chicken shawarma

Steamy. That best describes the weather these days. And the sun isn't even out AND it's not even July! When the sun does come out on steamy days it gets brutal. This extreme hot and cold varying weather caused by global warming? I don't know, I'm on the fence about it. Something is causing it, be just plain old weather trends every 50 or 100 years or pollution. Who knows I need more data/facts on it. What I do know is almost 10 years ago on the cape we never had this much humidity in the summer. Sure it would get hot but never this humid. Another thing is the amount of rainfall we've been getting; every year it's gone up by 1-3 inches. Now that part is scary. You've seen on the tv all the flooding that's been going on?

For any of you weather history buffs, like myself, here are a few neat weather data sites that let you see the history of the weather. First one is the NOAA regional climate centers. The second is the old farmers almanac that has a good weather history section. For myself, I love the NOAA one it gets really in depth. I love to know what the temperature was like in say 1903--good stuff.

The oven in my house has not been on much. Lots of pizza, salads and grilling have been taking over. Haven't been in the mood to make cakes for a while, with this heat and all. But the grilling is something I've been craving non-stop. So here is my version of chicken shawarma. I know there are tons of versions out there, but this one is quick and easy to throw together for hot summer nights. Here is another good version of chicken shawarma from Food in my Beard. And Lisa over at Jersey Girl Cooks has a good one too.

chicken shawarma
print recipe

chicken marinade:
2 large lemons, juiced
3 TB extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 ts cumin
1 ts madras curry powder
A couple dashes of cayenne powder
1 ts salt
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut up into large chunks (or you could use thighs)

In a large glass or ceramic dish mix together lemon juice, oil, garlic, cumin, salt, curry, and cayenne.
Add in the chicken and coat. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Make the tahini sauce next. When ready to cook chicken you can either grill it, cast iron fry it or bake it in a roasting pan at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes or until juices in the chicken run clear. If you do use the oven way do not cook it in the marinade. Personally I think grilling is the best way, really brings out the flavor of the marinade. When the chicken is cooked shred it into long strips.

tahini sauce:
1/4 cup tahini paste (sesame paste)
2 TB plain yogurt (I used greek yogurt)
1 ts garlic powder
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
A few dashes of cayenne
a couple dashes of paprika
salt & pepper to taste
fresh chopped parsley

Whisk all ingredients together. If you like a thinner sauce, add in water. I prefer mine thick. Chill this for a few hours before using.

Assemble:
Pita breads or lavash bread, warmed up
chopped tomatoes
chopped cucumbers
red onions
avocado
black onions
feta cheese
hummus

Grill the pita bread/rollups so they are warm and pliable. Layer in some of the chicken then top with whatever toppings you like and then top with the tahini sauce.
For me, I love to add in a layer of hummus, then the chicken, then the toppings and then the tahini sauce. It all works very well together.

giveaway time!

CONTEST CLOSED. CONGRATS TO HOLLY OF ELLENSBURG, WA

There is a wonderful homemade soap company that I am in LOVE with. And I mean love. I am very fussy when it comes to homemade soaps. Some are just too harsh and too granny smelling for me. And others, the scent just fades away. But this company, Funky Chunks makes amazing soaps. With scents that are just right, not too strong or too headache-inducing. There is this one soap called "surf wax" that smells exactly like summer, the beach, a beach house. You know that smell you get after spending all day at the beach, come home, shower, and your body, your hair smell just so good--just like the beach only cleaner; it's just so hard to duplicate that smell at home. Surf Wax is it! I just had to get them on board for a giveaway because you guys have got to try this soap. They have other soaps that are just as fabulous, plus they have a bug spray, an all natural bug spray that actually works. Trust me, where i live the mosquitoes are in mass quantities here. And can I share with you, I got an extra bar of surf wax to crumble up into small bits to place in a bowl which now sits in my office. So everytime I come into my office it smells just like a beach house. I love it. Perfect for the summertime.



Michelle of Funky Chunks was kind enough to answer a few questions about her business, and some techincal questions I had on homemade soaps. soapmaking, and ingredients. Just like food, soap making is a craft along with a small dose science. Very interesting--have a read:

What made you want to get into the soap business?

I grew up with handmade soap. My great grandmother was a soapmaker. I decided to start my own soap company after a conversation with one of my girlfriends. We were talking about how disappointed we were with recent purchases at a big name, big dollar bath and body shop we frequented. The soap didn't lather well and the fragrance was barely noticeable. I decided right then and there to open up my own soap shop and I haven't looked back since.



That scent of the surf wax is truly amazing; it's not too harsh or too soft; it's just right, but it truly reminds one of the beach. How did you get "that scent" just right?

We formulate many of our scents with the help of our wonderful customers. We have a customer testing program that has been a huge success for us. When it came to making a surf wax scent we went straight to our local surfing community for their ideas and opinions. If anyone is an expert on the scent of surf wax and the beach it would be a surfer. They tested 6 different soaps for us until we got the scent dead on. Thanks to their help we now have an insanely popular line of Surf Soaps.

I've noticed that with homemade soaps they tend to last longer and they also leave no film on your skin. Can you explain why that is?

Handmade soaps are made with natural oils and butters and contain natural glycerin. These ingredients produce a hard, long lasting bar of soap. Commercial soaps are made with harsh chemicals, additives and have the glycerin removed from them. Handmade soaps rinse so clean because they don't have chemicals and additives that get left behind on your skin.



Since i love the surf wax smell so much, are there any plans to make a perfume with it?

Actually we are working on a new line of body sprays that will be launching late July. They will be customizable just like our lotions and scrubs. You will be able to get any of your favorite Funky Chunks fragrances made into a body spray very, very soon.

What other scents can we look forward too?

Even though it is the beginning of summer we've been hard at work developing new scents for fall and winter. We're looking forward to bringing back customer favorites like Frosted Pumpkin, Mistletoe and Twice The Spice as well as several new creations especially designed for the cooler weather. We even have a bakery line of cupcake soaps coming out in the fall. We love to get ideas and requests from our customers. They come up with some amazing scent combinations that we use for our limited edition soaps.



Judging from your tweets on twitter @funkychunks , you're awfully busy delivering soaps. I take it business is good?

Business is fantastic! (we have a the greatest customers in the world) It's still hard to believe how much our small company has grown in the last few years. It's been a crazy ride and we look forward to seeing what the future has in store for Funky Chunks.



Is there a lot of "homemade soap" competition?

Absolutely! Just go to Etsy and search for handmade soap to see how much competition there really is. There are so many products to choose from! We love the competition. The more soap makers there are the more the word gets out about how wonderful handmade soap is. The trick is to do what you love, never compromise your values and find your niche in the market. There is definitely room for all the soapmakers out there.

Interesting right? I loved that they went right to the source (the surf community) to get their thoughts on surf-like scents. Smart!



To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is answer the question "Name one of the signature funky soap scents?" here in the comment section.

Hint: to find the answer, go over to funkychunks.net

I will do the drawing on July 5, 2011. ONE COMMENT per person. Extra entries will be deleted. And for the love people, no anonymous comments--what can i do with those but trash em. Have a valid email address and NAME.

The gift bag includes all this (retail value of over $150.00):

large canvas zippered beach bag
large beach towel
pair of flip flops
apple-tini drink mix
flip flop highball tumbler
framed photograph from Beach Bum Photography
Surf Wax Soy Candle
Surf Soap Six Pack
large Quit Buggin' Body Spray
8 ounce body lotion - Midnight Swell scent
4 ounce Whip'd Body Butter - Midnight Swell scent
4 ounce Sugar Scrub - Midnight Swell scent
Midnight Swell soap Chunk

blueberry-creme fraiche loaf

Can we make another food "holy trinity"? A fruit themed one? Blueberries, lemon zest, and creme fraiche? Those three in a loaf are just so luxurious--so perfect together. No spring or summer is complete without making a few batches of blueberry loaves with these ingredients in them. Of course you could use sour cream or yogurt. I love to indulge in creme fraiche once in a while--it just makes cakes and loaves so rich and creamy. And I swear a blueberry loaf the next day tastes even better.

And if you love blueberry cake recipes make sure to give my blueberry cake recipe a go. It is fabulous and is always being requested by my friends.



This recipe I found used a frosting on the top. I did not use it, but opted for using a nice "crunch" topping. I love when cakes or muffins have a texture-like topping--a crunch. Make sure to read my cook notes before making this. Can you use another berry in this? Of course. Blackberries would be fabulous in this; strawberries too, if you cut them small enough.

Blueberry-crème fraiche loaf
print recipe
recipe adapted from bbcgoodfood.com

175g soft butter (3/4 cup plus 1 TB)
175g golden caster sugar (3/4 cup plus 1 TB; I used turbinado sugar and ran it through the processor)
3 large eggs
225g self-raising flour (I used 1 & ½ cups of self rising flour)
1 & ½ tsp baking powder
(I used a pinch of salt)
2 tsp vanilla extract (if you use lemon zest only use 1 tsp of extract)
142ml carton soured cream (I used crème fraiche “almost” 5 ounces)
3 x 125g blueberries (I used almost 1 & ½ cups)

Cook notes: Since I did not make the frosting that goes with this, instead I opted for a sugar crunch on the top. So halfway thru cooking time I sprinkled raw/coarse sugar on the top for that “crunch”. For the pan, I did not use a cake pan but used a large loaf pan instead. If you use a loaf pan you may have a bit of batter leftover, so you can use remainder to make muffins or a couple mini loaves. An after thought, I should have used a few teaspoons of fresh lemon zest. Golden caster sugar is an “almost” light brown sugar; it’s very light light brown. If you can’t find it, try using turbinado sugar and run it thru the processor to get it nice and fine. Or you could use superfine sugar.

Preheat the oven 350 degrees.
Spray or butter a 9-inch cake cake or a large size loaf pan.
Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla in a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon for 2-3 minutes, or with a hand electric beater for 1-2 minutes, until lighter in color and well mixed.
Beat in crème fraiche, then stir in half the blueberries with a large spoon.
Tip the mixture into the tin and spread it level. (Halfway thru cooking sprinkle raw/coarse sugar on the top.) Bake for 50 minutes until it is risen, feels firm to the touch and springs back when lightly pressed.
Cool for 10 minutes, then take out of the tin and peel off the paper or lining. Leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.

pastrami sliders

Food law #2583: all sliders should come with layers of food. A slider is NOT a mini bun and a couple slices of meat--this does not make a slider. From now on if a restaurant is going to serve sliders they cannot serve just a bun with meat. That's not a happy slider. A happy slider is a buttered TOASTED bun with flavored hot meat, (or vegan meat substitute is cool too), a couple of flavored cold veggies, good cheese, and a dressing of some sort, or two dressings. Right? Let's get this passed through the food of congress stat--I'm done with crappy ass sliders. Until then you can use this slider--it was the bomb. And the best part, so easy to pull together. The meats, the veggies are all interchangeable. You can use corned beef, beef, bbq chicken, grilled sausage, grilled tofu, etc....Endless possibilities; it'll get your creative-culinary flowing.

pastrami sliders
print recipe

1/2 lb of pastrami (or whatever deli meat, chicken, beef you want)
1/4 lb of baby swiss cheese
broccoli slaw
cole slaw dressing for broccoli slaw
grain mustard
fresh tomatoes
mini buns

Butter and toast the buns, layer on the baby swiss on top of the hot buns,set aside. Mix the broccoli slaw with the cole slaw dressing, set aside. Fry up the pastrami, till crisp. Layer on a thin layer of grain mustard on the bun, then put on the pastrami, tomato, then the cole slaw.

spring 2011 on cape cod

I thought I would switch things around and give you some photos of what's happening over here in my world. It's finally spring, soon to be summer on cape cod, which means things are coming back to life. No more snow! Typically spring on cape cod means lots of rain and clouds with short surprises of 70 degrees sunny days.

I could easily live here....have

my morning coffee sitting right there

water temp 58 degrees, not quite ready....yet.

Pretty soon the charter fishing boats with be slammed with business.

Dingy had a bad winter.

Isn't that peach color fabulous?

Someone's rustic office

west dennis

east dennis

A good place to sit and do nothing

Hello, can I live with you? I'll cook for you.

One of my favorite places to go and chill out on cape cod when my life gets stressful is cape cod national seashore. The sound of the waves are empowering and massive. Once there you forget there is another world; it feels as though this is the only place on the earth--it's magical.
"A man may stand there and put all America behind him." Henry David Thoreau (his quote describing the CC National Seashore)

You can walk for miles uninterrupted

and miles....

Another place I love is provincetown. Ptown is a world of it's own. It's perfect, has some of the nicest people; everyone is always happy; always something going on, never a dull moment with tons of great places to eat. It is one of the places hubby and I wanted to live, but his commute would have been brutal during the wintertime on the ferry's. The ride up along scenic Rt. 6A is breathtaking. There are so many little beaches and some of the cutest places to stay overnight, but you have to look for them and you have to call early! I have to also give a HUGE shout out to my favorite radio station WOMR. This is the radio of Ptown. Has the best jazz around and the sweetest DJ's ever. If you're coming to Ptwon please tune into WOMR radio.

Now that's a view. To the right is the tip of provincetown, about 5-7 miles down the road.

See the tower of provincetown?


Little inn on truro that I'm dying to stay at. Look at that view?

Let's get to the food already.



I go to twin acres in sandwich, a lot. It's a bad habit of mine to eat a ton of ice cream in the summer. It's all I crave, and they really have good ice cream: ice cream filled with lots of stuff in it. Like this one: pb chunk chocolate ice cream.


Or a soft serve with that crazy coconut hard shell stuff. Man that's good.


My favorite is the mint oreo chocolate chunk. Obviously I never order a small anything.


There is a french bakery that is fairly decent. It's cafe boulangerie owned by pain d'avignon. I was not so impressed with their croissants, they were ok, not quite authentic. The almond croissant was very close to being the real thing. Ham and cheese was tasty, but had a trace amount of ham and cheese. I will say they do have fabulous breads. They had horrid customer service when I was there--all the help was over talking at the bar and could care less that people were in line. Sad. But it happens.


Almond was the best tasting. Chocolate was bad, just a tiny piece of chocolate in there, but one could tell they used high quality chocolate. Ham & cheese ok.

Ahh the infamous Marions Pie Shop. A well known landmark of cape cod located in Chatham. This place has grown from just a few pies to now well over 50 sweet and savory types of pies. It's a small hole in the wall joint with large impressive menu's. Display cases are kind of empty and may have muffins or other sweet rolls. I was hoping their cases would be filled and overflowing with fruit filled pies, slices of pies to tease and wet the appetite of customers, but all the pies are in the back stored in fridges sadly.

One wall of the pie menu--it's huge.

The bacon quiche. Very good, the crust was fabulous. Each little or big pie comes with directions for reheating. Love that.

Shepards pie. Fabulous. Lots of cheese on top,ground beef could have used a bit more seasoning.

Hands down the best seafood at reasonable prices with huge portions is Lindsey's Restaurant in Wareham. Not the best cape cod town, but well worth the drive. The food is exceptional, high quality, big portions, reasonable prices and always fresh. Hubby and I go there a lot. It's gets packed there so go early. The waitstaff is the nicest around. They do have impeccable takeout service too. When I do do the takeout, I sit in the back part of the kitchen where the diner part is and I always see the big pencil sketch drawing of the owner prominently displayed in the middle of the kitchen. IN the drawing is the owner with the saying "keep everyone happy". So true. And he never ever steered away from that, even when his kids took over. If you go, get the infamous seafood bisque, it has the perfect amount of sherry, filled to the brim with seafood; a bowl is a meal (and I mean that). Broiled, stuffed scallops are highly recommended too.






Yes, you get all that for a meal. Amazing.



Some of the best pizza that comes very very close to NYC pizza is found not on cape cod but off at Mamma Mia's in Plymouth. Another little hole in the wall joint that has undoubtedly the best crust ever. I swear they must import the water in from NYC to make this the tastiest crust ever. If you do visit cape cod, on the way, stop in plymouth to make a stop at Mamma Mia's and get a large cheese pizza. Even the photo says it all.

Best place for breakfast is Keltic Kitchen. A place where you can get a real Irish breakfast or not. Either way it's like diner food but way better, and they have daily specials where they kick things up. The chef/owner is very creative (I love that) no same old same old with him, he's known to really kick things up a notch. You have to go there and see what his daily creation is. Last I saw there was a marshmallow pb Elvis french toast with bacon inside. Crazy good. It's gets packed. Get there early on the weekends--for real.





Other good eats that are not to miss on cape cod:

Emack & Bolio's of Orleans. Now this is homemade ice cream at it's finest with really foodie flavors like: peanut butter ice cream with HUGE chunks of Oreo's. And Mud Pie--don't get me started on the Mud Pie.

Bonatt's Bakery of Harwichport. Home of the infamous meltaway. You literally have to get there early to get meltaways, they only make a few batches for the mornings and then it's gone baby gone. Definitely worth the wait in line. They don't have a website only facebook page. They are on 537 main st in harwichport.

Jo Mama's of Orleans. Who's your mama? Best bagels on cape cod. Exactly like NYC bagels. Cofffee is pretty good too.

PB Boulangerie of south wellfleet. The most authentic bakery I've been to outside of france. I know that's a huge statement right there but it's true. If you go there you will see why. It's right on the way to provincetown on Rt 6. Has gotten rave reviews all around. Both owners are from france, classically trained, worked under some of the best chefs in the country, such as Daniel Boulud. Their bio is impressive, but more importantly their creations are extraordinary.

Did you have a favorite place on Cape Cod? Or better yet, is there a place on the cape (or close by) that you are curious about? Let me know--I love discovering new food joints.