Confessions of a Foodie

Of my favorite things to do in life, shortly following eating, is traveling! And of course, my favorite vacation past time is finding new and wonderful places to eat.

Living in Florida, we are close to several states, Georgia being one of them. Atlanta is a favorite getaway for my husband and me. There is a fabulous hotel there, the Peachtree Westin, that offers panoramic views of the Atlanta skyline. It may not be New York, but it’s still breathtaking. But anyway, back to food, my absolute favorite place to eat in good ol’ Hotlanta is the Imperial Fez.

This quaint, little Moroccan restaurant boasts of being the best in the city. And trust me, it’s easy to see why. This isn’t just a place to go and eat Moroccan food. No this place transports you to Morocco! With tapestry-draped walls and ceilings, lush couches and pillows, and live belly dancers, every time I enter the dining room I feel like I’ve just stepped into a scene from Arabian Nights.

And that’s just the ambiance, the food completes the picture. The typical dining experience is a five course meal in which you are served a myriad of authentic, Moroccan delights. I would describe them all in detail, but unless you are familiar with Moroccan food, you wouldn’t have any idea what I was talking about.

I will say that their lamb shank is AMAZING! It is so moist and tender. The meat practically falls off the bone. It is slow roasted for several hours! My mouth is beginning to water just thinking about it.

My husband is taking me to Atlanta for my birthday, and I’m hoping that he will once again take me to the Imperial Fez. Especially now that I’ve tortured my taste buds by visiting their website, and viewing all the scrumptious dishes! Check it out for yourself. And if you’re ever in Atlanta, do yourself a favor and visit the Imperial Fez. You won’t be disappointed.

Imperial Fez

I don’t know about you, but nothing is worst tasting to me than a burned sauce. That nasty, pungent smell saturates every ounce of a potentially magnificent sauce. One time in particular, I remember preparing spaghetti sauce for a church function when the unthinkable happened.

I like to let my sauce simmer for as long as possible, so it will be even more tasty. So I had started my sauce hours before the party was to begin. I sauted my onions and garlic, added my spices and my secret ingredient, and then I placed it over medium-high heat to quickly bring it up to a simmer before I cranked it down to low for a couple of hours.

Unfortunately, I got busy doing something else, I believe I was on the phone :), and I totally forgot about my beautiful sauce. Half an hour later, I remembered! But it was too late, my sauce was charred! With tear-filled eyes, I surveyed the situation. What could I do?

I didn’t have enough ingredients left to make a second pot, and by the time I got back from the store with supplies I wouldn’t have time to do much more than open a jar of Ragu! Plus, I hate wasting food. The thought of throwing that big pot of hard work away made me want to burst out in hysterics. So I tried to remember some kind of hint for saving burned sauce.

I knew I had read something somewhere. But what was it?! The answer– bread! That’s right, one little piece of bread. So I attempted the impossible, salvaging a nasty, burned pot of marinara. I crossed my fingers, and started to work.

First, I transferred the burned sauce into a new pot, being careful not to scrape the bottom. Then, I placed a piece of sliced bread in the sauce, covered the pot with a lid, and waited. Those five minutes felt like an eternity! Oh Lord, please let this work! I prayed.

Five minutes later, I carefully removed the now soggy slice of bread, and threw it away. Then grabbing a spoon, with my eyes tightly closed, I sampled the sad, sad sauce. But it wasn’t sad, it was delicious. And best of all, I couldn’t taste even the slightest hint of burned sauce! Woohoooo! It worked!

Later that night, at the church social, I got rave reviews about my spaghetti. Everyone loved it, and wanted my recipe. And the entire time, I just laughed and thought to myself, maybe I should burn my sauces more often.

*Note* The bread in the burned sauce trick always works. The biggest thing is to not scrape the bottom of the pot when you’re transferring the sauce. You don’t want to transfer any of the burn residue. Oh, and in a pinch, any kind of bread will work. One time I used half of a frozen hamburger bun!

Do you have a favorite food that is so tightly wrapped up in your memories, that just to think about it makes your mouth water and your heart ache? Well, I do. That would be my Grandma’s chicken and dumplin’s (In the south the ‘g’ is silent!)

Growing up, my grandma (actually all of my grandparents on both sides) lived next door to me. It was a great arrangement because I got to grow up seeing my grandma everyday. Well, every Sunday my parents, my sisters, and I would come home from church to find a feast waiting for us on Grandma’s table.

We would gather around her tiny table, give thanks for the bountiful dinner, and gorge ourselves on Grandma’s soul food. My favorite dish that Grandma made was her chicken and dumplin’s. Grandma’s dumplin’s were like no other. She made them from scratch every time. Her hands holding raw dumplin’s like a clothesline holding damp towels, she would gingerly drop those precious squares of dough into chicken stock that still to this day I cannot duplicate.

Like I said Grandma’s dumplin’s were like no other, because most pots of chicken and dumplin’s are filled with puny, little excuses for dumplin’s that are more akin to a noodle than a true dumplin’. Grandma’s were big and fat and CHEWY. And that was the way I liked them. The rest of you can have Mary B’s. I want Mandy Louise’s!

It’s funny how food can touch us in such a deep way. You may wonder what I mean by this statement. Well, as I write these words, the memory of those meals floods through me, and I am transported back to my Grandma’s kitchen and tears fill my eyes. You see I haven’t been in Grandma’s kitchen in almost 5 years, and there will never be any going back.

Grandma passed away about 18 months ago, and even before that Alzheimer’s stole her ability to prepare a meal for the family she loved. So now I sit and remember those wonderful meals my family shared sitting around Grandma’s table eating heavenly chicken and dumpin’s. And though Grandma never wrote down a single recipe, and I never did grasp her explanation of a dash of this and a bit of that, one day, I will recreate her most amazing dish. And I will share it with the world, so that Grandma’s soul food can live on through me. I love you Grandma.

Ingredients
1-2 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion (my favorite is Vidalia)
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 small can tomato paste
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 1/2 Tbs Ground Cumin
1 Tbs Chili powder
1 tsp yellow mustard
5-10 dashes of Tabasco sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, brown ground beef over medium-high heat, then add the onion followed by the garlic. Cook the onion until translucent. (If your meat is exceptionally oily, take the time to drain the fat from the meat, but DO NOT rinse it. You don’t want to wash away all that yummy flavor!) Then season the beef mixture with salt and pepper, cumin, and chili powder. Then add the yellow mustard and Tabasco sauce, followed by the tomato paste. Stir to evenly distribute the tomato paste throughout the meat. Finally add the black beans, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce. At this point taste your chili, and adjust the spices if needed. Then let the pot of chili slow simmer over medium-low heat for at least 20 minutes. NOTE: the longer you allow your chili to simmer, the better it will taste, but make sure you stir it often and DO NOT let it come to a rapid simmer. This will cause your meat to start to, well for lack of a better term, disintegrate!

If you want Beth’s true chili, then there is a very specific way to eat this tantalizing treat. Start with a base of small corn chips (preferably Fritos). Layer on a generous portion of Beth’s World Famous Chili. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. (NO light stuff here!) And there you have the PERFECT bowl of chili. Oh and by the way, this chili is perfectly suited for an amazing chili cheese dog. But that my friend is another story!