Atlanta, urban development, and peach milkshakes

Atlanta is a wonderful city! In my two days here, it's been great to see the sights and enjoy the weather, among other things. And oh yes, the food. about that.

So tonight I decided to try out Zesto's, a famous eatery with a delicious double decker and great milkshakes and ice cream. Little did I know that I would also recall something that I read about atlanta before as well.

My walk began in the heart of midtown atlanta, a place where atlanta has prospered and grown in the last half century. immediately after world war II, racism became a point of contention, with the bombing of a synagogue in the 50's, due to the rabbi being a major proponent of integration. the civil rights movement started shortly thereafter, with the city gaining a reputation as the city as "being too busy to be racist". This is evident in the plethora of fortune 500 companies that currently reside here, notables including AT&T, Coca Cola, Home Depot and the USPS. Rubbermaid, Arby's Chick fil-a, Georgia Pacific, etc. also have HQs in the area. The city's midtown hosts many of them.

At any rate, I went to Zestos, which is a mile from the midtown rail station. After a couple blocks of nice highrises and luxury apartment complexes, things changed. immediately. The first thing I saw was the Atlanta transitional center. it was interesting, and I moved on, oblivious of what was to come. then I saw Chico and Changs.



It was the beginning of a transformed city. Places like these are indicative of a bad area, along with the other following places i've observed. There was a KFC, followed by a taco bell, a macdonalds, and a popeyes chicken on the same block. on the other side of the street, a mattress retail store, a hot wings place, broken glass, and, among other things, apartments with yelling going on from the balconies.

So, if you go back to wikipedia, you'll find that with the success of fortune 500 companies in the downtown and midtown, middle-high class white people came to inhabit the central areas of urban densities. Urban developments did force poorer black people to the periphery, leading to atlanta becoming a place of gentrification, even though racial tolerance became a mode-de-vivre in the words and images of the city.

It was getting dark and I was beginning to be the most scared i've ever been.



But it was worth it. best burger i've ever had, as well as one of the best milkshakes (peach!) ever.



^_^.

Update!

So, I'm going to be visiting Atlanta from the 23rd to the 29th of march, 2009. I'm participating in an unpaid spring break program through my school, and I applied for placement in the ATL for a couple reasons:

1. good weather (60's-70's, pretty breezy and sunny.)
2. Interesting urban environemnt ( atlanta is a cosmopolitan city in the heart of the south, with a rich history and currently a boom town in terms of population, economic growth and architectural exploits.

3. the food.


Let's put it this way, southern style cooking, varieties of different experiences, and traditional restaurants that are part of the cultural fabric. much more fascinating than coney dogs in metro-detroit.

I will try and photo document my experience, eating at a different establishment every night. Looking forward to having people read this thing again, and also to getting fat from crazy amounts of greasy food, among other things ^_-

Chow.




What you know about that?

Story Time: The Homicidal Ice Cream Man and some Magical Fried Chicken.

There are great things being done for humanity's sake when it comes to food: disaster relief, meals on wheels, farmer's markets and organic foods, can food drives, soup kitchens, etc.

and then there are things being done with food that totally boggle your mind, make you wanna commit hari hiri, slit your throat and shoot yourself in the head at the same time.
things like this.

Now, if you're as lazy as I am, let's summarize this:

Man wants to be an ice cream guy, decides to buy an ice cream truck. He gets it, decides he doesn't want to be an ice cream man, and is ticked off when they can't refund his 18,000 payment on the truck. He drove across the country and killed an emplyoee of the company.

Then, he agrees to plea guilty for a bucket of KFC.
...

ok, not KFC, but also Popeyes and a bunch of sides, as well. mashed potatoes, carrot pie, cole slaw. Lord have mercy!

the judge agreed to the request because it would save time and money, and besides, you've got to get something back in turn for being punished for a crime that you committed anyways. Not that anyone mentioned a lightened sentence to him, but he has a chance to be paroled.... in 30 years.

So, what's the morale of the story?

Jail food SUCKS. Fried Chicken is GOOD. And don't be an ice cream man unless you REALLY, REALLY wanna do it.


Side note: Colonel Saunders was buried in the iconic white suit and bowtie.

KFC is not just to Kill for, or plead guilty for, but it's also to die for.

Breakfast foods, chicken and your mother.

Let's kick off your day with a youtube video of a mcdonalds breakfast commercial.


I read in interesting article in Time magazine(http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1818200,00.html) the other day, about how this writer named Joel stein has an issue with Mcdonalds new southern style chicken biscuit being served on the breakfast menu. I actually don't mind the fact that chicken for breakfast is a new and exiting chapter in american breakfast cuisine (and the race towards a national obesity/depression/arthritis/diabetes/asthma/heart disease/acidreflux/gallstone/liver chirrosis increase in the incoming years), I was kinda interested in how american breakfast foods came to be in the first place. Joel seems to have done some research on the topic and brought up some interesting facts or points i'd like to share with you (obviously, a well-educated and loyal reader of this blog) from the article.

-"America inherited the big Victorian British-Irish breakfast of bread, eggs and pork (probably because it could be cured and stored)".

I think this is a very valid statement. If you think about it, the victorian-american age coincided and was inherited by the introduction of european immigrants in the 1880's to the early 1900's to the united states. at the time the United states had the resources to provide great amounts of dairy, eggs, grains and so forth. with the tastes of irish and english immigrants attuned to such fare, it became popular and we've inehrited it to this day.

Immigrants have had a monumental role in contributing to american cuisine. take, for example, corned beef hash.
Typical irish fare in... well... ireland, is potatoes and meat. preserved meat, to be exact. corned beef was considered by irish americans as a suitable and cheap substitute for bacon in the poor irish quarter of NYC's lower east side, and it caught on. Corned beef could be prepared from leftovers at dinner, and combined with potatoes was made a popular breakfast food back in the day, and now is a popular choice to eat in southern states.


- "Cereals were added at the turn of the century thanks to the Kellogg brothers."

The industrial revolution and the advent of machinery and industrial mass production allowed the Kellogg Brothers to release their first brand-name cereal, cornflakes, in 1906. This method of mass production, which included baking and extruding mashed grains, proved to be very profitable as these cereals could be transported and kept for long periods of time, were relatively nutritious and provided the luxury of not having to cook for a meal. ergo, it became a prominent breakfast food out of nutritional value and convenience. (nutritional value nowadays is subjective when we talk about cereals, but i digress.)

Also, did you know the kellogg brothers were seventh day adventists, and fed cornflakes, along with other bland foods thought to decrease sexual passions, to patients at their health sanitorium? Cool.


-"Doughnuts sneaked in after they were paired with coffee as an afternoon treat for World War I soldiers."

wow. those sneaky doughnuts.


-"In the South, buttery biscuits have long been served with gravy or rich, salty ham."

This tradition has continued unabated for years. it might be a contributing factor to the American South's reputation for having great food, and where the rates for obesity/depression/arthritis/diabetes/asthma/heart disease/acidreflux/gallstone/liver chirrosis continues to lead the nation.


something to chew on, i guess, as you eat your breakfast, is to consider where what you eat came from. you might just be suprised at how "american" your meal is. theres a lot of history.

PS: i meant to talk about your mother, but it didn't seem appropriate. hey, at least you read the article. (even if you were looking for a momma comment.)

First time cooking therapy, session 1

Once I left the comforts of dorm-food, of my parents and their cooking, I was totally lost.

You don't know what to eat. You want to eat, but you're not sure as to what because there are choices. many of them.
You're sure you could cook, you'd like to have that ability. But how to cook, what to cook, and how to manage it all in accordance with your budget?

My thoughts when grocery shopping with my brother:

"Balls."

"Awww Bob Saget!!"

"Ummm.... "


and of course "i dunno, whatever"

When we're on our own, i've found that people usually do the following:
-Eat out
-Make sandwiches
-Eat breakfast foods. (cereal, toast, bacon, etc.) for multiple meals in a day

For the most part, this is a guy thing. adolesccents and young adults don't have much kitchen/cooking experience in comparison to girls, due to the sentiment that they won't have to worry about it until it's absolutely imperative to. therefore, looking up silly videos on youtube or watching adult content on the internet takes priority over those kinds of concerns, especially in high school. Girls on the other hand (the ones not looking at porn) feel some social pressure to cook, either from the fact that the great majority of parents that cook are female, or because they've got less of an incentive to do athletics or other activities that guys have greater leeway in aprticipating in. Times are changing though, and girls are doing plenty of things not involved with cooking.

Sexist statement? hell yeah. but it's a valid one when you talk about the great body of adults living on their own for the first time.

So... here are a couple of things i did to figure out and organize this perdicament.

1. make a list of what kinds of thing you like to eat:
chicken, beef, pork, potatoes, beans, hot dogs, burgers, spinach, noodles, etc.

they can be dishes, categories of food, but if you ahvea general idea, that's fine.

2. look up dishes or recipes

thanks to the internet, recipes can be found for virtually any kind of dish you want to cook, from the basic to the elaborate stuff they serve at 5star restaurants.
If you see something you like on top chef or iron chef, the cooking channel, any source, just add it to your list.

3. once you figure out what you like, figure out what you're going to eat on a weeky or biweekly basis. Time constraints, context for cooking, etc. should be figured out. you can come up with a shopping list based on those recipes once you balance out what meals you're going to cook for and how many of them there are.

4. go shop. once you know what to get, it makes shopping easier.

after a few times, you have a better understanding of what to buy and how to budget.

this is my experience, but i'm sure it could be useful for anyone starting out on their own.

better than living off of the dollar menu at fast food restaurants.

Southern Style Sweet Tea. Hellz Yeah.

If the South had won the Civil War, the most popular beverage would be, without a doubt, Whiskey and Beer.

(and then, Sweet Tea.)

Getting past the horrible introduction and hook (you're still reading! Ha!),

I'd like to discuss one of my favorite drinks of all time. It's a classic drink that never gets old, especially in the southern states where the word "tea" means this classic brew.

Sweet Tea is conventionally brewed from black tea (orange pekoe is pretty good) and sugar is mixed in while the tea is boiling/steeping.




Tea got it's start in America when the french imported the leaves as a trade good in the 18th century, and eventually it was cultivated and domesticated, especially in the south. With european colonization brining goods and tastes to the United states in that period, Coffee and Tea made it's way into the palates of Colonials, and especially in the Southern states controlled by the British, the tradition of tea was imparted, along with plantation-estates, womens fashion styles and a code of conduct for gentlemen in the south. The notion of "Southern Hospitality", so it's said, was a byproduct of this time period.


As my constant companion Wiki Pedia tells me, the first documented iced sweet tea recipe was published in a cookbook in 1879 by Marion Tyree, with green tea as the tea. "In fact, most sweet tea consumed during this period was green tea. However, during World War II, the major sources of green tea were cut off from the United States, leaving them with tea almost exclusively from British-controlled India which produces black tea. Americans came out of the war drinking preponderantly black tea."

I love Wiki. always so knowledgeable about all things not political.



Sweet Tea is regarded as a popular alternative to water, often being served in a pitcher in family-style restaurants, and even being served in glasses, given free refills. Quality and quanitity in production is what makes it such a widespread beverage to be sold in bulk, and is bottled by lipton, nestea and individual companies like Gold Peak. McDonalds, looking to change up their complexion, has added 1$ southern-style sweet tea to it's menu along with the southern style chicken sandwiches (also quite good) as of 2007-8.

It can be homemade as well, with many variations and recipes, but all involve the same amount of tea, with differences being the amount of sugar added.

At any rate, i've been brewing this stuff for the last month or so and can't get enough of it: tea bags and sugar are the only things you need to buy, and it's much more satisfying if you have the time to brew it. Here's my Tea Recipe


Ewok-style Sweet Tea
3 tagless family bags/8-10 individual bags of black tea (Luzianne or Lipton)
1.50 cups of Sugar
A pinch of baking soda (to cut the bitter flavor and darken the color of the tea, optional)
4 cups of water

1. Boil 4 cups of water, mixing in the sugar once the water comes to a boil.

2. Once the sugar-water is boiling heavily once again, place the tea bags and baking powder in the water, and immediately turn off the heat.

3. Take the pan off of the heater, cover it and let the tea steep for one hour.

4. Remove tea bags and press to get excess liquid and pour into gallon jug.

5. Fill jug/pitcher with cold water and refrigerate/serve with ice.

So. Good. This is the one thing to have for this summer, as the weather gets warm and humid, this is the drink to have.

instant food: the high point of our society's "i want it now" lifestyle.

You know it's true. common knowledge. if you didn't realize this you might have been living in the basement your entire natural life. People desire instant gratification. Cars that accelerate faster are desired(duh!), computers must process their binary at mind-boggling speeds or else they're obsolete. and if you haven't seen a comcast commercial then you could be societally ignorant and/or you've never been to this fabulous grease-capital-of-the-world called the United States of America.

We always make fun of how horrible the typical American's diet is, yet we stuff our face with the likes of fast food, junk food, sugar and sodapop. in the case of college students we see this weight gain and resolve to cut down our body mass fast while seeming to look stylish/edgy/hip by imbibing insane doses of coffee and caffeinated energy drinks.

If you actually can say with a clear conscience that you do not do ANY of the following, then you might be an herbivorous rabbit.

This demand for instant gratification is summarized in Proverbs 19:22a:

"What a man desires is unfailing love"

Man, meet instant food products. this nugget of wisdom in the bible points out Mankind's natural tendency of self gratification, to be consistently fulfilled by indulging our desires. (asquicklyaspossibleok?)

Technology and manufacturing methods have been developed with efficiency (and profit) in mind, and now food products can be (and are) packaged with consistency of flavor, texture, longevity and widespread availability for consumers. It's like Tom Cruise says in Jerry Maguire: "You.... Complete Me."

If you can take the time, just think about it. We're wired to want something that will never fail us, that won't talk back, that won't ever leave us, no matter how bad we are.

You might be thinking that God would be a perfect fit for that(or at least that's what I was thinking). but outside of God, the perfect spouse and fatherly/motherly love, the closest things we have are....


Instant Noodles. (Nong Shim, Korean #1 noodle!)Easy mac., etc. etc.
Just add water for deep fried and dry frozen noodles high in carbohydrates, MSG, trans fat and cholesterol and nothing else. But they’re dirt cheap and it’s better than dying… quickly.


Microwaveable precooked food.
Hot Pockets, pizza rolls. microwave dinners. WHITE CASTLE BURGERS (Hellz yeah.) think about fast food. On demand. Conveniently delicious.


Chips and "Junk" Food: Pork Rinds and potato chips, among other things, are consistently greasy, high in carbohydrates, sodium and trans fat.

I mean, come on, be honest. Life would suck without quick food. We’d have to cook stuff ourselves, maybe be dependent on cooking vegetables and meat instead of sprinkling them from a freeze dry packet. It’d take time. I mean, who has that kind of time nowadays? We have so many other things to do. Like, facebook. Blogging. Watching prime time television. Stalking 14 year olds on Myspace. Looking up rugby tackles and sports highlights on youtube.

Yup. Today, Cooking is something we get paid for, it’s a job rather than a routine. Sadly enough.

BTW, definitely didn’t mean to imply anything specific about 14 YO’s and stalking on myspace. No sir.

Dish of the month: Rocky Mountain Oysters

this weekend, i had my first tastte of liver, which is beef liver pan fried and sauteed with onions. there is no doubt that it tasted kinda good, especially considering i wasn't expecting much. intrigued, my roommate told me about Rocky mountain oysters.

here's a picture of where the delicacy comes from:


So it's a bull. cool.


now here's a picture of what part it specifically comes from.



and here's how they look, sliced, breaded in flour, salt and pepper and deep fried:


They're rocky mountain oysters because uncooked bulls testicles have the consistency and look of raw oyster, and a large cattle industry is present in the rocky mountains. as the need to pacify aggressive behavior of bulls became relevant in cattle ranching, the testes were removed, and consequently it was added to the cuisine in the west as an intriguing appetizer.


They are not just bull testes, rocky mountain oysters are also from bear or buffalo.

and to top off this wonderful dish, it's also been popularized in different forms in other countries: in jakarta, they are sometimes part of the satay. the rest of the world sometimes calls the dish "sweet meats"

and you thought sweetmeats was candy.

Balls.

The Korean History Channel

As a rebuttal to those that thought I was being racist when i related kimchee to korean people, I would like to apologize by sharing this clip with you.

DISCLAIMER:
the only true part of this clip is that "BuGolGi isSo guuood"
And I don't endorse anything about eatting doggie or japanese dinosaurs, anything like that.

If you wanna eat, call me, we'll have Rich JC sometime!

The Food Slideshow sideshow!

I recently got an e-mail from someone that claimed to actually have read this blog.
This suprised me on muliple levels:

1. this person actually stumbled onto my blog, and

2. this person was willing to read my posts!

now if that's not weird, then i don't know what is.

but anyways, he put me onto slideshows that can actually be imbedded into html format, which is pretty dope in my book.

These slides are top quality and in the food category, it has the capacity to introduce you to many different types of food in a food group, so enjoy! Props to Anuj for the info.



Eat something fresh today, most veggies and fruits have the nutrients to help you metabolize your food, promote health and proper functioning of your body. In general, they maximize the energy you get from carbs and proteins.

Eating Culture: National Dishes and regional specialties

sorry. it's been a while. i'm not sure if anyone has read this thing in about a semester, i haven't updated too recently.

But yeah, back to food.

The national food item is actually one of the most intriguing things to eat, one that is tied strongly to a cultural identity. There aren't too many dishes that a culture and society is intricately tied to in this world. Hot Dogs are synonymous with Americans and the identity of wiener lovers (hurf hurf hurf!) in North America. Fish and Chips is an English tradition (just like binge drinking and driving on the wrong side of the road), and Haggis is a Scot thing (as are kilts and Mel Gibson/William Wallace)

It's that special combination of Nationality and Food that really brings out the best in one's genuine cultural experience through food. When you eat something like that, you can literally taste tradition and get a better understanding for the cultural values of the dish.

For example, Kimchee.

Note and Disclaimer: The following may sound racist and ironically very ignorant of culture, but it's meant to playfully call out general trends in attitude. If you're Korean and are offended, don't worry about it. You see, all the korean people I know are always offended by something anyways and that motivates them to be the best human beings possible, so I'm glad that i get to be a part of the fun.

I'm sure you've run into (South) Korean people before. the hardcore ones. they're very feisty, full of spice, and can often turn you off because they're immensely intense and leave a distinctive love-hate response.

Like any South Korean Drama, soap opera or movie, there's always immense physical humor involved, lots of violent immediacy and "playful" abuse, full of drama and lots of hate, which ultimately is defeated by a bittersweet dramatic twist ending with a declaration of love or an immense epiphany and/or return home.

There are so many different kinds of Koreans, but at the heart of every one is the intense and sweet-sour-spicy attitude that will add a great dynamic to the whole. Can't live without it. If you have too much Korean in your life and you're not used to it, it'll probably give you an ulcer.

That pretty much summarizes Kimchee at it's essence.

And we're out of time, ill have to get to talking about food sometime. Balls.



This is Kimchee.










This is kimchee about to hit your tastebuds.
(It's an acquired taste.)

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

I had the option of watching braveheart or Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I decided to watch aqua teen hunger force under the impression that i'd give a witty and insightful review of anthromorphic fast food having wild adventures.

after watching it, i've realized that I was dumber than before i watched. So... rather than talking about talking milkshakes and morphing meatballs, here's a funny clip from braveheart instead.



I'll get to talking about the social history of potatoes eventually. stay tuned.

Public Service Annnouncement: Taco Bell, Diarrhea and a Happy New Year!

Never, ever, ever eat Taco Bell 1/2 lb. burritos unless you like the process resulting in the following:

Those burritos might seem like a good value and they might even taste good, but you must always consider the consequences of eating taco bell for the first time in a while: liquid poo. heartburn, indigestion, and an unsettling food coma.
If you do enjoy 1/2 lb burritos, don't go to a 3rd world country, you might be the cause of a TB or malaria outbreak. just sayin'.

make sure to flush regardless, and have a happy new year!

=

Hey Guys

sorry i haven't been able to post in a LONG time (i know you're so desperate), but life has been as busy as african killer ants eating an elephant.

...

They DO. well, maybe smaller things, like zebras and human beings. It's pretty intense because they're all full of enthuiasm and zeal in terms of finding a target and taking it down. I read in wikipedia that this feeding frenzy is a seasonal thing, and so it reminded me of...


black friday shoppers. it's hilarious how people are always late to things that matter (meetings, classes, DPMs and Large Groups, Church, birthdays, et. al.) but will be ridiculously early to wait outside and lose fingers to frostbite just for a moderate discount on things they don't even need.

I've been meaning to discuss wendy's dollar menu and potatoes since the beginning off the semester, but have not been able to photodocument in a while. I'll do that sometime during studying this week...so come back. please...PLEASE.

anyways, check out these little buggers while i eat potatoes. ill get back atcha.

Amateur cooks on the internet

The lowdown on Ketchup

A photographed moment of the "essence" of ketchup, just in case you missed the blatantly obvious title...

Ketchup, or Catsup, is a condiment made with ripened tomatoes.

That's simple enough, right?
...
not really. this is why i'm spending precious time blogging about a vastly misunderstood condiment instead of studying for my physics midterm. but enough about me, you care about what i have to say about ketchup. right?

Ketchup started out as a general term for sauce typically made of mushrooms or fish brine with herbs and spices. The Malaysians termed it as fish sauce, where elsewhere in eastern asia ketchup was understood to be a tomato sauce. origins of the word are rumored to be chinese in origin, where dialects and pronunciations are very close to ketchup when saying "tomato sauce" in the language.

The term first appeared in western colture in english literature and cookbooks, and the early colonial americans had it as a recipe several cookbooks.

The tomato ketchup as we know it today did not really make an appearance in the western world until America went crazy for tomatoes in the early 19th century, and a traveling salesman named Jonas Yerks popularized ketchup. Somehow.

When the FDA got on the case of ketchup perservation by sodium benzoate and its manufacture in the early 20th century, the Heinz company tinkered and created the sauce as we know it today, a balanced condiment that stimulates all 5 types of taste buds.

Ketchup is a soft solid often used for fries, hamburgers, sandwiches and grilled or fried meat. Ketchup with mayo forms the base of thousand island dressing and fry sauce. Ketchup is also typically used as a base for barbeque sauce, especially in the southern US.

Americans identify with it so much that it has been involved in it's share of controversy in American politics. In 1981 congress tried to issue new standards for school dining programs, attempting to identify Ketchup as a vegetable. Fortunately, that turned out for the best. Remember John Kerry? people made a huge deal about him being tied to heinz ketchup because of his wife, leading some Republicans to create a different brand of ketchup to spite his campaign. Needless to say, that fortunately didn't work out either. (the alternative brand of ketchup , not Kerry's campaign. I'll try and keep political opinion out of it.)

Let's get into the meat of this blog though...

A school of thought maintains that ketchup has a tendency to overwhelm the palate and detract from the overall character of the food you eat, with it's ketchup flavor too overbearing. Not too mention that many food items are well or over-salted and wouldn't require ketchup in that respect. Remember the hot dog people? they belong to this group of people i call the "absolute taste purists" (refer to my post about hot dog etiquitte).

Another school of thought maintains their ideology in one quick statement about ketchup: "put it on if you like it". These people are called "everyone else/the majority of the people in the freakin' midwest".

But yes, just giving you some quick background on ketchup so that you can talk to people about this hot topic that is so darn relevant to your (schmoozing) life. who knows, you might just impress someone with this knowledge. (I mean, when there is nothing else to talk about, of course.)

Dish of the Day: BiBimBap

Lately i've been really enjoying eating Korean food, just because there are many places on campus to get some and it's so delish (just watched some rachel ray today). there are many aspects to a Korean dish, and you couldn't explain it better than BiBimBap.

BiBimBap is a rice bowl dish that has bulgogi beef, bean sprouts, vegetables, a runny egg piled on top of sticky rice, with lots of korean sweet-hot sauce (optional). served with kimchee and other assorted small dishes, as well as a spoon and chopsticks (metal ones at the nice restaurants)

One of the more well-known Korean dishes in the US, this is a very good all-round culinary experience for people new to the cuisine to sample a little bit of everything.

To begin with, the dish is served with kimchee, which is a loose term for korean-style pickled vegetables and usually lots of spice and garlic. A staple of the korean diet, it adds a bit of spice and kills bacteria. it leaves a good taste in your mouth afterwards (though its takes some getting used to. I knew a kid in elementary school who ate kimchee on rice in his thermos for 5 straight years, so i got accustomed to the smell, which is very brine-y). The vegetables are almost always freshly cooked and are well prepared, as well as there being a good sampling of korean barbequed meat (bugolgi, marinated and grilled goodness, in this instance). overall, I enjoy the sweet, spicy, fresh taste. Dol-Sot BiBimBap, a popular regional version of the dish, utilizes a stone bowl, which is heated and keeps the dish hot for as long as you eat it, which is uncommon for any other dish you might know of and just makes your day a little better.

I encourage you guys to give it a try, it's good food and part of a healthy and kimchee-happy diet.

Mixed Dol-sot BiBimBap, eaten 10/6/07

next time, i shall delve further into my ongoing discourse on the Wendy's eating experience, the dish to be examined: The Sour cream and Chive baked potato.

stay tuned, my only reader.

Cooking with dave: Haggis?

it's always interesting to see new kinds of food and such, but every now and then there's something that comes by and blows your mind away.
I stumbled on Dave, a scottish vegetarian that enjoys hunting wild haggis and sticking them in geoorge foreman grills.

(of course you could look up what haggis is on wikiedia, but why not just blindly believe in this funny video?)
...

yub yub, kids.

The rice porridge experience

when you hear the word "porridge", you might think about the little red riding hood and how she ate bear porridge, complaining if it was too hot or cold. you might think about oatmeal, grits or some unspectacular looking bowl of goop served lukewarm.

or, if you are Chinese or are familiar with the cuisine, you will without fault think "rice".
rice porridge is quite the popular thing in south and southeast China and other Asian nations because of many reasons:

1. Rice is the main carbohydrate in the region
2. Rice is the main carbohydrate in the region
3. Rice is the main carbohydrate in the region


If you haven't understood the redundancy that has been presented to you, consider that in south-chinese cuisine relies heavily on rice in it's recipes: glutinous sticky rice for dim-sum dishes, rice flour for sweet rice cake desserts, rice noodles, rice water for the sick, etc.

Fun fact: The early construction of the Great wall of China utilized a mortar of lime and glutinous rice mash to keep the stones secure. as the years went by and famines came and went, rice was substituted for a more typical (and non-edible) mix of cement wit hthe advent of brick use in certain portions of wall.

Speaking of the sick, rice porridge was the main food of choice for the infirm and the old/toothless, as the porridge was mild and palatable, had a high water content and would go down well. It was also eaten extensively by the poor population of the region, as rice could expand to almost 3 times it's non-cooked form and fill the stomach faster, thereby saving the amount of rice eaten per person and conserving precious rice (rice was/is very valuable).

It can be garnished with pickled vegetables, spice, hot sauce, meat, fresh and steamed vegetables, green onions, a1 steak sauce, thai peanut sauce, soy sauce, MSG sauce, etc. etc. and is nominally reserved for breakfast.

When cooking, make sure to keep the ratio of rice to water at about 1 cup of rice to 6 cups of water. It is a good idea to keep a close eye on the pot/rice cooker, was the water will begin to flow over as the rice expands. if you're not careful, you'll have sticky rice water embedded in your carpeted dorm room, eventually hardening over time and petrifying any unknowing insect that wades into it.

it happened to me. don't let it happen to you.

Eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, May 21

, 2007 (wisdom teeth removed)

Term of the Day: Culinary Receptacle

Culinary Receptacle
Noun
Definition:
1. An individual(s) belonging to a collective group(s) of individuals that nominally undertake the role of eating the leftovers, or the undesired portions, of the other group members food.

2. An individual that is wiling to eat food items that exist in adverse conditions.

In terms of human interactions and food, this term can be used synonymously or in conjunction with: Moocher, Meal Eraser, The human doggie bag, The finisher, The janitor, etc.

Case example of a culinary receptacle
in popular entertainment.

I'm sure you've met these kinds of people before, and maybe your group of friends has a guy or gal who's willing to "Man up" to the challenge of taking care of the leftovers... in his/her enzyme-rich digestive tract. This description of individuals usually addresses the insatiable desire and pride of the person to eat various things that he/she happens across, and can range from things that have fallen on the floor, leftovers, mooching someones food, and so on. You can count on them to eat indiscriminately and practice aspects of true food equality. In context, it can be used in a negative connotation or as a joke at the Moocher's expense.

Examples:

Person 1: You gonna eat that?
Person 2: It's a week-old donut that's been on the floor.
Person 1:...So?
Person 2: Take it man. You're such a culinary receptacle.

"My mom keeps putting food onto my plate and expects me to finish up everything. It's like I'm her personal culinary receptacle. "

...for lack of a better visual example.