Super Secret Spice Mix

What do you think of the fancy new blog design? I'm pretty happy with it. So I celebrated by eating WAY too much bread, dipped in some olive oil and my super secret spice mix. I was going to call this my super simple secret spice mix, but I thought that might be a little too much alliteration, even for me!

No matter what you call it, this is probably my favorite mix of spices to use on anything from meat, vegetables, eggs, or - my favorite -  as a dipping sauce for crusty bread. It's reminiscent of Italian seasoning, but has some other flavors too.

Perhaps it has been a secret until now, but I'm prepared to share my recipe with you lovely folks. Because, really, just look at that picture. Doesn't it make you hungry? 

Fried Plantains

I'll let you in on a little secret - up until yesterday, I had never deep-fried anything in my entire life. Truth be told, I was always a little scared of it. It seems like it would be easy to accidentally deep fry your fingers along with the food, and I like my fingers just how they are, thank you very much.

But the other day at the store, I saw a bunch of fresh plantains.

I can put aside my fear of deep-frying for delicious, delicious plantains. Have you ever had them before? If the answer is "no," you are seriously missing out! Plantains are relatives of the banana, and in fact look very much like oversized, thick-skinned bananas. They are more starchy, however, and taste kind of like a cross between a potato and a banana. Or something like that.