La Fonda in Tempe

La Fonda is one of those Mexican Food places I see a lot but never quite make it inside. Until this week.

Jack and I went for dinner a few nights ago and had red chile burros (mine with beans) and we both enjoyed frozen margs with salt. The quality/price of the food are on target. Fresh & tasty chips/salsa.

We'll be back, I suspect.

There is some beautiful stained glass just above some of the booths which gives the place an artsy feel and there are also "mini bull" piñatas at the cash register that are super cute.

La Fonda has been around for +40 years and is very mom & pop, so when you are in Tempe around Scottsdale Road and the 101, get yourself down there for yummy Mexican eats.

http://lafondaaz.com/tempe/menu1.html

Horchata recipe - via Hermosillo

Make some refreshing horchata today!

This recipe for Horchata comes from a dear friend in Hermosillo, via his Mom. The timing is appropriate, considering today is Mother's Day in Mexico.

¡A las Mamas!

Olivia's Horchata - 1 cup rice - 2-3 sticks cinnamon - 1 teaspoon vanilla - 1/2 cup condensed milk - 4 liters of water - 1-1/2 cups sugar Soak rice about 12 hours in a liter of water Blend it all together (minus the other 3 liters of water), very fine. Pass blend through fine sieve. Discard sieve sludge. Pour rest of water and sugar into blend.

A fellow super taster

Wine (the remnants of), a latte (same) and

anisette with coffee beans (for good luck).

It appears that the kitchen wench has met a fellow super taster.

According to Wikipedia, a super taster is "a person who experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average. Women are more likely to be supertasters,^[1] as are individuals of Asian and African descent.^[1] Among individuals of European descent, it is estimated that about 25% of the population are supertasters.^{[citation needed]} The cause of this heightened response is currently unknown, although it is thought to be, at least in part, due to an increased number of fungiform papillae.^[2] The evolutionary advantage to supertasting is unclear. In some environments, heightened taste response, particularly to bitterness, would represent an important advantage in avoiding potentially toxic plant alkaloids. However, in other environments, increased response to bitterness may have limited the range of palatable foods. In a modern, energy-rich environment, supertasting may be cardioprotective, due to decreased liking and intake of fat. It may be a cause of picky eating, but picky eaters are not necessarily supertasters, and vice versa."

Whew! That's a lot to take in. Specifically in this case, the super taster is a fan of ginger, lemongrass, espresso and rum...and hopefully anisette, red wine and chamoy, as is the kitchen wench. Last night this fellow super taster made the kitchen wench larb neu (Thai chicken salad) and spicy chicken with Thai basil. These dishes were very delicious and I had a chance to see all of the cooking first hand. Then, the chef said, "now you will now how to make these dishes!" Well, I appreciate the confidence this supertaster has towards myself. He may be slightly biased.

:)

Tonight I am dining on pizza from my mum (happy mother's day, Mom!) and a Hershey bar, courtesy of my bro, Mike. Also I'm having some shiraz (or syrah, depending on which definition is your persuasion for wine) and a latte, plus an anisette with coffee beans (in the spirit of good luck).

The kitchen wench is feeling a bit smitten at the moment and watching The Motorcycle Diaries with Gael Garcia Bernal, one of her favorite actors. Depending on how the evening goes, she may also watch, Y Tu Mama Tambien, with the same actor. After all, he is a bit taco de ojo (easy on the eyes).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0305558/

Zucchini muffins and new kitchen gadgets

People, people, people...you must make these.

Now! Right now! Your kitchen will

smell like the bakery at Oscar Taylor's.

Your muffin batter will look like this.

I filled the muffin tins almost all the way full.

A new grater and garlic press are the latest additions

to the kitchen wench's menagerie.

It has been a bit overdue for me to buy two things, a garlic press and a grater. Tonight the grater is coming in handy, because I am making the zucchini muffins from

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/zucchini_muffins/ that I said I was going to make some days back.

It appears that one large zucchini can yield 3 cups of grated zucchini. How is this possible? The math says I have one leftover zucchini (since I picked up 2 tonight at Food City) to make more muffins. Danger!

I found the garlic press at Standard Restaurant Supply. They said it is the best one they have and was around $12. I used it once last weekend when I made spaghetti and it did a pretty good job, except it is not easy to clean. For myself, I don't really need to use it since I don't mind big chunks of garlic. However...others (potential diners with the kitchen wench) have recently told me they don't like to "bite" into garlic, so... off to Standard Restaurant Supply I went.

The grater came from Food City (tonight) for about $1.50. The bargain of the century. Since it is plastic, it will not rust, and the kitchen wench will most likely not injure herself using it. Last year when I was slicing lemons, I sliced a good amount into my right index finger. Being uninsured, I took a chance and cleaned it well, put a bandaid on it and in about a week it was good to go again. Kitchen accidents are not recommended for the uninsured, at least in this country.

That reminds me of a fun blog you must check out. Broke Ass Bitch (I am not making this up). You can read her blog at www.grist.org and it is hilarious. She talks about raising chickens and stretching out soup to last three days, made with one chicken. She also mentions what to keep in your pantry (and freezer) in terms of canned veg, grains and protein, so you have "go to" meals all the time. I think this is very practical.

So...tonight I'm making the muffins (finally). I added some jumbo raisin medley from Fresh & Easy to the recipe and a cup of pecans. My mechanic is getting the bulk of them tomorrow, since he is kindly replacing my compressor and there will be cold air again in my little beetle. Yea! The remainder of the muffins (along with a pair of checkered Vans) are going to Jason, whose birthday is tomorrow, and he deserves something yummy.

Happy Birthday Dood!

http://www.standardrestaurant.com/ecom/app/home.action

A proper lunch date at Thai Lahna

Green beans with chicken in a spicy sauce from Thai Lahna.

The kitchen wench had a proper date today (again) - gasp. It's going nicely, this hanging out with a like minded fun, friendly and apparently generous person.

Telling myself here not to get caught up or expecting the moon. Our emotions do that to us sometimes.

Today JP called and asked what was I doing (I was working) and did I want to join him for lunch. Did I?

He called two hours later to say he was heading my way and that we needed to find something tasty to eat. I suggested Thai, Indian (Native American) or Cambodian, all are fairly close to me. He opted for Thai, which I love and don't get enough of.


Around the corner from the kitchen wench is Thai Lahna. It is a simple mom and pop place, with a bursting (huge) menu. JP ordered for us (a nice touch I thought): chicken and green beans in a spicy sauce, pad thai with chicken and shrimp and todd munn (fish cakes). A thai tea for me and a thai coffee for him.

Lunch was tasty and leisurely. We are getting to know each other over food (and ballgames).

The kitchen wench could get used to this.

And I got to take home the green beans and rice. Yummy! It's spicy enough that if you have allergies like I do, they will clear you up, at least for an afternoon.

I have also tried their Tom Yum Gai (hot and sour soup with chicken) on a previous visit, this soup has mushrooms and lemongrass/lime/ginger and will pep up your spirits if you've had a rough day physically or emotionally.

Get your Thai "on" at Thai Lahna.

http://www.thailahna.com/

McCafe shakes from McDonald's and zucchini muffins

I'm making these today. Having made similar versions in the
past, I am sure these will be good breakfast munching,
or just tasty snacks.

The "new" McCafe shake from you know who.
Is it really new or just pretty packaging?

This morning I was reading an Bill Maher interview in Rolling Stone magazine. Wow, he's such a genius. He makes me want to pay for cable, then on top of that, pay for HBO.

You can see his appearance on the David Letterman show here:
http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/video/?pid=zXsd07OIZeNpFys3yw6VjD9ZQdXZqQh9

The kitchen wench has a new gig that starts on 5/9, so I may actually be able to afford HBO...soon! In the meantime, I'll be watching it on Jason's Samsung fancy dancy big screen tv. I have never seen a better picture on a tv. My 46" off brand tv is jealous.

There is an ad in the same issue of Rolling Stone magazine that boasts about the new McCafe shakes from McDonald's having a "new look and taste." Really? Is it a new shake recipe or is it repackaged in a smaller, cooler looking cup with some whipped cream on top? I'm thinking this is the case but I might not have the cojones to go and buy one myself to prove them wrong. I mean, I'd rather spend my soon to be hard earned $$ on a gelato shake from Gelato Spot or a chamoyada from Oasis Raspados. Just saying.

I guess reading Bill Maher got me going this morning. Feeling a little more snarky than usual.

:)

Today I'll be making zucchini muffins for a potential mainsqueeze who mentioned he likes them a lot. In the meantime, the picture is borrowed from http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/zucchini_muffins/

• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini
• 2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the zucchini mixture and mix in. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir these dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture. Stir in walnuts, raisins or cranberries if using.

2 Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or vegetable oil spray. Use a spoon to distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, filling the cups up completely. Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick or a thin bamboo skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin let cool another 20 minutes.

Note, if you are including walnuts and dried fruit, you will likely have more batter than is needed for 12 muffins. I got about 14 muffins from this batch, and that included filling the muffin cups up as far as they could possibly go (above the surface of the muffin tin).

Krispy Kreme

I like the cow images at Krispy Kreme in downtown Phoenix -
for me it's the "cute" factor.

Breakfast today at Krispy Kreme.

This morning I was trying to remember where Lola Coffee was when I stumbled upon Krispy Kreme. It was fortuitous since my friend from the Arizona Hispanic Chamber was driving behind me and we were looking for a place to have a quick cup of coffee and chat.

As a rule I always choose an independent business, but in today's case I just could not remember which side of Central Avenue Lola's was on and I ended up doubling back, unable to find it. In the spirit of getting us off the road and to a place where we could actually talk to each other, we settled on Krispy Kreme.

And maybe I shouldn't say settled - we both enjoyed the .25 cent cup of coffee and a donut, and the grand total was less than three bucks, which is in the kitchen wench's budget.

So, when in downtown and you need a quick coffee, Krispy Kreme is not a bad place to be.

http://krispykremeaz.com/archives/category/locations/downtown

http://www.lolacoffeebar.com/