Cheesecake is the Universal teacher--no matter your age or Eco-proclivities.
Yes, this cake--like all baking and cooking experiences with kids--turned out to be an apron-gold experience for my 2 and 4-year olds...but I can't believe the way the watercolor painting technique turned out.
Looks...well...just like Mother Earth but doesn't taste like it.
(My daughter has a Duff Goldman fascination, what can I say?)
Actually, the feminist in me has no problem with this--I did laugh weakly.It's more that they're annoying and unnecessary and some goof is making scads of money marketing them...the same things which make me want to flay Hello Kitty.
As a mother of two toddlers, I feel perfectly justified in saying that I am often mortified and mystified by the cutesy sexualization of everyday objects inherent to many Japanese art products (um, see the Risque Japanese Boob Pudding post...)...but this is just plain fantastic. It's not cute or trite--it's just fun, but not in a way that cheapens it or will date the piece in your kitchen.
Oh, neglected, pedestrian hamburger patty!
Lord, what fools these mortals be.
I have woven an entire food blog around the game (forgive the pun, but it's my personal take on the Kevin Bacon game for '08) of working an ancho-chile crush on Bobby Flay into every entry:
http://happyhoarfrost.blogspot.com/2008/03/bobby-flay-apple-of-my-ribeye.html
I am not a food hussy, but I do enjoy working that theme--HOWEVER, I had the delicious & bizzarre fortune of spending some time with Duff Goldman (The Ace of Cakes) in his bakery this weekend--and I'll tell you what, that man is as fascinating a dervish in real life as he is on his show. MORE SO. He's the new object of my confection--because he's got the cake going on beneath the fondant.
http://happyhoarfrost.blogspot.com/2008/04/duff-goldman-bucket-full-of-fundant.html
Happy Hoarfrost
http://www.happyhoarfrost.com
Irony via food metaphor. I'm foodcentric, and the metaphor is elastic enough to encompass irony in every arena--motherhood, marriage, art...
Somehow, I started featuring this little game (forgive the pun, but it's my personal take on the Kevin Bacon game for '08) of working an ancho-chile crush on Bobby Flay into every entry:
http://happyhoarfrost.blogspot.com/2008/03/bobby-flay-apple-of-my-ribeye.html
I am not a food hussy, but it's fun....
Um...is that creamed corn the person in the photo is stockpiling?!
Finally, you have crumbled upon a recipe replacement for that sad little overcooked phrase, "Jumbo Shrimp" as exemplary oxymoron.
For the NEW, improved epitome of oxymoron is surely: "LEFTOVER FETA."
Sigh: feta could never be feted enough, in my opinion (unless it lasted long enough to become fetid...)
And the addition of the minced rosemary?--genius.
Oh, we will have to try the Pho! That sounds much more elegant than what we do similarly with leftover pasta ("Party Pasta, Mommy!"), or rice.
My 4 and 2 year-olds are avid gardeners and love the herb bed. A little too much sometimes. Actually, I think they just love using scissors and the sense of authority and accomplishment of selecting what goes in their dish:). Luckily, overzealous pruning leads to lush re-growth! I've also taught them to stroke and "pet" the lavender and rosemary bushes like pets whenever they go by--really makes them thrive.
The problem with this discussion is now all I can hear in my head is a hip-slamming rendition of "Living La Vida Local!"
Yes, Jerzee Tomato, Nancy Reagan might have been on to something with "Just Say Lo."
I'm Rosezilla (named for my three year old daughter and the giant lizard thing that stomped Tokyo...it's what I call her when she's being...how you say...willful). My real handle is Mandy. I live in Santa Barbara County again after growing up here, but lived for 11 years in western Sonoma County...home of fabulous food and wines. It spoiled me rotten, to become an adult surrounded by all of that luscious produce and foodie opportunity. I managed a microbrewery's kitchen for 6 years, and have SERIOUS opinions about ales, should anyone care for them. Now I'm a home cook primarily, although I do a little catering here and there. My daughter's favorite foods are salmon and broccoli, so I feel as though I've triumphed a bit over the three-year-old beige-food diet. We do, however, eat at McDonald's every Friday after school...it's our little Happy Meal indulgence...and those tiny cheeseburgers are SOOO good. I live with and cook for my mother, as well. I am dating a high school band director, who has actually LOST weight being with me, as he's eating more asparagus and less fast food. I think that size 14 should be the new size 6. I am curvy, healthy, happy and active...and think that excellent foods should be part of everyone's diet. I am active in the "S'Cool Food" movement here, which tries to bring local and sustainable healthy food into school cafeterias. And I love, love, love this website.
OK, I just checked my pigs (they came in a two-pack: plate size and tiny bowl size) and there's a Marna stamp on them.
Here's a picture of them: http://www.flickr.com/photos/myszka/2472991296/
They're cute but too shallow to use in the microwave for most of my purposes.
Oh, and to Curlz...
You lift the thing by the ears...the thumb on one ear and the index finger on the other ear.
I wonder when this came out because I bought one that has the same idea/look and same pigginess, but it's made of a transluscent pink plastic and I bought it at a Target-like store in Seoul, Korea last August. It was marketed as a lid to cover food before microwaving.
Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this because the area under the pig is pretty shallow, so unless you're covering a bowl and the food is nowhere near the top, the covering is going to touch the food.
Love it! But how the heck do you lift it off/out without getting burned?!?
Matt The Butcher
www.mattthebutcher.com
brand new food blog by a butcher,soon to have recipes, money saving tips on buying meat and any meat related questions answered
@foodlexi.........regarding dry mouth - it happens when you're nervous and not breathing normally. Try to be conscious of how you breath during normal conversation and focus on breathing like that when you're being interviewed. It does help to have a piece of hard candy handy just in case, but it could garble your words. Best of luck!!!!
Chew on That
http://chewonthatblog.com
Chew on That serves up daily food for thought, all fresh to the blogosphere. Our menu includes a wide range of choices from recipes and restaurant reviews, to disasters in the kitchen and more! Keep checking in with our cooks to try out the latest catch!
Subscribe to our RSS Feeds:
All of Serious Eats, Talk, Required Eating, Videos, Eating Out, Recipes
Subscribe by email:
Website: http://happyhoarfrost.com
Location: Baltimore
About: Cataloguer of all ironies great and small via food-metaphor.
Favorite foods: MEAT, meat, meat, bitter greens, all vinegars, horseradish, nuts, heavy cream, stinky cheese, black coffee, wine, and never met a potato I didn't like.
Last bite on earth: Crack through the perfect, almost-bitter surface of a creme brulee. Insert wide-bowl spoon; remove a bite scant on creme, almost all shards of brulee. Add one blackberry. Drizzle with brown butter.