Flip Flop Inducing Quaffability

flip flop bottle opener

In college my favorite beer was Corona and to make sure I could always drink it, I kept a bottle opener on my key chain. I’m sure it was one of those free ones they were always giving away on the quad, probably pushing a new e-book store or some other “student advantage.”

Now though, with Corona off the top spot, I no longer keep an opener with me at all times (although I wouldn’t mind a small, portable wine key on my key chain.) Of course though, I am still faced with the same dreadful situation: a beer and no available opener.

Cue my boyfriend. And his flip flops.

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Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

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– Figured we could count on you ESers to brainstorm some dirty food terms. Nina:

The dirty dish in my house is “beef strokemeoff”. Not for too much longer tho….our three year-old has started asking for it by that name!

Jennifer:

You left off “spatchcock.” It can’t be said around here without a ton of snorting snickers.

Yvo:

Beat until smooth, about 50 strokes. Or put your hand as far into the cavity as you can reach and remove whatever you find… the giblets.

– Meanwhile, Amelia of Gradually Greener comes up with some pretty great book-nerd ice cream flavors:

Shakes-Pear (pear & swirls)
Micro-fishe (mini swedish fish)
Acai-berry of Congress (Acai berries)

– And an angry Angus does not agree with our use of green tea in cupcakes:

I hate Green Tea but I especially hate it when people put it in food. Green Tea ice cream is awful and I think people only eat it to gain hippy cred. You can keep the cup cakes.

(Photo of a very delicious looking spatchcock: avlxyz)

Top Chef Masters: Finale Round 2

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I’m sorry to report that I will be calling off my pre-pre engagement to Zooey Deschanel. She’s handling the news very well actually, thanks largely to the fact she has no idea who I am. But if she did, and maybe, just maybe one day she will, I’d like to think she would at least be mildly disappointed.

The thing is, we’ve just been struggling with these imaginary problems for a while now and it’s really taken a toll on our long term future. The final straw was the realization that the only source of nutrients Zooey is allowed to consume is grass. I was crushed when I found out. All these years you think you know someone and then a bomb like this drops on your head and shakes your imaginary relationship to the core.

Find out how the remaining Top Chef Masters handle cooking for a group of people that hate choose not to enjoy everything on this planet worth eating, after the jump.

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Friday Fuck Up: Ice Cream Epic Fail

My husband and I, upon our first foray to a large farmer’s market near our new house, decided on a whim to buy a whole coconut. So exciting! So tropical! The adventure we had opening the coconut and eventually eating it made me think of other odd fruits and veggies that people eat and love – artichokes being my personal favorite. Who ever thought, back in the day, these things were edible? Why put forth such effort to get to the wonderful taste inside? But I digress. After the initial excitement wore off, and we had nibbled on a little bit of coconut meat, it now fell upon me to figure out what to do with the bulk of the coconut meat and the water.

Mmmm...fresh-grated coconut

It being August, and living in a house with no central air, my mind automatically went to ice cream. I don’t have a stand-alone ice cream maker, but I do have an ice cream maker attachment that came with my beloved KitchenAid mixer. I’ve attempted ice cream before, to utter disappointment. The problem originated from the fact that I don’t want to make normal ice cream. I want to make soy cream. We’re a lactose-intolerant household around here, and my first attempt at soy ice cream, back around Thanksgiving, used soy milk and tofu, and ended up an icy, non-creamy concoction that I threw out. This time, I thought I’d do a hybrid, taking a regular recipe and putting half dairy, half soy in it instead, along with the great goodness of the coconut meat and water – it was bound to be tasty….Right?

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Artsy Photo of the Day

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These days, even the vegetation is in support of gay rights.

Cheflebrity Smörgåsbord: Do You Take Out Your Meat?

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First up, a quick, semi-selfish cooking question:  Despite having watched a lot of food shows and read a lot of cookbooks, I haven’t found a definitive answer to the question that I encounter during quite a few meals.  Namely:  Should you take your meat out of the refrigerator before cooking to raise the temperature?

I’m not talking about a pork shoulder…I know you need to bring that up a bit or it will never cook evenly.  I’m thinking about cuts like pork chops, beef and even chicken, where you want to get the meat to reach the right internal temperature during cooking just as you achieve outer-browning Nirvana.

And so I turn to you, dear readers.  Is there a hard and fast rule that can be used here?  What will work without sending me to the emergency room in a cold sweat?

The smörg is always the right temperature.

–  We just can’t get enough Fabio!  Last year, he couldn’t find a taker for his proposal, so he self-published a cookbook. Now ALL the ladies (and publishers) love them some Fabio.

– This year’s Great American Dine Out will feature Food Network’s Aaron McCargo as a spokesman.  Cool: You eat out and money goes to Share Our Strength.  As if you needed another excuse to go out and stuff your face.

After the jump…a look at Virtual Susie Fogelson, a lawsuit that can’t possibly be frivolous and a fantastic new accomplishment for the Smörgåsbord.

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