Bidding Adieu...

Upon learning of the sudden demise of Gourmet magazine the other day I sat down in front of my cookbook/cooking magazine bookshelves to take a little trip down memory lane with the issues of the magazine that I've collected over the years.

On the shelves, surrounded by over a dozen copies each of Food & Wine, Saveur (both English and French versions), Bon Appetit and Cuisine et Vins de France, were a measly four copies of Gourmet.

Four.

I was sure that in the last eight or so years I had compiled a larger number than that. Nope.


It made me realize that as sad as I am for the loss of a 68 year old institution and for the cooks, writers, photographers, etc. who lost their jobs so suddenly, I never really had an enduring love affair with Gourmet.
So I bid you adieu.

And in your memory I vow that I will never buy a copy of Everyday With Rachel Ray or Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade. But I can't promise I won't check out Cooking With Paula Deen, because she's just so bad, she's good. Pin It

Meme Time - I've Been Tagged

Being that I'm back from "vacation," I can finally get around to doing this meme that I was tagged for a couple of weeks ago by Amy at We Are Never Full.

I first heard from Amy when I wrote about Rachel Ray. Not big fans of Ray-Ray over there at We are Never Full. She has written some hilarious posts about her perky nemesis!

On to the meme...

THE RULES:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Sounds easy enough.

Seven Random/Weird Things About Me:

1. I loathe grating cheese.

2. From a very young age I used to tell everyone that I was going to be an Entomologist when I grew up. I still regret not following my dream...

3. The movie Friday the 13th, which I saw on my 13th birthday birthday slumber party thanks to the newest invention of the early 1980's- Cable TV, scared the living crap out of me. I looked under my bed every night for years afterward, expecting to find Jason there to kill me.

4. When I was 18, I once spent five days eating nothing but Lucky Charms cereal. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. For five days. I must have been on the biggest sugar high!

5. I adamantly refuse to use Starbuck's stupid coffee lingo. Not that I have the opportunity (thankfully) to do so very often. It is a large, dammit, not a venti. And you know what really bugs me, now that I'm on this rant... they use all this pretentious, Italian inspired language, then when you try to order a ristretto,* they didn't know what you're talking about!

6. Stationery, pens and paper products are my secret vice. New Orleans has a fabulous, little shop, Papier Plume, filled with gorgeous writing instruments, blank books and paper. I could spend hours in there along with my other favorite, Scriptura, which specializes in cards and stationery.

7. I love listening to frogs and toads singing and croaking.


Blogs I'm Tagging:

Jeanne at Cook Sister!
Aimee at Put Your Flare On
Lisa at Homesick Texan
Polly at Polly-Vous Français?
JenJen at Milk and Cookies
Ms. Weasel at La Belette Rouge
Camilla at Enlightened Cooking

Hope you all can join in and share some of your weirdness!


*a short, "restricted," more concentrated shot of espresso Pin It

The Recipe With The Lamest Directions EVER- Thank You Rachel Ray

First of all, let me just say that I have no opinion about Rachel Ray.
When we left the States and therefore access to The Food Network, she was still doing little shows like $40 a Day and I thought she was fine. Not great, but not terrible either.
I've read that people now either love her or think she is the devil's spawn. Whatever. As I said, I have no opinion one way or the other.

That may have changed today after attempting one of her recipes.
It's official title is Potatoes With Chorizo and Onions. I'm taking the liberty to change that to The Recipe With the Lamest Directions EVER.

I read it through and thought that it looked pretty straightforward. Had all the ingredients on hand and there's nothing better than some smoky, spicy sausage cooked with potatoes and onions. I read the bit about flipping the potatoes and onions so the chorizo was on top and thought that part looked a bit weird. It was.
And virtually impossible.

Everything is loose in the pan, so it doesn't turn neatly, so the chorizo doesn't end up on top. It gets all mixed in and by this time it was nice and crispy and didn't need to cook any more.
Why didn't she just say to take the chorizo out of the pan with a slotted spoon, layer the potatoes and onions, stir them around a bit, then put the chorizo on top before putting the other pan on? I ended up having to pull each little slice of chorizo out, burning my fingers in the process.

Lame, I tell you.

It was delicious though. Creamy potatoes, sweet onions and caramelized bits of chorizo.



P.S. what is the deal with EVOO? Does it take that much longer to say Extra Virgin Olive Oil than Eee Vee Ooo Ooo? Pin It