Busy Nothings

It is my sister Jessy’s birthday and we celebrated at the family home this past weekend.  Here’s a few pictures. . .

The first one his Jessy making a face:

And here’s Jessy with her sister Sadie:

We played a bit of bingo:

And here’s the cutest picture of the night:

Obviously, this is a joke but a pretty good one.  Take a look here.  Really nice work with the picture incorporating both Rachel Ray and the Xbox 360. 

 I really don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this. 

Invention 13 Accordion Solo (UNCUT)

Here’s a few pictures from my birthday.  First, is part of my family having dinner with me at the Snapdragon restaurant:

The next pictures are some co-workers and myself at our favorite Granite City Food and Brewery.  The main photographer is the guy in the Vikings jersey.  (Funny story about that: Dan asks him Mom for a Kevin Williams jersey for Christmas.  Mr. Williams is a stud defensive tackle for the Vikings.  Instead, he gets a Troy Williamson jersey.  Mr. Williamson is a chump wide reciever for the Vikings.  Moral of the story: Dan was a nice enough guy not to return the jersey.) 

Check out this recipe. 

This is via James Lilek’s blog at buzz.mn.  You should check it out.  Here’s what he wrote about fried chicken:

It’s National Fried Chicken Day. Well, when isn’t it? When I was a kid Dad would bring home a bucket from Chicken De-Light, which was the most amazing food we’d ever had; you’d bite, you’d chew, you’d savor the flavor - and then the next bite had actual chicken. A few later the Colonel came to town, and that was the end of Chicken De-Light. We tried KFC once or twice, but somehow everything in the bucket - the chicken, the buns, the coleslaw, the mashed potatoes - seemed to meld together into one greasy bolus, and those complimentary wetnaps were like an apology.

I’m confounded by the fact that no one in America has invented Fried Chicken Pizza. It would seem to be a rather obvious twist on a classic.

Well, I’d better google that, just to be sure . . .

I stand corrected.

Cooking Terms

Yes, this clip is funny but strangely intriguing.  I guess cooks in the 1950’s also didn’t know what basic cooking terms meant (see this post).  I also must say that I don’t 100% agree with their definitions of certain cooking terms. 

ADDED:  Where does one even begin unpacking this little nugget from the 1950’s.  It seems to capture every negative and positive stereotype from that era.  Obviously, a feminist critique of it would be suitably scathing.  The wife is portrayed as a bumbling idiot whose sole purpose in life after marriage is to create an idyllic home life for her husband.  So much so that she makes a cake for her spouse for lunch.  Who does that???!!!!  Also interesting was the fact that the narrator was male while the person demonstrating proper cooking techniques was female.  Is it all women who need cooking advice from this benevolent narrator?  Also, what’s the deal with the narrator saying, “even Margie” all the time.  Is she really that stupid?  And nice marital advice, your husband’s first day of work after the honeymoon and you are already encouraged to cover up your mistatkes in the kitchen.  Yeah, let’s start keeping secrets early in the marriage-one can’t start that too soon.

But, politics aside, let’s talk about the food.  This clip purported to explain a number of cooking terms and it did: cream, stir, beat, fold, boil, soft-ball stage, knead, stew, simmer, braise, dredge, brown, roast, bake, sear, marinate, scald, white sauce, and jelly making.  Whew, that’s quite a few cooking concepts to explain in 10 minutes. 

What struck me was how poorly all the food looked.  The cake was a little lopsided and the frosting was so messy.  The braised meats looked like astronaut food.  I know some of this has to do with the camera and film quality but considering their cooking methods, I’m not surprised.  It brings to mind a book by James Lileks, The Gallery of Regrettable Food (buy here).  You won’t believe how poorly food from the 1950’s looked and the ghastly recipes.

I also was struck by the recipe for Scalloped Cauliflower.  Why the milk was scalded is beyond me and the incorporation of the milk into the roux (a term the movie did not choose to explain-that’s the fat and flour mixture) was guaranteed to create a lumpy sauce.  The cook in the clip didn’t even use a whisk!  (Perhaps those did not exist in America then, I suppose, but how do you manage without a whisk?)  Plus, I love how the narrator calls for cheese but does not specify what kind of cheese.  The whole thing is just so high-flown that the instructions are almost unusuable.  No one as idiotic as Margie would be able to make any of those dishes just because she had seen this video.  There’s just not enough detail in the clip to provide any sort of real cooking advice. 

Finally, I am mystified as to their distinction between the terms braise and stew.  Apparently, braising requires a dredge in flour while stewing does not.  That distinction just doesn’t do it for me.  I am also similarly mystified by their description of marinating.  The instruction is to saturate the food you mean to marinade.  I found that to be a rather curious term to use becuase, to me, saturation means a lot of liquid in proportion to the amount of food.  In fact, there is so much liquid so as to make sure that the food is unable to absord any more liquid.  Seems like a poor way to make vegetables-I imagine soggy, over-flavored veggies.  Uggghhh. 

ADDED:  I forgot that Mr. Lileks has some very regrettable food on his website here.  Check it out; both for the pictures and the commentary. 

New Prescription-Only Sandwich Extra Delicious