April 2008


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There’s Gold in Them Cows

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No, that’s not me.

Back in the’80s, us Irish-Americans used to feel pretty cool when our rural Irish cousins would come to visit us in New York, overwhelmed by our skyscrapers, blue jeans, and shockingly white butter. Fast forward a few decades, one massive economic trade pact, and three terms of Bush economic policies, and now we’re the quaint, poor ones, and Ireland is one of the richest countries in the world.

Among the turnabouts, they now have really nice cars, loads of political corruption, and my roof-thatcher uncle has become some sort of real estate baron. So now when we go visit, instead of sending the kids to go camp out in the backyard, they have an entire extra house for us. Pretty sweet! So two summers ago, when my brother, his wife, my cousin, her boyfriend, and my other cousin (oh, there’s a lot of cousins) went to Dunmore for yet another cousin’s wedding, we got our own house to ourselves, right in the middle of town, within stumbling distance of Dunmore’s many high-quality pubs.

And yes, I say all this to talk about butter.

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in Food Travel / Personal 27 comments
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Beware of Killer Tofu

killer tofu

As we have learned from the current administration, scare tactics work. Apparently there have been some concerns brought up about eating too much soy. So of course people are starting to freak:

Tofu bad?: Is it true that tofu can cause breast cancer? I am worried about that, and also when I am pregnant, should I avoid tofu? As a vegetarian, I eat a fair amount of tofu and am wondering if I should limit my intake of tofu. Thanks!

Kim O’Donnel: the jury is still out on soy. Here’s a link to an article on the controversy. I think everything in moderation is the key. I would also buy organic or locally produced tofu, eliminates the GMO factor. Don’t avoid tofu, but a diverse diet, yes, do that.

But as Ms. KOD confirms from her WaPo chat, soy (just like chocolate and weed**) should be enjoyed in moderation. Americans, of course, over use everything they get their hands on. The article notes that in Japan, soy is consumed in limited amounts, not like the gigantic soy burgers eaten in the U.S. So before all of our veggie friends freak out, keep eating your fake cheese, just do so in a conservative fashion.

**Chocolate and weed were used for emphasis purposes, and not the idea of KOD.

in Veggie 3 comments
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Who Cooked It Better? Rachael Ray vs. Giada De Laurentiis

rachael-ray.jpggiada.jpgIt’s come to our attention here at ES that despite all these food blogs, there are only so many things a person can actually cook. I mean, it takes a lot of hard work to come up with an original, tasty combination of ingredients, and even when you do, chances are someone’s already thought of it before anyway. Just ask Jessica Seinfeld. So what’s a snarky food blogger to do? Why, judge others of course. On that note we introduce our newest feature: Who Cooked It Better?

Inspired by Us Weekly’s in-depth examination of celebrity costumery, Who Wore It Best? we’ll be browsing the food world each week to bring you a head-to-head match-up in which you, the readers, get to decide Who Cooked It Better?

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It’s only fitting that our first culinary clash is a fishfight between the Food Network’s two sultriest chefs. Anyone can wrap a simple broiled scallop in bacon and make it taste pretty great, but not everyone can produce the beautiful succulence that is emitted by Rachael Ray and Giada De Laurentiis on a daily basis.

Pictured in the left-hand corner is the entry from our first cheftestant, the New York-born, former Macy’s candy counter clerk and aspiring queen of all media, Rachael Ray. Thankfully, RayRay resisted the urge to make an entreetizer or stoup this time and went semi-classic with her scallops, which are marinated in Teriyaki sauce, wrapped in thickly-sliced bacon and served on a tantalizing toothpick. Rachael gets creativity points for adding a slice of water chestnut and piece of pickled ginger to each scallop. Full recipe here.

In the right corner is our challenger, Rome-born, Hollywood-raised brand new baby mama Giada De Laurentiis. Giada went for a refreshing take here, blending up a tomato-basil-olive oil rub for her scallops, and kicking it up a notch by wrapping them in prosciutto. These scrumptious shellfish look pretty gushingly gourmet on their bed of fresh arugula, although perhaps a little hard to handle. Full recipe here.

So, dear readers, your thoughts please…
[Poll id=”7″]

in Bacon / Celebs / Contests / Fish / TV 16 comments
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