Happy New Year 2019

Happy New Year!!!!!

Updated 1/2/19

Two friends came over to celebrate the New Year.

I had warned them I already planned to make a black-eyed pea dish, and a pasta recipe from my new Star Trek Cookbook by Ethan Philips and William J. Birnes.

Plus, I was going to attempt to make some of the “mocktails” from ecookbook. The ecookbook was a Christmas present and it has been a blast to read. Now, I was going to try some of the recipes.

The ecookbook has over 300 pages and is full of stories about all the Star Trek shows. Various characters offer their favorite recipes. Ethan Philips played Nelix on the Star Trek show Voyager and he offers many of the recipes Nelix “prepared” during the show.

While Philips and Birnes playfully make these recipes seem "Alien", they are regular recipes.

Many recipes are simple like Tim Russ’s (Tuvok) Special Scrambled Eggs or too complex for me, like Icoberry Torte.

Many recipes make tongue-in-cheek references to various Star Trek shows, like “Quadrotriticale Bread”, a reference to the original Star Trek and the famous episode The Trouble with Tribbles. While this is a bread recipe, it does suggest using some unusual ingredients like pressed black olives.

While I enjoyed reading the recipes and will probably try to make a few more, it was the "mocktail" recipes that intrigued me. Special effects technician, Alan Sims, offers recipes to make some of the famous drinks in the Star Trek series.

While I made several of these “mocktails,” I did not drink them. I wasn't sure all of them are drinkable.

Andorian Ale

Gallia Nectar

Romulan Ale

I tried to make Synthehol but need to work on it some more. Plus, I think I can do better with the Gallia Nectar.

I was glad my friends were coming. Holding a New Year’s Day open house was a tradition of my mom’s, so was serving a dish made with black-eyed peas.

The night before, while I sorted out and prepared many of items I would serve, I began to prepare the Black-eyed Pea Salad (See recipe at end of post.)

I followed the instructions for cooking the black-eyed peas using my hotplate. I thought I got it right.

I stored the peas in the frig and would finish the recipe in the morning.

But, in the morning the peas just did not taste like they were fully cooked.

So, I had to add water to the peas and microwave them at least 3 times at 6 minutes each time. Finally, they tasted cooked.

But, then the original recipe did not specific a particular vinegar. So, I felt a taste test was required. I tried a sample with apple vinegar, Nah, no good. Then, one with Balsamic vinegar, Nah, so-so. Then I tried red wine vinegar and that tasted better.

In the middle of all this, I had a minor health crisis and spent at least an hour in the bathroom.

The beans overflowed in the microwave. I had to go feed my friend’s dogs. I had made a fish paste for another recipe because I had confused two recipes. But, still given that I have had many kitchen disasters in the past, I still had 2 hours to get things done.

So, I did not worry except for a few minutes when I locked myself out of my friend’s house while on the patio feeding her dogs. I had no cell phone to call anyone. I couldn’t climb the walls or find another way out.

Here I was about to entertain my friends for the first time and I was stuck on my friend’s patio. Eventually, I got help and returned to continue preparing for our lunch.

I continued making the black-eyed pea salad and preparing the appetizers.

The apartment was clean and the fans were running. Things went well.

My friends were amused watching me make the Star Trek “mocktails” that were undrinkable. We had grape juice and later champagne as our beverages.

In addition, we all enjoyed the appetizers and the black-eyed peas before we began to make the meal, Commander Benjamin Sisko's Bajoran (Deep Space Nine) Mushroom-and-Peppers Ratamba Stew. As usual I made adaptations.

Because I could not find spinach linguine, I bought spinach fettuccine. It came in a bag of pre-rolled bunches.

In compliance with GERD diet modifications, instead of tomatoes, I added a tomato bouillon to the pasta water. Plus, I used onion powder instead of whole onions.

It came out very well. Plus, it had an "alien" look because the tomato bullion made the spinach fettuccine look yellow.

It was a good meal and a good day with friends.

We are each on an adventure.


Black-eyed Pea Salad

(Adapted from: http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/HNFE/HNFE-320/HNFE-320-11/HNFE-320-11.html)

 





Ingredients:



2 Cups fresh, shelled black-eyed peas, washed

1 220g can of corn, drained

1 Cup bell peppers, diced


1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 

4 dashes onion powder


Note: Original recipe called for 2 TBspns of olive oil and 1 Tspn of ground cumin.




Process:



In a colander, wash peas.
Pour peas into saucepan.

Cover peas with water with an extra 1/2 inch of water above peas.
Bring to a boil.
Turn down heat to a simmer.

Simmer for 1 hour until peas are soft not chewy.

Drain and allow to cool.

Add to medium salad bowl.


I prepared this recipe in two and more stages.


In the morning, I wasn't happy with the peas, they seemed uncooked. So, I added about 1/2 cup water to the peas and microwaved them 3 times at 6 minutes each. Finally, I liked how the peas tasted.


Then, I added the corn, bell peppers, vinegar, ground black pepper, and onion powder. I mixed the ingredients thoroughly.


To me, the salad tastes fresh. I tried the cumin but it has a different flavor.


Note, I used various bell peppers, red, green and yellow. It gave the salad a holiday look.

#GERD-Friendly