Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts

Friday, September 18, 2009

Gwyneth & Goop - Who ya got?

Gwyneth Paltrow has this site called Goop (http://www.goop.com/), sort of a minimalist celebration of living well. Kaida and I were talking about it last year; she loved it, I was less impressed.

Anyway, the other day I saw this hilarious "spoof" of one of Gwyneth's cooking videos. I thought I would present both, just to be fair. The first is Gwyneth making some chicken for dinner. The second....well, see for yourself.


GWYNETH COOKS DINNER FOR THE FAMILY




Bold

GWYNETH COOKS DINNER FOR THE FAMILY (PLAYED BY ABBY ELLIOTT)

Friday, June 12, 2009

McDLT Commercial - with Jason Alexander

I always thought the McDLT sounded so sophisticated. Not sure I ever had one, though.

Question: even back in '87 or so...was Jason Alexander wearing a rug?



Friday, April 03, 2009

The End of Small Farms?

I'm not saying this issue does not have two sides, but from what I've looked into, what she's saying is pretty right on. If anything, the reality is far worse.


Friday, January 23, 2009

A Sea-Kitten by any other name.....

I meant to post this last week, but I'm sure you read that PETA want to rename fish Sea-Kittens, right?


Editorial Cartoonist Mike Luckovich has some other helpful suggestions:


Saturday, December 20, 2008

Holiday Myths Debunked

[sent in by Skittles]


A man repacks sugar in packets on sale for 6.70 pesos ($0.36) on a table at a
Reuters – A man repacks sugar in packets on sale for 6.70 pesos ($0.36) on a table at a public market in Taguig …


Many supposed holiday hazards are as innocuous as a tepid mug of apple cider. A review article in the current issue of the British Medical Journal cites five fears that can officially be crossed off the holiday worry list.


Myth 1: Sugar makes kids hyperactive.

"There have been more studies on this than on many drugs," said article author Dr. Aaron Carroll of the Indiana University School of Medicine, "all of which show there is no link between sugar and hyperactivity." Even if the kids are "sugar sensitive" or have attention-deficit disorder, he continued, sweets do not change their behavior.

Parents may think their kids become more chaotic after candy and other treats but "it is in their heads," said primary author Dr. Rachel Vreeman, also of the Indiana University School of Medicine. She pointed to a study that told parents their kid was slurping a sugar-loaded beverage, when the drink instead was essentially water. The parents reported the child going bonkers when objective observers thought otherwise, she said.



Myth 2: Suicides increase over the holidays.

The weather is woeful, the relatives are rude and melancholy moods abound. "But contrary to what many of us think, suicides are actually more common, around the world, during times of year that are warmer and sunnier," Vreeman said. The article also cites a 35-year study conducted in the United States showing that holidays - including Christmas, the Fourth of July and birthdays - are not preferred times to take one's life.



Myth 3: Poinsettias are toxic.

Shooing the dog or child away from the perilous plant of holiday cheer? Let the hollering subside. The American Association of Poison Control Centers has a record of 22,793 cases of human poinsettia ingestion and zero resulted in significant poisoning. Ninety-six percent of the poinsettia-eaters didn't even need to see a doctor, Vreeman said. And rats that gobbled several hundred grams of the pureed flower, the equivalent of a human eating 500-600 poinsettia leaves, did just fine. Still, it's best to call the poison control center when any non-food plant is eaten, she said.



Myth 4: You lose most of your body heat through your head.

Your mother said it. Every hat salesman touts it. Even the U.S. Army Field Manual claims "40 to 45 percent of body heat" is lost through the head, the researchers write in this week's article, but it is simply not true. Body heat leaves from any skin surface in proportion to the area exposed, said Vreeman. As for people who claim a hat renders shorts acceptable in cold weather? "Those people are being very, very foolish," Carroll said. "There is nothing special about the head."



Myth 5: Eating at night makes you fat.

While eating late at night has been associated with obesity, midnight munching does not cause obesity. "You shouldn't be afraid to have that midnight snack anymore than a mid-day or mid-morning snack," Carroll said. The article, citing several studies, suggests that Santa's jolly belly is the result of too many calories overall, not just the holiday treats laid out for him in the evening.


Carroll and Vreeman's book "Don't Swallow Your Gum: Myths, Half-truths, and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health" will be published in 2009 by St. Martin Press.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Pure Evil?

What do all of these famous people have in common?


The Great Buddha
The Roman Emperors Tiberius and Claudius
Banquet guests of the Emperor Nero
Alexander I of Russia
Pope Clement II
King Charles V of France.


{Answer in the Comments}

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Free Taco From Taco Bell Today Only!!!!!!

Tampa Bay Short Stop Jason Bartlett stole a base in the first game of the World Series.






That wasn't it, but it's it's the best I could do, showing Jason stealing a base. The reason I bring this up is that his stolen base earns you a:




FREE TACO



Today, from 2 - 6 pm, Taco Bell is giving everyone who shows up a free taco because of Jason Bartlett. As I am stuck in this godforsaken house, I cannot get mine, but I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR OF ANY OF YOU SQUANDERING THIS GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY!!!!!!


That is all.

[For more info, see http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/fan_forum/tacobell/]

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Man Eats 15 pound burger plus 5 pounds of Toppings

From USA Today:


CLEARFIELD, Pa. (AP) — A chef at a western Pennsylvania Italian restaurant ate a 15-pound burger with 5.2 pounds of toppings in 4 hours and 39 minutes. Brad Sciullo, of Uniontown, is the first person to successfully eat the huge burger at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, said pub owner Dennis Liegey.

The burger — called the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser — include a bun, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, mild banana peppers and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and relish.

When asked what possessed him to eat a burger that big, the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Sciullo said: "I wanted to see if I could."

For more see: http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2008-10-16-big-burger_N.htm?csp=34

They have the actual picture of the guy and burger; it's much bigger than even the one I have pictured.


This segues nicely to the Word Lady Jane Taught Me This week.



Oh, and by the way: not for nothing, but I could totally eat that burger, if I could omit the onions (doubling up on pickles or something), and swap out the mayonaise for something tasty, like cheese sauce.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Best Idea (Ever?)

You know how sometimes an idea comes along that is so good, angels do backflips?

I'm not doing this justice. Let me try again.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Monkeys and Barns, I give you the best goddamutherfuckingtittysuckingtwoballbitchin' idea seen in years.

Be careful; you may pee yourself a little when you see it.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

10 Facts about Bread



1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.

2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.

3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.

4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.

5. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.

6. Bread is often a "gateway" food item, leading the user to "harder" items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.

7. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.

8. Newborn babies can choke on bread.

9. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.

10. Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

[from Arcamax]

Thursday, May 15, 2008

A new recipe for you.....

Dragon's Amaretti Brownie Cheesecake

I won first place in a Bake Off today with this yummy creation. It my own Dragon's Amaretti Brownie Cheesecake and its devine. :) Enjoy.



Ingredients:

Brownie Layer
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tbsp espresso powder
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/2 cup toasted almonds, chopped

Cheesecake Layer
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 x 8 oz (250 g) packages of cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp pure almond extract
1 1/3 cups whipping cream
1 tbsp Amaretto liquor

Topping
2 oz white chocolate, melted
2 oz dark chocolate, melted
4 amaretti cookies, crushed

Get the rest of the recipe over in Dragon's Kitchen.


xo,
Dragon

Free McDonald's Chicken Sandwich

Today McDonald's is giving out FREE SOUTHERN-STYLE CHICKEN SANDWICHES, when you buy a drink.



While not as good as Chick-Fil-A, they are nothing to sneeze at. Worth a trip through the drive through, n'est pas?

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Food Quiz

from Arcamax:


1) What do the following products all have in common: Barnum's Animal Crackers, Cream of Wheat Cereal, Grey Poupon Mustard, Knox Gelitin, Life Savers, Milk Bone Dog Biscuits, Planters Peanuts and A.1. Steak Sauce?

2) Do you know what percentage of the total world catch of fish is caught in the northern hemisphere?
a) 10% b) 25% c) 40% d) 75% e) 90%

3) What is the difference between the liquid in a can of salmon and the liquid in a can of tuna?

4) Portobello mushrooms are actually the mature, fully opened form of what mushroom?

5) The following events all took place in the same year. Can you guess what year?
* Gold Bond Trading Stamps were introduced.
* Teflon was discovered.
* Larousse Gastronomique by Prosper Montagne was published.
* Lawry's Seasoned salt was created by Lawrence L. FRank for use in his new restaurant, Lawry's The Prime Rib in Los Angeles.
* Both the Nestle Crunch Bar and Hershey's Krackel bar were introduced.
* Mott's Apple Juice was introduced.
* Nescafe instant coffee was introduced by Nestle in Switzerland.
a) 1918 b) 1923 c) 1928 d) 1933 e) 1938

6) Native to both Europe and the Americas, today this fruit is cultivated in the U.S. from Alaska to Florida, but it is rarely cultivated from seed. The U.S. produces 75% of the world's crop, and it is an important crop in Canada, Australia, Japan, and parts of Africa.

Its name is very old, dating back to at least 1000 AD, There are many theories, but no one really knows for sure how, why and where its name originated. The Romans valued it for its supposed medicinal properties, such as healing loose teeth and treating stomach problems.

This fruit is technically an enlarged pulpy receptacle bearing numerous achenes, or in other words an aggregate of numerous nutlets distributed on an enlarged, pulpy, scarlet receptacle. It is 90% water and contains more vitamin C than an equal quantity of lemons or oranges.

Name this fruit.

7) The Encyclopedia Britannica gives the following description of this bean: The fresh beans "have no aroma. The characteristic aroma results from enzymatic action during curing. The traditional method begins with subjecting the harvested beans to a process of nightly sweating and daily exposure to the sun for about 10 days, until they become deep chocolate brown in color. Then the beans are spread on trays in an airy shelter until dry enough for grading and packing. Curing and drying requires from four to five months. The best grade of cured bean pods may be covered with tiny crystals, which provide the characteristic aroma, sweet, rich, and delicate. This coating, known as givre, may be used as a criterion of quality."
Name this bean.

Answers in Comments

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Friday, March 21, 2008

Got Milk?


Half the fucking world starving, and what do our food scientists spend their time on?

Making sure you ridiculous white people don't ever accidentally buy less than fresh milk.


Sheesh.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

St. Joseph's Day


Today is St. Joseph's Day, which is the Italian-American version of St. Patrick's Day.

As such, you are honor-bound to eat Italian food




and watch an Italian movie



Also permissible would be anything with Monica Bellucci. (Actually, it is perfectly appropriate to do this every day of the year.)




YOU'VE BEEN TOLD!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Chocolate Skittles

Long-time readers know I feel about Skittles the way I feel about your wife (I’m up for munching anytime). So, when my sister Jerrica handed me a pack of Chocolate Mix Skittles, I knew for the good of the Barn I needed to investigate. Here is a mini-review.



FIRST IMPRESSIONS

On the front of the package Skittles us the five flavor ideas they came up with: S’mores, Vanilla, Chocolate Caramel, Chocolate Pudding, and Brownie Batter. (Not for nothing, but in bad lighting the Caramel/Pudding Skittles are hard to tell apart, and even more difficult, the Pudding/Brownie.) Also, I’d like to point out that at least 60% of the package was Brownie. I suppose that could be an anomaly, but I have never seen a Skittles package with such a discrepancy, so I have to believe that’s on purpose. I tried them all individually, several times, and then tried the more usual gluttonous mouthful.


INDIVIDUAL TASTE

S’mores – not bad, although I’d never in a million years guess I was tasting graham cracker and marshmallow.

Vanilla – Fairly bland, and only emits its vanilla essence in the aftertaste.

Chocolate Caramel – Completely generic chocolate. Not a nanogram of caramel taste.

Chocolate Pudding – Arguably the best of the bunch. The pudding affect only shows up in the aftertaste, but a good solid chocolate feel.

Brownie Batter – By far the strongest taste (which may be why they made it most of the bag). Even now, two hours later, I can still taste the Brownie the strongest. The first two bites were great, but after that diminishing returns. (But to be fair: that’s pretty much how I feel about brownies, so that could be me.)


MIX PARTY

Most people eat Skittles in small handfuls, so the true test of any new flavor “theme” is how well they work together. I found the end result to be generally inoffensive and bland, with a sugary an slight cocoa mix. Kind of like if you scarfed some of that Bridgeford mix you saw on a tray at a Christmas buffet. Afte ra few pieces they all taste pretty similar, n’est pas? And maybe it’s just because I’m thirsty now, but I don’t remember previous Skittles being this salty. In fact, I react this way generally to chocolate flavoring—especially cheap chocolate flavoring.


OVERALL

Skittles has come out with several new flavor combos lately. Some work very well. Others not too much. I think the Fruit and Crème and Wildberry have been homeruns, the Sour is perhaps the best “sour” on the market, and the Tropical is solid, while the Circus Skittles were more novel than giant winners. Ultimately I did enjoy the experience of the Chocolate Mix Skittles, and I might try one or two again if a friend had them, but I don’t think I would buy them on my own. I guess you could say that, much like a bathhouse in San Francisco, it wasn’t my kind of rainbow.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Wine Library

I found out about this dude yesterday.

Disclaimer: I am not into wine AT ALL, and do not advocate or recommend it to people. However, many of you drink wine, or at least know of wine. And even if you're like me, this guy is freaking hilarious!

His name is Gary Vaynerchuk (or as he pronounces it "VAY - NER - CHUCK!!!!!!!111), and he reviews wine in each "webisode." I started watching and just cracking up, thinking "I'll tell me readers just to watch the first minute....I'll tell my readers just to watch the first three minutes....)

If you at all can, hang through at least 6 minutes, when he starts comparing vegetables to the Justice League, but really: the whole thing is a scream. What's even funnier is that he continually gets distracted by people off camera who apparently are coming by to say hi or something.

Anyway, trust me: you HAVE to watch a few minutes of this guy.




And if you like him, check out his website: The Wine Library

Monday, February 04, 2008

Food Trivia Quiz


from FoodReference.com


1) Which of the following foods were introduced to America from Europe ?
[a] the white potato
[b] the tomato
[c] the pumpkin.

2) Which of the following dishes were born in Italy?
[a] Caesar Salad
[b] Fettucine primavera
[c] Chicken Tetrazzini.

3) Liederkranz Cheese comes from which country?
[a] Austria
[b] Germany
[c] United States
[d] Switzerland
[e] Italy.

4) In 1925, how many restaurants were in New York City?
[a] 6,000
[b] 17,000
[c] 24,000.

5) Hello-Billo, Korn Kure, Malt-Ho, Tryabita, Tryachewa, Oatsina and Orange Meat were all brand names of what type of food in the early 1900s?
[a] Breakfast cereals
[b] health drinks
[c] vegetarian meat substitutes
[d] varieties of corn.

6) The slang term 'moxie,' meaning the ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage, comes from:
[a] WW I army slang
[b] the name of a breakfast cereal
[c] the name of a soft drink
[d] a 1920s banker named George Moxie.

7) Hershey introduced the 5 cent Hershey bar in 1903. For how long did the price remain a nickel?
[a] 25 years
[b] 43 years
[c] 52 years
[d] 67 years.

8) While we are on the subject of Hershey, what candy product did Milton Stavely Hershey become rich selling?
[a] caramels
[b] chocolate bars
[c] granola
[d] cocoa.

9) John Styth Pemberton, the Atlanta pharmacist who created Coca-Cola, sold a 2/3 interest in his company in 1887 for how much?
[a] $100
[b] $283.29
[c] $2,000
[d] $25 million.

10) More than 75% of the world's supply of maple syrup comes from where?
[a] Vermont
[b] New Hampshire
[c] New York
[d] Canada

Answers in the comments

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Preparing a Steak - 1796 style

I ran across this recipe from a 1796 cookbook. It doesn't sound appetizing, but I will leave the final verdict to more experienced gourmands than myself.


American Cookery, by Amelia Simmons (1796)
(The first American cookbook)

To dress a Beef-Stake, sufficient for two gentlemen, with a fire made of two newspapers.

Let the beef be cut in slices, and lay in a pewter platter, pour on water just sufficient to cover them, salt and pepper well cover with another platter inverted; then place your dish upon a stool bottom upwards, the legs of such length as to raise the platter three inches from the board; cut your newspapers into small strips, light with a candle and apply them gradually, so as to keep a live fire under the whole dish, til the whole are expended when the stake will be done; butter may then be applied, so as to render it grateful.