Summer Apple Raspberry Pie

I love berries, from the exotic lingon to the oft-despised rasp, the flashy strawberry to the humble blue: I want them all. With berry season in full-swing I have been buying pints and quarts every time I enter a store, then gobbling them by the handful like the candy they are. It's been three years since I've had fresh berries, considering they weren't available in Uganda (not the right climate) and while blueberries and blackberries were occasionally imported to Kuwait, Seth and I looked at the price of a pint and decided to go on a trip to England, instead. But here in Texas I have fresh berries grown right in the states. Not since LA I have tasted anything so sweet.

Official Hiatus

All right, after several unofficial hiatuses I will now declare an official 1-month hiatus. In addition to working again (seriously, how to people have the energy to work, enjoy life AND blog about food? Still working on proper scheduling) Seth and I are apartment-hunting and my mind is not on food. My dinner tonight was chips, salsa and sour cream; the thought necessary to even mix the salsa and sour cream together stressed my brain enough to convince me a break was needed.

Once we are settled in our new place (hopefully in a month!) Cooking the Globe will be back, good as new - or maybe even better!

Pasteles - a Taste of Puerto Rico in Austin!

After (another) unplanned hiatus - this time three weeks! - I decided to come back big. I tackled pasteles, a kind of Puerto Rican tamale, which my friend Rachel requested I make a couple of months ago. I was slow getting to it, but I blame my sister-in-law for inducing me to read the Fire and Ice Chronicles (Game of Thrones series) which occupied my time completely for the first 6 weeks I was in Austin. There were days I didn't even leave the house because I couldn't stand to put the books down for more than 20 minutes. People asked me what I thought of Austin so far and I could tell them what I thought of the Starks and Westeros. Then there's that pesky "job search" thing. I don't know how many hours I've spent searching and applying for jobs, but the result of the effort is still lacking. Austin is a great city for live music, the software industry and the University of Texas - outside of that it's a bit of a struggle! So what I'm trying to say is, I haven't cared much about cooking for the past few weeks - but now I'm back.

Barbacoa (Beef Cheek Tacos)

My first experience of barbacoa was Chipotle which, despite what Steve Ells may claim, isn't exactly authentic Mexican cuisine. But who am I to complain? Hello, one barbacoa burrito, no rice, pinto beans, corn and hot salsa, extra sour cream, cheese, lettuce, hello deliciousness! Hurry into my mouth! At this point I should also admit that, possibly, my only experience of barbacoa is through Chipotle. If I am truly honest with myself I didn't even know it was cow head (or cheek) until I began dating Seth. My first thought was, "Do other Chipotle customers know what barbacoa is?" followed by, "I really want another burrito."

Can you imagine my excitement when I saw beef cheek at HEB (major Texas grocery store)? Maybe not, but I'll tell you it was more to do with the fact that the store carried beef cheek - and beef heart, knuckles, sweetbreads, probably lung if I asked - and that I saw it for the first time after attending the country fair. "That could be one of the winning show cows!", I whispered to myself. And I knew I wanted to eat it.