Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Cooking: My Own Spice Box and Doreen Gamboa Food Writing Competition



 I found a nice spice box from India at the Somosa House in Culver City where we had a nice casual dinner one evening. This vegetarian restaurant has good Indian food, and the annexed market has wonderful spices and Indian goods, including this stainless steel spice box.





I've never owned a spice box before. Spice boxes are not traditional in the Philippines. First of all, Filipinos did/do not use a lot of spices as South Asians do. We used pepper, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, tamarind, onion, and other herbs that our cook bought at the wet market or plucked from our garden. We did not have the array of colorful dry spices that can be found in places like Egypt, Turkey, or India. (I've wondered why not when we're near the areas that grow these spices -- but that is another topic.)

Now I use different spices in my cooking and to be honest, these are in quite a disorder in my kitchen cabinet. Some are in containers, some in their original packaging. I was envious when I saw my friend Swapna's spice box once, which looked pretty and practical. She explained that the spice box was for daily use; one filled it from the larger supplies stored in tight containers (because insects may attack spices).

So when I saw this spice box at the Somosa House, I bought it and am now deciding what to put in.  So far I have turmeric, red chiles, pepper, and crystal salt. I'll continue to fill the containers with what I tend to use often.

This is probably as good a time as any to mention that the Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award in the Philippines announces that its topic for the 2015 competition is HERBS. Deadline for submission of entries is October 11/2015. Entries should be sent to dgfawards@yahoo.com.ph with a separate file containing the author’s real name, pen name, contact numbers, address, and a brief bionote. Each contestant may submit up to two different entries, each with a different pen name.




The entry should be an essay in English of not less than 4,500 characters nor more than 5,000 characters (800 words), double-spaced. Judging continues to be based on content (50%), research (30%), style (20%). For more information, visit the Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award Facebook page
This is all for now this dreary June morning,
Tags: food, cooking, Filipino, spice box, spices, herbs, Foreen Gamboa Fernandez





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