Wednesday means food day in the US. It's when grocery stores put out their sale ads for the week and when newspapers across the land talk about food. Most larger cities have an entire section in the local newspaper totally devoted to food...reviews, recipes, restaurant openings and closings, food related articles. I used to be an avid reader and recipe clipper of my local San Jose Mercury food section. Somewhere I still have a big file of these clippings and actually, one of the few "go to" recipes I have is one for Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies I got out of the Merc at least twenty years ago. But lately, since I no longer get the daily paper and rely on the internet for most of my news, my perusing of the food section is limited to when I find a copy at the gym or while grabbing a Starbucks.
Luckily I went to the gym last night and the Wednesday food section had several interesting tidbits:
CHERRIES: First of all I had no idea that cherries could get "rug burns", but I guess they can and it seems California Rainiers are full of them. Lots of cherries are coming from Washington State right now and since I still have to try The Single Guys recipe for Chocolate Dipped Cherries, I may have to pick up some.
PESTICIDES: Seems they did studies and it's just as effective to wash your fruits and vegetables in water as it is to use those expensive fruit and vegetable washes. That just saved me a few bucks.
FRENCH LAUNDRY: The closest I think I'm going to get to a meal at The French Laundry restaurant anytime soon is to go see the movie "Ratatouille". The movie starts Friday and it seems French Laundry chef Thomas Keller helped the Pixar Animation crew get the food details just right. The Pixar folks not only worked at the French Laundry to get a feel for how chefs work, they took cooking classes and dined in famous restaurants in Paris! Now that's my kind of job. Yes, the story is about a rat who cooks, but hey, if Stuart Little can have Geena Davis as a mother, why can't a rat be a chef?
THE FAIRY FAT MOTHER: But the article in the food section that made me stop in my tracks was a story about one of my favorite Food Network cooks, Paula Deen. They say folks either love her or hate her (sorta like Rachel Ray) and I'm definitely in the first group (unlike Miss EVOO where I'm in the second group). The article didn't tell me anything I didn't know about Paula except that Gooey Butter Cakes are one of her most popular recipes. And then (be still my heart) the newspaper gave a recipe for Gooey TOFFEE Butter Cake!!! Oh hell yeah!! Mr. L kept bugging me about what I was making for desert on the 4th of July and after seeing this, no question. The Pineapple Gooey Butter Cake got raves so I can see this being just as yummy. I'll just try to ignore the fact that each little square is only 329 calories!
just enjoy each gooey toffee buttery mouthful and worry about those little 329 calories later.
me? i intend to eat whatever i want to eat over the fourth since after my surgery on the fifth, who knows when i will feel like eating again.
Posted by: barbie2be | June 29, 2007 at 08:28 AM
Mmmmmm.....those chocolate cherries sound good and so does that awesome cake.
Posted by: Jan | June 29, 2007 at 04:43 PM
Washington State Cherries=YUMMMMM! And lots of good memories. Most of those are grown right around where I grew up, we used to love to go picking. Although I think the last time I went Brooke was 2 and Grant was still in a snuggly carrier.
Paula Deen=awesome. Try her spinach artichoke dip recipe, oh yum. You're welcome in advance.
Posted by: Shelly | June 30, 2007 at 11:59 AM
ratatouille is a great flick! the kid and i saw it on opening day (his birthday) and both really enjoyed it.
Posted by: notsoccer mom | July 05, 2007 at 01:06 PM
I will take the Toffee Butter Cake anytime, anyplace, anywhere! Yummy. It was heavenly, better than the pineapple version.
Posted by: Roz | July 06, 2007 at 10:54 PM