I bought this at Oakville Grocery in... Oakville, CA (Napa County). This 'ambiguous meat on a stick' was only $2 but it tasted like I should have paid at least $6.50 for it. Why are some of our favorite things so often the most basic..?
- Dave Koch
We ran out of tortillas last night but had bread and all the fixin's for fajitas.
So I made a Toastada...
- Dave Koch
So the New Year brings resolutions; be it more exercise or a diet, many people make some sort of plan to be more healthy - and it is becoming more common of late to begin everything with a detox.
I first heard of this water, maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper fast more than ten years ago when I caught a friend of mine consuming huge amounts of the mixture.
Stanley Burroughs is attributed to inventing the fast in as early as the 1950's, commonly called "The Lemonade Diet," which he published in his book The Master Cleanser
Recently, a friend of mine, Flora Lels, completed what I can only imagine were five grueling days of a fast on the lemonade diet. Way to go Flora, five days! Lord only knows that I would have only lasted until dinner time.
Here is a short interview:
"It's cayenne, maple syrup, lemon juice, and water, right?
Yes, that is the recipe, although its very important that you buy grade B maple syrup, which has less sugar and more nutrients than your average pancake syrup. Also fresh squeezed lemon juice is key too. The mixture is mostly water, for a 1 liter batch, you put in 6 tablespoons of syrup, 6 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper, the rest is water. The syrup I used I got at www.neerasupercleanse.com.
Where did you hear about this?I'd been thinking about doing this a few years ago and then read about it again in a magazine and thought, no better time to kick off a cleanse than the beginning of the new year.
Any brands you recommend?Yes, www.neerasupercleanse.com.
How much of it do you end up drinking during a typical day?
I made a big 1 liter batch in the morning and usually drank that by the afternoon. I just sipped it over the course of the day. No schedule. Then I would make another batch and drank about 1/2 liter the rest of the afternoon and evening. So in total I drank about 50 ounces a day,+/-.
Do you mix it up the same way each time? Or, do you say, "I'm going to make this one spicy this time." Or, "I'm going to make this one really sour..."
Towards the end I found I liked it with more lemon juice, so I would add an extra lemon to the mix. Other than that I kept the recipe fairly consistent.
What's the hardest part? The hunger? The monotony?The hunger the first two days was hard. By the fourth day I was not hungry at all and felt a huge spike in my energy level. I could have gone on the cleanse longer, but I was too bored! I didn't have the energy to work out. I couldn't meet friends or family for dinner or drinks, so the monotony of your schedule and only being able to drink the mixture gets really boring!
Are you losing weight? Or, only the will to live?I lost weight, but not sure how much as I didn't weigh myself before and after. I did this more for the cleansing/detox benefits , not necessarily to lose weight. But I wouldn't mind shedding a few pounds, which I did!
Is your hair starting to fall out?Hair didn't fall out, actually looks shinier and healthier than before I kicked off the cleanse.
Any weird side effects? Hallucinations?No weird side affects except the first 3 days I had a dull headache which drove me crazy. Especially since the cleanse prohibits any use of ibuprofen or anything. I'm not sure if this was a hunger headache or due to caffeine withdrawals but that went away by day 3 thank goodness!
People said I would hallucinate and get dizzy, never really happened to me. One thing that is odd is a white/yellowish coating will appear on your tongue by about the 2nd day. Apparently that is a sign you're detoxing. Needless to say I did a lot of brushing my teeth and brushing my tongue!
(Bear with me, but I have to know) Do you stop having, you know, movements, after a while?Yes, bowel movements slow down by day 2. Then its more diarrhea if you know what I mean. I forgot, the cleanse also prescribes a salt flush each morning, which is drinking a liter of warm water mixed with two teaspoons of sea salt. You drink it as soon as you wake up - the whole liter, and basically within 20 minutes, you're going number 2.
This is when they say the toxins are really coming out of you. I did the salt flush every morning and I (you asked!!!!) had diarrhea or loose stools each time like clock work. Oh the Neera Super Cleanse also comes with a laxative tea that you drink at night to also help clean out your system that I drank each evening.
Anything else?
I have to say, I definitely feel better, healthier and more energetic since I finished, so I recommend this to anyone who thinks they need to jump start a healthier pattern in their diet/lifestyle. My skin is clearer and my hair looks shinier too.
I'm much more conscious about what I'm putting into my body, eating a lot more fruits and vegetables than before I started, which is a great benefit. I plan on doing a 5 day cleanse at least once a year."
A few years ago when My lovely wife, Amy, went to Culinary School I bought her Bacon Bandages to mend her inevitable scrapes and slices. I saw them first in Saveur's 'The 100' issue and bought them from Archie McPhee. Recently, I checked out Archie's website and was amazed at the plethora of bacon-related wares. I don't know what to buy first...
Lastly, the Original Bacon & Eggs Bandage Assortment
- Dave Koch
There has been a plethora of media coverage on saving money lately and of particular interest to us is going out on the cheap. Here are some websites we've found to help you get out more, without having to break the piggy bank:
Don't forget to check your local newspaper's website to see if they have a related newsletter on fun, cheap, and/or kid related activities. Sometimes, that's the only place things will turn up.
- Dave Koch
I hate raw food, in theory. It's so boring! There's so much you can do with a carrot, for example; just think of the myriad methods of heat application. Intersect that with fat, spices, herbs, and the oh-so-powerful edible rock! Add some sauce! A carrot needn't be just a carrot.
But I never cease contradicting myself. I love fresh food, often raw, often alone. Have you ever driven through Gilroy during the garlic festival? How fantastic! And I almost called that boring! Still in the dirt and miles away, the powerful, alluring aroma wafts through the car windows.
What about sashimi? What was only yesterday (or today!) thrashing vibrantly through the open ocean, fighting long and hard for its life, only to flop to the deck of a boat and ended up between chop sticks. The deep red flesh of ahi is like no other; the fresh, clean scent and the firm, yet delicate texture tantalizes the senses.
And what about the oyster? I will leave that description to MFK Fisher who, as a young girl, experienced the oyster of a lifetime. Her lifetime has since expired, but her oyster remains fresh, crisp, immortal. And solitary.
Wild strawberries. Grapes from the vine. Fresh-caught trout. Apples from the tree. Often best unaccompanied, these are not boring. And the carrot. Sweet, crisp, orange flesh. When picked at the right time it is a juicy root inspiring uncontrollable salivation. I love the carrot.
Cannellini with Pork and Rosemary, from epicurious.com.
While the roasted tomatoes were good, you could live without them if you wanted to cut out a step.
Chipotle Chicken Rice Soup (I renamed it), also from epicurious.com. I skipped the sweet potatoes because there was so much stuff in it, I didn't think it needed anything else. Also, I didn't use the tortillas, just corn chips to top it. You could also use premade stock/broth and poach then shred chicken parts if you didn't want to make the stock from scratch and/or use a whole bird. Basically, the secret is the blender chipotle mush - you could add that to any soup for some spicy flavor!
I was eating some peanuts and looked at the list of ingredients; I was amazed to find 13 of them!
"Peanuts, salt, sugar, cornstarch, monosodium glutamate (flavor enhancer), gelatin, corn syrup solids, dried yeast, paprika, onion and garlic powders, spices, natural flavor."
After all of those that are listed, it makes me wonder what they be calling 'spices' or 'natural flavor' - my imagination runs amok.
The myriad ingredients; however entertaining they are, do not take the cake for the most amusing piece of information on the label, it's what is printed directly below them:
"CONTAINS: PEANUT."
Thanks for the heads-up.
- Dave Koch
I recently started listening to Evan Kleiman's podcast of her radio show Good Food on Los Angeles' KCRW and I'm loving it. On the 1/7/2009 episode, she and her guest Toby Cecchini discuss drinking vinegars. He mentions a Thai restaurant in Portland called Pok Pok that serves up a selection of them; and he calls his first one "the first adult-tasting, non-alcoholic beverage I had ever had."
Toby wrote an article about it in the NY Times last November that can be found here. He details making "shrubs" using fruit and unpasteurized, unfiltered commercial vinegar to start it - like the commonly found brand Bragg.
You begin making a shrub by (1) macerating fruit, (2) adding the vinegar, and (3) storing covered at room temperature for a week. The top to your container must allow oxygen in, but keep bugs out. People often use cheesecloth or muslin. The dominant genus in these vinegars are acetobacters which need oxygen to work their magic. Wait a week.
After a week is up, (4) add sugar. Toby doesn't go into how much sugar to add, so we'll assume that the amount is just to your liking - then (5) boil. The boil freezes the shrub's acidity where it is at; by boiling it, you are killing off anything that would continue to grow and change the shrub over time. (6) Strain it and (7) bottle it. He says you can keep the shrub in the fridge for months.
In the article, Toby also goes into the results of using different fruit, raspberry, blueberries, black currant, and sour-cherry. I'm not sure what I'm going to try first, I'll go to the store and let the fruit recruit me.
Keep you posted...
- Dave Koch
photo by shawnzam
Deep down inside I've always known that bacon was good for you, it's so delicious! How could possibly it be bad?
Well last Friday, following the death of a 115 year old woman in Portugal, Gertrude Baines of Los Angeles became the oldest person alive at 114 years young. What's her secret? Noni juice? Spirulina? Red wine? No. According to CNN in this video - she says it's bacon.
If you like your bacon crispy, even better yet, because she does too. The LA Times reports that on that day, "Baines awoke to her usual breakfast gripe: her bacon wasn't crispy enough." - God bless her.
Just think about this, if all of her children had children by the age of 22 (which is not unreasonable), she would be a great-great-great-grandma to the youngest.
- Dave Koch
photo by architekt2
I think most people have a love/hate relationship with Rachael Ray. We love her; but sometimes we wonder what is going on in her head. Granted, she may be the hardest working celebrity chef there is - so she needs to be "cooking" up new ideas all the time. Sometimes; however, we think things go awry...
Here is a short list of some of her wackiest recipes ever.
These are from foodnetwork.com:
Shrimp Lo Mein - photo by absentmindedprof
Chef Amy Koch adapted this from 1,000 Lowfat Recipes by Terry Blonder Golson (GREAT book), there are a ton of veggies which add color and crunch. You can easily substitute your favorite veggies, like she did. Use the recipe as a guide and make it your own.
Awesome Shrimp and Vegetable Lo Mein
12 ounces Chinese noodles, cooked
Start by making sauce: Whisk together ginger, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, chicken broth, cornstarch, and chili garlic sauce. Set aside
Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in wok or large saute pan. Season shrimp with salt and pepper, then add to heated oil. Cook until shrimp turns pink, about 1 minute per side. Remove cooked shrimp to plate and squeeze on the lime juice. Keep warm.
Add the other 1 tablespoon of oil to pan and add vegetables. Saute on medium-high heat until crisp tender, about 3-4 minutes. Pour in sauce and let simmer with vegetables for 1 minutes. Add cooked noodles and toss to combine. Top with shrimp and serve.
Enjoy!
Ugli Fruit - photo by GabeB
So New Years Resolutions are in full swing and the easiest, and most delicious, way to a more salubrious lifestyle is to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet. Recently enough, the Center for Disease Control has set up a new website to promote the addition of fruits and veggies into the American populous, FruitsAndVeggiesMatter.gov.
They have their tips, but what's really cool is their recipe search function. You can enter keywords and ingredients, then select any or all of: Appetizers, Beverages, Breakfast, Desserts, Dips/Spreads/Salsas, Entrees, Finger Foods, Salads/Stews, Side Dishes, or Soups - and it will spit out recipes that match. This was more or less an idea spawned by friends of mine years ago, I'm glad someone did it.
Instead of entering a keyword, you can also pull down and select a specific fruit or vegetable and it will do the same. Cruising through their list I came upon a fruit I've never heard of... "Ugli Fruit?" Mind you, I've read Adam Leith Gollner's The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce, and Obsession
This piqued my interest, so I did some digging. I found the following information on ugli.com:
"UGLI® is the registered trade mark under which Cabel Hall Citrus Ltd. markets its brand of tangelos [a tangelo is a hybrid of a grapefruit (or pomelo) and a tangerine] from Jamaica.
This tangelo is a variety of citrus fruit grown exclusively in Jamaica and exported by Trout Hall Ltd. to markets all over the world. It was discovered growing wild in Jamaica over 80 years ago and has been developed by the family of the owners of Trout Hall Ltd. into the commercial variety now in production.
The original tree is believed to have been a hybrid formed from the Seville orange, the grapefruit and the tangerine families. Since 1924 when it was first discovered several improved scions have been used by Trout Hall Ltd. to produce the current variety which is so popular."
Unfortunately for us, FruitsAndVeggiesMatter.gov only has one recipe for the Ugli Fruit... yup you may have guessed it, Exotic Fruit Salad.
Samoas vs. Caramel deLites
Have you ever wondered why are there Samoas AND Caramel deLites?
The reason is there are 2 major companies that produce the cookies for the Girl Scouts and they keep some of the names to themselves. There is Little Brownie Bakers - and there is ABC Bakers both making Cookies for the Girl Scouts.
From Wikipedia: "Little Brownie Bakers (LBB), a subsidiary of Keebler (which is owned by Kellogg's); and ABC Bakers, a subsidiary of Interbake Food (which is owned by George Weston Limited.) ABC Bakers has been making cookies for the Girl Scouts since 1939."
I always thought the different names were regional (like places with a heavy Pacific Islander population had somehow rejected the name "Samoas." However, I found another juicy tidbit on Yahoo! Answers posted by Shahid who seems to have an inside scoop:
"[Samoas are] one of the few cookies in the group that has differences depending on the bakery. The reason there are two names is because while similar, the cookies have some differences.
Samoas are made by Little Brownie Bakers. They are circular, with an orange color and are thicker from top to bottom, usually they also contain more caramel per coconut, and they are made with dark chocolate.
The Caramel deLites, made by ABC Bakers, are actually hexagonal, with a more yellowish tinge, are made with milk chocolate rather than dark chocolate, and more of the cookie comes through in the flavor because of the lower caramel content."
Caramel deLites
Samoas
So there you have it. Case closed.
What can we expect in the coming months from the Girl Scouts? Cinna-spins and Sugar Free Chocolate Chips were introduced in 2008. Cinna-spins are cinnamon-flavored cookies that come in 100-calorie packs and Sugar Free Chocolate Chips are exactly that.
For 2009, they will introduce the Dulce De Leche, a Latin inspired caramel cookie.
Dulce de Leche
Mmmm.
photo by Pictures from Heather
So it's 2009 and parents everywhere are teaching their daughters to become sidewalk sales superstars, hawking their cookies to the masses. A tradition for more than 90 years, as early as 1917, they began encouraging the Scouts to bake their own cookies locally. They've been going strong ever since - except for WWII when they sold calendars instead.
According to an article on CNN Money titled, "Girl Scout Cookies: A tasty lesson in business," - what began as a simple way to raise funds has turned into a $700 million business and that the cookie drive teaches young women to become entrepreneurs.
It's no joke. Supposedly in 2008, 15-year-old Jennifer Sharpe from Dearborn, Michigan sold 17,328 boxes of cookies. As if that's not enough; "The Cookie Queen" Elizabeth Brinton is attrubuted for having sold more than 100 000 box in her time as a Girl Scout between 1978 and 1985.
"I push a lot," she is quoted as saying, "Sometimes they would try to sneak past you, and you look them in the eye and make them feel guilty. After all, the cookies taste good, and it for a good cause."
Here is a recipe from girlscouts.org (possibly from the 1930's):
AN EARLY GIRL SCOUT COOKIE® RECIPE
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar plus additional amount for topping (optional)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
"Cream butter and the cup of sugar; add well-beaten eggs, then milk, vanilla, flour, salt, and baking powder. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Roll dough, cut into trefoil shapes, and sprinkle sugar on top, if desired. Bake in a quick oven (375°) for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Makes six- to seven-dozen cookies."
- Dave Koch
"My (little) garden" - photo by Erin Collins
I'm not a health food nut, but I do enjoy some foods many consider should be reserved for Hare Krishna feasts and rabbits. One of these delicious delicacies is sprouts. I love 'em. One really simple and delicious sandwich I make is just sprouts, honey, and peanut (or almond) butter. Mmm.
There is plenty of new age hullabaloo about the benefits of eating sprouts and eating raw in general. It is true that most enzymes are denatured, ergo useless, at temperatures above around 140 degrees Farenheit.
Enzymes are, on the other hand, also denatured by pH extremes like the acid in your stomach so... what's the point? Most of what I found on the internet is ranges between the wacky and the outright delirious, but there are some good articles especially on making your own sprouts at home.
I was reading www.wisebread.com (a website for frugal living) and they had this article on making your own sprouts. It sounds really easy. I want to experiment with sprouting different things, I'll bet they each have some different nuance.
Then I also found from www.living-foods.com there is a whole plethora of spout-it-yourself information in their article here. Not only do they discuss the basics, but they go into different methods of sprouting, and have a nearly exhaustive list of specifics for each type of grain.
This list includes: amaranth, barley, buckwheat, corn, millet, oats, quinoa, rice, wheat, almonds, cabbage, fenugreek, flax, psyllium, chia, mustard, pumpkin, radish, sesame, sunflower, alfalfa, clover, garbanzo, beans (including: Anasazi, Black, Fava, Kidney, Lima, Navy, Pinto, and Soy), lentils, Mung beans, peanuts and peas.
I'm not alone with my sprout sandwiches. Here are a few more that I found:
From www.thekitchn.com - their Alternative Sprouts Sandwich
From www.milkandhoneyfarm.com - thier Easy Tomato and Sprout Sandwich (at the bottom of the page)
And from www.goodmagazine.com here is a really good looking recipe for what they call Project 009: Avocado And Sprouts Sandwich
- Dave Koch
Explosinve Orange - photo by noisen8r
From the comedy magazine (now web-only), Cracked, comes a hilarious take on "7 Retarded Food Myths the Internet Thinks Are True." I have heard most of them, in some way, shape, or form; however, I thought MSG burns your stomach lining, not your brain. I also never knew how bad water was for you after eating. How I've for lived this long - we'll never know.
My own high school Physics teacher (Mr. Brundin?) had a story about HIS college Biochemistry professor keeping an unwrapped Twinkie on hand to make the class guess how old it is. If I remember correctly, it was more than 20 years old. Although it is all hearsay, I don't think I ate a Twinkie for at least the next ten years.
This Twinkie story pre-dates the internet and I'm sure all of these rumors existed by word of mouth well before Netscape Navigator existed. Nevertheless, at the time I had now way of "fact-checking" on the web (oxymoron?) to confirm or deny the truth behind Mr. Brundin's story. So here are Cracked's Top 7:
#7 - Coca-Cola Will Melt Your Stomach
#6 - Red Bull Gives You Wings, and By Wings, We Mean a Brain Tumor
#5 - MSG Burns Your Brain Cells
#4 - Cold Water After a Meal will Give You Cancer... Or a Heart Attack...
#3 - Twinkies Are Not Real Food, They Last Forever
#2 - Margarine is Actually Plastic
#1 - Canola Oil is RAPE OIL
Read the article here for their Facts for each one and commentary from their readers.
- Dave Koch
The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) announced their "Sofi Award" winners which recognize excellence in specialty foods and beverages in 32 categories. The NASFT is a "not-for-profit business trade association established in 1952 to foster trade, commerce and interest in the specialty food industry."
After narrowing down their selections from 2,191 entries the winners were announced June 30 at the 54th Summer Fancy Food Show in New York. The complete list can be found here, but these are some of the items that I would especially like to take home and put into my face:
Barefoot Contessa's Pantry's Lemon Curd - Outstanding Jam, Preserve, Honey, or Nut Butter
Bissinger's Handcrafted Chocolatier's Blueberry Acai Gummy Pandas - Outstanding Confection
Callie's Charleston Cheese Biscuits - Outstanding Baked Good, Baking Ingredient or Cereal
Hancock Gourmet Lobster Company's Spruce Head Smoked Scallop Lobster Bisque - Outstanding Soup, Stew, Bean or Chili
Lettieri & Company, Ltd's Giuseppe Riccardo Balsamic Vinegar - Outstanding Vinegar
Nuovo Pasta Productions, Ltd's Roasted Portabella and Truffle Gourmet Sauce - Outstanding Pasta Sauce
Route 11 Potato Chips, Sweet Potato Chips - Outstanding Snack Food
Saaf Ginger Beverage Company LLC's Gingernize Ginger Lemonade Rush - Outstanding Cold Beverage
Stella Cadente Olive Oil Company's Basil Oil - Outstanding Oil
Stonewall Kitchen's Balsamic Fig Dressing - Outstanding Salad Dressing
The Cheese Works Ltd.'s Ortiz Conservas Boqueroned Marinated White Anchovies - Outstanding Meat, Pate, or Seafood
The Seasoned Palate Inc.'s tsp spices Sweet Basic - Outstanding Food Gift
Transatlantic Foods Inc.'s Aux Delices des Bois Black Truffle Butter - Outstanding New Product
Vermont Butter & Cheese Company, Inc. - Outstanding Product Line
Congratulations to all the winners!
I did a beer tasting at The Jug Shop in San Francisco. 13 beers for $15. All of them were Belgian except the Sammi Claus'; of which they had the original and the Helles. The helles being even stronger on my palate and tasting a bit like cherries. Maybe that was because it comes in a red label. Funny how the mind works like that.
Now I swear that Sammi Claus used to say on the bottle, "the strongest beer in the world. " That was most likely the reason why I bought it in the first place. Even when I was broke, beer was still something I would splurge on.
The Sammi Causes were the only two that came in 12oz. bottles. Everything else was in a 750ml, some of which resembled the Champagne silhouette more than anything else. The first beer they poured was aged in oak barrels for, I believe he said, two years - and it sells for $50. People simply refered to it as, "The Expensive One."
I started geeking-out with a guy named Brian Yeager, modest as he may have been, it was his girlfriend who told me he has just published a book... on beer. They gave me a sticker and I found his website the following morning. www.beerodyssey.com - "Red White and Brew," it looks like a fun travel book about driving across the country in a Prius and drinking beer.
