 to do the African food for us, and there is a difference between African and soul food. You explained it to me, and Natasha Torrey is the Cheboygan City judge. We voted for her for the next time. Also, okay Natasha, tell us a little about yourself. Sure, so as Marilyn indicated, I'm Natasha Torrey. I'm an attorney and I'm also the municipal court judge. And I don't know how Emily and I started talking about me coming and doing some cooking with Marilyn because I love to cook. And I might ask, well hey, could we do something near Juneteenth, because even though Juneteenth has been a holiday since 1866, a lot more of us are now starting to realize that. And so even last year, the law firm that I work at started recognizing it as a paid day off. So I even get off on Monday. And so the history of Juneteenth, if you didn't have a chance to look through this wonderful handout that Ann put together, basically was to celebrate when the last group of slaves in the US finally were told that slavery was abolished. And what's amazing and really sad about this is these were slaves in Texas who were still slaves two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation and about three months after the Civil War was even over. They were never told. So their slave masters were still killing them, whipping them and enslaving them. And so we had some soldiers from the north came down and told them, hey, you're free. And so then it became a celebration, right, that they had made it. And so some of the imagery that you'll see in the handout are, this is what I think of as the Juneteenth flag. But honestly, the flag above, this is actually the Juneteenth flag, okay? But just because we're a big country, we have different regions, maybe down south, the red, white and blue flag would be more commonly known for Juneteenth, but here in Wisconsin we use this Pan-African flag. And so it has basically, it looks like the US flag, but the stripes are red and black. And then the star section is a green background with black stars. And there's symbolism for that. So the red is a very prominent color in both African culture of food and then in African-American food. And so that's why we have the red tea today. So the red drink, very common in African and African-American food. So it could be hibiscus tea in Africa. There's also a Kola nut tea, but then also in the US, there became an association with red, even like red soda, because that was just something that we couldn't have, right? We couldn't have sugar and sweets and those things. So the color red. So if you're familiar with red velvet cake, that is a very common food to associate with like any soul food or African-American holiday. But red in the flag is to represent our blood, the blood that we had to spill basically because of slavery. But it also represents life that we're still here. And so we can still go on. The black, really basic, just supposed to represent black skin of Africa and the black soil of Africa. And then the green is supposed to represent fertility of Africa. And so it's really important to understand that, you could say, well, why did you need a flag? And so to understand, because we don't know where we came from, right? So I'm biracial. My mom is white. She is Italian and Polish and Czechoslovakian, right? And I know that. And I know what those flags look like, you know? But my dad is part African-American and Cherokee. I have no, we have no clue where he came from in Africa. He was kidnapped, right? And even Tori, my last name, that was my great, great grandfather's slave master's name. That's not some family name, like because it came through history. It's because somebody owned us. And so that's why it's important to have a flag, right? And so this is the African-American flag. So when I was a kid, so I indicated biracial, both my parents were in the Army and I was born in the late 70s and it started to be like a popular thing, I think especially for military people to just be colorblind. So just like this concept of, if we just ignore it, it doesn't really exist, which is not the smartest way, especially for kids. And so I grew up partially in North Carolina and then in Wisconsin and never really had a firm understanding of African-American culture because I was being taught to be colorblind. So, and I didn't even know how to cook at all. So I grew up eating lots of food from boxes. So, you know, so what did I think was dinner? Like, well, first of all, it always had to be meat, okay? So fried chicken and, you know, and it'd be like a can, right? I never was really exposed to fresh vegetables. Everything was canned. Maybe I would get fresh fruit, but it would always be like some type of, you know, spaghetti and meatballs, and then maybe there'd be like iceberg lettuce. So when I got to law school, which I went to UW-Madison, I was surrounded by people from all over the world. And I was really young and at that time and hadn't been exposed to people really hadn't really, like that hadn't really learned about different cultures. And so I just soaked it up. And so it was really funny because when I first started cooking, my best friends were a woman from Okinawa, a Korean girl and a Kenyan. And so that's like all, I didn't know how to make like regular, you know, like what I could make, you know, like a mean teriyaki, you know, and my, you know, I had to make kimchi just like, you know, just stuff that you don't like normally learn how to make as your first meals. All right. So now here I am, you know, many years later, loving, love cooking. I try to eat vegetarian most of the time. And so I thought, okay, like for Juneteenth, what would be a nice dish for us? And so we're having what's called African peanut stew. And it's really funny because I've been making peanut stew for years. Usually I make it around holidays or like a special occasion. And I was joking that, you know, I hadn't thought about it, that to make it for 11 o'clock today, I had to get up at like three o'clock in the morning, right? So. Fresh, fresh, fresh, fresh, fresh. You know, if I had to rethink this, yeah. Maybe it'd be a little different, but so this is really good. This is my favorite recipe and you have it. And it's from Rachel Amma's Vegan Eats. She is from the Caribbean. I love this cookbook. And so I've made lots of different peanut stews. This is my favorite and I made it to the recipe. So you know, like people will say, like give you a recipe and they're like, but don't do this. No, you can make it to the recipe. I heard a little bit of talk about, well, not understanding grams. Well, most, you know, cans, if you're gonna use canned stuff, will have the grams. If you're worried about tomatoes, this is something that you don't have to worry about messing up, okay? So this is something you can imagine people being outside over a fire and having their one pot and making this, right? So you're not gonna mess it up. And no measuring cups. You don't have to, okay? I eyeballed everything today, and then I measured it to make sure. Cause I was like, no, that's not what we're doing. We're doing it exactly to the recipe. So another thing to think about with the peanuts too, again, this traditionally, you know, coming together for a celebration, this one is vegan and that's cool because that means everyone can have it, right? So that's something that's important in lots of different cultures. Some people might not eat meat, right? Or you might not eat a certain type of meat. But if you make something vegan, then it's accessible for everyone. So that's what we'll be doing today. Also, we have naan. And so that's what Marilyn was teasing you about what's in the pan. And this naan was made over the grill. And so I'm gonna demonstrate making naan in a skillet because you can do that too. And all it is is like a simple dough recipe, which is just flour, baking powder, some sugar and salt and yeast. And you let it rise, punch it down, and then you can form it in these little patties and grill it up and it only takes like three minutes and you can have fresh bread, right? So again, imagine being outside and... And how authentic is naan to the cuisine or it's just that you like it? Well, so naan is what we think we traditionally associate with India. But do you know African peanuts do is really just sweet potato curry? You know, and so we like to think that we're so unique, right? And everything is, but there's so much crossover. And so, yes, you probably are familiar with having Indian curry with naan. And so this is an African curry, right? Your main ingredient in this, even though it's called peanut stew, is sweet potatoes. So I think that we're ready to get started. Let's just say a couple of words about the coconut. Oh, yes. Sasha made it clear that coconut is dessert. Yes. So I tried finding macaroons at Bakery's, Padnola. So yesterday I made the macaroons. And of course, the one of the cherry, that's the one with the coconut and the condensed milk. And the recipe is one can of condensed milk and 14 ounces of coconut. Of course, you know, there are no such thing as 14 ounce packages of coconut any longer, there are no, 12. And of course, they probably started out as 16 ounces. Anyway, and the next one is a meringue that has coconut and almonds and rice crispies in it. And I salted them before I put them in the oven. So any meringue recipe that you have will work if you add coconut and anything to it. But the trick to make a meringue actually work is room temperature egg whites, put them out the night before, even divide them the night before. And then add the sugar slowly, slower than you can stand it. And it will get stiff. And if it says a quarter of a teaspoon of cream of tartar, put in at least half a teaspoon. And then you've got your meringues, your macaroon meringues. Delicious. I did get from the art center of this leaven schedule. So now you will also know the music and when it's coming to the city green. You're on Natasha. All right, so I'm gonna start. Hope, see if I can, oh, look it. I got the burner right, the first try. Just, you guys can't see this, but I had lots of choices here and I want credit for that. All right, so this is my dough. And so again, this was, we've made this this morning. Yeah, you know, just gave the, I think it took like, I think the recipe called for an hour and 15 minutes to let the dough rise. It's red yeast dough? Yes. You can use any red recipe. Yes, yes, and it's really simple. And I realize I just need to make sure I have a spatula, which I see a rubber one, so that should be fine. All right, and so you just flatten it out. And so these I asked for just like smaller personal size ones. So you can make it, you know, as big as you want. And your pan doesn't have oil that you, like it's not sitting in oil. So basically, if this wouldn't have already been perfectly prepared for me, again, thank you. Thank you, Marilyn. You would take, you would take, you would take like a paper towel and put oil on it and just like spread it in. Okay. Natasha, they sort of look like mini yeast tortillas. Yes. Flour tortillas, not corn. They're way too hot. Yes, candles. Well, Peter's been to many former Soviet Union countries and all he's talked about is not. Okay. It isn't just in those areas, it's all about that. And they have the big containers to the ground, fire, and they slap it against the wall and make it. Yeah. Right, it's too big for us to do our own. Yes. So that's like, like it sounds like a tandoori oven. No. So I probably could have waited a little bit longer. Like I could have had the pan a little bit hotter before we put it in, but this is just an example of like, you just, it's really hard to mess it up. Okay. Once you have your dough formed and it's, it was in the right consistency. It's really hard to mess it up. I like to hear those words. Yeah. And so if the pan was hot enough, it only is supposed to take about 90 seconds on each side. And I, if you, I can see that it's actually like fluffing up in the pan right now. All right. And so then I'm going to just, and it's hard. Like I can actually tell that it gets cooked. All right. Yeah. The longest must be the rising time. It is. Yeah. So once, once you mix it and then you're just like cutting it and I don't do the putzi work like this in my house and my husband had to get up and do this. That's just, that's just not my thing. And, but he had been warned at least, you know, I told him at least a couple of weeks ago, so. And one thing about yeast dough, if it rises too tall, too tall, it can fall. Big deal. You just need it and then let it rise again. Or if all of a sudden you have to do something and the yeast dough is ready, punch it down, let it rise again. So do you see like how that, it almost looks like a pancake. So the ones, if you want to show that, that my husband made for us this morning, he made these on the grill. Just so that you could get even more of an idea of like the, yes, just so you could get more of an idea of like being outside, you know. So this is all food. Imagine somebody cooking it outside over a fire. So these are done. Wow. Okay. So now we're gonna start getting, putting our stew together. So I made basmati rice and one thing, one, I don't know if it's a trick, secret, whatever, but I was taught by my okinawan friend, I had to think about it, to soak your rice. Not just wash it, but to actually soak it. Well, this time I soaked it overnight. And if you do that, it not only, I was just reading about all the health benefits, but basically it gets rid of that outer layer of extra starch. So I'm gonna ask you to scrape it out. I'm gonna tip this over. This is really heavy. You guys can't laugh at me. All right. And it makes the rice sweeter. And then with the soaking water, you drain away. Yeah. So I have a really nice rice washer. Almost a little bit more. And it has a special like little strainer section that you can like pour the water out. But if you, it really makes a huge difference. And so this rice, you know, imagine I had this done, Marilyn's like, I ate no later than 7.30. So I had to have this at her house. And she did, and she lived close to me. I do. Like only five minutes. Good. But yeah, it still is able to keep the rice like in relatively good separation, right? Yes. Yeah. And that helps. Like that's from soaking it. It's not glued together. Right. Yeah. So soaking the rice, that's my pro tip for today. All right. And can some of you smell it in the front? This is basmati rice. That's my favorite. I love it. I love the way it smells. But not short grain or it will glue together. Yeah. This is long grain. Which is what we want for some things, but not. Yes. That's long grain. All right. Okay. Whatever you say. So this is our, our peanut stew. Okay. So this, you know, you can, this is heavy. All right. Yeah. So I'm going to show off that I've been lifting weights. Look at that. And, oh my gosh. This is, so this is peanuts. I had to do, I'm sorry. No. I do canned black eyed peas. So that is, I guess, technically one thing that I did different. So these are black eyed peas that I made in the slow cooker. Okay. This is cilantro. I have four kids and normally the kids have to do this for me, but grandpa's visiting. So I, if you feel that the cilantro isn't like to your perfect chopped liking, I don't care today. Okay. And then these are just peanuts. So you're just going to top it with peanuts. These are unsalted because we get enough salt. In the dish. And then this is juice of six lemons. Yep. So you just top it. So you just like kind of pour it around. And then it gives, that just gives it this nice like fresh, light taste to the finish. Natasha, instead of fresh lemon, have you ever tried that frozen lemon juice? No. Okay. Um, I, well, for one, I love, I love using fresh lemon because especially if you've just cut up the garlic and you have that garlic on your hands, I like to finish with the lemon because it gets that garlic off. And, yeah, that's enough reason. That's right. That's right. No, of course, lemons here cost a lot of money for a lemon. And one of the tricks to make to get more juice out of your lemon, cut it in half, hold it in your hand. And we learned this from the lemon class two, three, five, six years ago. Put the fork in there and... Do you want to get a photo? And ream it out with the fork and you'll get lots more juice than squeezing. And lines too. Cut it in half, put it in your hand, put the fork in and ream it out with the fork. You'll get a lot more juice. Yeah. So I like using these old fashioned lemon juicers. I love it. Yes, so that's what I used for this. Got it in an antique store. They're not as hard on our muscles as squeezing things, you get tired very quickly. I don't use those. Okay, so I think we're going to start dishing it out. Does anybody have any questions? Could you speak to the potatoes? Yeah. Okay, so what you should figure is, so I tripled this recipe. Sorry. So basically for one serving, it would be like three sweet potatoes. So I would say that they're like half pound sweet potatoes. Three normal, like longer, bigger, yeah. Real sweet potatoes, not the camp. Yeah. Yes. She was giving you guys a little, a softball question there. Nobody had, nobody wondered that. We have very smart people. We're not going to call you by role. You're grown adults. You know how to come and get your food. Okay, yes. They're a nursing mom. They have a milk department. Any nursing moms here? I don't. They're in the tea. I just don't know if they carry it up to two, like you can make her taste differently. So it's exactly if I use more spicy. So you can always just have the meal. But I sometimes really just like if I'm lacking, even though acid protein, it doesn't taste, maybe it actually tastes like garlic and onions and it was even based by, so there's yoga and I can't, I think it would even be the offshoot of yoga for me. Oh yeah, yeah. Right. And I can't think of it right now. And so it's a way of eating. And Belize Cantrell is an author of Guler that she's moving now, that she would have to show us what's on this. And those are the people to think, well you shouldn't eat according to your constitution and it depends on sometimes like your temperament and it can be like what's on your board though. But they believe that some people really, you shouldn't eat garlic and onions because it can make you more active, make you more active if you already have that. And so then you can use acid protein as a step. Acid is called acid. Cidatum. Okay. Same thing. And it smells kind of like kerosene. Really? Kerosene? It's not even kerosene. Okay, all right. Yeah. And it was the most sweet and standard of girls. They didn't want to get upset when they were thinking about garlic. They didn't think at all. What did you eat for breakfast today? Today I had a meal at a place because I knew that I was coming here and I didn't want to, you know, the most dramatic case I ever had to deal with. Oh. As a judge or as a lawyer? Either one. Take your pick. Well, I mean, you know, I've done lots of stuff. Like I have my 22nd year of practicing on it. I used to do all family law, which was like, you know, it's always dramatic. Yeah. I would say that maybe one of my most fulfilling cases involved just a family problem and being able to save that. Which was like, I just went into private practice and was trying to do something different. And I got this case that I felt like I was in over my head but nobody else was gonna take it. Okay, good. Did you make your own stuff? No, I've never made my own stuff. I'm told, I'm like an efficient, I told you, I didn't even make it on. That's not my type of job, okay? I've never made it. I understand that it's not hard, but it's, so I did not. Making stock, I keep celery ends and onion peels and carrot peelings and garlic ends. And you know the herbs that just turn slimy in your refrigerator, throw them in the freezer. And some bones of anything. And then finally put them all in a pot and let them cook for six, eight hours. Now there is more to making perfect stock that's clear with egg whites. I don't do that. I just take all the big chunks out and just put the rest in jars in the freezer. So it always tastes different. Natasha, thank you for coming. You're welcome. All right, thanks, Natasha. You're welcome. Thanks.