Archive for August, 2007
I think #11 is the best
Thursday, August 30th, 2007Spinach Recall
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
Another bagged spinach recall – check your fridge.
I don’t begrudge anyone the convience of the bagged produce, but you’ve got to wash it, I don’t care *what* the bag says. Doesn’t take up that much time and is better than getting sick. Besides, it would give you a great excuse to go to your nearest culinary goodie peddler and get something like this.
French Toast
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007Or Freedom Toast if you’re still hung up on the whole France thing. The other day when I was doing a quick pickup at the market, I got it in my head that I wanted French Toast sometime in the near future. And none of this mess of squishy white bread from my youth, either. (Sorry, Mom, this really was much better.) Found a little loaf of french bread (yeah, I need to carve out some time to make it here) grabbed some eggs and today it became lunch. The bread had gotten just a tiny bit stale, so it had good form to it (for lack of a better description) and didn’t get all soggy when I soaked it in the eggs & milk. Popped it in the fry pan with some butter and golden brown happiness ensued. A bit of maple syrup and a glass of cold milk, and I had the best lunch I’ve had in a while.
It is SO much better with the french bread than regular “white” bread – next time I think I’ll slice it a touch thicker, though.
Pardon the slight blur, I was attempting to photograph and defend my lunch from my cat at the same time.
Nothing special about the process – ~1 egg + splash of milk per piece of bread. Let soak ~1 minute per side. Fry up in hot butter.
Forbes on being a restauranteur
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007How to run your own restaurant.
Thought it was a good article – anyone actually running their own restaurant may disagree, but I liked it.
Meal planning…
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007Since I’ve gotten back from the beach, the time spent doing things to bring in money has significantly increased, and as a result, my culinary creativity has been a bit stifled for lack of time. Usually I’d come up with some bit of inspiration in the morning, swing by the market and then start cooking, but the “just up and take off” time has been lacking.
So, now I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve got to actually start planning things out ahead of time – which I kind of loathe, but it’s that or I’ll never eat decently again. ;)
However, I refuse to go down the “once a month cooking” road or things along those lines. It’s not that there is anything inherently wrong with them, but I’d prefer each meal to really stand on it’s own, rather than be part of some mass produced weekend day of hell in the kitchen.
Part of the problem is that my pantry, freezer and fridge are pathetically non-stocked for lack of a better description. More often than not, I shop for a day or two and that’s it. I have developed a stupid aversion to freezing meats and poultry, mainly because defrosting them is such a pain in the ass. I really need to get over that.
So, I think I am going to work through a meal cycle like this:
– Seafood (made w/in 24 hours of purchase cause I’ve yet to find seafood that freezes decently)
– Beef or Pork
– Poultry
– Vegetarian
Going to try to plan it around things that are either in season or on sale, or based on the various food challenges that are always floating around the internet food community. Or maybe just start with a big trip out to the butcher shop and then go from there?
We’ll see how it goes.
Even Iron Chefs run into problems…
Sunday, August 26th, 2007
It’s somewhat gratifying to see Cat Cora burn something in kitchen stadium.
ETA:Â I don’t dislike her or anything, it’s just nice to see the pros occasionally have an “oh shit” moment.
Eat Local Challenge
Sunday, August 26th, 2007
I just stumbled across this today, and I think I will have to take a swing at it – between researching what I can actually get locally and finding where to get it, I think I’ll come up with some good ideas.
More additions to the blogroll
Saturday, August 25th, 2007OK, I know I said I was going to try and give each new link it’s own post, but Tastespotting has brought out so many good sites this week, I’m just going to go ahead and tell you about them all at once. :)
Baking and Books – Check out the poppy seed bagel recipe and photos.
Destemporados – It may be in Portugese, but food really is universal.
Food Wishes – A video recipe blog.
FoodBlogga – Kind of self explanatory. :)
For the Love of Food – More great photos and recipes
Last Night’s Dinner – I would kill for that sea bass & fennel broth
Blogroll Additions
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007I can’t tell how often it gets updated, but what is there sure looks good!
Compilations of some of the best food photography I have ever seen and a great gateway to other food blogs.
Great food, great photos.