Gulasz

I'm trying to clean out my freezer and fridge before I move in two weeks, so I let 1.3lbs of beef cubes out to thaw out last night. With that much beef, you can easily make two dishes and then freeze it, so that's what I did.

One dish I made was a chunky beef chili, but I want to focus on the other dish I made, which is a Polish favorite: Gulasz

This is such an easy meal to make if you cheat like I do and buy the sauce mix from a local Polish specialty store. Actually I think you can even get it in Food Basics if you're lucky. The only problem is it is usually in Polish and if you don't know how to read it, you might be out of luck if you're not good at guessing.

So what you'll need:

1lb stewing beef cubes

1 carrot

1 tsp minced garlic

1 yellow onion

1 packet Knorr gulasz mix

2 cups water (500ml)

2 tbsp butter

2 stalks celery

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 potatoes

sour cream

maggi seasoning

Like I said, this is an uber simple recipe:

I cut the cubed stewing beef into smaller bite-size pieces because I find it can get a little chewing in this recipe. I would recommend cutting a big cube into about three smaller pieces. At the same time, take the carrot, shred it, and set it aside. Also dice up the yellow onion and two stalks of celery and set aside. Save about a half cut of the diced celery for later use.

In a frying pan, place the meat inside with a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil. Fry the meat while stirring intermediately so as not to burn the meat. The small meat pieces will cook quicker than they would if left their normal size so pay close attention.

Drain the fat and oil and add chopped veggies. Stir continuously for a few minutes to the veggies fry a bit before adding water.

Add 2 cups of water. While stirring with a fork or whisk, slowly add gulasz sauce mix a little at a time. Reduce heat to low, put a lid on the pan, and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally.

About fifteen minutes before the gulasz is ready, I make homemade garlic mashed potatoes. You can make this to your own personal tastes.

When everything is ready to serve, place the mashed potatoes in a bowl and then pile the gulasz on top. Then add a dolop or two of sour cream and add the rest of the diced celery to the top of the sour cream. As a finishing touch, sprinkle some drops of Maggi seasoning on top for a very delicious flavor!

A Walk to Remember

I've mentioned before that I love working in a hotel because of all the interesting people that I get to meet on a daily basis. My feelings on this proved true Sunday morning while I was working front desk and breakfast duty.

I noticed a few guys wearing the same jackets with a picture of Oprah on them that looked like this:

The story that came from asking a simple question was amazing! These six university/college students from the southwestern Ontario area are walking from Toronto to Chicago to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. As many of you may know, there has been a civil war going on in Sri Lanka since July 1983 and many innocent people of both sides have been killed or severely injured in the process. I talked with one of the members, Veejay (photo below), and he filled me in on their mission.

He assured me that there was no political agenda to their walk. They want to bring awareness to the plight of the innocent Tamil civilians who have been suffering throughout this war/conflict. I find it especially admirable that they would walk such a long distance to ask for help for their people.

Hopefully Oprah will let them on the show and give them a voice. That is their main goal. Veejay remarked that they it would take about two and a half months to reach Harpo Studios in Chicago. They walk between 20 and 40 kilometers a day. That's such an unbelievable thing to me. I can't help but be impressed the the resilience of these young men and the strength they all must have for taking action for a cause they so deeply believe in.

If you would like their voices to be heard too, please go to Oprah's website and send her a message: Oprah Show

Similarly if you would like to see the progress the guys are making or if you would like further information, please visit Oprahgiveusavoice.com

Enter the Dragon

I am reconnecting with my quest to find the perfect fruit that has been abandoned for quite a while. I'm extremely picky when it comes to the variety of normal fruits that appear on the normal Canadian market, but have recently decided to reach out to some exotics......ohhhhh la la

Two candidates:

• The prickly pear fruit from the prickly pear cactus

• Dragonfruit
  

My deal with the prickly pear isn't with the fruit itself, it's getting to the fruit. As it's name suggests, the prickly pear is indeed, prickly. Getting off the casing is a chore in itself. I made the mistake of not holding onto the end of the prickly pear with a paper towel or glove at first, so I got a few micro cactus hairs stuck into various places on my hand. OUCH! You have to hold the end of the fruit while you peel it with a paring knife! The fruit itself is a bright purple-pink type of color and it actually tastes REALLY BAD in my opinion. So I'll pass on it.


The dragonfruit on the other hand is easy to open. You just slice it in half and inside is revealed a white color with black seeds. You scoop out the flesh with a spoon and it's very sweet and delicious! I highly recommend it! To be warned though.....in Canada, one dragonfruit generally sells for about $4.50 for one fruit. An occasional delicacy.