by Emily

A “Different” Take on Chicken & Waffles

Foodwise, Seattle does a lot of things right. Seafood, apples, cherries, Pike Place Market, etc… Good job, go Northwest, most of the time I am very proud of the culture here.

BUT! Sometimes I am just embarrassed for this city. Such an incident occurred today when I was out grabbing some groceries at the market near my office. The special of the day:

You guys. YOU GUYSSSSS. I know Seattle isn’t known for its amazing, authentic soul food, but COME ON. Chicken ‘n’ waffles, but the waffles are legit EGGOS wrapped in saran wrap?! A whole box of Eggos costs less than $6.99. This is total pandering to the “southern food trend,” and I don’t like it one bit.

by Emily

In Defense of Paula Deen

I’m sure y’all have heard by now that Paula Deen has diabetes. It’s all over the news. People are pissed. I’ve seen media “correspondents” (who are these people who are allowed to throw stones all over the place?) calling her “outrageous” and demanding apologies to the public. WHAT? Why?

Know what? I’m just gonna say it. I like Paula Deen and I DON’T CARE. I don’t care that my girl Paula cooks food that is bad for her/everyone; I don’t care that she kept her diabetes a secret; I don’t care that she is now doing an endorsement deal with a diabetes pharmaceutical company.

Is a lot of her food hilariously bad for you? Sure is. Does she blatantly ignore nutritional guidelines? Yep. If you cook and eat a ton of her recipes on a regular basis, are you doing your health a disservice? You better believe it.

But guess what, Food Network viewers! The onus is on YOU! If you think Paula Deen’s recipes are unhealthy, don’t cook and eat them. If you think her lifestyle is appalling, don’t watch her show. The fact that Paula has diabetes may be linked to her eating habits, great. Frankly, her health is her business. Anthony Bourdain may say she’s “in bad taste,” but honestly, how is her admitting to diabetes and hawking meds really affecting any of us? Nobody was “betrayed” by her cooking shows, as some people have claimed. She’s never represented herself as an athletic, fit person. Paula Deen’s admission of her diagnosis doesn’t give you a free pass to eat poorly, then complain and point fingers.

Even here at Endless Simmer, we delight in writing about alarmingly extreme foods. I highly doubt any of our readers think we constantly pig out on all of our ridiculous culinary discoveries, or that we encourage anyone else to. We’re all smarter than that, right?

This is just like people who try to sue fast food companies for their health issues. Let’s take some personal responsibility, please. If you honestly think it’s okay to eat burger-stuffed doughnuts three meals a day, that is 100% your problem, not Paula Deen’s.

(image: eater.com)

in Celebs / Rants & Raves / TV 11 comments

by Emily

Finally, Easter is Here Again

Check out the massive display currently featured at my local Safeway market:

Okay, American consumerism, I get it. Christmas is over, you need to find the next holiday to shove down our throats. But really, spring is in the air? IS IT? I think not. Plus, what happened to making us feel like shit because Valentine’s Day is coming?! Nope, now we’re just on to Easter? Apparently, April is just around the corner. Better start stocking up on your Cadbury Eggs and Peeps right now.

(To be clear, I love Cadbury Eggs and Peeps, but I categorically refuse to purchase and/or eat them until actual springtime.)

in Desserts / Holiday / Rants & Raves 4 comments

by Emily

Throw This Party: Progressive Dinner Caravan

Ugh, I am so sick of dinner parties!

Actually, that is a complete lie, I will never be sick of dinner parties. BUT I am always looking for a way to make the traditional dinner party even more exciting. My friend Dayna was inspired by an episode of Top Chef in which the cheftestants were challenged to throw a progressive dinner party; basically, they each had to host and serve one course before moving on to a different location, where a different chef would host and cook. Well, if they can do it, why can’t we? And so the posse of progressive dinner party friends was formed.

We suggested our idea to friends who live in our neighborhood. The rules were simple: pick a dish and a drink to go with it, and prepare most of it at home ahead of time, with decor, music, etc…selected to enhance the dining experience. We would caravan from apartment to apartment, spending an hour in each kitchen while we took turns hosting and serving our creations. At first our friends were a bit hesitant about the complicated nature of this party, but we promised it would be a worthy endeavor, and it was.

How it worked, plus my dinner party veggie recipe, after the jump.

in Personal / Recipe / Veggie 2 comments

by Emily

2012: The Year of Fideo?

I rang in the new year with a brand new food I’d never tried before! Way to start 2012 on a decidedly culinary note, huh? Okay, in full disclosure, I ate this at about 11:00pm on 12/31/11, but I actually started 2012 at a house party in which all I consumed was warm Cook’s “champagne,” so I’m just gonna count this. I mean, I was still digesting it after the clock struck midnight.

At this point, you are probably sitting on the edge of your seat, gripping the front of your desk, thinking, “What, Emily? What is this wonderful mystery food you consumed to kick off your amazing year?!” Well, my friends, it is called fideo, described as a Mexican dry soup with a spaghetti-like pasta.

My group was enjoying a leisurely, festive dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle — Poquitos — which I have mentioned in the past. One of the owners, Matt, was bartending, and he suggested we try their new appetizer. Matt is so charming that you can never resist anything he suggests, so we eagerly agreed. He brought over a piping hot bowl. “I like to eat mine with chips,” he remarked with a smile.

Wait, noodles you eat on a fried tortilla product?

in Restaurants / Trends 2 comments

by Emily

Getting Real About New Year’s Resolutions

Well, another year has flown by and now it’s 2012. For many people, this means it’s time to put those New Year’s resolutions into action. Many classic goals involve improving exercise and diet habits. While we would like to support these resolutions in theory, let’s get real. People make the same resolutions year after year because they never stick! Instead of the tried-and-true, tried-and-failed resolutions of yore, we’ve come up with suggestions to spice up your eating and drinking in 2012… and yeah, be a little healthier, too.

Here’s a look at the four classic New Year’s eating/drinking resolutions…and the ES fixes

1. Drink Less Alcohol

What? No. We can’t even to begin to explain why this plan is destined to fail. But for starters, let’s get real, we even infuse our popsicles with booze. So… come on.

ES Says: Vow to try new alcohols. We’ve all had vodka, but have you tried akavit? Lillet? Aperol? Or, learn to love an alcohol you don’t like. Maybe you had a bad experience with gin in college, but it’s time to give your least favorite spirit the ol’… college try.

in Holiday / Lists / Personal 3 comments

by Emily

Presents for Foodies: Food Network Star Book

This time of year I am always scrambling for holiday gift ideas. It’s not that I’m not a generous person… it’s just that sometimes, come on, people are hard as hell to buy for. Being a food-minded individual, I often solve this dilemma by throwing a cookbook their way and calling it good. In this case, here is something to please the masses: Food Network Star: The Official Insider’s Guide to America’s Hottest Food Show. It’s chock full of recipes and television gossip. We all know people who love Food Network, so there! One gift to cross off the list.

How good is this cookbook? Well, it’s definitely a crowd pleaser. FNS:TOIGTAHFS, as I like to call it to save time, offers a wide array of recipes, from the laughably simple (Carissa Seward’s Shrimp Puffs), to the reasonable (Eggs en Cocotte from Amy Finley), to the elegantly involved (Alex Hernandez’s Beignets with Rosemary Caramel). It’s fun because recipes from basically every cheftestant from every season of the show are featured, so it’s easy to pick a selection from one’s favorite. I, for example, eagerly sought out recipes from the Hearty Boys. Then, upon seeing that their featured item was lobster pot pie and reminding myself I was supposed to be saving money for other presents, decided to go with something a bit more pedestrian.

I would hardly call Guy Fieri my favorite “chef” but hey, he is probably the ultimate Next Food Network Star winner. This dude is everywhere! How’s his food? There’s only one way to find out, and that is to make one of the recipes that catapulted him to stardom.

Chipotle Pasta

in Celebs / Holiday / Recipe / TV 0 comments