Food Blogs (314)

Every 4th, Nathan's Famous does a hotdog eating contest and every year Joey Chestnut beats the competition. In 10 minutes he consumed 62 hotdogs. The 2nd place winner trailed by 14 dogs...



Link:

Though stevia is most likely as safe as artificial sweeteners (or more so), few long-term studies have been done to document its health effects in humans. A review conducted by toxicologists at UCLA, which was commissioned by nutrition advocate Center for Science in the Public Interest (Kobylewski & Eckhert, 2008), raised concerns that stevia could contribute to cancer. The authors noted that in some test tube and animal studies, stevioside (but not rebaudioside A) caused genetic mutations, chromosome damage and DNA breakage. These changes presumably could contribute to malignancy, though no one has actually studied if these compounds cause cancer in animal models. Link: NATALIE DIGATE MUTH, M.D., M.P.H., R.D.
I think maple syrup, honey are only alternatives to sugar. At the end we’ll see that better use sugar than stevia, etc...

Many years ago, I took a cheap serrated blade steak knife and used it for cutting watermelon. To accomplish this, I curved the blade. The plastic handle cracked last month. I when shopping for a replacement at the dollar store... where things are $1.25 now.

Times change and the steak knives they now carry, have a straight edge. No problem, so I bought two. I opened one package, washed it and was amazed at the quality of the knife.
Stainless steel with a moulded handle. It cuts much better than the other steak knives and I plan to go back and get a few more.

It cuts like a knife, but it feels so right!




The old knife served me well...


Seedless round melon

In the 1950's, It was a big issue in America to service rice that didn't stick. I remember TV commercials about housewives making the perfect bowl of 'fluffy' rice. I heard one story where the husband invited his boss over for dinner and they were appalled to see his wife had cooked a bowl of rice where the grains stuck together. He was overlooked for a promotion simply because his wife had ruined their dinner!
We have all different varieties of rice and I believe minute rice rules out over rice that takes 30 to 40 minutes to fully cook.

Fast forward 40 years and I was dating a woman who was born in Hong Kong. She wanted to know what meals I cooked for myself, so I invited her over for dinner. Skirt steak, Caesar salad and rice was on the menu for the night.
Wash the rice, boil it for a few minutes, turn off the heat and cover. Perfect rice in less than 10 minutes.

Everything passed the test... except for the rice.

Why? It's nearly impossible to eat fluffy rice with chopsticks. She gasped and returned to the stove boiling the rice for another 15 minutes on high heat until it started to clump.

I can remember her scolding me because 'I didn't know how to cook rice' and to never do that again. Obviously, she felt bad for her actions and decided to buy me a rice cooker. The other thing was to buy different rice as the one I bought was long grain domestic and didn't have the desired flavor. A trip to the Asian market cured that.
Side note, the relationship ended before the bag of rice was empty.

Knowing now what to do now and avoiding lectures, I have been getting rice in 25 pound bags from the Asian market. Sometimes, 15 pound bags from the grocery store, but it must be cooked in the rice cooker to make it clump together.

Some of the imported rice has doubled in price lately. That doesn't bother me and... I was able to find a 20 pound bag of long-grain rice in Walmart for $10. Amazing !
But, it's domestic and doesn't clump like the imported rice, nor have any flavor. So, I'm being a diplomat until the 'wrong rice at the right price' is finished.

On Wednesday, it was my suggestion that the guys in the model helicopter group have a barbecue this holiday weekend. The new canopy was installed two weeks ago and the last barbecue was many months ago. We always talk about having them in the fall or spring when the weather isn't too hot or cold.
It was 'touch & go' as Thursday and Friday rained most of the day. We had a cold front push through on Saturday and the morning temperature was 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Some people were working on Monday so it was decided to do the event on Sunday.
We are all on a group text so it was decided who would get what so we didn't have too much of the same.
I brought the watermelon, baked beans, sauteed onions. To offer something different than hotdogs and hamburgers, I made some scrambled eggs, cooked mushrooms and Italian sausage on the side. Those items got eaten while people were waiting for the grill to be setup.
We were to start around noon and I headed there around 11am. The temperature in my car was 102F and I'm guessing it was 95F under the canopy... totally different weather from a day earlier.
There was a mild breeze that blew the smoke from the grill across the 3 picnic tables, but it didn't stop the flies and gnats who outnumbered us 10 to 1. We had to keep lids on the foods and fan the items that remained open.
A quick count had 18 of us and some from the nearby airplane club stopped by to say hello.
Overall it was a few hours of fun. I didn't get to fly much as I participated on the food preparation and devoting time to the actual eating!

Cleanup was easy as I'm the one who brought the large garbage bags and the county hires a truck to do weekend pickups.
Seasonally it's brutal to have Barbecues in the middle of summer. If we do another one then, I'll ask someone to bring a generator and I'll bring some fans. We can run tarps to block the side with the most sunlight, making it cooler to enjoy the weather.
As far as the flies and gnats... it would be a huge undertaking to screen off the surrounding canopies. Maybe in a future lifetime.

We , as Bengali , always say ,

"Mache Bhate Bangali" ,
Meaning , "Fish Curry with Rice , is the Most Essential part of our daily Meal" .

Here I present one of our very Simple , yet Healthy and Tasty recipe for this Summer days .

It's Called "Macher Jhal" (Spicy Fish Curry)

Fish Curry with Onion Garlic Mustard and Poppy Seed paste .

Enjoy !!!!!

Easter, at least in my family, is centered around food. Every year around Easter, we all gather for the annual Easter lunch.

That was a lot of Easter in one sentence.. Anyway..

The main attraction is food. It's always the same: Fish and eggs for starters, heavier meats during round 2.. Given that my family loves to eat, we pretty much just go all out on food!

Me? I'm the bread bringer. Literally. I am in charge of getting all the bread to the Easter lunch. My one pair of aunt and uncle brought the herring, cucumber, tomato and lettuce, while my other uncle brought Æbleflæsk, which is a traditional Danish dish consisting of cured or salted pork belly, fried with apples, thyme and sugar. Chopped onion is often fried with the apples.

My cousin and her husband brought the roasted pork, which is a MUST have during any Danish Easter or Christmas celebration. It's a crime not to bring it.

My cousin's husband's mother brought some light salads, and my mother brought the shrimp, the fish fillets, the candy and the snacks.

We each had to bring our own stuff to drink.

Yesterday was the Easter lunch, and today we had leftovers. You might be thinking "did you eat enough?", to which I say: Absolutely.. Whenever my family get together for food, we go all in!

We


In fact, there was so much food that we even had enough for a full course today.. It's absolutely insane just how much we eat during the holidays.. It's a bit scary, actually.

If you ever attend one of these feasts with my family, if you leave hungry, it's your own fault. The next feast coming up is a summer party, where we'll get some proper good food. We're talking hotdogs, roasted pork, sausages, lots of meat and dessert as well. Combine that with copious amounts of soda/water and alcohol, and you have a recipe for a good evening.

I am bringing the champagne!

But for now, no more food.. If I ever see a piece of meat today, I will barf...

.. Covert & amended with Iron - & .irony.
1. A G E . | . advanced glycation End- product.
2. Hydrogenated oil.
3. Acrylamide.
4. Sugar
5. . glyphosphate..} .round..up..} .
6. Seed oil.
7... ketchup.
..$ynthesis. } .all amerikan French fry.
...the deadliest [ Entropy rich .] .common food. - Dr. Berg..
Ironically provided & partially Funded by the PepsiCo Internet.
..part 2 . } .the Control aspect is cellular...
...[ .whats 4 supper ? ] ...
A web of sound. } .the seeds.
.whats the Frequency.....?..} .r e m.
What made my hamburger disappear ? } Frederick
. synTax. } Relationship of Command. } .at the drive-in.
.rider. } midnight train to GA..( & OH. TN..MN..LA...

I was looking for something to snack on this afternoon and found a bag of oranges in the refrigerator. My protocol is to thin cut the peel leaving much of the white pulp. It's called pulp... right?
In doing this, I had a childhood flashback. Amazing!
My family moved to Florida when I was around the age of 7 and there were lots of kids in the neighborhood. Along the back yard was a utility easement wide enough for a pickup truck to collect garbage. The kids were allowed to play there instead of the street.
I recall going with the neighborhood kids to see an old woman who resided on the end of the block.
Her name was Mrs. Gurnett. I'm unsure if she worked or was retired, but I got the feeling she was a nurse or social worker. After school, several of us would go to her back door and call her name. Kinda slowly... Mrs. Gur-nett... and wait a few seconds before repeating the call. Mrs Gur-nett...

Just like magic, Mrs. Gurnett would appear with a plate of goodies for us to eat. It could have been sliced apples, chocolate or thin slices of orange covered with sugar.
Yes, the sugar orange slices were my favorite.

Over the years, I've had a few Deja Vu thoughts when I passed by the confection aisle in the grocery store. While I've been avoiding candy with sugar... if I had to choose it would be a cherry or orange Gummy Bears if I couldn't find the sugared orange slices.

I don't remember the reason we stopped going to see Mrs. Gurnett. Possibly an adult was 'letting us off easy' by fabricating a story that she moved. The house was vacant for a few years and knowing what I know now, she must have passed away and didn't have family to inherit the property.



Mrs. Gurnett... thanks for the memories!

In 1947, Howdy Doody was born. Actually created is the correct word, because Howdy Doody is a puppet (marionette) who appeared in a Western themed children's TV show that ran until 1960.

'47 was the year my brother was born and when he was old enough to watch the TV show, my grandmother bought him a ceramic/porcelain dinner plate with a painting of the Howdy Doody character. I researched to see they also had cups and bowls for the collection. That old plate got lots of use. The face had scratches and the edges became chipped Probably into it's 30th year some stress cracks began to show as it was used in the microwave oven to reheat food.

My brother moved away, my parents died and I inherited the plate. The plate came with us when we moved away from Miami and it was used upside-down over the small rear element on the stove. That gave a flat landing for pots to cool when removed from the front element. Unfortunately, one day the heat or weight made the plate crack into a few pieces.

Emotionally, it stung for a second and I remarked "That plate is older than me!"

I'm pretty resourceful and went to eBay to see if I could get a replacement. I'm in luck as Howdy Doody plates can be purchased for around $20. Hmmm...

I'm a pretty good procrastinator and said: Maybe, another time...