My friend Luli (frosting recipe included)

I know I talked about Mexican birthdays a few days ago but I wanted to touch on a special birthday celebration that took place this Monday.

In the church that I attend down here I have made several acquaintances and a few friends in the past few years. Of these people my girlfriend, her family, and me spend quite a bit of time with one family in particular. Their family consists of Salvador and Claudia, he's in his early 50's she's in her mid 40's; their two sons, Jesus who is 19 and Cesar who is 17; and Luli, Salvador's sister. I spend most of my time chatting with Salvador on the various topics of life such as work and faith.

His sister Luli however is a very special friend of mine who just so happens to have Down Syndrome. She turned 44 a couple of weeks back which is quite the milestone for someone with Down in Mexico. Of most people I've met in the world she has the most positive go-getter attitude I've seen in a long time. Always friendly and joking, she never misses the opportunity to make someone laugh or if they're feeling sad, she'll do her best to make them happy. She always greets everyone with a kiss on the cheek and no matter if she saw you two days ago or two months ago she always wants to know every detail of what you've been up to.

On Monday we celebrated her 44th birthday with some nachos and cake. We were greeted at the door by Luli and we immediately handed her a present, she was so excited it was like every gift she got that night could have been a million bucks. Thanking everyone profusely for their gift and detailing exactly how she was going to use it. The cake was delicious. it was a banana carrot cake, with a whipped topping that was the lightest and fluffiest I've ever tasted, almost like tasting a cloud with a sweet, sugary, and vanilla filled taste. After much pestering of Claudia, Luli's sister in-law, she forked over the whipped cream topping recipe so I can share it with you guys.

More or less thinking out loud, with someone like Luli, someone with Down Syndrome, do we sit back and take pity on them, avoid them, or do we take the time to realize that even though they are different than ourselves, they are real people with real feelings that can be some of the coolest people you meet.

Whipped cream topping recipe (note: this recipe is measured by weight):

500 grams heavy whipping cream

150 grams powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Put whipping cream in large mixing bowl. Mix on Low slowly adding the powdered sugar, add vanilla. Turn speed on mixer up to high. Keep an eye on it and when it becomes firm and starts to hold its shape turn it off, or it will become butter.

Birthdays, Fiestas, and the Food

This past Tuesday I had the honor of celebrating the birthday of my girlfriend and her family here in Mexico. This was special as her older brother and his new wife cam in from out of town. Birthdays in Mexico are a cause for celebration and of course an excuse to throw a huge over the top party. This time however at the wishes of Alicia pronounced A-lee-see-ah, my girlfriend, we had a small party with only her immediate family.

Normally a Mexican birthday party consists of all of the family, over 50 people with the size of Alicia's family, 9 uncles with their wives and countless cousins. The party consists usually of carne asada, a.k.a. grilling a lot of beef, several 2 liters of coca-cola, beer for the adults, delicious cake, and a jumbo piñata stuffed with delicious candies. This is a true to life example of a normal birthday party here in Mexico.

Alicia prefers to have more special events with those that are close to her.

She specified that she didn't care to have any big to-do about her golden birthday. No golden earrings, no necklaces, nothing but the simplicity of a giant Hawaiian style pizza with her family and I.

I dig this girl like none other for stuff like that. This girl has the mentality that a meal shared with the people closest to her means a ton more than having a ton of gifts or people to say congrats.

I digress. So anyways her older brother and his new wife were in from out of town and came over along with  her parents and myself, her younger brother was busy that evening and joined us later on. We ordered the massive pizza which comes in a box that literally measures 3 ft. long by 1 1/2 ft. wide. Price tag =200 pesos, UNDER $20 in the U.S. it showed up around 20 mins. later and we all sat down to eat. After that we sat around sharing stories about work and life in general for almost 2 hours.

After that we took out the cake. Nothing huge in size but massive in flavor. A nice cake from the ground up consisting of 3 layers of a light and super moist white cake, topped off with whipped cream frosting that was as light as a feather and then the cake was drizzled in chocolate and had pecans and chocolate chips. One of the best cakes I have ever tasted.

The food being as good as it was really was only food for us that night, mostly because it was the people with whom it was shared that really mattered.

Below is a picture of my girlfriend, in-laws, and her brother and sister in-law from that night:

(by the way you can see the cake I mentioned earlier in the picture)

The Life of a Recipe

Growing up, Kid Mitch always had the best thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter meals. Now all of you are probably saying "That's good for you Kid Mitch, but so what?" Well the cool thing is I had one awesome grandpa who was the king of the gourmet. From fresh bread, all the way to homemade stuffing from a family recipe the meals always left everyone full and satisfied. Now all of you are probably picturing an old man, retired and just trying to pass the endless expanse of time everyday. That's pretty much the exact opposite of who my grandpa was. When he passed away in 2005 he was a man in his early 60's with a black and gray ponytail half way down his back who worked at Superior Ford in the auto body shop as a body mechanic. This guy had tattoos and if you saw him walking down the street and didn't know him you probably would have crossed to the other side of the street just to avoid him. That was my grandpa and to everyone that knew him, they knew that the tough calloused hands that could restore an exterior of a banged up car to a sleek, smooth finish, were also the same hands that could make a meal that would make some of the best 5 star chefs drool with envy.

If it had to do with cooking or baking, he had his hands in it. From baking bread to creating sauce recipes, canning vegetables from his garden to smoking meats, he trained himself in those culinary arts by surrounding himself with the most recent editions of food magazines and a mountain of cookbooks. He created several recipes that remain in use today within my family such as his famous salsa recipe (on the bottom of that recipe it clearly states not to share it with anyone, but I digress) his homemade Italian sausage stuffing recipe, among many others.

His recipes as delectable and live on today and will for many generations to come. The Italian sausage stuffing recipe he created was used to feed several homeless for thanksgiving in 2011. His salsa recipe holds many secrets, including the secret of chunky and smooth texture that so many envy to create but so little have succeeded.

In closing every time you cook a recipe that has been in your family that was created either by a parent, grandparent, or even further back than that. Take some time to pause and reflect on the flavorful and full life those recipes have had and share the memory of the people that made that recipe.

R&D Sauced Vs. Baked

As I mentioned yesterday I haven't put an incredible amount of time into making and decorating cakes. But alas here I am preparing to go into this adventure of making an awesome cake. I also mentioned that I am going out on uncharted territory by making a Pink pumpkin cake. Now I'm absolutely sure that some of you are saying well there's nothing new about pumpkin cake. The thing that is new about it is the variety and color of the pumpkin that I am using. The variety is called the porcelain doll and has a pink exterior and as of the 2013 growing season coming up, will only be the 2nd year it's available. So now that all of you are caught up on the info. from yesterday here we go with today's post.

Research and development, r&d for short, when it comes to cooking, can be a lot of fun and also has the ability to create new trends in the cooking or baking world. I personally love r&d because in this day and age with so many resources available due to the internet, I can get instant input on ideas about how to do a recipe and what ingredients make it better and why, as well as look up and compare and contrast recipes that have been posted online. Back in the day, I know some of you are still shaking your head saying "HE'S ONLY 21!!! HOW CAN HE EVEN BEGIN TO SAY BACK IN THE DAY!!!" but I digress and say even 10 or 15 years ago if someone wanted to do some r&d to prep. for a presentation, such as I'm doing, or create the latest trend in the culinary world, it usually involved looking through dozens of cookbooks, calling friends and stealing their recipe cards etc. Now Kid Mitch loves the "old school" way of doing things and frequently prefers this methodology over the modern ways. But it's always cool to have the limitless resources of the internet on your side and in all honesty I use the "net" for r&d as well.

Now r&d for baking and sauces varies drastically as most of you may know. I personally prefer doing r&d on sauces because they are easier to modify, for example if I am trying to do a new spaghetti sauce I get together my recipes and compare and contrast and create my base recipe, or what they all have in common, after that I throw that into the pot and start stirring and heating the sauce, from there I will throw a slew of the varying ingredients in the pot and start tasting, always noting what and how much I'm putting in. The contrast for baking is that after developing your base recipe and putting in your secondary "flavor hint" ingredients that you have to bake it and taste it before you can tell if you have a true winner.

Now as I've been researching for this recipe most pumpkin cake recipes I've found share the same base ingredients and they are as follows:
1. Flour
2. Canned Pumpkin*
3. Vegetable oil
4. Sugar
5. Eggs
6. Baking powder
7. Baking soda
8. Salt
* I put an asterisk next to canned pumpkin because I am going to step it up a notch by using fresh pumpkin.

So now that I have the base ingredients next comes the fun part of finding out the right ratios of each.

I'm off to do more research and will share more details later.
-Kid Mitch

The Beginning of the Long/Short Road to the State Fair Presentation 2013

For the presenters at the Saint Agnes Baking Co. kitchen at the Minnesota State Fair and myself a journey is beginning. It lasts until the end of August for some, the beginning of September for others, until they complete their cooking presentations and then begin to rest up for January or February, when the "Journey to the Fair" begins.

I started doing presentations at the Minnesota State Fair in August of 2008 in the Saint Agnes Baking Co. kitchen, in all honesty being only 15 years old I was good at cooking but lacked the confidence and skill in organizing my public speaking that I once had before. Now you might stop right there and say "Wait Kid Mitch! You were only 15 how did you have any public speaking skills before that?" And I simply would reply that it's simple. Back from 1996-1997 I was junior commodore for the city of Brooklyn Center and did theater acting after that until 2004. Public speaking was a natural gift that I had before, during, and (for a time) after that. What happened you might ask. Simple, due to the good old shut up and sit still in the classroom and my own personal changes throughout the time after that I simply stuffed that gift away in a corner of my soul. Anyways back to presentation '08. I had prepared for months exactly what I was going to say and how I was going to deliver my presentation on "Canning 101" to become the next rock star presenter at the fair. Unfortunately things didn't necessarily go according to plan and I wound up stuttering my way through 4 shows that year. The prep. for the following year went something like this, January came around and Klecko and I got in contact with each other at which time he informed me that there was going to be a theme for the '09 fair. He told me that the theme was going to be "Christmas at the Fair" so all throughout the rest of my prep. time for the year I thought of what to do. I, Kid Mitch, always love to put a little hometown spin on everything to let people know that Minnesota has its own way of traditions and such. So after a few months I came up with the idea of pickled northern. I loved the idea especially because of my love of pickling and canning and thought it would be a good combo for the two. Fast forward to fair time. The presentation went "ok" and Klecko as well as others commented that they loved the recipe. Time went on and we come to the early months of 2010. Klecko, the genius that man truly is, came up with the theme of "All-American," that was an awesome theme as everyone thinks 4th of July and family and friends, barbecues and picnics. At that time I had been dabbling for around a year in smoked meats and BBQ so I naturally presented a BBQ sauce for one presentation that I had created that had a huge combination of mango puree and pineapple juice as well as some chiltepin peppers, which are hotter than habanero peppers,  to create a killer sauce to go on ribs, and for the other presentation a BBQ rub to show the variety of ways to BBQ. That presentation went better than the year before and my public speaking skills started increasing even more. After that came the early months of 2011. Klecko again informed me of another theme, that year's was "At the Euro Table" I immediately went to a 3 generation old recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce that is made from scratch. The prep. and presentation that year went great. Then comes the early months of 2012, by this time I'm beginning to get a hold of the whole prep. and presentation thing. The theme was a "Church basement" kind of theme titled "Bundts, bars, and hot dish." Simple enough, but yet always a challenge to decide on what I want to do and how to do it and re-invent it. So 2012 came with a great recipe remade from my childhood days when at least once a week during the winter my dad would make tater-tot hot dish.

Now we are in February of 2013 and here I am again. Starting the prep. for the fair. The theme, one word, "Cake." A word that terrifies me somewhat, as though I can bake cakes, I haven't made an incredible amount of them in my life, and haven't made a "killer" cake recipe yet. However, the nice thing is I do have two ideas as for the recipes for both presentations. I will be helping to promote Pink pumpkins, yes, you heard that right, by creating a Pink pumpkin cake from scratch, using fresh Pink pumpkin. The other is a recipe that my mom and dad make that has yellow cake, pineapple and other delectable ingredients. The second cake should be easy to modify and make more delectable as time goes on as it is made in a slightly different way here in Mexico, as well as throughout the U.S. having small variations one recipe to the next. The Pink pumpkin cake is going to be a challenge to master as this will be only the second year Pink pumpkins have been available on the market so there really aren't many variety specific recipes to go off of. Another challenge with the Pink pumpkin is that it is naturally sweeter than other pumpkin varieties. For more information on the Pink pumpkin click the link below:

http://pinkpumpkinpatch.org/

If anyone has further information on the pumpkins feel free to contact me here as I work on a farm that grows this tasty variety.

So as time goes on I'll be posting about one post a week as to what the prepping process for the state fair looks like for Kid Mitch sharing diagrams comparing and contrasting recipes as well as posting pictures of the recipes as they are created.

Here's to the journey that I as well as the other presenters of the fair are starting out on. Cheers!
-Kid Mitch

State Fair Presentation w/Recipe

Now as most of you are reading this Kid Mitch is winding down or has already wound down from his gig of presenting in the Saint Agnes Baking co. kitchen in the creative activities building at the state fair. This year wasn't different than any other year of my 5 years presenting at the MN State Fair except for one thing. This year I was able to realize this was my 5th presentation I've done since starting this gig and I could draw from experiences past. I always could have drawn from my previous experiences after doing my first presentation all that while ago but this time was different, I was consciously able to reflect on them. Anyways so after this years presentation was over with I felt in my heart I had blew it and that it was my worst in 3 years. But after a short while Klecko, the CEO of Saint Agnes and moderator of festivities at their presentation kitchen, not to mention friend and presentation mentor as well, told me that he thought it was one of my better one's and that I was reassured by other close people from my think tank that they loved it as well I started feeling better. But while winding down I realize that it's not truly about me and my feelings, it's about sharing an art form with a few dozen people from around the state each year and sharing something that every culture, religion, and just all around people have in common: Food and the love of it.

Recipe:

Recipe Name: Tater Tot Hot Dish From The Kitchen Of:  The Kid Mitch Servings: 4+ Prep/Cook Time: 80 mins. Ingredients: 1 lb. ground turkey 1 can Campbell’s healthy select cream of mushroom soup 2 cups frozen or fresh French style green beans Enough Tater tots to cover Optional: French fried onions Pepper Jack cheese Directions: Brown ground turkey. Add one can of cream of mushroom soup & 2 cups French style green beans. Spread in 9X13 pan. Top with tater tots and the optional French fried onions and pepper jack cheese. And as with all hot dishes bake at 350 for 1 hour.