Food Friday: My Kingdom for Some Parelgort!!

The weirdest things can make you homesick.  On Saturday, I almost started to cry in the middle of the grocery store because I couldn't find barley.  And I was in the big Albert Hein, too, and I asked for help and probably the worst part about it was that the 3 people who helped me didn't know what I was talking about (they kept bringing me to the frosting aisle) even thought I had google translated barley (gerst) before I went to the store.  I realized later what I should have been asking for was parelgort (pearl barley).

I make a killer lamb stew, and the barley adds a lot of body the dish.  So I persisted.  I went to 4 stores looking for Barley, including 2 health-food, organic type stores.  I finally gave up when one [helpful] person at Marqt told me he used to buy it at a restaurant supply store and one [unhelpful and, frankly, bitchy] person at Food for You told me it was a very old fashioned thing to be looking for and I wouldn't find it in a city [as cosmopolitan as] Amsterdam.  Old fashioned? Uncosmopolitan?  You can find it in any bodega in New York, which I dare say is a bit more cosmopolitan than Amsterdam.  But alas, I was reminded of something my brother-in-law David recently said:  he thinks that in 50 years no one will know how to cook anymore.  I see signs of that here like I never saw in New York:  people purchase an unbelievable amount of prepared food. I'm sure the signs were there in New York as well, I just didn't notice them.  

Mini-Yorkshire puddings I made for a recent Sunday roast; probably the best I've ever made.

Alas, in desperation I purchased something in the Jewish/whole grain aisle at the big Albert Hein that ultimately did the trick.  According to the package it was some type of wheat, maybe bulgar, and it definitely cooked a lot faster than pearl barley but it did the trick, and my stew really came out nice.  M even ate a big bowl and there is enough left over to have another dinner.

Last night I made an excellent chicken chow mein that both my boys loved.  They love it from the Chinese take-away, too, but unlike New York, here in Amsterdam, Chinese food doesn't seem to be a cheap take out, but rather a pricey treat.  I was drawn to this recipe because one review said it tasted just like take-out.  It does.  I had some pad-thai type noodles in the house (which I bought one day when I couldn't find regular egg noodles at Albert Hein...) which were a little too linguine-esque for this dish, but still pretty tasty.  As a side note I am determined to cure M's (normal 4-year-old) pickiness by not catering to it and involving him in food preparation, both of which appear to be working!

In other food news I recently learned of the new USDA guidelines on nutrition.  Evidently, they have ditched the food pyramid for a simpler "plate."  It's simpler because it basically indicates that half of your plate should be vegetables.  Half?  Yes, half.  Well, USDA, you have thrown down the gauntlet and I have accepted the challenge.  Living in Europe's garden has its advantages and (perhaps to the utter confusion of my meat-and-potatoes loving husband and son) I am serving half-a-plate of veggies at dinner.  Basically, this means that I'm serving two veg at every meal instead of one.  So far, so good.