Tag: food

For demedulce and others who asked: sugar-free caramel

This PDF document from SPI Polyols, Inc. explains what a Sugar-Free Caramel is and which kinds of high-impact polystyrene, chrome vanadium alloy steel, high viscosity machine lubrication compounds, and ground rhino horn make the best ones.

Be sure also to read the important PDF titled: DO POLYOLS CAUSE LAXATION?

Torani’s sugar-free caramel syrup has the ingredients: Purified water, natural flavors, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (to preserve freshness), citric acid, xanthan gum, sucralose (SPLENDA® Brand), acesulfame potassium.

What… natural… flavors?

Quiche.

salome_st_john came over for dinner tonight and I made: quiche, sauteed portabella mushrooms, and a caprese salad. The quiche recipe is a very old one that I’ve been eating all my life and cooking all my adult life. It comes from a 1954 cookbook my parents bought in about 1954. The cookbook has a wonderful cover with an Audrey Hepburn looking FRENCH MAMSELLE in a FRENCH COUNTRY KITCHEN being pretty and witty and preparing food on an artless country table. The “quiche au lard”, which is translated as “bacon tart”, is as follows. Note that the recipe has been modified for food processors.

INGREDIENTS

Two 9-inch pie crusts. I am lazy and buy frozen ones.
6 slices bacon.
1 1/4 cup of shredded or grated cheese, preferably Gruyere
2 cups milk (whole milk preferable)
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Sautée the bacon in a skillet until it’s cooked to taste. Drain and set the bacon on paper towels to drain further.

If you have a food processor or blender, put the eggs, milk, and spices in it and mix them until they’re homogeneous and frothy. If not, you will have to scald the milk and beat it slowly into the eggs and spices. I recommend using a food processor as you won’t need to deal with the scalding of the milk and you get a very good result.

Arrange the bacon on the pie crusts. Cover with the cheese. Pour the egg/milk mixture over the cheese and bacon.

Put the quiches in the 450 degree oven and leave them there for ten minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook for 20 to 25 minutes. The quiches are done when the edges of the custard are browned and when a silver knife inserted halfway to the center comes out clean.

Serve immediately.

ITEMS!

  • There is a nest of baby scorpions living in the left side of my sinuses. So-called “medical professionals” tell me it’s the common cold, but I know better. No little virus could cause this throbbing ache, effusion of mucus, and spasmodically weak jaw muscle. I expect them to burst through my left eye socket and wave their happy claws at the sun sometime tomorrow.
  • La Brea Bakery sourdough, heated, with butter, does a lot to make life more livable.
  • After the scorpions come out tomorrow I think I’m gonna go on a little photo expedition. Where should I go?

Kéan Coffee. Verdict: yum.

I’ve had their espresso two days running and it’s really good. Not just dark and bitter like Charbucks or the Diedrich chain. It’s strong and dark and a little bit sweet and really, really, really good.

I bought some beans and I just drank a whole effing pot of the decaf. I haven’t had just-roasted coffee this good in years.

Congratulations, Martin. This is some seriously good coffee. Now don’t screw it up this time!

Dog; fritter; FRITTERSCAPE

Catherine has a new dog, Boca. Boca’s lower jaw protrudes to a degree that suggests she is a reptile rather than a dog. She is a very sweet animal.

boca

I made a fritter tonight out of leftover mashed potatoes and egg. I ate it, but first I took pictures of it. I have thought about this fritter all day and it was just as good as I had imagined it would be.

fritter

Because of my love for the fritter I also made a desktop image that is a cropped fritterscape.

fritterscape

If you want a fritterscape, click on it and you can get larger versions of it from flickr.

I sent a message to the LJ about how cool I think Martin Diedrich’s new coffee place, Kéan, is. But post by email blew today so you didn’t see that.

I really liked that fritter.

Timeline, with Mac & Cheese

1965: Milk

1968: Nilla wafers, punch, mac and cheese

1972: Baguette, cheese, ham, café au lait

1974: Rice Krispies, peanut butter sandwiches, mac and cheese, chocolate milk

1977: Curry chicken sandwiches, ginger beer, Pop Rocks, Wil Wrights ice cream, Chef Boyardee Ravioli

1980: Mac and cheese, Carls Jr. fries, Szechuan Beef, André “champagne”

1983: Tommy’s chili cheeseburgers, Pepsi, Captain Crunch, pizza, pad thai

1986: Cuban roast chicken, Bohemia beer, Thai peanut chicken & spinach

1991: Subway sandwich special of the day, Jack Daniels, spicy peanut dumplings, ramen

1993: Subway sandwich special of the day, spaghetti, cheap Dutch beer from TJs

1994: Special of the day at hospital cafeteria, Cassell’s burger, Tommy’s burger, Guinness, supermarket roast chicken, mac and cheese.

1996: Los Primos burritos, potato fritters, quiche, potato salad, Seghesio Zinfandel

1998: Maker’s Mark, Glacier Vodka, sautéed scallops, Lundberg Wild Blend Rice, Pilsner Urquell, Pepcid AC, fettucine alfredo, blackout cake, mac and cheese.

2003: Brita filtered water, eggplant & cashew stirfry, sweet red pepper salad, chicken Marsala, clementines, nonfat yogurt with berries, homemade bread.

2005: Aberlour A’Bunadh, lamb curry, mac and cheese, TJs frozen tamales, pasta e fagiole, cornbread, coleslaw, San Pellegrino, tomato/artichoke salad.

MEAT HELMET

I SAID: MEAT HELMET.

Pneumatic ‘air muscles’ control the helmet, forcing the user to eat at intervals specified by a CPU located on a belt. The on-board program sends out commands to an electronic valve, which controls the supply of compressed air to the air muscles. A keypad allows the user to punch-in the amount of calories about to be consumed (Big Mac = 560), where the program will calculate how many chews are needed to burn them off (chewing = 70 calories/hour), commencing the forced-chewing upon the user (8 hour workout!).