Treats from the Tipsy Turtle

When I put out a post on Facebook asking my friends to share recipes, I received one for Chamoru shrimp patties from my friend, Lorraine. Before I had a chance to make it, she made some for me in exchange for my cinnamon rolls. The food swap led to my purchasing a newly released cookbook from a friend of hers: Chamoru Cuisine: A Mariånas Cultural Legacy  by Gerard and Mary Aflague. It is exactly the kind of cookbook I like; full of history and cultural references, in addition to recipes and beautiful photos. Three dishes on the menu tonight: Chamoru red rice (hineksa' agaga'), soy garlic chicken (estufao månnok) and spice-soy Mariånas sauce (fina'denne'), a classic condiment that I had already come across but never made. Chicken first--here's the cast. Shoyu, apple cider vinegar and brown sugar are mixed together and poured over the chicken, then popped into the fridge for a couple of hours. I flipped the bag over a few times to make sure all the chicken...

I read, and own, all of Anthony Bourdain's books except Kitchen Confidential.  It seems like an odd omission considering it's the book that made him famous and brought to light a dirty side of the restaurant business that the public apparently loved hearing about, but no, for me, it was his first show, A Chef's Tour, followed by No Reservations,  that really made me a fan. Yes, the show was about food, but more importantly it was about the people who made the food and the places the food grew out of. That cultural and historical connection has always been the key factor in my own burgeoning food obsession. Bourdain was sarcastic and edgy but he was also intelligent, well-read and so adept at putting words together to unite the food with its people into an appreciative, thoughtfully crafted whole. His suicide in 2018 saddened me in a way I would never have anticipated. I decided that henceforth I would honor his influence on my culinary interests and every year, on his bir...

When I first got married, in the days pre-internet, all my cooking ideas either came from the monthly Pillsbury cookbooks found at grocery store check-out counters or from the Wednesday cooking feature of the Star-Bulletin. Salmon confetti was a recipe that had won some sort of amateur cooking contest at the time and the newspaper clipping graced my plastic recipe file box for many years. I can't remember the last time I made it and I honestly haven't thought about it for quite some time. I decided to see what I remembered. Super-easy recipe--here's today's cast! I tore off a sheet of aluminum foil that was big enough to wrap the entire filet comfortably. I put a little oil on the foil and rubbed it around so the salmon skin wouldn't stick. I sprinkled the skin side with salt and pepper and then laid it onto the prepared foil. I also seasoned the non-skin side. The original recipe called for mayonnaise to be spread on the fish to keep it moist an...