Tasty Tangents

Food, life and other morsels

March 8, 2009
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Making pancakes

My husband makes the best pancakes. But there’s no secret to what he does (at least not that he’ll tell me). He follows the directions on the side of the Bisquick box and then throws in a little love. They say breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day, and I find it’s also one of the easiest to make. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, biscuits, fruit, etc. can all be on the table in a short period of time. So why go out? Make a big brunch at home using mixes, your microwave, the stove and not much else. I find breakfast is also a great time to host, because making things in large quantities are fairly simple. You can make it even easier by picking up some bakery fresh bagels, croissants and/or muffins to ease the prep time.

March 7, 2009
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The opposite of bad

Lunch Saturday was at a tiny Korean place called Manna Grill. Most times when we go the restaurant is full, with a primarily Asian clientele. I like to think that’s a good sign. Like if I go out for Italian food, it had better be bloody good to match what my mom makes at home. Anyway, we had a great lunch. The “Dinner for Two” starts with soup, then dumplings and battered shrimp, and finally bulgogi, kim chee, marinated cucumber and bean sprouts and steamed rice. This is all eaten with the best sweet hot sauce. Even with all that food, I still walked away feeling sated but not weighed down. That’s the best kind of restaurant fare I can think of. I can’t judge the authenticity of the dishes, but I can say that it’s the opposite of the insipid fare of many, maybe most, fast food joints.

March 6, 2009
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Bad food

Kentucky Fried Chicken

Kentucky Fried Chicken

Have you ever noticed that when you satisfy a craving for really bad junk food you inevitably feel worse afterwards than the craving was to begin with? And yet, no matter how many times you repeat the cycle, the cravings return time after time. After a fried chicken discussion with hubby, we hit the local KFC/Taco Bell. Despite it being “fast food,” it took over 20 minutes for us to get our order. Then, our four piece KFC meal included two wings. How is a wing considered a proper piece of chicken on the same level as a breast or drum? At any rate, I likely won’t have another craving for fried chicken for at least another 6 months. And then you’ll probably see another post just like this one.

March 5, 2009
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Easy side

Roasted fennel

Roasted fennel

I love fennel. Eaten raw and plain like celery, or sliced thin and tossed like a light salad topped with some shaved parmesan cheese. But last night we tried an easy recipe for roasted fennel. Just cut into quarter inch wedges and toss with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to coat. Then bake in a 500C oven on the bottom rack for 30 minutes, turning once. You get a delicious, nutritious and flavourful veggie. Yum!

March 4, 2009
by admin
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Crazy food

I read an article on the Globe and Mail’s site called Yum or Yuck? that looks at the appeal of the website thisiswhyyourefat.com, and all I can say is you really do have the same reaction as when you’re looking at a car wreck. You don’t want to see it, but you can’t stop looking at it. The tagline is “where dreams become heart attacks” and all it contains is reader posted images of the most high calorie, fat and cholesterol-laden foods you could possibly concoct. At first you think, I can see how a hot dog smothered with mac and cheese would be good. But if you look at it for long enough you actually do start to get nauseous. It might have been the sheer mass of ground meat in many of the photos. Anyway, whether it makes you crave a burger or a salad, it’s a fascinating perspective on people’s relationship with food, especially processed food.