Food Blogs (314)

I take issue with oil.
Not petroleum based oil or oil/fat derived from animals.
My issue is with plant or 'vegetable oil' and that includes nut oils used on foods for eating (or cooking) and not oils used in cosmetics or paint products.
There are lots of oils in the marketplace.
If I want olive oil, it states it on the label 'Olive Oil' and some come from virgins.
Some olive oil is blended with other (read: cheaper) oils to get olive flavor at less expense.
Peanut oil is a favorite for some who cook in a skillet or wok as it has a higher smoke point and can be used successfully for frying.
Corn oil, nice color and sweet taste.
Sesame oil is used in many Oriental dishes and has a distinct flavor.
Sunflower oil for cooking
Safflower oil is often used for roasted nuts.
Coconut oil from coconuts
Cottonseed, Rageseed and Canola for cooking.
There are bunches of more exotic oils too numerous to mention.

So the issue? Vegetable Oil... WTF is in vegetable oil?

Every brand and every bottle I checked was... 100% Soybean Oil.
That's right. I found you cannot buy bottles of soybean oil because all the soybean oil is marked vegetable oil.

How deceitful is that? Why can't they sell soybean oil for what it is... soybean oil.


Next, I'll be checking bottles of Baby Oil as I have my suspicions that too is incorrectly labeled.

and I mean it...


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Christmas Day and nearly all grocery stores and restaurants were closed. One exception was the Asian Market. We were able to buy fresh vegetables and as a special treat Peking Duck.

I also got a cut of the smoked pork. Very tasty.

Will you please stop putting sliced potato in your moussaka and replace it with more aubergine? I will gladly pay the few extra pence this will cost you.

Yours in anticipation, Harbal.

Believe it or not, this is not a joke.
The 'catch' is, that you have to order that Whopper
within 600 feet of a McDonalds from Burger King's mobile app.

I'm not making this up.




Bon Appetit !

Some years ago, when I was working as a building labourer, I was parked up in the pickup on the outskirts of the village where we were working, eating my lunchtime sandwich. On the stone wall right next to me a robin was coming and going and bobbing about looking for food. I pinched off a piece of bread from my sandwich and held it out in offering to the robin and, to my sheer delight, it hopped onto my hand and took it. The incident was over in less than a second but that one little event absolutely made my day.

I still think of that little robin from time to time, even though it must be ten years or more since it happened. The bird is probably long dead now, but, before it died, I wonder if it thought of me, once in a while.

One of our new employees asked if there was a pizza shop near the office. Yes, I replied... due west about a mile in a little shopping plaza on the left. He didn't ask if I wanted to go with him. My answer would have been yes. This place does real hand thrown pizza, thin crust and real tomato sauce and not like that corporate pizza that comes on a conveyor belt or the one with the 1" thick crust that has the texture of a sponge.

As a kid, we lived 1 block away from 2 really good pizza restaurants. Different recipes but both had great flavor. My parents used to order pizza with anchovies. They used the Italian word 'alice' pronounced ah-leege and the baker knew what they were talking about. It's tiny salty fish you get from a can. Much smaller than Sardines. Awesome taste but you will drink a gallon of water soon after because they are really salty.

Mmmm... PIZZA !!
Reminds me of my childhood.

Do you remember the commercial Lipton's put out in the 1970's for their 'instant' soup? I believe it was a little kid that asked the 'Mom' - is it soup yet? That was when they thought pre-packaged stuff was a good thing.

It must have been a pretty good commercial, because I still remember the tag line. However, nowadays, I'm more into making my own soups than buying anything with a bunch of preservatives in it.

As I planted my tomatoes late this year, of course, my crop was late. I finally had to just tear out the plants and pick the tomatoes green. I put them in some cardboard flats with newspaper over the top so they can ripen slowly. Last week I made some tomato soup as I have far too many to be able to just eat.

Today was the last bowl of that batch and I see there's enough ripe tomatoes for me to make another one. Yes! The recipe I found last year had an apple added to the soup, along with turmeric and dill. The soup is absolutely delicious!

As the soup on it's own is still too acidic for my stomach, I add some cream before heating it up. Yum! I'm thinking if I add a little less vegetable broth, it'd probably make a really nice tomato sauce. Hmm... that over zucchini noodles with some chicken - sounds like a meal to me!

Tonight will be chicken peanut satay over zoodles to use up some of my zucchini. I already have several bags in the freezer of grated zucchini for soup, but I may just have to add to that.

I absolutely love home-made soups! Right now, though, time is tight with photos due for exhibition night by tomorrow, and my calendar needing finalization of the images, and a craft fair coming up which I'll have to have enough product for ahead. Busy time!

Still, I'll make time to make more tomato soup, just because it's so darn good.

Is it soup yet?

There must be some scientific explanation as to why I can open a container of yogurt and the top surface is smooth and solid. After taking a scoop or two and putting it back in the refrigerator, liquid floats to the top making a small lake. I pour it out before taking another serving and the next time I get more yogurt... yeah, more liquid at the top!

We stopped at the Asian Market yesterday and bought a few things. After a brief conversation with the woman at the meat counter, she went in the back and returned with the head of a salmon. My wife said we would have soup. Knowing what to expect, my only request was to cut the eyes out first!
I didn't want to know about the rest of the preparation.

I was around 7 years old when my family moved from New York to Miami. Life here was pretty simple. My neighborhood was a place where you didn't always lock your door as friends would call your name as they entered your house... much like a brother or sister.

Two houses down, lived Junior... he was a chubby likable kid, maybe a year or two younger than me. If you remember the breakfast cereal commercials where the older boys were afraid to eat it... they got "Mikie" to try it.... "Yeah, let Mikie try it" Well, Junior was the the "Mikie" in my neighborhood. He had no fear of the unknown... We could convince him to eat just about anything. Milk and Tabasco sauce? No problem.

We would line up our toy solders on the table and pay Junior 5¢ to snort pepper and 'sneeze' the solders off the table! He was that kinda kid... if you could think of something stupid, Junior would try it.

We couldn't figure out why Junior was so chubby. His older sister and parents were of normal proportions yet he was overweight.

Now, further down the block lived Tom. He was my older brothers age. When all of us got together, my brother and Tom (by age) were the leaders. Tom was a baseball player and very athletic.

Tom's house was slightly larger than the other houses on my street and his parents added a utility/laundry room to the back of their house. They cut a rectangular hole in the dividing wall between the main house and the utility room and fitted a 'box' used as a giant hamper, in which they could put dirty clothes and 'flip' the box to the other room. It was a really great idea... otherwise, you would have to carry the laundry outside the back door and and walk around to the utility room.

One night, Tom's family, got in the car and drove away. Junior saw this and went around the back of their house. He entered the utility room, climbed into the hamper and 'flipped' himself into the main house. Junior headed to the kitchen... He had fixed himself a late night snack on Tom's parents dining room table.

Just then, headlights appeared in the front window and someone quickly walked to the door and opened it. It was Tom's mother... apparently she had forgotten something and they drove back home to get it. Well who was more shocked... Junior or Tom's Mother when she found him stuffing himself at the table?

As the story goes, Junior's parents found out and he was punished. This led to the confession that Junior was daring enough to sneak into their house at night (while they were sleeping) to raid the refrigerator. That ended the mystery Tom's mother had, as to the 'constant' disappearance of food from the refrigerator. Tom and his father were both very slender and she never suspected it was someone coming in the house.