheese mixture.

GUACAMOLE

I love guacamole dearly, and like everything else I have my own twist to it. In fact, I would eat avocadoes whole if given the chance. So the more guacamole you add to this recipe, the better! Here is one “unit” of guacamole which works well, but depending on how much you like the stuff, you may want to increase the quantity for this recipe.

1 ripe avocado
2 tsp finely chopped onion
1 1/2 tsp fresh basil, chopped
salt
pepper

Chop the avocado coarsely and put into a bowl. Add the onion, basil, salt and pepper to taste, and mix with a fork. Don’t be afraid to leave some chunks of avocado in the mixture – I quite enjoy lumpy guacamole. If you prefer the creamy stuff though, go to town and mash it. Your choice.

Spread the guacamole carefully over the salsa.

CHEESE

This is the only part you don’t have to make from scratch! Simply grate enough cheddar/Colby/mozzarella/insert-your-favourite-melty-cheese-here to cover the top of the dip.

Put your dip into the oven at about 180 (Celsius) for about 20 minutes. If you want to brown the cheese on top, put it under the broiler for the last few minutes.

Serve with tortilla chips, toasted pita wedges, or even homemade tortillas if you are really adventurous. Stay tuned…

Hospital Update May 28th: Things aren’t much better. It’s still ugly. We just hang on to the fact that the “fever” part of Dengue Fever is not supposed to last more than seven days, and we are at day six. Four days from now is our cut-off to be sufficiently recovered to be on the train to Singapore (a four day trip) to catch our flight to Australia. If we can’t be on that train, then we must fly. Either way, we remain hopeful and positive that a quick recovery is just around the corner.

This post was written prior to our Burma initiative. We share it with you now.

We sit in the stifling heat, beating off the flies and bees. Cicadas and crickets chirp in the hills all around, and a chorus of laughing children drifts up to us from the valley below. Fields of rice and citrus form the vast expanse in front of us, and the occasional Thai farmer in broad straw hat moving about his fields breaks up the monotony.

A giant spider tenderly creeps by behind us, aiming not to be seen. A welcome breeze wisps by, rustling the banana tree leaves to sound like the light patter of rain.

I take a sip from my mango-smoothie-like-no-other.

This is what break-time looks like at our cooking course in paradise.

On Monday afternoon, we are whisked away from Chiang Mai and taken to a small organic farm and permaculture property about 50 kms outside of the city, in the beautiful country side. A quick stop at the market floods all our senses: sounds of shopkeepers calling to one another and chatting with customers, smells of everything from fresh fruit to rotting fish, colourful sights of tray after tray of produce, fingers running over everything from silk to cacti, and the taste of just about anything you dare to try.

Another short ride and the truck pulls off the main road and onto an uneven driveway meant for a four-wheeler. But here, cars, trucks, and (more commonly) motorbikes navigate conditions many drivers back home in Canada might think twice about.

We have just pulled into You Sabai; a little piece of paradise run by Krit and Yao, a beautiful and kind Thai couple.

“Relax, take a walk around the property, have a nap, come by the coffee shop, whatever you like. We’ll have dinner at 7:30,” Yao says, after she shows us to our adobe hut which is to be our little home for the next three nights.

The hut reminds us of the ferro cement yurt we lived in for almost three months in Hawaii. Only it is smaller, the windows are covered with mosquito netting, and the bed is on the floor (a romantic style I absolutely adore and plan to replicate when we set up shop again in Canada). A large white mosquito net hangs above the bed loosely tied up. A peek out the window reveals miles and miles of relatively untouched greenery, gradually climbing up a small mountain in the distance. This is the stuff of dreams; I’m sure if I read romance novels that this place would be front and center in one.

There is no electricity (candles and headlamps illuminate the way at night), and the washroom is another adobe hut just up the path. The shower is as traditional as it gets in this part of the world: a large bucket filled with water (all the water here is from a rain catchement or nearby reservoir), with a smaller scoop or bowl to ladle the water all over yourself. And the water is always colder than you expect it to be.

We haven’t even started cooking yet and my senses are being overloaded!

After a fabulous dinner that gives us a small preview of what we are to expect in the next three days, we retire to our hut for the night.

Ah yes. We remember this from Hawaii: the rounds. We inspect every inch of the bed, the walls, our clothes, and the blankets for critters we would rather not share the night with. Although we are reassured that there’s nothing “very” poisonous here, we are a long way from anywhere we could get first aid, and a long way from anything familiar.

The spiders are easily 5cms wide (and those are the small ones), and we immediately spot two different (and alarmingly large) types of scorpions.

Needless to say, with all our night companions, sleep does not come easily, even with the mosquito net creating a protective bubble around us.

At least the sounds of nature and not urban sprawl keep us company, and eventually we drift off into la-la land with a chorus of strange and foreign animals singing to us.

Bright and early the next morning, we gather for Yoga in what has to be the most inspirational setting ever. The sun is rising over the rolling mountain beyond, and we lay our yoga mats out on a small patch of dirt with the valley in front of us. We are a small group that has risen (literally) to the occasion: there are just six of us.

And it just so happens that one of the course attendees just took a yoga-teacher workshop, and she leads us through a one-hour Ashtanga session that loosens us up and stretches us out.

After a quick break and breakfast of fresh fruits, it’s down to business.

As a group (we are seven in total), we must decide on 12 of the 20 delightful vegetarian Thai dishes to prepare. It isn’t too difficult, and it quickly becomes apparent that we as a group will have fun cooking together.

But before we head for the kitchen and headlong into our lunch preparation, we learn how to make tofu…from scratch. Tofu has always been something of a mystery to me, and often not the protein of choice. Although I don’t mind it, I’ve never found an easy way to cook with it without turning it into an unidentifiable mush.

But the tofu we made was firm, delicious, and relatively easy to make! Although we are not devout vegetarians (we prefer to call ourselves “omnivores”), we fully expect to make our own tofu in the not too distant future.

The kitchen is not what we are prepared for; an open-air paradise, overlooking the open valley and distant foothills. There are four wooden stands with propane burners, and a long cement table where we eager students take seats in front of the ingredients we will shortly be preparing. With seven sets of hands to chop, dice, and mince (plus the very capable hands of Krit, our instructor), easy work is made of the initial preparations.

Shortly thereafter, we start cooking; Krit would prepare a dish, we would all taste it (no cooties here – everybody dips their spoon in and shares communally), then in two shifts, would try our own hands at replicating Krit’s masterpieces.

Fresh spring rolls, pad thai, panang curry, sweet and sour pineapple, green curry, sweet mango sticky rice….the list goes on. Everything is made from scratch, and with nothing but organic and fresh ingredients, grown onsite or purchased locally. What a treat!

And so it went, Tuesday and Wednesday – yoga in the morning (until the bees came out at which point I would run away, flailing my arms all along the way), a small breakfast (thankfully), then three dishes for lunch, and three dishes for dinner. Inevitably by the time dinner rolled around, we would insist that we were much too full to keep cooking and eating, but somehow we would manage to keep cooking and eating.

After dinner by headlamp and a sole light bulb in the area, we would chat, play cards, and get to know each other better, all the while batting away a whole new conglomerate of insects that came out at night. Once the insects got to be too much, we would retire one by one, and proceed to inspect our respective huts for unwanted creepy crawlies.

Some of the students were up for the bugs more than others. None of us were all too pleased to be sharing our dwellings with the likes of a scorpion, but some were able to take it in stride a little better. I would like to think that with our Hawaii experiences, we fell into the latter category, but you never know. I think I lost ground every time I ran from a meditative yoga session for all the bees around me.

Thursday morning, we decide to skip yoga, and find ourselves being woken up by the mystical sound of music, drifting up from the valley. A truck with a loudspeaker is driving by the temple way below us, and singing to the hills. The ominous music lingers and creates a slight echo, both throughout the valley and in our own minds. This is one of the best alarm clocks we have ever had, and we try to capture this moment forever as we lay in bed listening to the bells and chimes. What a way to wake up before we head back to Chiang Mai.

We reflect on the three days we spent creating wonderful meals, memories, and friendships. You Sabai continues to be an experience we rave about to anybody who will listen. If we could do it again, we would, bug spray and all.

Anybody who spends some time on the road, especially in hostels, will eat more than their fair share of Ramen. You know – the oriental noodle-cakes you boil for two minutes, add “flavour” packets, and then “enjoy”?

There are a number of reasons I object vehemently to this garbage:

• The first ingredient in the “flavour” pouch is MSG
• The noodles don’t bear any resemblance to noodles I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a lot of noodles)
• There are no vegetables (unless you call the occasional green fleck in the “flavour” packet a vegetable
• Yawn…they’re BORING!

Instead, here’s my take on ramen. It’s healthy, it tastes great, and (as with most of our recipes) you can work with whatever is in your fridge and substitute at will.

-quantities below are per serving-

1 ¼ – 1 ½ cup water
2 tsp powdered chicken stock bouillon
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
¼ – ½ tsp chili flakes
1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger

1 tbsp thinly sliced onion
1 small bunch of baby bok choy
½ carrot, thinly sliced
½ green pepper, thinly sliced

1 bunch of bean threads (clear dried noodles made of 100% mung beans you buy in the oriental supermarket. For lack of these, any clear oriental noodle will do, or if you must – the noodles from a ramen packet)

½ sheet toasted nori (seaweed)
1 egg

Bring first six ingredients to a boil in a medium sized pot.
Add onion, bok choy, carrot, and green pepper. Boil for 2 minutes.
Add bean threads. Boil for 1 minute. Stir with a fork to separate and mix noodles.
Tear up the nori into approx 1 inch squares, and add.
Add the egg. Scramble it into the soup and bring to a boil.
Turn off the heat as soon as it boils and let sit to finish cooking the egg and cool the broth to a palatable temperature.

Garnish with chopped green onions and hoisin if desired.

Enjoy – and don’t burn your mouth!

With bananas growing in abundance in Hawaii, and since I can only eat them if they are baked (I love them raw however they don’t love me so much), it was natural that we had to find a way to enjoy bananas in the baked-goods form.

Many an evening has been spent with these fresh hot muffins being devoured by our house-mates in varied states of ecstasy. The crispy topping and peanut butter filling are the clinchers.

And yes. They’re terrible for you if you’re on a low-sugar diet. Get over it.

1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 bananas, mashed
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup oil

½ cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/4 cup brown sugar (optional – I usually omit it due to guilt at this stage)

1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp flour
3 tbsp rolled oats
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Grease 12 muffin cups.
Mix the first four ingredients in a large bowl.
In another smaller bowl blend the bananas, sugar, egg, and oil. Mix well.
Stir the wet mix into the dry mix and combine just until moist. Do not over-stir. Add apple sauce if the mixture is not moist enough.

Combine the peanut butter, egg, and brown sugar in a small bowl.

Fill the muffin cups almost half-way with the banana muffin mixture.
Drop a rounded teaspoonful of the peanut butter mixture into the middle of the muffins. Divide evenly between all 12 muffin cups.
Fill the muffin cups the rest of the way with the remaining banana muffin mixture.

Combine the last 5 ingredients. Mixture should be moist but (hopefully) crumbly. Sprinkle (or spread) evenly on top of muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes. I dare you not to eat them warm out of the oven.

As with the macaroons, the secret to making this dish unique and unforgettable is the use of fresh coconut in place of coconut milk. It adds amazing taste, richness, as well as texture that you don’t get with the coconut milk. However you won’t find it quite as smooth and creamy as the traditional counterpart, so this recipe may not be for everybody.

As usual, the quantities (and even the ingredients) are estimations at best, and meant to be used as a guideline only. Have fun!

2 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
1 tbsp ginger, chopped
cooked tofu / chicken / beef (choose which protein you want for this meal)
1 onion coarsely chopped
½ green pepper cut into strips
½ red pepper cut into strips
1 large carrot diced
1 cup chopped mushrooms
2 tbsp rice vinegar or white wine
¼ cup bamboo shoots sliced
¼ cup water chestnuts sliced
1 cup freshly grated coconut
2 tbsp red curry paste
2 tbsp sugar
1-2 cups milk
cornstarch as needed

In a wok or large frying pan heat oil.

Add the garlic, ginger, and crushed red pepper until brown and aromatic.

Add onions and fry for two minutes.

Add green pepper, red pepper, carrots, and mushrooms. Fry for 2 minutes.

Add rice wine and cover to steam the veggies for a few minutes, until al dente.

Uncover and add meat, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and fry until all is well mixed and warm.

Set all aside in a bowl. Return the wok to the stove.

Heat milk (start with one cup) and stir in red curry paste until dissolved.

Add coconut and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. (Add more milk during this process if you think you will want more sauce).

Add sugar and taste. You may want to add a little salt too.

Return veggies and meat to wok and mix all thoroughly. If you need to thicken the sauce add some cornstarch dissolved in a little water and stir well. Keep adding cornstarch until desired thickness is achieved.

Serve over hot rice and try not to eat too much!

After discovering dried chipotle peppers at the health food store, we had to get a few and experiment. (We are addicted to buying spices at health food stores; we can get as much or as little as we like, experiment with new and different spices and seeds, and enjoy truly fresh spices at cheaper prices).

And our homemade Chipotle BBQ sauce ended up being one of the winners in our ensuing weeks of experimentation. As long as you can find these rare delicacies, it is easy to make and excellent as a dipping sauce or marinade for anything you would normally use BBQ sauce for.

Please experiment with the quantities for yourself as this is far from an exact science.

2 Chipotle peppers

2 garlic cloves

½ can of tomato paste

½ cup vinegar

½ cup water

1/4 – 1/3 cup sugar

dash salt

Saute garlic and peppers quickly in a sauce pan with a little oil. Add rest of ingredients, stir, and heat to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes, tasting and adjusting the ingredients as you wish.

Transfer to a glass jar and let cool. Refrigerate unused portions.

Having shared a few culinary ideas here and here, and being the self-confessed foodies that we are, it is time to formalize our culinary adventures.

We regularly concoct various meals and desserts, and then convince ourselves that people would pay good money for them. We try to use indigenous ingredients, so much so that you may have to do some fancy footwork to try these recipes for yourself. But they certainly aren’t written in stone, so use them as a guideline and have fun!

MACAROONS – The Real Deal

None of this candied toasted macaroon crap for these macaroons: the secret to this one is real coconut, fresh out of the shell if possible. The ingredient list is fairly short and free of extra fatty stuff, and is intended to do one thing: showcase fresh coconut.

1 1/3 cup fresh grated coconut

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

pinch of salt

2 egg whites

¼ tsp vanilla (ideally fresh vanilla bean)

1) Mix the coconut, sugar, flour, and salt together.

2) Stir in the egg whites and vanilla; mix well.

3) Drop in rounded teaspoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet.

4) Bake at 325 degrees for 18-20 minutes, until golden brown.

5) Take off sheet immediately to cool on a rack or plate (otherwise they’ll stick to the banking sheet and it gets ugly from there).