Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Cooking with Banana Leafs


There is nothing I love better than a good fresh banana , we grow our own , the banana trees after they have fruit will die , but they will send up a couple more little trees to grow and produce .The banana tree will  fruit once a year, BUT you can use the leafs for lots of purposes  year round , we use them just like tin foil, and they will add a great flavor to anything that you cook with them. Below is a post from the web site About .com , I thought you might like to read , thanks Darlene for the great article.

Cook with Banana Leaf


By Darlene Schmidt, About.com Guide

Banana Leaf Boats - great for cooking and serving!

Banana leaves serve many purposes in Asian cooking, from adding flavor to foods cooked inside them, to simply being used as a colorful and exotic background for serving-plates and party platters. Banana leaves are beautiful, fun to use, and easy to cook with! Find out how to buy banana leaves, how to cook with them, how to decorate your platters with them, and how to store extra banana leaves for use next time.

1.Buying Banana Leaves

Banana leaves are very inexpensive to buy - roughly $3.00-4.00 for a large pack. Buy banana leaves fresh or frozen in large, flat plastic bags at your local Asian supermarket (check the freezer if you can't find them on the shelf or in the produce section).

2.Cooking with Banana Leaves

Banana leaves can be used for baking anything "wrapped" - in the same way you would use tin foil or parchment paper. However, note that banana leaves are porous (unlike tin foil), so some of the "sauce" or juices from your food item may seep through. It's therefore a good idea to place your banana leaf "packets" in a glass casserole dish, or a tray that has "sides" on it, so that the juices don't drip to the bottom of your oven.

3.Banana Leaves for Grilling/Barbecuing:

You can also use banana leaf as a kind of "mat" for barbecuing fragile fillets of fish, smaller shrimp, or vegetables that have a danger of falling through the grill. Simply lay a piece of banana leaf on your grill, then cook your food items on top of it (as you would with tin foil). The banana leaf will turn bright green at first, then brown as you cook. It will give a nice hint of flavor to your food that is very pleasant.

4.Banana Leaves for Serving:

Banana leaf also makes a beautiful background on which to serve various Asian dishes - excellent for party platters or finger foods. They can also be made into Banana Leaf Boats as pictured above - great for serving salads, rice, fish, and other dishes. Or, simply cut a banana leaf (rinse well with hot water and pat dry) and use it to line a platter, serving plate or bowl. Banana leaf dresses up the dish, adding an exotic touch to any Thai or Asian recipe.

5.Eating on Banana Leaf!

This is perhaps the "funnest" part of using banana leaves in cooking - eating off of them! Any dish that has been cooked in banana leaf can also be served in/on it - in fact, this makes the dish even more beautiful to serve and to eat. It also makes for a wonderful conversation-starter at dinner parties!

6.Storing Banana Leaves:

Usually you will have leftover leaves after you've finished making your recipe or serving your food, as they are sold in large packs. To keep the rest for use later, simply wrap up in plastic (a plastic bag will do, secured with elastic), and keep in the freezer. Banana leaves only require about 30 minutes to thaw, so this is a convenient way to keep them fresh. If using within a week, store them (wrapped in plastic) in the refrigerator


Here are a few pictures of banana leafs and their uses . These picture are gleamed from the net and I saw no copyrights attached ----  so enjoy








Sunday, June 9, 2013

HERE COMES " THE PEDDLER TRUCK"

Never before have I lived in a place where folks sold so many things in front of their homes ,shops, the side of the roads, also a lot of them take their wears on the road, and drive up and down the streets and by-ways peddling their wears.I love it and many times it saves me a trip to the market . It brings back childhood memories when my Uncle Oren use to take




his produce and put in the back of his pick-up and take it to sell in the Big City of Union S.C., and in the streets and at the market place, and us kids would ride along with him, and go door to door and tell the people that the produce man was here , and we got to eat all the apples we wanted, what a side benefit that was for us kids that normally only got apples at Christmas in our stockings or when we could grab one off the neighbors tree on the way home from school. I remember those days well. I remember that later my Uncle Oren was the Watkins man and he sold all kinds of house wears and supplies. I remember my Mother buying from him plates and stuff and I can really remember the vanilla flavoring he sold , was in a big brown bottle , wow how these memories popped into my head ,when the peddler man came by . Do you have memories of the peddlers coming thru your neighborhoods , or do you still have a few that pass your way???
I took a few pictures of the Peddler Man and his truck  , hope you enjoy the pictures .Ciejay is picking out some plants and potting soil and I think see's getting a few new orchids .