Iron Chef - Gardengate

The Food Network, having seen Bravo kick it's sorry ass in the TV Food Wars, finally reached deep into it's bag of tricks to yank out something, ANYTHING to bring a little respectability to a network chock full of cleavage clutter. (Taking that Boob Tube moniker just a little too seriously there, aren't cha Food Network?)So they looked out into their stable of Culinary Nags and decided that Iron Chef America would be the perfect vehicle to hatch their plans of world food tv domination.What was the light bulb over their collective producing heads to counter one of best seasons ever of Top Chef? Stunt casting.
That's right, a White House Episode complete with the First Lady. I'm not sure which is worse, Batalli's Orange Crocks or Shelly O's Orange Frock but frankly that's a discussion better suited for the Boyz over at TLo. No, we're here to eviscerate Gardengate. You see the whole premise of this particular episode (...ratings...) of Iron Chef America was to promote the worthy cause of fighting obesity (...fighting a ratings war...) and eating fresh and healthy vegetables (...smacking Bravo upside it's foodie noggin...). Part of the two hour show was following chefs Batali, Flay, Emeril Lagasse and Cristeta Comerford as they posed purposefully in the White House garden, digging up radishes and choosing what they wanted to cook with. Now I didn't see this part of the show, I happened to catch them in Kitchen Stadium just before they started cooking during which they said they would be using vegetables from the White House garden. Because I'm one of those annoying behind the scenes, wondering how they did that sort of gal, my mind immediately wondered if they had moved Kitchen Stadium to DC from their normal shooting grounds of NY? Or did they rush the precious veggies to NY on the Food Network Private Jet (talk about possible carbon footprint implications)? No, according to Marian Burros's New York Times piece they used Stunt Double veggies. Thus making all the silliness of Chefs in the White House Garden a big fat stinking lie.

What's next? That Giada's breasts aren't real?(I demand a thorough, hands on investigation immediately)

And like all good feel good stories gone bad...you just never know when the veggies are going to turn on you and bite you in the ass.

Salad courtesy of Till Nowak

L'heure du souper, Canadian Style

I love getting mail. I know it's a dying art, hard copy mail. Luckily I've found someone who enjoys getting packages in the mail as much as I do and her name is Susan Black. Earlier in the year I had sent her some of my favorite hometown seasoning, Old Bay. Apparently her local grocery doesn't carry it. By way of thanks, Susan decided to send me some of the best of Canada has to offer. Love that little Maple Leaf. Susan and I have a little cross border rivalry going on but it's all in good fun. However when it comes to food, we could be sisters. We both love our seafood so it was only natural that I found this in my package. Not only a can of lovely fish but a beautiful card of Susan's own design......along with a recipe for Fish Cakes.But first I had to investigate what the heck this was?
Palmaria palmata or red algae. A great source of protein that you can use in soups, salads or on top of fish cakes. But a word of caution, dulse will burn quicker than pine nuts if you don't watch it carefully when you toast it.
The fish-potato cakes were wonderful especially when served with the Macaroni and Blue Cheese I made with the Dragon's Breath Blue Cheese that Susan also sent. Spiced with Canadian Summer Savory and healthy sprinkle Old Bay the tin of chicken haddie produced a hearty, crispy patty that was more than welcome on a cold winter's afternoon.

Even had time to whip up a little dessert.
A pineapple, banana, cream cheese and nut filled dessert spring roll. Still a work in progress but tasty none the less.

Snowmageddon 2009 or Would You Like Fries with that Order of Rage

Not sure if you've seen this little gem of Burger Rage that happened here in Kansas City. Two days after Christmas a patron of the Midtown McDonald's decided that the food was not to her liking and found some interesting ways to show her displeasure. Now the video has gone national and she's on the run with the police following her greasy trail...which in the unplowed city streets should be fairly easy. People, if you're going to lose your mind over the quality of your food can you at least make it worth your while to get arrested? Perhaps something a little further up the food chain, like a Red Lobster or an Outback?

When the Going Gets Tough...

...the tough hide in the kitchen. An old school Winter has announced it's presence with authority here in the Midwest. I fear for my sage plant, Old Faithful. She's survived 3 previous winters only to come back each spring with bright green leaves. Spring, however, is still months away and Old Faithful and I have a whole lot of snow to deal with.I decided the best way to deal with the snow was to channel my friend Susan (29 Black Street). You see Susan lives in Nova Scotia. Dealing with long cold winters is more her thing and since she was kind enough to send me some of Nova Scotia's finest artisanal blue cheese (Dragon's Breath), I decided it was time to put it to good use. Now I could have just nibbled it with a good crusty bread. Despite it's name it's not an overly sharp blue. I toyed with making blue cheese deviled eggs but what I really wanted was something warm and comforting. Something simple and quick. Macaroni and Blue Cheese was what I was craving.If you'd like a recipe, you could use this one from Epicurious. I used a nice mild cheddar to pair up with my creamy tangy blue cheese. You don't want to go too sharp on the cheddar and you don't want to use an even milder American cheese or the blue will overpower the whole dish. No, you're looking for the Ying/Yang balance. I punted on the chives instead decided on using Panko breadcrumbs mixed with chopped bacon as my crispy topping.
This is exactly what I needed. Warm and comforting yet fun with the wonderful depth that the Dragon's Breath brings to the pasta. Serving it up with a big pile of Kale and Cranberries made my hibernation process just a little more pleasant.

It's BAAAACK

Both my appetite and Dim Sum Sundays. What's Dim Sum Sunday? A foodie free for all, open to everyone. We announce a Theme or Ingredient here on this blog. Then on your blog, you make a dish using the theme or the ingredient, take pictures (or a video), post it on your blog, come back here and share so we can all kick ourselves for not making what you made.

For our first Dim Sum Sunday (Jan. 17th) we'll be visiting the Theme of Snowdays.Do you have a special, warm the kids up after an afternoon of sledding hot chocolate? Do you heed the call of a huge bubbling soup pot? Have you ever made snow cream? Show us. And then...

...please send this guy to my house to help me dig out.

Blah

What happens when a foodie loses her appetite?What happens is all the plans for a long holiday weekend of eating vanishes as quickly as a dozen donuts Monday morning at the office.Had a little visitor for the holiday, a little intestinal bug who perhaps rode into my kitchen on the back of a bad oyster I used in some oyster stew.Oh we partied all right...if you call curled up in the fetal position not 20 feet away from the bathroom a party. So all my plans for cooking all weekend lost all it's appeal. Big pots of hot soup? Pass. Chowing down on that lovely Canadian blue cheese? Will have to wait. A big, hot plate of Stroud's Pan Fried Chicken?Not even that makes me hungry. And while I hadn't planned on starting a new year and a new decade with a fast......maybe that's not such a bad thing. Nothing makes you appreciate the things you love as much as not experiencing those things. However. If this goes on too much longer, I may need one of these.

Happy New Year

The year 2009 wasn't the worst of years, not the greatest either but I can't say I'm not sorry to see it go. For this blog, this karmic culinary adventure, it was also a bumpy ride. So I'm here to toast to the bright and shiny new year. But what to toast with? While I may cook with alcoholic products I don't drink them at all. I found a fun book at the library that opened up my cocktail possibilities past the Shirley Temples and the Virgin Marys.Tons of choices from a Key Lime Mojito to a Ginger Beer Shandy to a Bittersweet Chocolatini. If you're someone who likes going alcohol free this is a book you would enjoy.
For this fine New Year I chose the Shampagne Cocktail. Blood orange bitters, a sugar cube and sparkling white grape juice. It bubbles like champagne but still leaves you free to fulfill your designated driver duties for the night.
So here's a Toast To You, my bloggy friends and readers. May your year be healthy and adventurous. May the waiter always get your order right and may you never burn your bacon. May we all tuck into 2010 with Gusto and Passion.

Dragon's Breath Blue

If you voted for the Canadian Blue Cheese, pat yourself on the back.
Thanks to Susan over at 29 Black Street for just one item out of my Canadian Care Package (more on that later).

While it is stinky, it's not as stinky as durian. Hmmm, all I need is some good crusty bread.

Do you know what it is?

What the heck is that thing?
	I think it's a Hillbilly Candle (no wick) that Shamu got at her office White Elephant Gift Exchange
	It's a Canadian version of Really Blue Cheese
	It's Wax Sealed Candied Stinky Durian Slices that Shamu's brother sent her as a Stocking Stuffer.
pollcode.com free polls

The Sunny Side of Life

With the holidays here, I'm often found experimenting. I love making food gifts. I have a whole collection of treats and nibbles that I like to make and package to give friends and loved ones. I try and push further than your typical cookies and 10 bean soup mixes. That means researching, making and tasting new finds to add to my collection. Sometimes you have to wait until the star ingredient is in season to test out a new recipe and so it was with Kumquats in Spiced Syrup over at Cooking Light.

Not everyone enjoys kumquats. I don't fall into that camp. I love the fragrant citrus sweetness of the skin and the sour pop of the flesh. It's like a sweet and sour popper in your mouth. It only gets better when you marinate the fruit in a spicy syrup of cinnamon, star anise, cloves and vanilla, topped off with a little brandy. It's a fairly easy recipe with the exception of one caveat...there is a monotonous annoyance factor. The recipe, as written, calls for 2 pounds or about 8 cups of kumquats. Each kumquat has to be pieced several times with a wooden skewer or toothpick. That's a lot of kumquat stabbing. Sounds like a job for...The Kids. (I'm quite sure had my mother known of this recipe when I was a kid, this job would have been all mine). Now the tricky part is if can you trust your kids to complete the massive task and not to stab themselves or their siblings (what?? poke my brother with a wooden skewer?? Never!). Once you get past any potential whining and poking, the rest is a breeze. You're on your own explaining to The Kids that after all their hard work they're still going to have to wait two weeks to taste the fruits of their labor. Just tell them all good things come to those who wait.

Snowmageddon 2009

I wasn't supposed to be here. Here being at my house in the Midwest. No, I had a date with some fine Virginia home cooking. Turkey with oyster stuffing, the best mashed potatoes in the world, rich turkey giblet gravy, greens and cranberry sauce. A big date. Not to mention two days of full out grazing on cheese, bread, oyster stew and whatever else my mother and brother would come up with. Instead I got hit full in the face with Snowmageddon 2009. My family got 19 inches of snow in Virginia during the big East Coast storm that fouled up both air and ground traffic earlier in the week. I'm currently sitting at 5 inches of snow with more predicted for tonight and tomorrow. I wasn't going anywhere except the grocery store to stock up on meat and the dvd rental place for some vintage Ab Fab. Still...I was feeling a little......Home Alone-ish. Dang, I knew I forgot something at the store! Old Spice.
I decided to seek solace in cooking up a simple but special meal. Prime Rib Roast, Yorkshire Pudding and Kale with Cranberries.

While I couldn't be with family this Christmas, I am certainly there with them in spirit. I hope where ever you are this holiday season, you are safe, warm and happy. Thanks to all our readers and especially our regular commenters, you guys are the best.

The Most Important Kitchen Tool We Hope You Never Have to Use

During this holiday season, we wish all our readers many things. Good health, happiness and baconny joy. But we also wish you A Safe Kitchen. We wish you this because Cooking is the number one cause of residential structure fires. Cook's Illustrated, my favorite culinary magazine still in business, has a fantastic and detailed article reviewing kitchen fire extinguishers. I already had a smaller fire extinguisher but decided add their recommended brand to my culinary arsenal.So while you're busy checking your roast or turkey, while the pots and pans are merrily bubbling on the stove top, take just a minute to remind yourself where your kitchen fire extinguisher is, read over the instructions, and generally familiarize yourself with how it works. If you don't have a fire extinguisher then immediately get in the car, go to one of those big box hardware stores, pick out the Kidde Kitchen Fire Extinguisher and buy it. They're cheap, $20 which is cheaper than rebuilding your house because your flambé efforts went horribly wrong.
We wish you a full and Happy Holiday.

Just the Thing for your Culinary Christmas Tree

Cup of Espresso

Blue Cheese

Chinese Takeout and...

...a yummy slice of lemon meringue pie all from Pence Christmas Tree Farm.

Bacon and Eggs for Christmas Breakfast from Amazon.

A Pickle Ornament from Bronner's.

Inside out sushi ornament at Ornaments to Remember.