No. He'll be an engineer.

Sheesh

· 12/09/2008 10:26 PM by Steve Gigl

I know this isn’t the final word, but I’ve been half-predicting this for years:

There is evidence, however, that avoiding nuts makes children ultimately more likely to be allergic to them. A study of 10,000 children in the UK, reported earlier this year in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that early exposure to peanuts reduces the risk of peanut allergies.

Grrr. Public health studies seem more and more useless every year. At this point, anecdotal evidence almost seems better.

Category: Food
Scope: World

Rantback

Separated at birth?

· 06/30/2008 09:40 PM by Steve Gigl

So for some reason, the new Costco (and WalMart/Sams?) milk jugs are suddenly making news in the blogs. (Apparently, if it’s food-related and the NYTimes covers it, everyone has to comment.)

When we first saw these milk jugs, I—inexplicably, even I admit— saw a similarity between them and a certain fictional alien race of bureaucrats. Even MLW acknowledged that I wasn’t completely crazy to make the comparison (or she just wanted to humor me).

Unfortunately, I can’t find a good image that shows the milk jug at the angle that explains the similarity, and I’m far too lazy to take and upload a picture myself. I’ll just say that it has something to do with the lack of (perceived) “shoulders” of the new jug, as if that explains anything.

[Yeah, I’m the kind of guy who sees faces in the front and rear of almost every model of car.]

Picture or not, I’m not going to let that stop me from letting loose the dumbest “separated at birth” you’ve ever seen:

Vogon milk jugs:

and, well, Vogons:

Yeah, I’m demented.

[And seriously? If I can pour the thing without spilling, it’s not a big deal. People just wanted to whine about something.]

UPDATED: Edited for readability, added two more links.

Category: Food
Scope: National

Rantback [3]

Go buy it

· 06/27/2008 12:06 PM by Steve Gigl

I already harassed a few targets good friends about this, but if you ever feel the need to put your thumb in the eye of the Food Police—and laugh a whole lot in the process—then you need to go buy the updated version of Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man by Steve Graham. (If you’re wondering what the book is about, Steve posted a good introduction the day the book was released.)

I’m about 90% through it, and it’s a better book than the original for several reasons, not the least of which is that there are a bunch of new recipes that I am dying to try. And that makes it the best humor-essay book I’ve read in years, not to mention one of the few cookbooks from which I plan to make most of the recipes.

If any of that sounds interesting, go buy it so Steve can keep writing this stuff:

Category: Food
Scope: Personal

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CSA Update (updated 6/16)

· 06/11/2008 11:27 AM by Steve Gigl

OK, here’s today’s best guess at what’s going to be in the box (i.e. what survived the flooding):

• Arugula or Spinach or Saute Mix
• Salad Mix
  The above two are pretty easy…
• Asparagus
  This is the easiest of the bunch to find things to do with, thankfully. Although as Jen demonstrated, there are always new recipes to be tried.
• Green Garlic
  One of them worked well as a garlic replacement in a marinade. The other is still unused.
• Bok Choi
  Probably going into a stir fry this week… we just don’t know which.
• Pea Vine
  I’ve long wished I could have the taste of peas without the accompanying texture (a rubbery bag of mush), and these accomplish it nicely as well as working in a salad. Biggest surprise of the bunch, I’d say.
• Baby White Turnips
  Found exactly one recipe to try with these…
• Radishes
  So far, MLW isn’t really a fan, but as it turns out I like them raw when I add a tiny bit of salt to them, or as last night, when accompanied by other flavors.

  Any suggestions? (And thanks for the previous suggestion, Jen!)

  UPDATE 6/16: see comments in italics above

  Category: CSA-Adventures
  Scope: Food

  Rantback [1]

  

CSA adventure begins (?)

· 06/09/2008 01:15 PM by Steve Gigl

Never hurts to ask (see below) Or maybe not…

So, our first CSA package will, barring unfortunate events, be picked up on Thursday afternoon. The point of this experiment is to add more and different vegetables to our diet, and part of that is to make sure none of it goes to waste. So, since I’m the meal planner and usually the cook (all by choice, mind you), I’m looking ahead to see what might be in the package.

Vegetables

* Arugula or Salad Mix or Saute Mix
* Rhubarb
* Spinach
* Asparagus
* Green Garlic
* Bok Choi
* Pea Vine
* Broccoli
* Red Komatsuna
* Scallions or Potato Onions
* Baby White Turnips
* Strawberries

Now is the time on Sprockets^* when we ask for suggestions from the audience. I’ve got several of my own ideas already (yep, Mom, I’m thinking about Rhubarb Torte!), but if anyone has anything particularly tasty or unusual based on one of these ingredients, I’d be thrilled to hear about it. Thanks!

UPDATE: Er, uh, yeah, I guess I got waaaaaay ahead of myself. Turns out the farm got about 20 feet of rain this weekend (I may be exaggerating just a bit), and we’ll be lucky to get much at all. They have second plantings of a lot of crops, but most of the spring stuff is gone, it sounds like. Well, that’s part of the fun of CSA shares; you share in the risk of farming.

Category: Food
Scope: Personal

Rantback [2]

Sheesh

· 12/09/2008 10:26 PM by Steve Gigl

I know this isn’t the final word, but I’ve been half-predicting this for years:

There is evidence, however, that avoiding nuts makes children ultimately more likely to be allergic to them. A study of 10,000 children in the UK, reported earlier this year in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that early exposure to peanuts reduces the risk of peanut allergies.

Grrr. Public health studies seem more and more useless every year. At this point, anecdotal evidence almost seems better.

Category: Food
Scope: World

Rantback

Separated at birth?

· 06/30/2008 09:40 PM by Steve Gigl

So for some reason, the new Costco (and WalMart/Sams?) milk jugs are suddenly making news in the blogs. (Apparently, if it’s food-related and the NYTimes covers it, everyone has to comment.)

When we first saw these milk jugs, I—inexplicably, even I admit— saw a similarity between them and a certain fictional alien race of bureaucrats. Even MLW acknowledged that I wasn’t completely crazy to make the comparison (or she just wanted to humor me).

Unfortunately, I can’t find a good image that shows the milk jug at the angle that explains the similarity, and I’m far too lazy to take and upload a picture myself. I’ll just say that it has something to do with the lack of (perceived) “shoulders” of the new jug, as if that explains anything.

[Yeah, I’m the kind of guy who sees faces in the front and rear of almost every model of car.]

Picture or not, I’m not going to let that stop me from letting loose the dumbest “separated at birth” you’ve ever seen:

Vogon milk jugs:

and, well, Vogons:

Yeah, I’m demented.

[And seriously? If I can pour the thing without spilling, it’s not a big deal. People just wanted to whine about something.]

UPDATED: Edited for readability, added two more links.

Category: Food
Scope: National

Rantback [3]

Go buy it

· 06/27/2008 12:06 PM by Steve Gigl

I already harassed a few targets good friends about this, but if you ever feel the need to put your thumb in the eye of the Food Police—and laugh a whole lot in the process—then you need to go buy the updated version of Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man by Steve Graham. (If you’re wondering what the book is about, Steve posted a good introduction the day the book was released.)

I’m about 90% through it, and it’s a better book than the original for several reasons, not the least of which is that there are a bunch of new recipes that I am dying to try. And that makes it the best humor-essay book I’ve read in years, not to mention one of the few cookbooks from which I plan to make most of the recipes.

If any of that sounds interesting, go buy it so Steve can keep writing this stuff:

Category: Food
Scope: Personal

Rantback

CSA Update (updated 6/16)

· 06/11/2008 11:27 AM by Steve Gigl

OK, here’s today’s best guess at what’s going to be in the box (i.e. what survived the flooding):

• Arugula or Spinach or Saute Mix
• Salad Mix
  The above two are pretty easy…
• Asparagus
  This is the easiest of the bunch to find things to do with, thankfully. Although as Jen demonstrated, there are always new recipes to be tried.
• Green Garlic
  One of them worked well as a garlic replacement in a marinade. The other is still unused.
• Bok Choi
  Probably going into a stir fry this week… we just don’t know which.
• Pea Vine
  I’ve long wished I could have the taste of peas without the accompanying texture (a rubbery bag of mush), and these accomplish it nicely as well as working in a salad. Biggest surprise of the bunch, I’d say.
• Baby White Turnips
  Found exactly one recipe to try with these…
• Radishes
  So far, MLW isn’t really a fan, but as it turns out I like them raw when I add a tiny bit of salt to them, or as last night, when accompanied by other flavors.

  Any suggestions? (And thanks for the previous suggestion, Jen!)

  UPDATE 6/16: see comments in italics above

  Category: CSA-Adventures
  Scope: Food

  Rantback [1]

  

CSA adventure begins (?)

· 06/09/2008 01:15 PM by Steve Gigl

Never hurts to ask (see below) Or maybe not…

So, our first CSA package will, barring unfortunate events, be picked up on Thursday afternoon. The point of this experiment is to add more and different vegetables to our diet, and part of that is to make sure none of it goes to waste. So, since I’m the meal planner and usually the cook (all by choice, mind you), I’m looking ahead to see what might be in the package.

Vegetables

* Arugula or Salad Mix or Saute Mix
* Rhubarb
* Spinach
* Asparagus
* Green Garlic
* Bok Choi
* Pea Vine
* Broccoli
* Red Komatsuna
* Scallions or Potato Onions
* Baby White Turnips
* Strawberries

Now is the time on Sprockets^* when we ask for suggestions from the audience. I’ve got several of my own ideas already (yep, Mom, I’m thinking about Rhubarb Torte!), but if anyone has anything particularly tasty or unusual based on one of these ingredients, I’d be thrilled to hear about it. Thanks!

UPDATE: Er, uh, yeah, I guess I got waaaaaay ahead of myself. Turns out the farm got about 20 feet of rain this weekend (I may be exaggerating just a bit), and we’ll be lucky to get much at all. They have second plantings of a lot of crops, but most of the spring stuff is gone, it sounds like. Well, that’s part of the fun of CSA shares; you share in the risk of farming.

Category: Food
Scope: Personal

Rantback [2]

Good thing it's not right down the block

· 04/18/2008 11:03 PM by Steve Gigl

Ever since I started watching Good Eats lo these many years ago, I’ve been searching around for something Alton Brown keeps claiming should be available in every decent-sized city: a restaurant supply store that’s open to the public.

There should be one in the Warehouse District in Minneapolis, but there isn’t. Go ahead, check the Yellow Pages (snicker). Google doesn’t even make it easy, but I finally found one to check out: Hockenberg’s.

I finally made it over there this afternoon on a break from work, and it is almost everything I wanted: every sort of kitchen tool, lots of useful equipment, and fairly low prices. (I’d love them to have more in stock, but I understand that it’s fairly unlikely.) I restrained myself from buying anything this time, but I encourage you all to shop there like I plan to, because I want their business to thrive.

Meanwhile, if anyone knows of a place like that closer to the NW suburbs, let me know…

Category: Food
Scope: Local

Rantback [2]

Gourmet popcorn? Yeah, it's possible

· 04/17/2008 12:50 PM by Steve Gigl

I love popcorn. Not movie popcorn [Well, OK, once in a while…], but popcorn you pop at home. Air popper or oil-based popper, it doesn’t matter much to me, as long as there’s a little salt (butter is optional). Caramel corn is outstanding, but too often it’s just sweet without much actual caramel flavor.

All that said, when I was contacted to potentially advertise for Popcornopolis, I knew that if they didn’t screw things up completely, I’d be pretty happy to advertise for them. Still, I was glad when they agreed to send me a sample of their product; if for some odd reason I hadn’t liked it, the money would have been returned. [As it is, half of it is in the mail to a charity, and the other half is awaiting the selection of a second. So I guess this blog is still a non-profit.]

I expected a couple little sample pouches of popcorn. Boy, was I wrong; last week, this arrived in the mail:

This is a lot of food. And even better [or worse, if you consider our waistlines], it’s outstanding. From a quality-control standpoint, it’s very well made and packaged; it arrived fresh and with no old maids or hulls to get in the way of the good stuff.

Here’s a flavor-by-flavor rundown:

Caramel corn: sweet, crisp, outstanding caramel corn. No burned flavor and not sickly sweet either. I’m not sure I’ve ever had better, but if I did it was probably made in front of me; that’s really the only way you could improve on it.

White chocolate caramel: I’m not usually a fan of white chocolate, but here it works, adding a bit of sweet creaminess to the caramel corn.

Chocolate caramel: For this flavor, they were smart and used high-quality, slightly-dark chocolate that provides a contrast to the caramel corn. Very good.

Zebra: A combination of the previous two flavors, and this is MLW’s favorite. The night the popcorn arrived, she told me she wasn’t sure she could give that flavor back to me. (I’ve since had a few pieces.)

Cinnamon toast: The biggest surprise in the tin. Imagine the best snickerdoodle you’ve ever had (like the ones my mom makes).

Cheese: I don’t really like cheese popcorn, so my best grade would be “I don’t hate it” (and I don’t). MLW, though, does, and gives it very high grades. And check out the ingredients: popcorn, cheese powder, coconut oil.

Kettle corn: sweet and salty together isn’t my thing, but this is the best example of kettle corn that I’ve had (and I’ve tried several, hoping I’ll understand the attraction).

Almond caramel: I had high hopes for this one, but it’s basically just caramel corn with caramel-coated almonds added. Very good, but I think an actual almond-flavored caramel would have been interesting (if it’s even possible). As it is, it’s merely very good…

All in all, any of these flavors from Popcornopolis would make a heck of a gift for someone who likes popcorn, and I’m feeling pretty good about letting them advertising on this blog.

Category: Food
Scope: Personal

Rantback [1]

Sell out with me, oh yeah...

· 04/11/2008 09:58 AM by Steve Gigl

As you may have noticed, I have an honest-to-God advertiser now. [Oh yeah, after 6 years of this I’m finally seeing some revenue. At this rate, I’ll be in the black by 2106!]

It’s a company—called Popcornopolis,—that sells gourmet popcorn in many (many) flavors. As part of the deal, we received a gift basket of some of those flavors yesterday, and I’m going to post a review of the food in the next couple of days. “Unbiased, I’m sure” you snigger, and that’s fair, since I obviously have good feelings about the company (or their PR firm, at least) already.

That said, I didn’t get so much money that it shut down my taste buds or my critical side—which, as MLW will tell you, is considerable—so I won’t give them a pass if the food isn’t good. [Preview: it appears I choose advertisers well… or rather, am lucky in who wants to advertise with me. ‘Nuff said for now.]

Category: Food
Scope: Personal

Rantback [3]

Fat day output

· 02/04/2008 07:15 AM by Steve Gigl

Pizza day had some successes and some mediocrity, but we ended up well-fed and I learned a few things.

First, re: that learning thing, I should really check to see whether my wing recipe involves frying or baking. I had it in my head that they were baked, but the fried versions turned out pretty darn good.

Steve H.’s street pizza came out wonderful (if not pretty; see below). If it weren’t for the cheese I used (a mixture that sounded better than it was) it would have been truly outstanding. I need to play with the vinegar/water ratio some and get my sauce additives figured out, but the crust was everything it was supposed to be, and easy to “toss” too. [One thing he tends not to mention is that the dough seems to be most tossable when it’s a little on the sticky side, but it could be an effect of the flour I use or the humidity differences.]

The scaled-down-from industrial-recipe thin-crust pizza didn’t turn out as well; I think I made a math mistake somewhere, because the dough was really tough. Completely edible once I was able to roll it out though, so everything worked out.

The Chicago-style pie was quite good, but by then we were pretty full so I only ate one piece. All that sauce seemed like overkill and was certainly messy (see picture), but it worked, and the crust was just about right based on what I remember from a long-ago trip.

Oh yeah, and the game wasn’t bad either.

Category: Food
Scope: Personal

Rantback

Feastage

· 02/01/2008 06:06 PM by Steve Gigl

Because Steve Graham is driving me berserk talking about pizza this week, I’ve unilaterally decided that we are having pizzas on Superbowl Sunday. And of course I’ve got three recipes that I want to try out:

1) A Chicago deep-dish (sorry, Geno’s frozen isn’t all that great no matter what Lileks says)
2) A good crispy thin crust (I may have a way to generate something close to the crust we love so much at Campus Pizza)
3) The outstanding 10-minute street pizza from Steve H., as revised most recently in that second link.

Plus some marinated chicken wing appetizers that I’m going to try to create a recipe for. This could be the second-to-last single-child weekend, and I feel like I should do something useful with the “spare” time I’ll soon be missing!

Category: Food
Scope: Personal

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