Yes Yu can
I’ve never been a ginormous fan of yuca. I’m not sure why, it just hasn’t come up that much. The only time I really ever see it on menus is as a side at Hispanic restaurants, but there’s usually a choice between that and either plantains or french fries, so I don’t think I’ve ever ordered it. No disrespect to the yuca, but that is some tough competition.
However, last time I was down in D.C. we all went to dinner at Mayorga Cafe, where there were no plantains or french fries at all, and the yuca fries were the only fried starchy goodness to be had. And let me tell you, they sure made me forget about french fries for the evening. Golden-crispy, not too oily, and with just a little more actual taste than spuds, I was hooked.
So even though I had NO idea how to cook with these, I grabbed one on a whim last time I was at the food co-op.
To be Considered, You Must Submit One Full-body Shot (Bikini or Nude) and a Recent Pay Stub Showing Proof of Employment at the Olive Garden
No, that’s not the skeeziest craigslist roommate ad of all time, it’s merely the submission guidelines for Playboy’s newest themed pictorial “Girls of the Olive Garden.”
And this isn’t a joke, apparently the men’s mag has run out of college conferences to profile and has turned to everyone’s favorite purveyor of free breadsticks to find America’s next top nude model.
The inspiration for the contest is a woman named Kendra Wilkinson, whose illustrious life accomplishments include her roles as one of Hugh Hefner’s pretend girlfriends; and as runner-up to Shar Jackson on MTV’s Celebrity Rap Superstar. Shar Jackson, for the record, is Britney Spears’ ex-husband’s baby mama (and she’s a rap superstar, but you knew that).
And, Kendra’s a blogger! You see, Kendra’s mom is a former Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader and a proud resident of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, which qualifies Kendra to blog about the Eagles.
With the Hef pushing 83, Kendra is apparently pulling the shots over at Playboy, and because she loves the Olive Garden more than life itself, she’s decided to feature their waitresses in a pictorial that is totally not endorsed by the restaurant chain (although NY Post reports they won’t fire their employees if they pose).
After the jump, Kendra explains what it takes to make it as a girl of the O.G.
The O.G. Food Blogger
A lot of people have made the point that 60 Minutes commenter Andy Rooney is the original blogger. Why? He rambles on about whatever is on his mind, with seemingly no input from a boss or editor, yet for some reason he is still given a platform to speak from. Andy’s deep insights into the world of fruit shopping are just too good to miss.
Via: Serious Eats
RecipeGate Threatens Cindy McCain’s Job as Campaign Wife
Those of you who read my interview with John McCain on Monday may have noticed his evasive “no comment” answer when I quizzed him on his wife Cindy’s passion fruit mousse recipe. Well it turns out I should have dug deeper into this story because the mousse has become a major campaign scandal!
As The Huffington Post reported yesterday, not a single one of Cindy McCain’s “family recipes” featured on the McCain website were actually original recipes, but instead cut-and-pasted versions of FoodNetwork.com recipes from Rachael Ray and Giada! Oh, Cindy!
The McCain campaign has responded swiftly and forcefully, removing the offending recipes from his website and firing an intern who they are blaming the whole mess on. (In response, Endless Simmer has fired our own intern for failing to uncover this aspect of the story.)
But now, HuffPost is reporting that Cindy also submitted the “original recipe” to a New York Sun article back in January. Guess they’ll have to blame that one on the intern too.
As you can see from the press conference photo above, McCain is standing by his wife for now - but it’s anyone’s guess how long he’ll be able to hold on before throwing Cindy under the bus as well.
Who Cooked It Better? Veggie Burger Battle Royale
Last week’s Who Cooked It Better aroused quite the display of passion in you folks, finally giving America’s pissed-off vegans a chance to vent their frustrations against that scourge of vegans everywhere, Anthony Bourdain. This was Endless Simmer’s most popular poll to date, and with 800 of you weighing in, Hezbollah Tofu crushed Anthony Bourdain, 83 to 17 percent. Many congrats to HT on a truly winning original recipe.
In a shameless ploy to hold on to our newly expanded vegan readership base, we’re continuing with the “hold the bacon” theme for this week’s Who Cooked It Better, a search for the ultimate veggie burger. But before you meat-lovers tune out, let’s remember that grillin’ season is just around the corner, and if you expect to keep your veggie friends around for the summer, you better have a good faux-burger recipe. And don’t say, “Oh, I already know about Boca Burgers,” because when your vegan friends respond “that’s so considerate of you to think of me,” what they really mean is “Great. I can’t wait to eat this same store-bought patty every weekend for the rest of the summer. By the way, I’m a vegan and this has cheese in it.”
 |
 |
 |
 |
Seeing as how veggie burgers are kind of an anti-establishment thing anyway, we decided to go all-blogger for this challenge. Our first cheftestant is Swell Vegan, whose tasty-looking seitan burger (top left) is accented with chopped sesame seeds, red pepper and carrots. In a twist that could have you choosing this over steak at your next BBQ, Swell Vegan mixes chimichurri sauce into the veggie patty, and tops it off with more of this savory green stuff, along with tomato, onion, and tofutti cheese. SV says the recipe is still a work in progress, but this one already looks like a winner.
Moving to the top right, Eat Air is hoping to take down yet another meat-worshiping TV star with their veganized version of Paula Deen’s Big Mike Burger. The Big V replaces Paula’s butter burger/pecan burger double patty with an amped up seitan burger that includes shittake mushrooms and vegan cheese, along with a tempeh-pecan patty complete with maple syrup and liquid smoke (!) Complete directions here.
On the bottom right corner is a beautiful pic from 101 Cookbooks, whose use of eggs may turn off you vegan voters, but these garbanzo bean-cilantro-sprout burgers are so tasty looking we had to include them. Most originally, 101 C loses the bread buns altogether and uses her two patties as the buns, filling the inside with avocado slices, cipollini onions, and more. Full recipe over at 101 Cookbooks.
In the bottom-left corner is a great-looking burger from The Accidental Vegetarian, which looks most like a real burger of anything we could find, even though instead of fake meat, the AV goes for a mix of eggplant, zucchini, onion and garlic, kicked up a notch with an inventive almond paste concoction. Full recipe here.
Your votes and thoughts please…
Loading …ps - did we miss any of the best? Let us know!
