Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Dinner was served



Thanks to this wonderful recipe that I found at 101 Cookbooks I enjoyed a lovely dinner. Matt was not converted to my new interest in cabbage, but I was very impressed with the flavor that this soup had. I left out the beans, used beef stock instead of vegetable stock, added some pork tips to the mix - because I knew Matt would probably avoid even a spoonful unless a little bit of animal was involved, and topped it off with a bit-o-cheese. Maybe I should have added bacon.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Cheap is embarrassed at you right now

I enjoyed free pancakes with my wonderful boyfriend at IHOP this morning. For lunch I treated Matt to $5 foot long sandwiches at Subway. I don't mind being a cheap date. If it's free pancake day, you can bet that I am going to suggest that instead of eating oatmeal at home we go for the free pancakes.

There is a difference between being thrifty when thinking food and being classlessly cheap. I felt terrible at breakfast when our waiter was running around like a crazy person. He looked like he was having an awful day, and I knew he probably wasn't being tipped very well if at all. When people are thinking free meal, they normally aren't thinking about that poor waiter; so I made sure I tipped him very well. I hope other people thought the same thing and were nice to that poor waiter.

Chow.com highlighted a piece today about this woman who went on youtube to talk about how she steals stuff from all-you-can-eat buffets. Warning this is pathetic.



She literally gives examples of how to snag bags of food. This girl does not look starving. She looks like she is wearing half decent clothes with obviously semi-impressive video and editing software.

I am not a fan of all-you-can-eat dinners. I don't eat enough to make the meal worth it. That does not mean that I would stoop low enough to take extra food, because I might be hungry later. Pardon the rant, but I just couldn't handle this low-class display of cheap.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Monday, February 22, 2010

Oh Baby

I have some bad news for you. Hot dogs may be a choking hazard. Cheese may also be a choking hazard. And you heard it here first, broccoli may also be a choking hazard. You should probably stop feeding your little kids these things immediately; you should probably start with the broccoli.

According to USA Today pediatricians are calling for a warning label to be put on hot dogs. They also said it might be time to change the shape and texture of the hot dog, so it is less likely to be lodged in a child's throat. Really guys, what self-respecting mom doesn't cut up the hot dog before feeding her toddler? I know my mom always did.

The best part of this whole article lies in the numbers. Ten thousand children under the age of 14 go to the hospital every year because they are choking. But the real groundbreaking stuff here is that 17% of these 10,000 choking cases are caused by hot dogs.

I was never a math person, but even I know that 17 is not a large percentage. So what caused the other 83% of choking issues? Why are hot dogs being unnecessarily attacked? Most of us know hot dogs are not terribly healthy. - Matt still tries to argue otherwise.- But really do we need to hate on hot dogs even more?

Hot dogs, like almost every other kind of food, may cause a kid to choke, especially if said kid bounces up and down with food in their mouth while screaming at the top of their lungs. So what's the life lesson here? Watch your kids! Sheesh this isn't hard stuff, people. Make meal time, meal time, not play time. And for little little kids cut up the food, so it's easier for them to swallow.


In other news, I made pork tips for dinner and they were absolutely wonderful. I fried them up a little then cooked them in bbq sauce for almost an hour. They kind of tasted like faux ribs. Hope your Monday was full of good food and not too much work!

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Sunday, February 21, 2010

On my way to the food pyramid



It is a Sunday. I left the house once to go to church. The rest of the day I spent in my room doing homework. Days like these really test my real-meal-for-dinner goal. I try really hard, but quite often I resort to eggs and toast.

I ate the last of my eggs, but yesterday I bought b-e-a-u-tiful asparagus at Whole Foods. That's half way to a great meal! I thawed a pork chop that was too small to make when Matt's over, and dinner is served.

Well ok raw asparagus and a thawed pork chop don't exactly make an edible dinner. I chopped off the ends of the asparagus, placed them on a baking sheet, drizzled them in olive oil a good friend of mine brought me from her journeys in Italy, and sprinkled them with Adobo. I stuck them in the oven at 375 F and roasted them for 20 minutes. You can see how amazing they looked when they came out of the oven. Imagine the self-control it took to actually take pictures and not just devour the asparagus.

I broiled the pork chop. Broiling is such a wonderful way to cook meat. Just broil on one side till it has some color to it, flip it over, and cook till done. Amazing! It was Matt who turned me on to broiling meat, so I'm going to give credit where credit is deserved here. It is just so easy and fast; leave it to a guy to give it a try first.

Once the meat and asparagus were cooked, I had a completely amazing meal. It's not easy cooking for one. I think the hardest part is motivation, but when a complete meal is only 30 minutes away there really are no excuses.


Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Chocolate nuf said




What is wrong with these pictures? Chocolate tortilla chips. Oh yes weirdness has reached a new level of crazy. I don't think I could eat a whole bag of these chips, that I bought at Whole Foods this morning, but I was surprised by how strangely tasty they were. The first bite was a tease, because it tasted like a regular corn chip. After a few more bites the cocoa flavors really stood out.

In case you are seriously worried about where this world is headed, don't forget the wonderfully chocolaty chicken mole. Just like a good mole these chocolate chips do lend themselves to a savory flavor. The bag challenges you to try them with salsa. I really want to try that. Maybe all day in my apt doing homework makes me feel bold about my food choices.

While I am not buying every chocolate product I can get my hands on, I am actually working on another blog. Oh yes I am a blogging fool lately. This blog is for class. It's all about Pennsylvania Dutch food and culture. Today I blogged all about dinner, fried cabbage and noodles. At least I'm eating well! Now I think it's time for some more chocolate chips.

Happy Eating!!!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Be our guest

Slashfood created a top 10 food songs. I have to admit I didn't know half of them, but #5 made me kind of happy inside. I must say I miss the days when weekends were spent wishing I was a Disney princess and not occupied with oodles of homework. Growing up is overrated. I suggest you just don't do it.

In case you haven't already become bored of me and looked up the Top 10 list, "Be Our Guest" from Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" is #5. In a world where shows like Hells Kitchen and Top Chef focus on the drama and underworld of kitchen life, it is easy to forget that the food industry is a hospitality industry.

Whenever I think of hospitality, I think of Chef Lou. He was my executive chef at the Bar Harbor Inn in Maine and, well besides being a wonderful wonderful man, he liked to remind everyone in the kitchen that this was an industry where hospitality was the most important thing. He despised Anthony Bourdain - who I love - because he felt that men like him who uncovered this dirty underbelly of the food industry hurt the industry. Every guest at the hotel was his guest.

Of course that didn't stop him from leading guests on in his kitchen tours and telling everyone that I was the pastry chef or that the pastry chef did not speak English and had been working since 5 that morning - we didn't actually go in till 7. He told his white lies while winking like a little boy causing harmless mischief. In the end every guest at the Bar Harbor in was given the royal treatment, and Chef Lou appreciated anyone who went the extra mile to make someone happy.

Cooking is a social sport. Where is the fun in a wonderfully executed meal when no one is there to share it with you. Don't have any idea what I'm talking about? Invite a friend or two over this weekend and try that vegetable lasagna recipe you've been dying to try. I promise you will have a lot of fun, and you might start a lovely tradition of sharing food and gossip with close friends. Look how wonderfully happy the characters at the Beast's castle were over one lovely guest.



Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Oh the snobby Brits

Thanks to Salon.com and WBZ TV's "One Last Thing" segment I was informed that Tesco supermarkets in Britain are actually requiring a dress code. No more pajamas and you better be wearing shoes.

I want to know where these snooty people who run Tesco get off thinking that penalizing a mom who runs into the store in her pajamas to buy a pound of butter is a good idea. Because it's a TERRIBLE idea. If I want to wear my plaid pajama pants into a grocery store, then the people who work at that grocery store better smile and tell me to have a nice day as I walk out with my bags of food. Sometimes you just don't have the time to put on real clothes, or if you haven't slept in a few days and that 10 page paper is due tomorrow, you might not have the energy.

Supposedly Tesco's excuse for this dress code debacle is that women running into stores in their pajamas and slippers are embarrassing to other customers. Hello sexism, where have you been hiding?

For the record I love grocery shopping. All of that yummy food in one place! I try to wear normal clothes, but what are normal clothes? My purple striped socks with brown pants embarrassed Matt, and we went grocery shopping while I was wearing them. The day that the fashion police have to guard grocery stores is the day I will begin using Peapod. Leave it to the British to suck the fun and pajamas out of life.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

And so ends fat Tuesday


On the end of this not-so-very-fat Tuesday my bedroom is a disaster, my boots are still wet, and after an hour of straightening up the apartment is clean. Wasn't my little sister the most adorable little kid?

Days like these I miss PA. A Fat Tuesday, or Fastnacht Day as we like to call it, was not complete in the Keystone State before a visit to Nana and Papap's house to get some doughnuts. Back in the good old days, we would go over to Nana and Papap's house and make the yeasty potato doughnuts. My sister appears to be throwing the dough in the picture, but we really were frying most of the dough.

If I were to make a foodie list of things to do before you die, eating fastnachts on Fat Tuesday would be #10. You really have not eaten a doughnut, before you tried these doughnuts.

Since I obviously was deprived of my doughnut today, I decided to take a peek at the USDA's newest web tool. If the food environment atlas actually worked the way it was supposed to, it would be super cool. Unfortunately it has a few glitches and didn't fill in every map for me. It's still wicked cool and definitely worth taking a look see. Did you know PA eats way more pounds of veggies than say Eastern MA? This is the kind of way cool facts you can find out from tinkering around the food atlas. The journalist in me is dying to know why these different areas of the country have different eating habits and what exactly America can learn from this map.

Honestly I feel like that time one of my friends showed me Google Earth. It is simply mesmerizing. I hope my PA friends had their share of fastnachts today. I will be talking my mom into a belated fastnacht day over spring break.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Monday, February 15, 2010

Secrets Revealed



When I was a little girl Puerto Rican food was a mystery to my mom. She wanted to make food like my Abuela did, but her blonde hair just kept getting in the way. Ok ok maybe it wasn't her blonde hair, but my mom and I shared a few laughs today over the many oopsie meals that we pushed around our plates till mom admitted that it didn't turn out. Did I mention how much I love my mom. I mean really if I were to marry into a Puerto Rican family and red rice and beans just weren't my thing to make, I would probably have given up. Not mom. She just kept going, and then one day it wasn't wallpaper paste. She was beaming. We were so proud of her.

Today I promised Matt's family a Puerto Rican meal. I decided against red rice and beans -the wallpaper paste rice nightmares are too close of a memory. Instead I made white rice and beans and pastelillos. The white rice and beans are super easy and even though the pastelillos require deep frying they are well worth the work. If you're not into the work of deep frying, buy frozen rolls (the kind that are the dough and not par-baked), fill them and bake them. They taste almost as good.

Beans:
1 can of pigeon peas
1 tablespoon recaito
4 oz tomato sauce
1 packet of sazon
Adobo to taste
water

Pour all of the ingredients into a pot. Don't drain the beans. Add water till it is about a 1/2 inch above the beans. On my hand, I normally measure to my second knuckle. If you add too much water, don't fret just boil it off. Boil the bean until they reduce and thicken a little. Serve over white rice.

Pastelillos:
1 can of corned beef
1 eight oz. can of tomato sauce
1 packet sazon
2 tablespoon recaito
2 packages of frozen Goya Discos – empanada dough

Empty the can of corned beef into a frying pan. Add the can of tomato sauce, packet of sazon, and the two tablespoons of recaito. Chop up the corned beef with a spatula. Cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until the corned beef had all broken up and the mixture has thickened.

Let mixture cool. Thaw the frozen discs. Place about a tablespoon of the mixture into each piece of dough. Crimp the edges with a fork or pinch together. Heat the oil on medium heat till it starts to make noise or until a drop of water sizzles when dropped into the oil.. Fry the meat packets till golden brown. Drain on a paper towel.

Every major grocery chain has Goya products, so finding these ingredients shouldn't be terribly hard. I am not loyal to Goya products, but normally they have all of the ingredients I want and need. If you find something cheaper in another brand, buy it.

Culture is not something you are born with. It is something that the people in your life teach you, or something you teach yourself. I am so thankful for a wonderful mother, who thought it was important to teach her children not just her own culture, but also her husband's culture. But I definitely don't miss those days of her rice experiments.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Saturday, February 13, 2010

A stuffing fool



After the amazing response I got to the stuffed hamburgers, I decided that I would try my hand at stuffed meatballs for our Valentine's Day meal. Matt was such a fan. And I've come to the conclusion that if I stuff something with bacon, Matt will eat it. The mise en place of this dish was crucial, well not crucial but helpful. I set up the bowl, plate of bacon, and chopped up cheese. This would be such a fun thing to make with kids. They were definitely a nice flavor combination for spaghetti and meatballs.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Just call me Mrs. Wonderful

My computer crashed. Blue screen. I'm in tears. MY LIFE IS OVER! You know, all that jazz. If you haven't experienced a computer death, then you will soon. Bwahaha. No but seriously my life runs off a computer. While my computer was down, I tried to watch TV. Turns out I don't know how to watch TV without a computer. I stared at the screen and on comes commercials COMMERCIALS. It was awful. I wanted to do some work, write a post, or cruise around facebook, and instead I was watching commercials. What had my life come to!

After a lovely chat with India, my knight in shining armor was on his way from Providence with a Windows XP CD to save me from my sad pathetic life of commercials and lack of homework.

I knew that I could not greet Matt on his day off with nothing but a teary face and a broken computer. I was probably going to make his day hell enough by screaming at him when my computer didn't get any better. Don't judge. If you haven't yelled at someone when you are in a frustrated state, you don't have a pulse or you're an alien. And if you're an alien, what are you doing here on planet earth? Don't you know everything is going to end in 2012. Go back to your home planet while you still can.

I got this brilliant idea while I was waiting the LOOOONG hour that Matt was taking to get to Cambridge. He said he wanted a cheeseburger for lunch, but he didn't want to get stuck in traffic going back to Provi, so I couldn't take him to get some good greasy fast food. I went to Trader Joes and stared at the cheese section for a good 10 minutes until I found a block of Monterrey Jack cheese that wasn't $500 or created from raw milk in Ireland - does Irish cheese really taste better? I was skeptical. I bought two pounds of hamburger meat. 80/20 so I knew it would be good and greasy, and I sped home.

I had honestly never really experimented with stuffed burgers, but I just knew I could pull it off. My bacon was frozen, so I chopped off the edge and stuck it in the frying pan. Matt walked in and asked where the orange chicken was. I try to make a nice greasy guy meal and he asks where the orange chicken is. Oh I love this boy.

So I cut the ground beef in half. I add an egg, some breadcrumbs, a splash of milk and mix it up. Supposedly, according to Matt, I was making burgers wrong, but that was how my mom made burgers. Can we remember that my computer is lying on my bed NOT BREATHING! I mixed up the burger stuff and cut up some cheese in blocks. I took a patty sized amount and put a piece of cheese in the middle then I grabbed two one inch pieces of the now thawed and sort of fried bacon and put them on top of the cheese. I squished the meat around the cheese and bacon and reformed the patty making sure that there wasn't any cheese or bacon poking out.

One pound of ground beef made 3 burgers. I put them under the broiler and 10 minutes later Matt was gushing about how these were the most amazing burgers he ever ate. Of course 15 minutes later we might have been yelling about my computer and

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO IT?

DO YOU REALIZE MY LIFE IS ON THAT COMPUTER?

DON'T EVEN MENTION WIPING MY HARD DRIVE CLEAN!

But the burgers were good. And for the few minutes we were eating lunch I was a pretty amazing girlfriend.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Hot and bothered...

I am a lover of food. Just the thought of my mom's fried cabbage and noodles or my Titi's red rice and beans gets me all hot and bothered. I am still unsure about whether food actually makes me more loving or lovable. The NY Times article about aphrodesiac foods today made me even more skeptical, sort of.

The article basically said in order for chocolate to work you'd have to eat 15 pounds of it. For some reason cherries lower a woman's libido, and spicy peppers might spice up your love life. Then again they might not. The whole article was so objective it didn't come to a point. Well no, that's not fair, basically the article said there is really no science behind any food being an aphrodisiac.

DUHHHHHHH!!!

The whole sexy mystery behind foods being aphrodisiacs lies in the fact that it is a mystery. Has no one ever seen or read Chocolat? Imagining that there is this food of love that works kind of like cupid's darts may be as silly as believing that relationships are always like the fairytales. That doesn't mean that a kiss on the cheek while being handed a perfect red rose doesn't still send shivers down my arms. Or that dipping a strawberry in warm chocolate and taking a bite doesn't make me feel kind of romantic.

Love is a hardcore mystery. What makes a woman fall in love? What makes a man fall in love? No one really has a straight answer. Of course there are plenty of old-wives tales. Just as there are plenty of old wives tales about love, there are plenty of old wives tales about food. You know chocolate, oysters, and all that jazz that the NY Times article kind of shot into.

Before you lose all faith in the Times, I did find one piece of information in the article rather interesting. All of those fancy meals that restaurants are making with supposed aphrodesiacs might not create the desired result. All of the rich food actually makes you kind of sleepy. I love it! One more reason to make your own food and avoid the sleepy drive home.

I am proud to announce that I am completely done with my Valentine's Day shopping, and have a bag of candy hearts sitting in my room just waiting to be enjoyed.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Hearts for Haiti


I haven't really said much on here about Haiti and the horrible earthquake that changed the lives of so many people in Haiti and in the US. I was sent an email today that reminded me of the importance of continuing to remember Haiti and the help that is still needed.

River Gods in Cambridge has a special program this Sunday, Hearts for Haiti. There's going to be Haitian cuisine, raffles and all kinds of aren't-you-glad-you-gave-back fun. They are asking for a $5 donation at the door, but maybe you could forgo those two dozen roses for $50 and impress the love of your life with a generous heart for the people of Haiti. All of the proceeds are going to Partners in Health, a Boston-based group that has been helping the people Haiti for more than 20 years.

For all of you single people, coming and giving back to the people of Haiti might be the perfect way to do something on Valentine's Day. The laidback atmosphere of River Gods would be perfect and less awkward than trying to go out for something to eat amidst the many happy couples.

If you're around the Boston area, check it out and give back to the people of Haiti.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Chocolate solves all of life's problems

I am a big fan of the powers of chocolate. So is Matt, but I think that's just because if he stuffs some chocolate in my mouth I'll most likely shut up and apologize for being mean. According the Daily Beast Peru is beginning to learn the powers of chocolate.

Farmers in Peru are beginning to plant cacao, or the bean that makes chocolate, instead of coca, the plant that makes the very real and scary drug, cocaine. Supposedly Peru is number 2 to Columbia in Cocaine production, and a special U.S. agency is trying to change things around. They want Peru to be known for chocolate.

I really want the best for Peru. I mean if I were a country, I wouldn't want to be known as a second biggest cocaine producer. Can you imagine being number 2? It's like saying yeah you're almost a bad ass country that everyone is scared of, but not quite. That's just sad. Now IF I had the opportunity to be known as the country that was producing the most amazing cacao (chocolate) anyone had ever tasted, I'd be totally running the UN.

Chocolate creates happiness. My roommate received a package from her mom a few days ago. On the top of the package was a bag of chocolate. Her face lit up and instantly she was saying how amazing her mom was. She hadn't even eaten the chocolate yet.

Sharing a chocolate fix is almost as good as getting one for yourself. I already shared the recipe for these chocolate peanut butter Kandy Kakes bars on the blog, but in case you forgot about it check it out and get your chocolate-peanut butter-Tasty Cake-fix. Your world and the world of the person you might have freaked out at, because you were running low on chocolate, will thank you for it.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Sunday, February 7, 2010

And the countdown is on

In case you were so busy buying the chips and salsa and making the wings for your Super Bowl party - I am really not at all sure why wings became the "it" thing this year to make for the Super Bowl. I do have an amazing recipe for parmesan cheese wings, but you've all made your wings. I'll save that for another day. - Like I was saying, in case you were too busy focusing on the Saints/Colts showdown, next Sunday is Valentine's Day.

Last night I listened to a woman in a store talk about how it was just another Sunday and how she and her boyfriend had decided to just treat it like any other Sunday. If that man brings her a dozen red roses, I bet she wouldn't complain. But that's besides the point. Most men would be lying if they said they could care less about the Super Bowl and would rather just treat it like a regular Sunday with Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters on the agenda. Most women would be lying if they said they could care less about Valentine's Day.

I have already talked about knowing your significant other's chocolate preference. - No dark for us milk girls! - You also have a perfect spaghetti and meatball meal that you can make. It is super easy and would be a fabulous suprise for any Valentine's Day meal. As Matt and I were discussing yesterday, all of these things are wonderful, but it's that silly gift that you feel you have to get that makes things a tad bit tricky and uber stressful.

After realizing that my boyfriend didn't own a non-stick pan, I have come to the conclusion that kitchen gadgets never go out of style. My parents who have been married for 25 years don't have a good can opener. Unfortunately for my mom I already solved this problem. Maybe this is why Matt says I'm so hard to shop for. I tend to buy the things I need. Oops!

Anyway there are some very cool foodie gifts this V-day that I think are definite must-haves. Lucinda Scala Quinn's new book Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys looks AMAZING!!! It would be a great gift for the guy in your life, or for the lady who's always looking for new recipes and bacon-filled meals.

I am also a huge fan of all of the adorable little animal gadgets at Target. I don't know if you've ever wandered toward the kitchen gadget side of Target, but you know you've always wanted a Toucan pizza cutter. I mean this stuff is just adorable.

For the very serious cook in your life a copy of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking 1 or 2 would really bring a HUGE smile on the day of love. I'm normally not a huge cookbook person, but this is the bible of French cooking. And Julia and her wonderful self has come back like 80s fashion; you'd be so in for buying it.

Think a little more creative this year for V-day. Think about the basic things that might make your love's life a little easier. And think of something that would keep on giving all year. Pretty red Kitchen Aid mixers are always welcome. What says love more than a beautiful red mixer?

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Saturday, February 6, 2010

It's a little fishy

I am baffled by fish. They are overkilled, overfarmed, and not many people care. Many vegetarians will eat fish. I always love when they tell me this.

"Oh well I eat fish." It's kind of like their saying, yeah I eat those ugly creatures because I need nutrients. Little do they know that the politics of fish are even more sketchy than those dirty chicken farms. I guess fish don't squawk or have cute fuzzy babies; they don't have the fan club other animals have, and I personally think that is a sad sad situation.

I am no vegetarian. In fact I am exactly the oposite. I appreciate and love the animals I am able to consume on a daily basis. I do try to eat smart and when it comes to fish the jury is still out. Salmon, the one fish I know that EVERYONE just loves to eat, is not really a part of my diet. They are very much overfished and terribly overfarmed. If I can find salmon in every restaurant and every grocery store in every city in the US, there is a problem.

France took a stand in the fish battle this week by listing Bluefin Tuna on the endangered species list. This would mean that next month the EU would have enough votes in support of a Bluefin Tuna ban. I hope that the ban would give the tuna a chance to replenish so people could then be able to enjoy eating them again in reasonable quanities.

Fish can be very tasty. My mom used to buy fish and broil it with some lemon pepper. The one thing fish is not good for is leftovers, so if you're going to consume this soon-to-be rare product make sure you eat it all. And to all of those pescatarian out there. HAVE YOU NEVER SEEN THE INCREDIBLE MR.LIMPET??? Fish have feelings too.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Feeding men, understanding men, oh boy it's been a long day

I spent a marvelous 35 minutes on the phone today with Rhonda Ricardo, author of Cherries Over Quicksand, about her book and what she has learned from speaking to men all over the country about their relationships. I promise I will be writing an article and I will be informing you all, but for right now let's just say she suggested getting your man a calendar for Valentines Day. I bet they're really cheap now that it's February already, but from what I remember from elementary school, calendars don't taste nearly as good as chocolate covered strawberries.

Speaking of strawberries Valentine's Day is only a few weeks away and women and men everywhere are probably already starting to freak out. Do I get the DVD card from Hallmark or do I spend a week's salary on dinner in a cramped restaurant? I'm not freaking out, because I have already made plans and bought construction paper to make some fabulous Valentine's Day cards. I'm thinking, paired with some ganache and strawberries, it will be a fabulous day. Of course guys are even easier to please than me. Guys can be pleased with one simple thing.

BACON!!!!

This may not apply to all men, but it has applied to all men that I have met. When I posed the question of what do men want on facebook, Rob, the Sous Chef at Brookside Country Club, answered a woman who knows where to find the best bacon. I can not stress enough how important bacon really is to a red blooded American male. Matt ate a soup made purely of vegetables, because it had bacon fat in it. This is the guy who will only eat broccoli if I make it the way his mom makes it with garlic and butter.

Instead of going out and sitting in a cramped restaurant with all of the other "happy" couples this year just make dinner. Start with some of the amazing potato soup a few posts down.

Make meatballs. I would say use turkey or ground beef, but it is Valentine's Day so just go with the beef. Mix in an egg, some milk, breadcrumbs, and some parmesan cheese. Form them into balls and either place them on a baking sheet and bake at 350 or fry in a frying pan. I'm not a real sauce kind of girl, so buy the sauce that looks the yummiest. Pour the sauce into a pot and heat with the finished meatballs. Cook some spaghetti, and make it a Lady and the Tramp kind of night with one giant plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

Finish the night off with a lovely bowl of ganache and some fresh strawberries. Ganache is so easy to make. Heat a cup of heavy cream till it boils. Pour over a cup of chocolate chips or whatever kind of chocolate you like best. Whisk from the center until the chocolate and the cream have formed one happy gooey chocolate mixture. Serve that warm with the strawberries. You will never go back to those chocolate covered strawberries at the candy store again.

Maybe save some bacon from the soup and try dipping it in the ganache. Matt was a big fan of chocolate covered bacon. I not so much. I told you. It's a guy thing. I pride myself in being able to become almost a man while working in a kitchen, but I don't think women can really appreciate the amazingness of bacon like men can. Gotta love that mysterious, or maybe not so mysterious Y chromosome.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Monday, February 1, 2010

The grocery shopping challenge

Every week I clipped coupons. I worried a lot. I knew when my dad was paid, and I knew I could help my parents save money. I was 15 and felt ingenious for thinking of clipping the coupons. My mom and I would go shopping. I knew all of the coupons that actually saved money and the ones that weren't really worth it. I was never hungry or without what I wanted or needed, but I was a quirky kid. My mom put up with the quirkiness, and let me control the coupons as we shopped.

A few weeks ago Matt decided that he wanted to save money. This is Matt's life mission, so the idea wasn't terribly groundbreaking. His new money-saving scheme was coupon clipping and ad searching for groceries. I was a much bigger fan of going to the ghetto grocery store where we had to bag our own groceries.

Saturday was week one of the ordeal. Matt had clipped coupons, studied the store ads, and planned out our course of action. We had 2 options for stores. The ghetto store wasn't in the running. Bacon and hotdogs were on sale at Stop and Shop. Shaws was cheaper for most everything else.

Shaws was our first stop. Halfway through Matt realized he couldn't hold coupons and drive the cart. He handed them to me, and deja vu where have you been for the last 7 years. I organized which coupons were worth it. I asked him what exactly he was going to use, and narrowed down the pile. Shopping sales and the few coupons Matt decided to use saved Matt $16. I saved $13 (Matt hogged most of the coupons, since he clipped them.)

That sounds like a pretty good savings. 15-year-old Emily would have been proud. Of course this wasn't my mom's typical shopping trip. Matt and I don't have 3 kids, and thousands of other things to do on a Saturday. Off we went to store number 2. Hi-ho-hi-ho it's off to Stop and Shop we go! (Dear Taylor Swift, I can write my own songs too. Does that mean I can win 4 Grammys?)

Stop and Shop was a much quicker ordeal. Matt had an actual list, something Mom never made unless she was sending Dad out, so we had 4 specific things that needed to be had from the good folks at Stop and Shop. I added string cheese to the list. I love string cheese. Checked out of Stop and Shop with a final count of Matt saving $13 (not sure how this number happened, because I think he only spent $11) and Emily saving $3.

We saved $42 combined. I was impressed, and exhausted. Shopping and shopping and shopping really isn't my idea of a good time. Saving enough money for a whole other shopping trip was definitely worth it. All I know is that yesterday, when I was scouring newspapers for errors for a class assignment, I took out all of the ads and started clipping coupons. There are a lot of uncertainties in the world we live in, but it's nice to know that every Sunday the coupons are in the paper and the world keeps spinning round.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Saturday, January 30, 2010

baby it's cold outside






When I was 15, maybe 16, I went skiing. Shockingly I wasn't half bad, and if it wasn't one of the most expensive hobbies known to man, it might have been a sport that I could have been half decent in. Anyway the most important part of this story is that I wore one pair of gloves. By lunch time my fingers hurt as they were thawing out, and by the time I was getting ready to leave they were puffy and retaining water. They went back to normal, and I assumed my flirting with frostbite was behind me. Turns out once you flirt with frostbite your fingers are never the same again. I need two pairs of gloves and once my hands start to get cold I'm in trouble. They hurt and ache and take a long while to warm up.

Living in Boston quite possibly aggrivates the situation. The windchill has been in the negatives every night and like I mentioned yesterday our house isn't really in the well insulated category. Once I've put on a few layers of shirts and pants there is really nothing left to do, but make something that will warm me up from the inside. Hot chocolate does an amazing job, and tea does too, now that I figured out that if I put it in a travel mug it will stay warmer longer. I know that seems a little bit of a silly thought, but how often do you consider using a travel mug in your house? I'm telling you, it will change your life.

A nice warm pot of potato soup will warm me up for days. I have been dreaming about it ever since my roommate from Oregon posted something on her facebook about it. Matt wanted to make steak for dinner last night, and I wanted soup. We pretty much had a three course meal. It was wonderful and terribly fancy. This soup is so easy and takes maybe 45 minutes to make.

Potato Soup and a warmer tummy:
2-3 slices of bacon – Fry them up in the pot you're going to make the soup in.
Remove the bacon. Add 3 medium potatos peeled and cubed, 2 stalks celery chopped, 2 medium carrots diced, 1 small onion diced, 1tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper.
Cook with a cup of water for 15 minutes. Combine 2 tbsp. flour with 2 cups milk. Add to potatoes. Heat until boils. Ok that's what the recipe says, but mom said to try not to let it boil, or it will form a skin. Crumble the bacon and serve on top.

This pot makes enough for a family of 5, or a few good meals for someone living on their own. My mom has tried to make it with turkey bacon and it just does not turn out nearly as good. The fat in the bacon really makes the soup. It's hardcore winter out there, which means think like an eskimo. Just replace the seal fat for bacon. Your world will be a happy place.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Coconut pudding, soup, and steak






Ever had a bad week? This week had no reason to be bad. I wasn't terribly busy. I didn't have a ton of homework. I did follow people I didn't know into my house Thursday night, but honestly, other than that freshman year flashback, everything was going according to plan.

And still I was exhausted. I was cranky, and I totally slammed my bedroom door to make everyone attending the party at my house know that I was not pro-party when I had to get up the next morning early. To make matters worse it was freezing outside, and inside because our windows were put in, in 1932. Oh and the best part of the entire week was when I emailed the head of maintenance to "remind" him that if he didn't fix the lightswitch for our bathroom and someone fell and hurt themselves, the management company would be held liable. I was just asking for someone to call me a bitch, because when it happened (I was pretty much counting on it happening.) I was going to smile and say, thank you, I work damn hard for that title.

The only cure for such a terrible case of an unexpected bad week is running away. Tembleque and potato soup and steak tonight have done their part as well. Tembleque is a coconut pudding that is served cold. I was never a fan of coconut growing up, it was a texture thing, but as an adult I can't get enough. One of Matt's favorite desserts is coconut cream pie. Any guesses where I run away to when I run away. He just gets me, and appreciates my need to be a bitch sometimes, emphasis on sometimes.

Here's the templeque recipe, trying it is a must!
1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt

Mix salt, sugar, and cornstarch in a saucepan. Add in the coconut milk. Turn the stove on medium. This is the tricky part. You want to bring the mixture to a boil, because it won't thicken till it boils. However if you bring it to a boil too quickly you'll end up with lumps that won't go away. Keep the stove at medium and stir constantly. You will see lumps, but a few are fine, because once the whole pot thickens the lumps will disappear. Keep it boiling until everything is smooth and thick, a pudding consistency. You can pour this into pretty much any mold. Tonight I poured it into a loaf pan. Wet the pan to make sure you'll be able to flip it out. Refrigerate till cool. Once it is cool, flip it out onto a plate and serve it.

While the templeque is amazing, adding a little toasted coconut to the top of it makes it even better. I put about a 1/4 cup of sugar, 2 cups of coconut, and 1 tbsp of butter into a frying pan. Fry till the coconut gets a little color. It's like candy. I was actually surprised at how good it turned out.

The soup, well you'll have to wait till the next post. I need to watch a few episodes of Sons of Anarchy and think about the homework I should be doing. Maybe I'll go grab a little more of that toasted coconut too.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Is there cat in this?


My parents have really good friends who they take trips with. It's adorable and very empty-nesty of them. All of their pictures of them with one of us kids on their hip or frazzled smiles and peanut butter on their outfit while on vacation are behind them. They miss us. They really do. On one of these aforementioned trips my parents ate at a buffet in Chinatown. My dad found some mystery meat and was over the buffet entirely. He called it cat, as a joke.

Turns out people in China still really do eat cat and what creeped me out even more was that they eat dog too. I guess the Chinese government decided that, like the foot wrapping tradition of years gone by, this whole pet eating thing needed to stop. Anyone caught eating dog or cat will be fined over $700 US and businesses selling dog or cat meat could face fines of over $7,000 US. That's a pretty hefty pricetag for eating a pooch.

Supposedly eating dog warms you up. I have heard the same about seal. Just looking at my little puppy warms me up inside, but I really can't imagine eating her. Cats were actually not eaten as regularly in China as most Chineses restaurant jokes would assume. Superstition it seems is the reason for this; cats are thought to come back and seek revenge. I kind of believe this. That adorable cat you see in my picture was probably plotting out his next leg that he would pad his claws into. Cats are sassy, sassy enough to seek revenge even after death.

The best part of the AOL Slash/Food blog that I read this information from is the comments left under it. My reaction to this post was: GO CHINA! You may have messed up with the whole blocking facebook from your citizens thing, but you definitely took the right step in banning dog and cat consumption.

Some people who commented went all but-this-is-a-cultural-tradition on the story. I just can't imagine dogs really being a worth-while sorce of meat and I know for a fact that most cats are not. Is Chinese culture really going to suffer from this loss? I have a feeling that would be a negative, and I know for a fact that if I was starving the goats would go first. The cat licks my toes and drools (it doesn't get much cuter or quirky than that) and the dog wakes me up with sloppy puppy kisses.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The free bagel I never ate


This story began yesterday. I was putzing around facebook and found an ad that said if you become a fan of Einstein Bros., you would get a coupon for a free bagel and cream cheese. Matt was coming up to chill with me today, so I was all OH YEAH I'll finally have something for us to do. I sent a message to Matt the second I saw the ad. BECOME A FAN, AND WE CAN RUN AROUND AND HAVE FUN TOMORROW!

The enthusiasm was almost alarming. I wasn't even sure how to handle it myself, and I was starting to get rather hungry for a bagel. There were not many Einstein Bros. in the Boston area. I found one at 725 Commonwealth Ave, plotted out the route using the T, and Matt and I headed out. We took the T to Boston University Central and started looking for the Einstein Bros. I could almost taste the cream cheese.

Bagels are such a tasty treat. As you may or may not remember Matt and I actually tried our hand at making our own bagels . I wish I had more time in my life, because those bagels were really quite the treat. According to Matt, Einstein Bros. made great bagels.

When we got off the T, Matt and I started walking. We were kind of just excited to be somewhere new, and it was not too cold out. Walking and walking and walking. Finally I looked up at the numbers on the building and asked Matt where this place was.

Matt - "The numbers are going down."
Me - "That's 881. The last one was 825."

I was hungry and the sun decided that it wasn't into shining and keeping me warm anymore. We walked between what was 800 Commonwealth Ave. and 600 Commonwealth Ave probably about 2 or 3 times. It felt like 23 times and I was getting cranky. I wanted a bagel. Is that really too much to ask? I became a fan, and I wanted a bagel! 725 Commonwealth Ave appeared to be a school of art for BU. Big cement building, no sign of bagels or warmth. Desperate, like I mean MATT I HATE THIS IDEA AND SOMEHOW IT IS TOTALLY YOUR FAULT desperate, we walked into a dining area that seemed to have Starbucks and Jamba Juice and those kind of places in it. A girl handed me a flyer for some BU event, but still no bagels.

Dejected and feeling like a total failure for coming up with a plan that wasted 2 hours and resulted in two crabby people and no bagels, we got back on the T and headed home. Matt, feeling hopeful, suggested we try to get our free bagels when I went down to Providence this weekend. It turns out that there are no Einstein Bros. near Providence, and the one we couldn't find in Boston was in the basement of that cement building. I don't think either of us wanted to talk about said bagel place for a good long time. I was over it!

I have always been skeptical about anything that is free. Normally there are strings attached. Today I felt like there was a hardcore web involved. Thankfully dinner worked out as planned. I bought a pork roast that needed to be sold pronto. It was marked down a few dollars. I froze it immediately. I bought a packet of onion soup mix and poured it into the crockpot, added two cups of water, defrosted the pork roast, threw it in, and turned it on high. Three hours and a pot of rice later and we had a wonderful dinner. Our plates were cleared and our tummies were full. Today's life lesson: when you can't have your free bagel you earned, make pot roast and move on.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Monday, January 25, 2010

There's salmonella in my salami

While those two things sound kind of cute together the result is not so cute. If you have been reading this blog for long, you know that I have strong opinions about people getting upset about salmonella chicken. Chickens are dirty; cook the meat. Unfortunately when my mom bought salami for our sandwiches for lunch (my brother went through a hard salami phase and I think we might have had salami sandwiches for a good two years straight because of it), she could not know or fix the lunchmeat if it was contaminated with salmonella.

It appears that the contaminated salami was sold in Costco, so no one in Rhode Island had the chance to get sick. I am almost proud of my little state of Rhode Island. I mean way to keep Rhode Islanders safe, by not selling your product to them. I am not so sure this was the Daniele Inc.'s purpose; either way they now have a multi-state mess on their hands.

According to the Providence Journal, 184 people in 38 states have gotten sick from the contaminated salami since July. That's a lot of people. It is rather unfortuante in the food industry that this kind of thing takes so long to float to the surface. The problem is most people are ok with 24 hour stomach bugs. The problem with that is that there is no such thing as a 24 hour stomach bug. In almost every case it is food poisoning. People hardly think of food poisoning, and when they do, they hardly go back to the company to complain about the issue. I totally get that part. My dad was food poisoned by Panera Bread. He does not want to step even in the direction of that place again. Violently throwing up all night does that to you.

The Daniele Inc. seems to think the salmonella is in the pepper, because it was only found in the peppered salami. I can't help but wonder how salmonella got in the pepper. I suppose it will be one of those food mysteries. You know like why that guy with the peanut plant shipped out those salmonella contaminated nuts. This world is full of crazies, and I'm glad my brother is over his hard salami phase.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Pastry people

I am a pastry person. You can call me a dough ho, a sugar slut, or a brownie bitch; but I probably would look at you and ask," really that's all you got? The meatheads from JWU (pronounced j-woooo) were way more creative than that." I could live on bread, and chocolate is a severe addiction. I admit it, so I'm thinking that meetings are unnecessary.

I, of course, have wonderful friends who are culinary people. They get all hot and bothered over sauces and bok choy and beef tips. I love these people. They make my life complete, in the most foodie-sense it can be. I am just sadly not one of them. I love to make good food, but I just don't have a real passion for it. Recreating a recipe is about the distance I'll go, and since Matt gets all hot and bothered when I make cheesesteaks I don't really have to ever run a marathon.

This weekend I stayed in Boston and got my pastry people fix. My friend Kate and her roommate Evan were both pastry majors at JWU. Evan has a Kitchen Aid stand mixer that makes me drool every time I see it. When I spent Halloween with them, there were red velvet cupcakes with icing that looked like an eye in their fridge. Now that is what, after the first week of Emerson, my life needs.

Kate and I spent most of Friday night figuring out how to put together this apron kit she bought. It was honestly adorable, but the directions were in a different language. Ok they weren't technically in a different language, if you understand what "clip, turn, and topstich" means, you probably would have been a useful addition to our Friday night escapades. Instead of really thinking about the pattern, we resorted to the uber-mature method of me singing out "clip, turn, and topstich" and Kate bending over on the floor laughing. This kind of fun Friday night doesn't come around every weekend, and it is absolutely and understandably ok to be jealous.

Saturday morning Kate and I made pancakes. She had been telling me all about these buttermilk pancakes that she made at home and I was of course all for a re-creation. She had powdered buttermilk that had the recipe on it, but we had bought real buttermilk.

Flashback to breads class: When using fresh yeast, leave out the extra water needed to bloom the yeast.

I think you can guess what we did to the pancakes. I saw Kate putting water into the pancakes and wondered why the pancakes would need water in them, since we were putting real buttermilk in the recipe; it was Kate's kitchen so I kept my mouth shut. The pancake batter turned out a tad bit liquidy, so what did we decide would be the perfect solution - Add more flour! Talk about a flashback to breads class. I think I resorted to this method many times, and it worked most of the time. It didn't work when some idiot in my group left the yeast out, when she was supposed to mise-en-place (get everything together) the day before; but that's a totally different story.

Our pancakes were not as fluffy as Kate had hoped. We added about a cup of chocolate chips to each pancake, so in the end it was a total success. After leaving Kate's apartment, I thought to myself how much I laugh when I'm hanging out with her. I think it's because we both get hopped up on chocolate, but we're pastry people. It's what we do best.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Wall Street Journal - Chocolate Edition

In case you are the last person to know (You were probably up late waiting on the Massachusetts senate race results; I understand.), Cadbury was finally sold to Kraft foods. AND it wasn't a cheap deal. Kraft must think the $19.1 billion is worth it. Those Cadbury eggs are pretty darn good, and it's almost easter, so they'll make all of that back in no time. Well maybe not in no time; that's kind of like saying winter will be over in no time. Boy wouldn't that be nice!

Turns out Cadbury makes more than those yummy eggs that line the shelves at Easter. They have strange looking candy bars and gum too! (You really have to check this out. http://www.cadbury.com/OURBRANDS/Pages/Ourbrand.aspx I think I want to fly to England and roam their factory. If you want to donate to Emily's Cadbury fund, feel free.)

From all my snooping I really have been impressed by Cadbury's web presence and openness about the deal with Kraft. They have every offer and all of their statements in podcasts, slides, press releases, and documents. Maybe they stuffed a bunch of computer nerds in a room with only cadbury eggs to eat till they finished everything. I would pay to have been one of those nerds, probably not $19.1 billion; but I would pay!

I tried a Ritter Sports Bar for the first time ever yesterday. I was quite impressed. I mean it's not a Cadbury egg, but it was good chocolate, creamy, not waxy. They are a little more expensive than my Hersheys bars, but definitely worth a treat every now and then.

While we're on the subject of chocolate, I would like to speak for two seconds on Valentines Day. You'll be hearing a lot more about this subject, but here is just a teaser. When buying chocolate, don't always go for expensive chocolate. Expensive chocolate can be extremely tasty, but there has to be something amazing about it to warrant the cost. Find me hot chili pepper truffles and I'll pay good money for them. Know your girlfriend or boyfriend's chocolate preference. One day someone gave me dark chocolate. I was not friends with that person for long. I'm going to get called out for this, but a majority of men like dark chocolate while a majority of women like milk chocolate. You know your partner better than me, but I'm warning you giving a milk chocolate girl dark chocolate is kind of like handing her a bag of dog poo. No one wants to eat dog poo.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

This one's for the tacos

Sunday night Glen Bell Jr. passed away. I know his name by heart now, because I have been trying to write this post since then. Glen Bell Jr. was the founder of Taco Bell. I have been having so much trouble writing this post, because I am not a fan of Taco Bell. I think their meat tastes like paste and talk about salt; Taco Bell uses salt like it's going out of style.

Those are not the things one really should put in a post about the poor guy dying. I mean this guy was probably a great guy. He brought Mexican food into the daring world of fast food. There aren't many fast food chains that have made it big time. Most Americans could name all of them pretty easily. Taco Bell wasn't another burger joint. They were something new. Yes they may use meat paste and a lot of salt, but one guy saw a need and filled it. Way to go Glen, way to go!

Ok now that was nice and kind, so I have to say something about Taco Bell. Please pardon me Mr. Bell Jr., for just a moment while I rant.

I think it was about 2 weeks ago that I saw the ad. I honestly thought it was a joke. Healthy and Taco Bell seemed super silly. McDonalds added salads a few years back and Wendys followed. Thankfully they got over it. They still sell salads, but I don't know of many people that see those salads as truly healthy options. It's just a silly thing to even think.

Well Taco Bell has decided to create a Drive-Thru diet. I don't know what marketing group created the name of this "diet" or even thought of something this ridiculous. When Glen Bell Jr. started Taco Bell, I don't think he ever thought his concept would lead to diet foods. It is almost as ridiculous as the Subway diet. Dear Jared, eating subs every day is not at all good for you. Let's be honest eating anything fast food related every day is probably not good for you.

Diets are everywhere right now. Everyone is trying to lose a few pounds and most food related companies are trying to get business by making customers think that their food will be the thing that will wipe away the pounds. It's all about money. Well Taco Bell after the loss of your founding father, I think it's time to give up on the diet scheme, go retro like Pepsi, and bring back that chihuaha. Those really were the best commercials; they even made me want to grab some meat paste for lunch.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Pancake Showdown

In this corner we have Matthew Schaffer, amateur cook and 26 year old guy who is always trying to save a little bit of money. And in the other corner we have Emily, with a pastry degree from Johnson & Wales University and at times an overly large ego about her cooking abilities.

The battle: pancakes! You know those sometimes fluffy, sometimes oily, hopefully done in the middle morning foods. Matt and I don't often battle it out over food. Let's be honest I would win and he would be sad, or he would win and I would be furious. Either way it doesn't sound too fun. It's just that Matt and pancakes weren't getting along.

I think it was probably about 2 weeks ago that Matt told me he bought pancake mix and messed up the pancakes. It was an epic fail according to him. Seriously concerned I thought to myself, how does someone mess up box pancakes. It would be kind of like saying, I made box brownies and they turned out awful. Ummm if that's the case you should be banned from ever stepping into a kitchen again. Anyway I listened to Matt's story two days in a row of how he made the mix and it got messed up. It kind of sounded like they were sticking, and I was having a few good laughs over the situation.

When I flew into Providence yesterday, I had two goals. The first goal was to go grocery shopping so I wouldn't starve once I got to Boston and the second goal was to teach Matt how to make pancakes. Well there was one other minor goal of surprising Matt with my new haircut, but he didn't notice it until I told him, I CHOPPED OFF HALF MY HAIR! I'm beginning to think his pancakes abilities are the least of my worries.

This morning was d-day. We were going to make pancakes. I, being the overly cocky expert pancake maker that I am, poured some oil into his pan. It was actually way too much oil and I had to pour some out, but who is paying attention to little details like that. I heat up the oil in the pan and pour in some pancake mix. It sizzles just right and looks good. I grab the spatula to flip it and DISASTER. Even with 1/8 inch of oil coating the entire bottom of the pan the pancakes were sticking.

Dude your pans suck! No now was not the appropriate time to discuss the quality of his pans. Should I have played fair and admitted that his mishaps might have been the pan and not his lack of pancake skills? YES! Did I? NO WAY JOSE! I managed to be tough with the pan and create some half decent pancakes. They weren't perfectly shaped or remotely pretty, but they were edible. And that was with a pastry degree. I can imagine why he said he was about to give up on pancakes. His pan was just awful.

There is one light at the end of this dark pancake tunnel. I think I have convinced Matt to buy a nonstick pan. Just one nice frying pan. When that happens, I will hopefully be able to show Matt once and for all why I laughed so hard when he said he couldn't make pancakes. THEY ARE LIKE THE EASIEST THINGS IN THE WHOLE WORLD!

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Thursday, January 14, 2010

There are bakers and then...

And then there are people like my sister who couldn't follow a recipe if her life depended on it. She cooks a lot, and normally does a decent job. Baking just isn't her thing. She decided that she would be the one to make my birthday cake. I was a little skeptical, but who am I to judge.

*side story* One day I handed my sister a recipe for no-bake cookies. You know the peanut butter chocolaty delicious things that taste like fudge. Anyway I told her it was easy just follow the recipe. Next thing I know I hear the KitchenAid going and I think to myself, you don't use a blender to make that recipe. No you don't, but she did. She poured all of the ingredients into a bowl, and turned the mixer on. No bake, no fuss, just mix. The oatmeal that is supposed to cook and bind the cookies together blended into a flour and the cookies were rather interesting to say the least. *end side story*

I came out while my sister was starting to measure out the dry ingredients for the cake. She was putting all of the ingredients in a bowl. This is a perfectly fine step, but we do have a KitchenAid mixer (after the no-bake cookies disaster we obviously know she knows how to use it) and the lovely thing about the chocolate cake recipe is that you can throw all of the ingredients in and just mix. I suggested the mixer and she said she was doing it her way. I let it go.

"Emily!" I was waiting for it. Well I didn't want to be waiting for it, but I hadn't heard the KithenAid at all, so it was coming. There in the bowl were all of the ingredients for the cake. It looked pretty gross and unmixed. I grabbed a whisk and fixed it and asked once again why she didn't use the KitchenAid.

What is a cake without icing? Well I figured if she didn't want to use the mixer for the cake, she would definitely use it for the frosting. Oh no! She puts the peanut butter in a bowl, and looks at me.

"I will not fix frosting by hand!"

Oh the huffing and puffing that went on as she put it into the bowl for the KitchenAid and started blending. The end result: well it was kind of thick. I told her to put it on the hot cake and hopefully it would melt down a little. No that is not official advice, but baking with my sister brings out the worst in me.

Tonight my mom, sister, and I are going to friends to celebrate my birthday and eat a lot of cake. While it doesn't look like the Cake Boss would approve of it, the cake my sister made should taste pretty good. For all of you non-bakers out there, I hope you leave your baking to a professional. It's just safer in the long run.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

I kind of like salt

So the city of New York is at it again. Last time they said no more trans fat. It was a pretty big blow to the restaurant industry in the city. I remember being at cooking school at the time and everyone being up in arms about the repercussions. Shockingly Americans are still fat even though they can't get trans fatty filled foods in New York City. Well now the city has decided that controlling salty foods is a good idea. They are asking food manufacturers and restaurants to cut 25% of the salt content out of their food.

I am all for healthier eating, but when the government starts to push healthier eating I have to wonder. I guess the real question is, is this working. Did the ban on trans fats really make the people of NYC and everyone who visited NYC healthier?

I don't think anyone really knows, but what we do know is that Americans are still fat. It's kind of like someone who smokes. Back in the 1950s smoking was considered perfectly fine. There wasn't a million studies and plenty of proof that smoking caused lung cancer. Today we know all of this stuff and charge $8 a pack for cigarettes that are full of warning labels (you are going to kill yourself if you consume this product), but people still smoke. All of that government intervention really didn't do very much.

Going out to McDonalds every day to eat a big mac and fries will kill you just as fast as cigarettes will. If you didn't know that already, then I'm sorry to bust your bubble. Oh and the tooth fairy isn't real, but your mom was very adept at getting the tooth out and the money under your pillow. Go mom!

I love salt. I love salty foods. If you can't appreciate a good salty potato chip, then you probably have no taste buds. By using salt like sea salt, which has more of that salty flavor, you can use less salt without over dosing on sodium. Processed foods are high in sodium no matter how you cut it. By making food yourself, you will use probably half the salt and never know the difference. You might even notice that you don't feel the need to chug a gallon of water after eating it. The government isn't going to make Americans healthier; Americans are going to have to make Americans healthier by making smarter choices.

I am a big sweet and salty fan and all of this salt talk is making me hungry for some of that chocolate bar I got for my birthday. Thank goodness my friend did not just send a "Call me" note. It's almost 10 am, which is obviously the perfect time for some morning chocolate. And for the record, the day of the city of New York decides that all chocolate should have 25% less sugar in it, will be the day I take part in that right to peacefully protest or not so peacefully. No one messes with my right to eat chocolate that taste good.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Happy Birthday to me


That there in the picture was my 21 year old self. Happy goofy carefree, guys, those were the days. Today at 6 pm I turn 22. The highlight of my day was going bra shopping at Walmart and going with my mom to her therapy appointment. Well really the highlight of my day was watching the man fix my computer, but a birthday should have many highlights right?

Monday I promised my chocolate cake with peanut butter icing recipe. It really is a staple at any of our birthday celebrations. I suggest you make this recipe pronto. I am told I will not be getting my cake till tomorrow. There are times when I just feel the love.

Moist Chocolate Cake
2 cups of Flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cups of cocoa
2 cups of sugar
1 and 3/4 cups of oil
1 cup of hot coffee
1 cup of milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Pour all of the dry ingredients into a bowl or mixer. Mix. Add oil, coffee, and milk. Mix till smooth. Make sure there isn't a pocket of dry ingredients at the bottom of the bowl. Add the vanilla and eggs one at a time. Mix well. Pour into a greased 13x9 inch pan. Bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes. Test with a toothpick.

Peanut Butter Icing
Ok I don't really use a recipe for this, but here's the basics. 1/4 cup of peanut butter. 1/4 cup of butter. Blend. Add a couple tablespoons of milk and some confectionery sugar. Here's the part I never keep track of. You add the confectionery sugar till it's the consistency of icing. If it gets too hard add some more milk. If it starts to taste a little too sweet, add some more peanut butter. Simple, a breeze, and normally a great idea to liven up a chocolate cake.

"It all leads back to bras in life." Some things never change in life. Like I said earlier I went bra shopping with my mom and sister. I came home with two bras, tried them on, and now I am back to square one. Mara and mom ended up with two more bras and all of the other stuff they found. This would be the reason that, when someone is foolish enough to ask me to marry them, I will be taking numbers on people who want to come dress shopping with me. If I take theses two, they'll end up with dresses and I won't.

22 seems rather old to me. I remember when I was little and was going to be married with 2 kids by the time I was 22. Now I just wish I could go back to being 16 and making my brother, sister, mom, and dad chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. Ok enough whining. It's time for me to go and examine my old bras before my mom and sister convince me that we need another shopping trip tomorrow. I'm really thinking the ones I have could last till I can shop alone again. You need to go make some cake or cupcakes. Someone should enjoy some cake on my birthday!

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Monday, January 11, 2010

Out with a bang

In honor of my last few days as a careless 21 year old, my computer screen went completely black. It was still performing its normal functions; it just decided it needed a little bit of privacy, so I was not allowed to be involved. Considering that my entire life was somewhere encoded inside the newly self-conscious machine, I called Dell. Well actually I called India, because as you might already know Dell ships all of its calls out to India. I have met some very nice Indian people in my 21 years of life; however I have never spoken to a nice Indian when trying to deal with a problem with Dell. The last time I called Dell I had an Indian man tell me to go get a soda while he took extra long to process my order. I emailed the highest executive's email I could find and made sure that they understood that Puna or Unjab or whatever his name was should be fired. Mean? Irrational? A little over-dramatic? Oh yes I was all of those things and more. I am just not very fond of the Indian snarkyness I am normally greeted with when I call about a computer emergency.

Patricia-but-you-can-call-me-Pat did nothing to change my views. She told me to watch my computer for two days after installing something and then letting her know if there was still a problem. Oh yes because I had time for that. I NEED MY COMPUTER TO BREATHE PROPERLY LADY; I LIVE IN AMERICA, NOT INDIA!!! Poor poor Patricia-but-you-can-call-me-Pat. Luckily enough she caught on about the fifth time she silenced me when my computer was thinking and I yelled HELLO HELLO ARE YOU THERE? I really had nothing new to tell her, but I think she got the message that I was an annoying American and should be given what I want. Mission Accomplished! Now I am waiting for an American to come and pretty much replace my whole computer. Well it might not be an American, but if Patricia-but-you-can-call-me-Pat shows up I might allow my computer's self-conscious tendencies to persist for a while longer.

As if the computer was not enough, this morning I found out that I should have sent in my drivers license renewal out 3 weeks ago so I could get my picture taken before I left. Now I get to go into the place and cry to them and beg them to let me take my picture, because I can't get on the plane without my drivers license renewed. AND I tried to get a prescription refilled at Walmart, but the woman thought that a prescription that was from June 2009 and had 3 more refills expired after a year and a year, according to her, was January 1st 2010. What is wrong with this picture? Maybe I should call up Patricia-but-you-can-call-me-Pat. I bet she'd have a thrilling commentary on the situation.

So now I am computerless, one day late taking my prescription, and in the last few days of my careless 21s I wasted 2 hours talking to India. There is however one bright note. I received a package today from a very good friend. I am hoping that she hasn't forgotten my love/need of chocolate and has included a giant bar of Hersheys chocolate bar as she has done with all of my gifts since I met her during my Oregon excursion. Of course she might have just sent me a package with a letter in it that says "WHERE ARE YOU?" I would probably deserve that gift more since I have been horrible and have disappeared from most of my friends since I have been home. Please help it be a chocolate bar!

In all honesty 21 was not a careless year at all. I have a feeling 22 won't be either. The solution: stock up on chocolate like it's Y2K and the green bean aisle has already been emptied. Tomorrow I'll post the chocolate cake with peanut butter icing recipe. It may not be your birthday Wednesday, but I am sure you could use a little treat. Make cupcakes and freeze some, so you can pretend its your birthday all through the winter months.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Warning: Hope you've already eaten dinner



I was sitting in the airport for a long while yesterday. Delta there are times when I wonder how you function on a daily basis. One more shout out to Southwest and then I'm done whining.

Anyway all of this airport lingering made for an abundance of HLN viewing in the terminal. Somewhere between the story about the 5 story icicle in Philly and oh-my-goodness it's cold in South Dakota story, they ran this PSA ad. The soda industry is not happy about the ad. Holy nose-cicles batman! I personally wanted to throw up watching it. There is something about fatty substances that aren't crispy and pork like that kind of makes me want to vomit.

The message of this ad is very important. I am in a constant battle against soda. It's not that I am not a big fan of Coca Cola, because I am. I am just against the daily consumption of such products. I was never raised with soda in the house. We had soda when we had pizza or family over, and whatever was left over normally didn't get used up. A glass of soda equaled a sweet. I could have 3 cookies instead of that glass of soda.

Water, juice, TEA, there are so many other liquids worth consuming. I won't judge if you're a coffee lover. There is just nothing redemptive about soda. You might as well be drinking glasses of fat.

As a treat I think soda is a very wonderful thing. Think of it as dessert. Most people don't have it every day, and in small portions it is rather tasty. Speaking of desserts, my birthday is coming up. I'm thinking chocolate cake with peanut butter icing.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Thursday, January 7, 2010

So this is what food poisoning looks like


Fried chicken and grits may sound like good ideas. They may seem super tasty. Well I can't say grits ever seemed super tasty to me, but I was looking forward to some good Southern food. Bob you can come looking for my mom; we're leaving for tomorrow and yes we're in the South.

Anyway on this trip I came to the very real understanding that I don't like some of this Southern food that I was so excited about. The fried green tomatoes kind of tasted like fried green pickles. The gravy on the mashed potatoes I ate yesterday tasted like creamy salt. I am all buttered out and I didn't even get to Paula Dean's restaurant.

I may have just eaten at the worst places in the South. It is possible that these fried green tomatoes you are looking at are just an awful example of true Southern food. I really don't know. I do know that I was raised on food that was normally not fried in oil and, while my mother was a big salt fan, did not taste like salt water. My theory is that I was just not raised to like Southern food. I was raised to appreciate good food and maybe the places I ate over vacation just weren't A+ restaurants. It is possible. All I know is that I was not a fan.

No one was a fan of the tomatoes my sister took a lovely picture of. Uncle Bud felt sick first, then me and then everyone else admitted to feeling a little nauseous. Food poisoning? I really don't like making harsh statements without reasoning, and no one was violently ill, just bad tummy aches.

Tomorrow we leave the frigid South and head back to the frigid Pennsylvania. I am not really sure what I will like better, but I can say that I will be happy to be eating normal food again. I think salads for a good week might bring my body back to life.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Bacon and Shrimp...I must be on vacation


The one thing I look forward to on vacation is eating some good food. I mean I try to eat good food on a regular basis, but on vacation I try extra hard to eat good food. Today we went out to lunch and dinner. Breakfast was continental at the place we are staying.

I know a lot of people who are not fans of the bagel and cereal and fruit continental breakfast, but when it's free can you really be upset about it. My problem with these breakfasts is that I always pick a bagel and I always wait for 5 years by the toaster. Yeah I know it sounds like a personal problem to me too. Maybe I'll go for cereal tomorrow. When do I ever get the chance to eat cocoa crispies. Did I mention I try not to eat very healthy on vacation?

I was fairly hungry by the time lunch came around and cold. Yes you can narrow our vacation location to the East coast, because the entire East Coast is blanketed in frigid temperatures. Oh Global warming, how lovely you look right about now. Hungry and cold meant I wanted something comforting and fatty for lunch. We ate at a fish place, but I was not into fish, so I went for the BLT. This place appeared to do a BLT right. I mean look at all of that bacon. It sure was tasty, and it was the good crispy bacon that really isn't chewy. Chewy bacon is hard to eat in a sandwich. I normally eat half the bacon in one bite, because it all falls out of the sandwich.

After such a hit at lunch, I was a little worried about dinner. One can only pick the perfect meal choice so many times before they pick a dud. We went to The Bonefish Grill, and were told by the expert (Uncle Bud) that the Bang Bang Shrimp tacos were amazing. Taking his advice seemed like the most reasonable option. Aside from being bothered by the annoyingly calm way the waitstaff talked, the food was amazing. The tacos were a little spicy, but the flavor was wonderful. They were breaded from what I could tell and then tossed in the "Bang Bang" sauce. It was sweet and spicy with tropical flavors. It definitely had the creaminess of coconut milk, and there was a tang like pineapple.

The tacos were accompanied by homemade potato chips. It was great, because when the tacos became too spicy, you could just eat the chips. I am a little bothered that they taught their waitstaff to talk in calming soothing voices and that they wore white chef coats. Sometimes you can look beyond some of these things in order to eat some bangin tacos. Oh yeah you knew it was coming.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily

Monday, January 4, 2010

This is why I fly Southwest

Flying can be a lovely experience. It can also be a horrid experience. When I fly Southwest Airlines, which is probably 6 or so times a year, I have lovely experiences. I get on, I fall asleep, sometimes I wake up for the free peanuts, and then I walk off singing their praises.

Today my family and I were traveling for vacation. I would tell you where we were going, but my mom's a psychologist and I'd rather not have any What About Bob moments. Speaking of What About Bob, that has to be one of my favorite movies of all time, and I really hope you go out right now and find it somewhere. Just buy it. It really is a classic.

Anyway we were flying Delta Airlines and I was gearing up for a long day. I packed snacks, because I am not one to go without food. I pack food when I go to certain friends. You know those people who don't ever offer you food and never eat snacks. They appear to never eat at all. Freaks of nature! I don't go to the great extent of not being friends with these non-eating people, but I come prepared.

I assumed my purse full of goodies would hold us through the long day. Little did I know Delta Airlines sucked at life. I don't normally give this kind of review for something that tries so hard to bring me to a fun destination, but seriously Delta should have a -5 star rating.

First we have to walk out onto the tar mat because the plane is the smallest one they could find. I think some kids got larger toy planes for Christmas. We were of course in the last aisle of the plane. The temperature back there was probably 102 degrees. I don't know why.

This was just our first flight. The snowy scene we arrived at after the 102 degree ride made me thankful for all things frosty. I kind of wanted to bask in the coldness. It was ridiculous.

We had a little bit of a layover before our next flight, so we went to find something to eat. Many of the snacks had already been consumed. Quiznos was a surprisingly pleasant option at the airport. I honestly have never tried Quiznos. I have of course seen their "mmm mmm mmm mmm toasty" commercials. Mara and I split a large Italian, which I did not let them toast. Anyone who likes Italian hoagies toasted needs to get their head examined. Those meats just taste so much better cold.

The little bit of the layover came and went and we weren't boarding the plane. Supposedly there was a crew member who we were waiting on. Don't they have to show up on time for the plane to take off??? Yeah I know I thought they did too. Turns out that they don't. We were delayed an hour, because the flight attendant was called in and had to drive 2 and a 1/2 hours to get to the airport. I may be going out on a limb here, but shouldn't a large company like Delta Airlines have a better system to get their employees on time for flights. No, because Delta Airlines sucks!

Southwest Airlines has flight attendants that sing to you while getting you to your destination on time or early. My family started calling me a Southwest commercial after about the 15th time of me saying that on Southwest Airlines would have never had this problem. When we finally got on the airplane, we were all of the way in the back of an equally tiny plane. Within about 15 minutes our seat area was 102 degrees again. The flight attendant, who had been late, was pleasant, which was a plus; but definitely did not get Delta out of the doghouse with me.

We did make it safely to our destination. We found some dinner, and now I'm relaxing with my dad and sister watching Mythbusters. It's not 102 degrees and I am not crammed in a tiny plane. Life is good. Matt called me to find out about the trip. I told him about the flight situation, and he says "That's why you fly Southwest." If there was any question, this is why I'm in love with this man.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily