In my old age extremely hot things are causing trouble

Reluctantly I now have to be relatively moderate with raw onions
and strong mustard, especially in bedtime snacks.

There should have been someone else with
something to say about bedtime snacks.

Yellowknife has far more Jamaicans (30) than Mexicans (0).

Is there a Mexican restaurant?

Not at the moment, but soon. Years ago somebody opened up as Taco
Time (I know, not Mexican and not very good Tex-Mex either) which
was quite wretched and closed down in less than a year. Then we had

I'm sure Taco Time doesn't count, though I don't
recall having been to one. Went to the place
sometimes called the Mexican telephone company
once or possibly twice.

a local bar, called Jose Loco's Cantina and later Surly Bob's,
which paid homage to Mexican (and Cajun) food with a northern
Canadian twist in its own unique way. The burgers and other food

It's largely a straightforward cuisine, and in
authentic or corrupted forms is not exceedingly
taxing to make. Even the famed moles require no
special techniques, just good ingredients and
much patience.

were tasty but hardly authentic. Surly Bob retired and sold out to
The Cellar Steakhouse people and the place is now the Somali place I
spoke of here recently.

Authentic is not everything, as you've noted.

Last year I sold a vacant lot across the street from McDonald's to
a company that plans to build a KFC, a Taco Bell AND a Starbucks
all on one site. This will be a North American first. Yum! Brands
do a lot of dual brand stores but has never paired up with
Starbucks before here. They did in England though and Soul Group, a
British company recently bought out Canadian Priszm which had over
700 KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and WingStreet restaurants. They

Makes my head spin, it does.

convinced the powers that be in both companies to allow Starbucks
products inside the co-branded KFC-Taco Bell store here.

Interesting dilution of the brand, but then one
could hardly see the expansion continuing forever.

My tastes broadened considerably after I left home and I
started cooking for myself.

And having African roommates

They were one factor. Before that there was boarding with Farmer
Bill's Dutch parents for a semester, discovering take out Chinese
food when we moved from the country to Ottawa when I was in grade 9
and the discovery of takeout pizza when I hit university. Before the

A good range of influences.

Nigerian roommates I lived for a year in a large rooming house with
several students from across Canada and around the world. We took
turns cooking. There was me, another English Canadian, a Scot from
Nova Scotia, two French Canadians (one a Quebecer and the other an
Acadian), plus one each from Kenya (parents were from Uganda and got
out just in time, grandparents were Indian), a Lebanese guy who's
grandfather was Armenian (and also left just in time!), an Israeli
and an Egyptian. The last three guys were quite secular and had
similar political views so we all got along quite well.

And widening. I wonder about what tends to make
normal palates (I don't count us as necessarily
normal). One can start with your tagline about
patriotism, and then there are aggregations of
chance factors. and some are more naturally curious
than others and are willing to go outside their
preexisting comfort zone.

and hanging around with degenerates and crazies on the cooking
echo ...

And other Internet food related venues as well.

What, there's somewhere besides here?

Depending on what kind of mushrooms are used I disagree with boiling
them before frying them. And the Lithuanians seem to put sour cream
in everything! If this just had paprika in it it would be Hungarian
potato paprikash.

Boiled or stewed mushrooms are pretty common in
parts of Europe, and I suspect that in places that
have a lot of varieties of dubious healthfulness,
boiling might be a good idea at times. There are a
lot of Russulas, for example, that have bad-tasting
alkaloids or emetic effects.

Baked Stuffed Mexi-Bell Peppers
Categories: main, misnomer, beef
Servings: 4

1 Tb oil
1 lg onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 1/2 c canned diced tomatoes
1 1/2 ts dried basil
1 ts dried oregano
1 Tb chili powder (to 2 Tb)
salt and pepper to taste
2 c cooked white or brown rice
1 c cooked black beans
1/2 c corn
1 2/3 c sharp cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
4 green bell peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded

Preheat oven to 350F.

Heat oil in a large skillet, add onion and cook
over medium heat until soft. Add garlic and beef,
cook beef until no longer pink, breaking up meat
with a spoon. Add tomatoes, basil, oregano, chili
powder, salt and pepper, reduce heat and simmer
10 min.

In a large bowl, combine rice, beans and corn.
Add turkey mixture and 1 c cheese, mix to combine.

Spoon stuffing into pepper halves and place in a
baking dish. Add 1/4 c water to the bottom of the
dish, cover with foil and bake 30 to 40 min or
until peppers are tender.

Remove foil, top with remaining cheese and bake
until cheese is melted.

recipezaar.com
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