My Inner Chef - Part II

This is getting positively frightening. I think I'm turning into Martha Stewart.

Not only am I in the running to win a recipe contest, but I spent the morning with the significant other making mango chutney and mango jam. If you don't believe me, take a look at the picture on this blog. That's me, peeling one of the zillion mangoes that went into both concoctions.

But first, the back story. Benard and I both worked Sunday afternoon from 12 to 5 at Fairchild Garden's Annual Mango Festival. He drives a six passenger shuttle around the Garden,from the Festival area to the parking lots. I volunteered this year to work in the "Tasting Room", mainly because it was indoors and the temperature outdoors on Sunday was in the 90's. I figured my job would be to stand around and be charming as guests, who paid $1 each for the opportunity, filed quietly by and tasted the six different types of cut up mango on the long tasting tables by delicately sticking a toothpick into one of the cut up cubes.

I should live so long. It was literally mayhem, with hundreds of hot, hungry visitors, spearing the fast disappearing fruit as I ran back and forth to the kitchen where a crew of "cutters" were peeling and chopping like mad men. In between refill runs, I gently suggested that people "please don't double dip with your toothpick. . .take a new one, we have plenty," to no avail. I also was kept busy explaining what country each of the mango varieties came from since each visitor was carrying a ballot to vote on their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice. By 5 o'clock both Benard and I were so exhausted that we barely made it back home, carrying bagsful of gorgeous left over mangoes.

Monday we were still recuperating, but the mangoes were ripening regardless of our state of mind, so Tuesday morning was designated cooking time. I scoured Google for recipes, made a list of what we needed to buy, and we were good to go.

Wearing my "Cat" apron, a gift from my friend Faith that was actually meant to wear when I'm painting, I was in charge of peeling and cutting, a major part of anything mango. In all honesty, Benard had to show me how to peel one, but I got the hang of it very quickly and did an excellent job if I say so myself.

I won't bore you with the details, but I don't mind telling you that the chutney is delish and the jam is absolutely out of this world. The latter recipe on Google came from some guy in India which was very appropriate since I saved the Mallika mango from India for the jam. It is the best mango I ever tasted and was far and away the favorite in the balloting.

I guess I can add mango culture to my repetoire of oddities picked up at Fairchild. (Perhaps you remember that I am also the Queen of Carnivorous Plants at the Annual Ramble.) Ask me anything mango. . there's the Step from Pakistan, the Champagne from Mexico, the Potopouri from India and the Keitt from right down the street in Homestead.

If you're really nice to me, I might even give you one of my recipes.
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Wasabi, Ginger and I need your votes!!!!

Remember back in May when I wrote a tongue-in-cheek blog about entering Fancy Feast's "Tastemakers" on-line contest to create a new recipe for cat food???

Believe it or not, after more than 3,000 entries, the contest is down to 5. . I said 5. . finalists, and my recipe for PURRRFECT SUSHI is one of the five! Not only that, but as one of the finalists, I have already won $1000 and a year's worth of Fancy Feast cat food. If I emerge the Grand Finalist, I win $10,000, a year's cat food, and have to appear with Washabi and Ginger in a Fancy Feast "webisode", whatever that is. Needless to say, I am totally stunned and Benard can't stop laughing.

THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS, GUYS. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE. I NEED YOUR VOTES!!!!

Here's the scoop. . .

Go to www.fancyfeast.com/tastemakers.
Click on View Finalists Gallery.
If the first entry to come up isn't me, click on the right hand arrow until the one titled PURRRFECT SUSHI comes into view. (It's the one with the picture above of me and Wasabi. For goodness sakes, don't vote for one of the other four, I'll never forgive you.)
Click on VOTE FOR THIS ENTRY
Try to figure out the two words that show up on the screen. . .type them in, put in your e-mail address, and hit SUBMIT. (If it doesn't go through the first time, please try again. It's a bit finicky.)

You can only vote once a day, but the good news is that Fancy Feast gives a dollar for every vote to an animal rescue charity. You can, however, vote as many days as you want, and if you are a true cat/dog/animal/not to mention Joan, person, I will be forever grateful. I promise, I won't bother you about this, but would appreciate at least a one time vote offering.

OMG!!! This is so awesome. I must be dreaming.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Extra crispy, anyone?????

I had lunch today with the King of BOGOs. For you uninitiated, that stands for Buy One, Get One Free.

The significant other is constitutionally unable to pass up a BOGO. As a result, there are often some very odd two-by-two products in his pantry. Today, after spending the morning together stuffing envelopes at WLRN, he invited me to lunch. Brandishing a coupon he received in the mail, we headed off for an elegant repast at a KFC in a not-so-elegant area of Coral Gables. Just as an aside, Benard drives a 2010 Jaguar. Needless to say, we stood out like a sore thumb in the parking lot, surrounded by pick-up trucks and motorcycles.

Undeterred,we marched up to the counter. Benard produced his BOGO coupon and did the ordering. "Two $5 Everyday Meals, please. Dark meat only. One Extra Crunchy. One Grilled."

I have to admit it was delicious. The meal comes in a topless box, minimum silverware, everyone tears the chicken apart with their hands apparently, and includes a biscuit and plastic container of really good cole slaw. (I ate that with a plastic fork, not my hands, thankyou.) Although I opted for the less caloric grilled chicken, I got one bite of the deliciously decadent extra crispy coating on Benard's meal. It took me back a few decades to when a fast run into the Kentucky Fried Chicken near our house was a regular stop on my way home from the office after a busy work day. I opted for the Family Meals in those days. That was before it became politically incorrect to have Fried in the restaurant's name.

The day's surprises were not over! I returned home to a phone call informing me that I am a "potential finalist" in Fancy Feast's "Tastemakers Contest". Hopefully, you all remember my blog about creating a recipe called "Purrrfect Sushi" as my entry into the cat food contest that I saw on line.

Well, get ready, guys. Public voting starts July 11th and we are going to need your help. You will be receiving a personal plea from Wasabi and Ginger with info on voting. They're the ones who get to eat the spoils if we win, so it's only right that they do the begging.