Hmmm...Neiman- Marcus Cookies

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved)
2 cups butter
24 oz. chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
5 cups blended oatmeal
4 eggs
2 tsp . baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter
and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal,
salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar, and nuts.
Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

Breaking News !

The Poetic Coffee and Sotelo's Cafe made the top 6 best coffee/coffeehouses in Long Beach printed in today's Long Beach Press Telegram ! Thanks for all your votes !

From My Friend Sieu- United Cheesecake Holiday

It's that time of the year again...
Time to give a big FU to exmass in all it's sickening glory.
Please join me for United Cheesecake Holiday - the time of year where
vegan and nonvegan cheesecakes come together and are honored by you and
yours.
UCH denotes no gifts, unless they are food or handmade, with focus on
eating cheesecake. It is a simple time of year...
To get you in the mood, here is a recipe that will be in my new
cookbook, which is all vegan chocolate and candy and out by summer.

Double Decker Chocolate Mint Cheesecake

1/2 c chocolate chips
1 8oz tub vegan cream cheese
3/4 c soy yogurt
1 c firm tofu
3/4 c sugar
egg replacer equivalent to 2 eggs
1/4 c flour
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
2 tb crushed candy cane
1/4 tsp mint extract
chocolate cookie crust (see page *)

1. Preheat oven to 325 d. Melt chocolate.
2. Blend all ingredients except candy cane, mint extract and chocolate.
3. Take out 1/3 of this mix. For the 2/3 still in the blender add the
melted chocolate and blend well.
4. Pour the chocolate into the pie crust. Mix the candy cane and mint
extract into the remaining 1/3 mixture and pour this on top of the
chocolate. Bake for 50 min.

chocolate cookie crust: 1 1/4 cup chocolate cookie crumbs, 3 tb oil -
press that into a pie pan.

Long live United Cheesecake Holiday!

Find out more about Sieu's second upcoming Vegan Desserts Recipe Book

Glogg, Pickled Herring, and a Peppermint Candy Cane Cake

Well I didn't get drunk from the Glogg this year like I did last year. My friend Berit's Birthday/pre-Christtmas party was this past Saturday. It was a blast ! It started raining as well. I stood outside on the porch and watched the storm roll in. The party was in San Pedro, CA. Anyhow,I only had one cup of Glogg this year. What's Glogg ? Well it has Scandinavian origins. Its base is hot red wine ! Here's a recipe for you:

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups red wine
1 1/2 cups ruby port wine
1 cup vodka
6 pods green cardamom
5 whole cloves
2 tablespoons grated orange zest
2 cinnamon sticks
2 ounces slivered almonds
1/2 tablespoon raisins
DIRECTIONS
Combine wine, port, and vodka in a nonreactive pot. Add cardamom, cloves, orange peel, and cinnamon, and gently warm (do not boil) over low heat. Allow to steep for at least 20 minutes (longer is better). Serve in heatproof glasses, sprinkled with almonds and raisins.

So my friend Berit saw a picture of a Peppermint Cake and well she tried to duplicate it...here's the pic on the magazine:

Here's Berit's version:

Well not exactly...but the whip cream melted...she swears upon it. I gave her an A for effort though.

Plenty of wine to go around !

Here's the birthday girl !

I found this man in red sitting by himself, so I decided to take a picture with him. Aren't we festive ?

Yeah, this is among the types of books I read at the age of 19

Some people have read books like " I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Native Son by Richard Wright, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and expressed that these books changed their lives. Well, this is one of the books that changed my life...well sort of. Although I am a big fan of D.H Lawrence's short stories and novels like Women In Love and Sons and Lovers. I can't help it by being moved by a well written book about advertising, marketing or religion. Originally Confessions of an Advertising Man was written in 1963 and then reprinted in 1988. What's really funny about this book is that its target is the housewife. Ogilvy continually writes "if you don't do this or that in advertising....the housewife will not be satisfied." LOL !

This statement is what summarized Confessions of an Advertising Man for me, Ogilvy writes " If for example it is a gasoline account, read text books, on the chemistry, geology and distribution of petroluem products. Read all the trade journals in the field. Read all the research reports and marketing plans that your agency has ever written on the product. Spend Saturday mornings in service stations, pumping gasoline and talking to motorists. Visit your clients refineries and research libraries. Study the advertising of his competitiors. At the end of your second year, you will know more about gasoline than your boss; you will then be ready to succeed him." No, I'm not going to be at gas stations pumping people's gas for them...it's the principle in this statement that applies to the overall marketing and advertising paradigm. You get it ?

My Cover Blown ! My vampire status revealed !

As I waited for my friend to cook me breakfast @ her coffee shop I sipped on a cup of coffee and surfed the net. As she cooked I noticed my eyes were a bit irritated but I overlooked it. She handed her friend and I a plate. We sat and chowed down. The food looked and smelled fabulous...warmed corn tortillas, beans, machaca made with chicken, and Spanish rice. I ate my Spanish rice last. Less than five minutes, my throat and the inside of my ears began to itch. My throat itched so bad I wanted to stick my fork down to scratch it. I got some ice water but it didn't help. Soon these black veiny wings sprouted from my back and two fangs emerged from my mouth...just kidding. I asked my friend what was in the Spanish rice and she held up garlic cloves. That's it ! I'm allergic to fresh garlic cloves. I don't think I'm allergic to garlic salt. Garlic salt is in many sauces like alfredo, tomato, and soups. Yeah I know I could have went to the doctor and taken an allergy test. Anyhow, there you have it...I'm a vampire living in Long Beach...better watch your back or should I say neck ? I took some Benadryl because the sneezing, watery eyes, itchy throat was too overwhelming

Coffee in my great grandfather's dream

I have the privilege of possessing one of my great grandfather's handwritten dreams. The dream was written in pencil on small pieces of lined paper. I made copies of the 4 page dream because the paper is yellowing and crumbling. From the ending of the dream, I gathered that the dream was a spiritual one. In the middle of the dream, my great grandfather ran across a coffee mill and took some coffee. Some of the coffee was grounded and some was whole. Coffee mills were invented in the early 19th century.I suspect that my great grandfather wrote this dream in 1925. Here's some pics of antique coffee grinders/mills. I always thought that a coffee mill was an actual place where coffee was processed ?

Queres cafe ?

Queres cafe ?
Yes, I want coffee. I want to get lost in the pages of my favorite book while sipping on coffee. Yes, I want coffee. I want coffee con mi pan dulce and share thoughts and dreams with my friends and family. Yes, I want coffee. I want coffee that cultivates community and that brews ideas. Yes, I want coffee because coffee is ritual.

A Refreshing Glass of White Wine-Hmmmmm

I took this photo at my cousin's home in Aliso Viejo on Sunday. It was a beautiful and warm summer day in November. We all had a nice time. Their daughter ( my little cousin) is visiting from Westpoint.

The Poetic Coffee Take Out

Just more packaging ideas. What do you think about this one ? I need a freakin studio or office space or artist's loft. I have so much stuff to make so much stuff I'm running out of space. LOL! Well in the meantime I'll deal with what I have. Anyone have any suggestions on how I can turn off my brain ? I can't stop thinking about ideas on how to market the coffee. My mind is just racing like I'm on some type of stimulant or something...oh wait I am on a stimulant...maybe I should stop drinking so many cups of the coffee.

Poetic Coffee Receiving great reviews!

We've been serving samples of Poetic Coffee and it has been receiving positive feedback from our customers ! They like it because it's light, there's no after taste, and it's not bitter although it's strong. One of our customers also purchased a single bultito to drink with her dinner tonight! Plus she also liked the packaging...eerrrr uh uhm.

Turning "The Poetic Coffee" into Bultitos

Did I tell ya'll my latest project ? It's marketing organic Honduran Coffee! So Honduras here I come! I'll use any xcuse to travel. But they're always good xcuses. So don't be a HATER! I definitely will be visiting Honduras in 2007.
I'm actually having a blast as I brainstorm on how to get the word out about the coffee"DIY" style. Since it's not in the budget to hire an advertising or marketing agency. I'll utilize my "DIY" skills to get the word out. My partners and I agreed upon referring to the coffee as "The Poetic Coffee." Between all the crafty supplies that I possess and a few trips to Michael's and Walmart. I came up with this cool idea to package the coffee into these tiny bundles (los bultitos). The reception has been great. Customers think they're really cute too. So stay tuned.

The Poetic Coffee- Sotelo's Honduran Organic Coffee

The Poetic Coffee- Organic Honduran Coffee by Sotoelo's. It's some strong medicine I mean coffee.

Try My Writer's Block Vegan Coffee Drink

So yeah, you've probably been wondering what happened to The Culinary Coquette. I've been traveling, doing spoken word gigs, writing, creating artsy stuff, etc. Well, Sotelo's Cafe has reopened with a new style and a new attitude and I think you should check it out. Well you definitely gotta visit Sotelo's for my vegan coffee drink "Writer's Block". Writer's Block consist of steamed rice milk, Honduran expresso, and cinnamon flavor. Hmmm Hmmm good. It can be served over ice too. Sotelo's is located @ 204 Orange Ave in Long Beach, CA. It's on the corner of 2nd and Orange. Sotelo's is open 9am-7pm, Tues-Saturday. Sunday 9am-2pm. On Friday and Saturday nights Sotelo's serves Honduran Food from 7pm-9pm. Call for more information 562.901.3080 Check out Sotelo's on Myspace.

Spinach Stew (West African Stylee)

Looking to try something different for dinner ? Try this Spinach stew brought to you by Ghana's own S.Nkansa Email him and let him know what you think.
Ingredients
mushrooms
chopped frozen spinach
tomatoes
olive oil or palm oil
canned tuna(can substitute w/tofu)
onions(optional, but recommended)
frozen mixed vegetables
1 or 2 cans of tomato sauce
mixed spice(i.e. Ms. Dash)
black pepper


Sautee mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes altogether in olive oil or palm oil.




Then add can of tomato sauce and tuna or tofu
Let simmer for a few minutes


Add spinach and mix vegetables and let cook for about 10 minutes




Serve over rice or with plantain or cassava

Bon Appetit!

The Food Issue of Loudmouth Is Out !

Check out the food issue of Loudmouth magazine There's articles on DIY gardening, organic food, vegetarianism, organic gardens, breast feeding and my interview with author Robyn McGee

Blade Magazine's 14th Anniversary Party !

Well, of course while schmoozing and mingling with the guests at the party I took pictures of all things food !! Blade is Long Beach and Orange County's popular gay magazine.

This Crab Charolette was soooooo tasty. I had many helpings of this with mini slices of bread and a variety of crackers.

I was hesistant to try these pear and bluecheese tarts at first, but once I had one, that was it ! I even took some home with me.

Happy Cupcakes for a festive day in Laguna Beach, CA.


The catering staff @ party.

From(L) to (R) Bill LaPointe(publisher) Johh N(writer) Me, and editor Thomas Soule.

Homemade Lemonade @ 1am

Yep, one Friday night, I was so bored that I decided to use some lemons from my girlfriend Larryssa's lemon tree and make lemonade. It was very ritualistic. Slicing and squeezing the juice from the lemons. I boiled two tea bags of Passion Fruit Tea and added some honey Walaaaaaaaa, a gallon of Jackie's special tea. Made at 1:00am in the morning. It was delicious too! I still have a couple of lemons left but I'm going to save those lemons for lemon water in the morning and hot tea when I drink it.

Kreative Sista's Salon - To Eat, Drink, & Be Merry

This gathering was a wonderful gathering of kreative women from all walks of life. And of course there was FOOD. Plenty to go around. I brought business cards,flyers,perfume, mold kits (yeah I did, you never know), journals, a dress, candy for anyone who was interested in the items, the items were free to have.

The host, Latrice sort of moderated the salon. Her apartment was nice and warm, and sometimes steamy,
especially when one of her guest named Flora read erotic poetry aloud, from her book called Poetry For Bed, Bath and The Amorous Woman. Flora also made some tasty eggplant parmesan. I had a FEW helpings of that dish.

We all introduced ourselves and shared what was going on in our lives and what we were working on. I was really impressed with one performance project entitled "Gong" by Kim Mayhorn.

We all exchanged business cards, email, and numbers towards the end of or shall I say end of the first shift, because I had to leave( my allergies were kickin' my butt). We sipped on wine, hot chocolate and tea, laughed, and embodied the true essence of sisterhood. Now, if we follow up with action, then these events are always worth our energy. Cause ya'll know 99% of the people in this world are all talk !!

Here's a popular poem that I read during Women's History Month:
Mi Hermana, My Sista, Mi Sangre

Mi hermana, my sista, mi sangre
We bleed power
So celebrate your flow magick woman
Full figured moons still happen
We be the ripe fruit of this corroding earth
mango lips
apricot eyes
pineapple hips
and coconut thighs
Tread through these rotten streets
with heavy steps
and spit in the eyes of injustice
Dig in the earth
with your hands
lift up
revive,
Our Temple is
Our Choice
We are Sacred
We are BAD.

What Immediately Comes To Mind When You Think Of Barbeques ?

Poolside Barbeque
The history of barbeques as well as the derivation of the word itself has been disputed and debated over the years by food historians and anthropologists. “ Before the Civil War, Blacks on the plantations of East Texas, Hispanics in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, German immigration in the Hill Country, and White subsistence farmers in the northeast corner of the state all had their own style of cooking meat. The meats were equally varied, including pork, mutton, goat, venison, squirrel, and any number of others. When the Texas cattle industry emerged after the war, beef became cheap and commonly available. Eventually it became a central part of everybody’s cooking, but that’s hardly the whole story.” writes Robb Walsh, author of Legends of Texas Barbecue. It’s customary for African Americans to barbecue on June 19th because the day denotes a historical event in Texan history. The 19th of June notably referred to as Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of slaves in Central Texas in 1865. Barbecuing is essential on this day, for it is a day of celebration, remembrance and homage to the ancestral spirits of freed slaves. Of course, today especially on the West Coast, the act of barbecuing and it’s definition has morphed into just a gathering of friends and/or family alongside a pool, an outside patio or on a balcony of an apartment building. In fact most people don’t barbecue but grill certain meats and vegetables with a gas pit. Not the traditional wood or coals used ages ago. Also, whole cows were barbecued back in the days and hundreds and hundreds of migrant workers and cotton pickers were fed. Barbecues these days can be loosely defined as an outdoor function on a hot afternoon weekend.
Most people today don’t use the term as a verb but a noun. Barbecues are held on almost every holiday especially Independence Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day and for family reunions. However, for the most of us, barbecues are an excuse to get together and celebrate or socialize.So I posed the question "What Immediatley Comes To Mind When You Think Of Barbeques" to various friends, family, and some strangers too and some interesting answers surfaced.

Here’s my answer(a sort of stream of consciousness): When I think of barbeques, I think of outside mostly parks but also people’s back yards or patios as well. Lawn chairs, grass and shade from large trees, one super mega, turbo loud boom box, a cooler set aside or stashed under the park tables with all the alcoholic drinks, a cooler atop of a red and white checkered plastic table cloth containing overly sweetened lemonade. That cheap thin white Weber’s bread, that’s real soft and bad for your thighs. I hear family members catching up and shooting the breeze. Family and friends of all ages, snooty aunts peeking over their glasses, definitely dominoes and a table for the older folks to play some kind of card game. I smell a mixture of cigarette and chronic smoke drifting from some discrete section of the park or area. An occasional squirrel darting through thick grass and up a tree. Scattered pine cones, one crazy older male relative( in my case Uncle B.H) clowning any and everybody yet making them laugh. Laughter, a variety of rap, hip hop and blues, definitely blues for my grandfather.

Male cousin’s wearing outdated and colorful short sets but also male cousins dressed like they should be in G. Q. Magazine. Yellow cake with chocolate icing, ribs, barbeque chicken, potato and macaroni salad (yuck), hot dogs and hamburgers, baked beans, generic sodas, some kind of fruit salad, and sunflower seeds. Here’s some food items from the last barbecue(Feb 11th a very warm day) I attended at my cousins Suzette and Tom's pad:

Talk about mouth watering !

Definitely brain food !

Tom's famous Greek Salad

Can somebody say "regularity"?

Grilled To Perfection !

Now here's some responses to my BARBEQUE QUESTION:

Matais was first on the scene to respond by email

I think of family, outside, parks, beautiful days (sunshine and good weather), fun, running and playing; I think of ribs, chicken, links, potato salad, white bread, hot sauce, cold soda's; I think of old folks and small children; of nodding off, dozing off to sleep somewhere in the shade because I've eaten too much lying in the grass, chilling, relaxing. I think bbq's, by definition, are an outdoors event. I can't imagine an authentic bbq indoors. it must have some outdoor element (doors open, sitting outside in the backyard, or front yard; and children must be running around playing...indoors, outdoors, somewhere basically, good food, good friends, good family and good fellowship.
did Black people invent bbq's?
Matais Pouncil, 34
long beach, ca 90804

Barbeques??? Food definitely the food. Barbeque chicken quarters (leg & thigh for me) and the potato salad is very (I stress) VERY important I don't like German potato salad or any potato salad with red potatoes. Music is extremely important ( because you have to do the electric slide a few hundred times). And it has got to be hot with enough alcohol to go around at least 3 times. My cousin use to always play the most vulgar music at our barbeques and my other cousin would dance like a stripper sticking her butt out to other picnickers in the park. Then my mother and one of my aunts would get into an argument because my mother would say someone did not feed their child enough.
that’s it girl
Terra, 29 North Hollywood, CA

I think of the wrinkled blistered skin of my hot links sitting in the sun and how long after, a salty crust of sweat cracks my still hot face as the heat takes its time rising off me like it does on the playground at dusk in the summertime.
Bill, 30's, Topanga Canyon, CA.



Beer, shorts and smoke.
Jessica, 28, LA, CA

I actually have very vivid, passionate memories of our family barbecues. They usually involved a lot less grilling than what is traditionally expected because the only thing on the grill, usually, was burgers and hotdogs, maybe a steak now and then. Growing up, barbecues and grilling seemed to be a very American thing until our folks caught on and started enjoying at least blazing up some chicken. The food that we were always climbing each other to get too was the carne asada, bistec empanizado, ropa vieja, sancocho...that stuff isn't grilled. But I remember these family gatherings that are the wondrous by-products of a good ol' picnic/barbeque. I remember meeting cousins I'd never met before, old men playing dominoes and reminiscences of Cuba and the Dominican Republic. I loved being surrounded by those storytellers and the magical nostalgia that was always a part of our gatherings.
So, I would have to say that the first that comes to mind is the people and a lot of voices, clamoring to be the first heard, the first story told, a new story on life in the US. I miss those voices, too. Most of us second generation kids, regrettably, don't make much of an effort to link up with each other and create our own traditions.
Maria, 38, Washington, DC


a back yard patio...lawn furniture and canvass chairs scattered about...the blare of R&B music alternating with smooth jazz selections emanating from a back porch speaker...mists of charcoal smoke drifting from a grill...the mouth-watering aroma of ribs being tended to by a chef sipping booze from a paper cup...bowls of potato salad and slaw chilling in the fridge...pots of spaghetti and baked beans simmering on the stove...an ice-cooler full of beer bottles and soft drinks cans...the raucous sound of male laughter...the squeal of frolicking kids...the titter of gossiping women...a lively bid-whist game in progress...a gathering of family and friends...full of fun...drunk with love...
Cynique,70's Suburbs of Chicago


what immediately comes to mind ? hmmmm, all the older people in my family bitching about the younger ones not doing their share. my punk ass cousins asking me to hold their babies for a minute but taking forever to come back to get their kid. someone being a str8 up lazy ass bringing kfc or popeyes chicken because they didn't want to cook. peach cobler, faygo, ribs, ribs, ribs, ribs, and some more ribs, hot dogs, fried chicken, spaghetti, fried fish, my fat ass aunties talking about goin on diets, while they have a mouth full of food, me getting dunked on by my cousins who just got out of jail and did nothing but play bball all damn day while they were in, squirrels scaring off kids, and skittles.
Male, 29, Canton, Michigan

spicy jerk chicken, jerk ribs, ox tails, roasted vegetables, potato salad, fried plantains, rice & peas and a ice cold bottle of red stripe. mmm mmm good
Rastafurious, male, 42, Chi-town, Ill

In MS, cookouts mean chicken (fried, grilled, and baked), fried fish, baked beans, potato salad, grilled pork from various areas of the pig, grilled deer, ribs, macaroni, green beans, potato chips, cake, fresh fruit (mostly bananas, oranges, and apples)
Renata, 30, Atlanta,Georgia

Barbeques transport me back in time. It's more than the smokey air and the pungent spice of sauce. I hear dominoes slammed on a table or people laying down cards as if the cards were sacred. I become limbs running without exhaustion with my friends. We play games, invent games, or played with toys in our fabricated world.
My family loved the blues and red-light records meaning Millie Jackson, Clarence Carter and the other singers who you wouldn't hear on the radio back then. Sometimes, they'd play one of Red Fox's old vinyls also known as party records. We understood that these were dirty jokes but in what way, I couldn't tell you back then. We saw all the cousins like Cousin Sony and Cousin Henry who were always drunk as skunks and planting a sloppy kiss on the cheek with much love .When the barbeque was done, they'd call everybody to the table to pray. There was always more-than-enough-take-some-home- chil' leftovers that tasted even better the next day.
Lethia, South Central Los Angeles, 38

BBQ invokes images of being a little kid at my grandma's house.. probably because i haven't been to a BBQ since then. and images of people being nice, trying to convince me to try the meat that's being prepared. ..i think of being moody and antisocial, refusing to eat meat, and being pestered by adults to eat it.. and i remember my friend the pig that was tied to a plum tree only hours before. and how it cried when they slaughtered it...
Nee, Age. 23 Toronto,Canada

my parents' patio/backyard with the table full of gardenburger patties, meat patties, beer, and condiments for great burgers! Music playing - usualy songs my parents used to listen to in Spanish...
Smells: the charcoal and corn (on the cob!)
Sensations: nice family time. happiness.
Gehisa, 29, Long Beach, CA


Flies around the Kool-Aid. Plastic wrap over everything. And people eating egg salad. I hate egg salad. And I usually spend at least 2 minutes contemplating why someone would put stinky egg salad in their mouths on a hot day.
~Anonymous 29, Atlanta, GA.