Monday, September 21, 2009

A Kernel of Street Knowledge ...

Just a quick note. For weeks my guy and I have enjoyed getting street corn in our neighborhood on the weekends. When we first moved in, we'd see people eating it, but never could find out who was selling it. We actually narrowed the block down by judging how much of a cob had been eaten by passers-by. If it was fresh, we felt we were close and if it was almost done, well you get the picture. I'd gotten to the point where I'd say aloud hoping someone would hear me "donde es mi maize?". Now I know that bad-form Spanish, but I was desperate. The reason it's hard to find is I have a sneaking suspicion that the purveyors aren't licensed street vendors, but I really could care less. These are moms feeding not only the streets, but their families with the money they earn. Plus, I mean it's corn. Finally one day we found the ladies selling the corn on the corner we'd passed many times, it just takes an eye to spot it. Here I am enjoying my cob!


Messy I know, I go back for the missed kernels at the end. Anyway, for weeks we've made it a thing to walk the neighborhood and end it with a stroll by the corn-stand. I order mine with everything she has to offer at the stand, mayo, cotija cheese and cayenne pepper. And for weeks, we'd walk the rest of the way home biting into the juicy kernels topped with love ... only there was one problem. Once you finish corn on the cob yourself, don't you have some uhhhhh housecleaning to do? As in between your teeth? Well, we'd walk the rest of the way home after dumping the empty cob in the trash and we'd do the worse thing ever... pick our teeth with our fingers, nails, sharp corners of paper ... anything we could find lol. Imagine how gross that looks walking down the street. So after weeks of knowing how gross I looked walking down the street cleaning between my teeth, we got smart ...

Pack for the party! On the way out the door this weekend I grabbed some toothpicks from my kitchen. Do you think it a bit much for street eating to pack toothpicks? To me, not so much, it increased the pleasure of street eating without me looking so gross walking down the street. I guess I could order it in the cup because she offers to shave the kernels off the cob, but I really like eating with my hands. So just a word to the street-eating wise ... pack a toothpick. :-) Hope you had a foodie weekend!

19 comments:

ndavis said...

I love your show.

This is totally off the subject, but in a recent show you indicated that you learned about spices because your mom had a listing on the wall of different spices and how to use them. Can you post a copy of that listing on your site?

Thanks

Anonymous said...

That's the first thing I thought of was . . oh the teeth! Good thinking on packing the toothpicks. That corn sounds soooo good!

The Duo Dishes said...

YES! Elote! Love eating that or just make it at home. Wonder if LA has better street corn than NY? :)

joaniebaby said...

Hi Sunny,LOVE your show!
Just when i was going to ask, if you can do more asian food recipes, i turn on the television, and there you are doing your 'Airman Anderson Chicken'! The only thing is, i missed the whole show, except for the last five minutes, darn! Oh well, i will look up the recipe on food network.

I also wanted to ask if you can do some shrimp recipes? my hubby and i just came back from Panama City Beach(we live in the Orlando area), and we brought home six, count them SIX pounds of super jumbo sized shrimp for get this, five bucks a pound!! Right off of the shrimp boat, okay!!! any suggestions?? Have a great week, and by the way, the toothpick idea is a good one!

Oh, and one more thing, my mom is from Thailand, and my dad is from Puerto Rico, and let me tell you, i have eaten some delicious food, especially since my dad was in the Army too! We lived in Baumholder, as well as Schweinfurt. Just thought i would share that. Maybe these places can give you some ideas for future recipes :)

Germany Army Brats represent!!

I'll forgive you, on the fact that you went into the Air Force, lol! just kidding :)

Mary | Deep South Dish said...

Yeah, that's one thing about the cob, you get it all up in your teeth. Good idea to come prepared! But that doesn't surprise me at all that you thought of it.

I love corn on the cob - just put a post up the other day about ways to cook it and added some compound butters too. I was late getting that up for "summer" but we're still in plenty of in season corn down south.

I love how you said you judged the distance by how much of the corn was eaten LOL!! Too funny, but hey, it worked, right?

Selenasking said...

Why no pictures of your boyfriend?

The CDM said...

Amaizeing that you tell that ear bending story that hasn't a kernal of truth. Stop stalking vendors. Shucks man, we all just need to live in peace and hominy.


Corn and cheese...like you need anything else after that.

Sunny Anderson said...

ndavis, i visit my mom soon and i'll see if she still has it. it was basically a spice cabinet that hung on the wall and the outside of the door and the inside of the door (wooden, very neat construction), there were pics of herbs and a chart of what they go with. lemme see if i can track it down in her stuff, it's been off the wall like michael jackson for a minute....

cookin mama, yeah ... totally hate the floss-job after eating corn on the cob, but the yummy is so worth it!

the duo dishes, ita, now for which coast has the best???? i dunno, never did street corn in cali when i was there, but i will say they have everyone but san antonio beat on the taco truck fight!

joaniebaby, thanks so much for watching! glad you caught the chinese takeout show! i have some shrimp stuff on the way and omg, can i please get a deal on shrimp like that the next time i go shopping?????? totally, a price will change my menu in a sec! love the multi ethnic foods you get to enjoy! and hey ... leave me alone about my service, my dad was in the army and told me to join the air force ... he knew what was good for me :-)...

mary, yeah a total mess, but for months i braved it in the streets sans toothpick! i'm gonna check your corn post, don't worry about the timing, better late than never!

selenasking, nope ... no pics of my dude. we r private while i am public.

complaint dept. mgr., YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!! didn't you do this before??? i loved it so .... thanks maaaaaaaaan! :-) i love the "stalking vendors" darnit ... that would've been a better title of the post!!! argh!

Mary said...

Hi Sunny, I find your show and style refreshing. Your recipes are clever and new. I'll keep tuning in. I'm in a pinch that you may be able to help with. I notice on your shows and others on FN that a certain style mixing bowl is used consistently. It is either glass or acrylic. My Mother (and myself) wish to purchase a set. I can't find them anywhere. Any insight where I can find them? Hints would be appreciated. Thanks. -Mary in Cleveland

Sunny Anderson said...

mary, first thanks for the support ... the bowls are from kohl's and if you click this link, it'll take you to a page with them on sale. i also use these in the kitchens. hope this helps! thanks so much for the support!

Anonymous said...

Hi Sunny,

Great story and that corn sounds amazing! I made your vegetarian southern-style collard greens last night. The flavor was awesome and it was super easy. I thought my husband was going to eat the entire pot! I'll definitely make those again.

Ashley
Mobile, AL

Mary said...

Thanks Sunny for the advice on where to find the mixing bowls that we were looking for! I looked forever and could not find them. Unfortunately, I am the most un-luckiest (sp?) Kohl's customer alive and I try not to give them my money. I'm sure that they are a well oiled machine but I had 3 bad experiences in a row that I cannot forgive. I hope it is only a fluke. Is there any other retailer out there that sells the mixing bowls? I would appreciate knowing to move my money appropriately.

p.s. My last straw was a call from my son to me at work to inform me of a bad pet accident on my brand new carpet. I bought a spot remover on my way home from work and when opening, saw somebody's else pet hair within it. I noticed that the box was 're-taped' and the unit never performed as described.

p.s.s. Four years ago, spent 3 hours at the Thanksgiving sale for Christmas discount. Had 700.00 worth of merchandise and waited one hour in line for check out with two carts. The cashier offered me a 10% discount if I opened a Kohl's credit card which I jumped on. My credit is impecable, (I'm anal about the whole thing) but the cashier could not process the card or discount. I was instructed to contact customer service, which I did and did not get any resolve and no explanation was given. I tried registering a complaint on their website but the site kept timing out on me. I never did get anywhere. I invested my time on their sales and service and was disappointed.

There are a couple other instances but not applicable for this site.

I'm easy... but not a fool. Please be careful on who you do business with. If possible, let me know where I could buy the bowls elsewhere.

Thanks!
-Mary

Sunny Anderson said...

mary, wow ... that's alot. well all i can say to that is ... not all stores and experiences are the same. the bowls are only available there. i say if your concerns are that of someone willing to abstain from shopping there, speak to someone. the website complaint may be too distant for your concerns. speak to a human and tell them, until then think about this ... forgiveness allows you to enjoy life better. no one nor business is perfect and before you give up on them, try getting a response the old school way, a letter. why be mad and bowl-less? :-) i'd complain to a human with a nice succinct letter though, always works for me.

Sunny Anderson said...

theeclecticconnoisser, the corn is the meaning of my life lol. it is that good!!! glad you liked the vegan greens! i got so many requests for them when I was catering because people wanted em without the big ham hock for flavoring. i have another really easy collard recipe on the way one a new show. made it from my garden it's called sweet n sour collards and it only takes 5-10 mins to cook!!! the most work is cleaning the greens. hope you like them when the recipe debuts! btw, did i tell you i used to live in montgomery?? not long, but loved it!

ChiTown Momma said...

How cool! I didn't know elotes were in NYC? They are fantastic, aren't they? I could murderize my mother and sister for getting me into this delicacy(is it a delicacy? I know it's from Mexico) and it took us about a year to figure out the cheese was cotijo, so now that I know the recipe, look out hips, coming to the lips! And the calories? Mm MM, girlfriend! But what a way to go!

Sunny Anderson said...

chitown momma, whhaaaaat??? with our population of spanish and latin ppl, you didn't think we had some roasted corn aka elotes??????? i'd be mad if we didn't and like you ... watch out hips!!! instead of chili powder, some do cayenne, that's my fave. a lil lime, mayo, cotija cheese and cayenne!

ChiTown Momma said...

I know, I know, re: elotes in NYC? I've mentioned it to other NY Latinos and they look at me like I'm from Mars or something..not Venus, Mars...LOL! Good stuff and finding the recipe just makes it such a treat to make at home! I'm so glad you guys have them out there as it's such a great treat but you must exercise sometime after eating. Does running after the elote guy constitute exercise? Just wondering.... :D

Sunny Anderson said...

chitown momma, well i don't know anyone that does it legally in my hood, but in red hook they have them. none of the trucks in the city have em that i know of, we may have found a whole in the market, that's why i love brooklyn, just as diverse a manny hatty, but a few more options to get fed, even if under the table ... and yes, running for the elote guy totally constitutes treadmill time!

Anonymous said...

Hi Sunny,

About the extremely cool cone-shaped glass mixing bowls which you use - are they also from Kohl's? The website has FN ones, but they look different than the ones you use?

I love your show!