TheSnackHound

I have a cousin who is moving to Las Vegas in the next few months. She has been out there for weeks at a time in the past few years and keeps talking about all the restaurants. I keep asking her about the “up all night” gourmet Las Vegas Restaurants they show on the Travel Channel and the Food Network that I am wanting to try. There are some local places that looked really work checking out.

She tells me she has never heard of them, and is just talking about the casino buffets. Can you imagine going to the complete other side of the country and not as much looking at a Las Vegas Phone Book once you get there to be a little adventurous? I could see going there once and being overwhelmed by all the goings on, but if you are a “regular” I can imagine the usual places would get old. I have to push her out of the culinary nest, I guess!

When I was in second grade, my dad was transferred from Detroit to rural Wisconsin.   It was a big adjustment for us.  I was thrilled to be outside checking out the frogs.   We knew it would rain because we could really smell the cows that we could see down the road, but were a mile away.   The land was all brush and tall grass from our corner to the front of the subdivision.  The cow farm was just across the street from the entrance.

The language was different too.   At least you think that from the perspective of an eight year old.

The kids kept talking about going to the Bubbler.   Or they warned me, “Watch out, you’re the new kid.  One of the fifth graders might sit you on the bubbler!”

What was this ‘Bubbler’.      I imagined that there was this object somewhere in the school that was this big fountain like at the Detroit Zoo, except bubbles came out of it instead of water.   Or I thought it was plastic, and had a bubble wand.   The third idea was that it had a beaker and it was really hot and the purple water bubbled out like a science project.

Maybe I did want to go to the bubbler just to see what it was.

Nobody ever sat me on the bubbler.  In fact, I was extremely disappointed to find out it was just a boring old drinking fountain.  I don’t think I drank out of it from that day forward, at least not the one in that hallway.   I didn’t want to drink from something that someone put their butt on.    Back in “those days” there was no vending machine where I could get bottled water so I leaned my head under the sink or I just suffered.

I don’t know why that memory fell out of my brain…

Then Great American Seafood Cookoff may be over, but the voting, for the folks at home, has just begun.   Five top recipes have been chosen and we get to vote for our favorite.  Just click on the red box at GreatAmericanSeafoodCookoff.com to vote and also be entered to win a trip to New Orleans.

The event was such a great way to promote domestic seafood and the unique flavors that will knock your socks off if you haven’t ventured away from your fish sticks.  Growing up along the Great Lakes, I could name at least 10 varieties of edible fish that the family regularly ate, by the time I was five.   Looking at the stores shelves as an adult, I am stuck with salmon, cod, grouper, or “fish sticks.”   I can see why people don’t experiment!

You may take it for granted, but I have flipped over the packages at the grocery store of local varieties of fish, and notice so much is from or packaged in Thailand or China! They are also injected with solution and “spices” that do not all have to be disclosed.  I couldn’t help but wonder just how long that fish had been sitting before it came into the store, and it just seems unnatural to raise fish that are not native to ship back to sell in their native land.  It just can’t be as healthy, and they all start to taste the same.  With the local seafood that kept me healthy during my childhood, I not only knew what lake or river they came from, but I knew the name of the person who caught them too!

Since it takes me years, it seems, to decide what to order at a restaurant because there are so many things that I like, I knew that this would be no simple task for me.    I was torn between choosing a cook off recipe I personally would like to eat, and what I thought was truly original.

Here are the two I have neck and neck and that I will agonize about all day long before I vote:

- Colorado Striped Bass Panzanella from Colorado’s Paul Anders, but I was a little uneasy about the choice of using hybrid bass.  Maybe it is a false assumption, but I assume since it says “hybrid” and not “fish from an inter-fish marriage” I would imagine it was farm raised. That is a no no for me. However, if this recipe is “that good,” I may be able to substitute for a similar fish if I was making it myself.

- Texas Shrimp. They just “grow em bigger” in Texas like everything else! The whole state of Texas (and the recipe comes from Texan Mark Holley) seems to be in here.  You have Gulf Shrimp, hominy, pricky pear juice, and more.  Could I actually make this dish, even though I love shrimp?  Finding a few ingredients near me may be a bit more of a science project.

Visit Greatamericanseafoodcookoff.com and cast your vote for your favorite! Write in and tell me what you chose!

I am not sure if this is a legitimate question or a cry for help. It is well known that frugal folks sometimes use the water from the pickle jar in recipes. Okay, not a LOT of people, but I have read about it. Is there any health benefit or strange “alternative use” for the vinegar water in pepper jars?

Yesterday, we got out the peppers, and my mother-in-law drank the “water” right out of the jar. I thought it was very rude, as there were still peppers in the jar and she was not at her own house where she would be the only one eating them. Secondly, I wondered how the heck it could possibly taste good or be that great for you. Vinegar is not bad for you at all, but in this case, it is not a salad dressing but a preservative.

Apparently, she has been doing this for years, just not in front of me.

This is just not normal, at least in my opinion.

Does anyone know if this is part of an “old wives’ tale” and there are great uses for this leftover water, or should I get ready to take her to the nut house?  Either way, she won’t be doing it at our house.

I legitimately want to know, do you have any recipe or health claim that would back up my mother-in-law’s beverage choices?  It is obvious that her etiquette choice, on the other hand, was less than “how you should act at someone else’s house.”

I have only become aware of the true purpose of Wine Charms in the past few years. When I used to be a hermit and not entertain much (before I met my husband), I just thought they were little decorative doodads that you would surely lose. On the contrary, I discovered their true purpose: germ control!

That’s right. You can’t scrawl your name on a crystal goblet or wine glass with a magic market like you can do to your styrofoam cup at a BBQ. By remembering the charm that you dangle around the stem of the glass, it unsures that you won’t be swapping spit with your brother-in-law’s friend’s girlfriend’s roommate who always seems to have walking pneumonia every time you see her.

Think you can’t remember? Choose wisely. If you go to a person’s house often enough, it is like always wanting to “be” the hat or the racecar when you play Monopoly (Don’t make me be the thumble!) and never forgetting “who you are.” FunWineGifts.com has some cute sets that aren’t just little generic stars and hearts. They have a dog themed set with paws and doggies, sports themed sets, and many others.   You can even decide if you want a silvertone or goldtone finish to match your preference.

I wonder:  What if you buy two of the same set because you want everything to match, and then you have enough guests where you have to use the same charm twice.  What do you do then?   Well, you don’t have to just get the same set twice.   I saw over 30+ charms and you could just order two different sets in the same color and no one would know.   You could just buy the travel charms with airplanes and stuff and buy the Hawaii ones that have beach chaits and Aloha shirts.

I think I would demand to “be” the lemon out of this seat.  I just think its the cutest one.  I imagine that I would fight someone over it:

As reported earlier, the new “kid” on the block in the world of Fiestaware is Ivory.   The Homer Laughlin China Company made the decision to discontinue Persimmon to make room in their line.

I always wondered if discontinuing a color was because of needng production space to not mix the different colors in the firing process, or was it because store shelves only held a set many and stores wouldn’t want to carry an unlimited number of colors. One of the verified reasons is that with every new color, the overall palatte is adjusted so that more colors compliment eachother and can be mixed in a table setting.

My personal style is to have one piece of some colors just as representative.

Right now, it is a good time to purchase any pieces of Persimmon that you might have been wanting.  Some retailers are sure to be offering it as a discount while supplies last.   Sites like Replacements.com may have the color for years to come, but you will be paying a premium for them based on demand.

My mom used to make cabbage soup. I thought it was very bland, but she explained that it was part of a special diet. Madonna apparently lost a ton of weight or maintained her figure by eating this very recipe, or so mom said. From what I have read, I don’t really think Madonna had anything to do with the diet. She was just a popular star of the moment. In addition to the soup, you were supposed to consume one type of food a day in mass quantities. One day was all the beef and tomatos you cared to eat.

Sometimes I think there is just someone sitting back there in some room, coming up with the most outrageous diet they can think of, and marketing it just to see if people will jump in and do it.

There have been some pretty silly diets over the years.  In fact, “Weird Al” even wrote a song: Grapefruit Diet.

The most consistently promoted diet programs are Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. There is so much publicity over their spokesladies that it obliterates what the company actually does. Weight Watchers used to be all about the points. In fact, I have a cousin who was quite annoying one holiday looking at her booklet to determine if she could eat a cucumber slice. Come on, now!

I have been reading the thefatlossguru.com and was shocked that a diet oriented site would actually mention that calorie deprivation was bad for you and even dangerous. In fact, the site advocates eating essentially like a diabetic: eating at the right times of the day. I have known that for a long time but do I always do it?

“No,” says daytime healthy eater/night time Cookies N Cream Ice cream hoarder (me).

If that is old hat, then what is the big deal? Apparently, the site, if you sign up, has a formula for what particular foods to eat at particular times and in what combos that help you burn fat in the most effficient or natural way. I agree with the eating style so far, but am of course, intrigued by the mysterious combinations.

If you try it, let me know what you think!

I have been told that I am easily entertained, and I also love dark chocolate.  Not only is it delicious, it has many health benefits, too.   Of course, that is null and void when you eat a bag in one sitting and then end up in a bad state of affairs and are confined to a certain small room of your home for several hours. Since this is a food blog, I will not mention the name of said room.

All segue aside, if you go to Coupons.Com, you can score yourself a two for one coupon.  Buy one 8.5 to 9.5 ounce bag of Dove chocolate and you will receive one free.  I was so psyched about that, that I was not prepared as to what happened next. 

We went to Kmart before the grocery store, and I had coupon in hand. The Dove chocolates were 3.69 instead of 3.99 at the grocery store.  At the register, I discovered the pleasant surprise that the current Kmart offer was 3 bags for 6 dollars!  NOT 3.69 as marked.   This, of course translated to $2.00 per bag.     When you consider that I had the coupon, it was like getting 2 bags for only a buck each!

I rattled on about my awesome bargain all the way to the car, into the grocery store, and halfway home.  By that time, my husband did not want to hear about it anymore because I was acting like I was the first person in the world to ever get a good deal, or maybe the chocolate addiction was talking and it was the ramblings of a junkie.

Either way, I was not selfish, and am relating my experiences here. Go to Coupons. Com, then get thee to Kmart!

The CA Wine Club is not just another “wine of the month” club, randomly selecting leftovers from a distribution list. They send their subscribers two bottles of artisan California wines every month, along with a current copy of Uncorked Magazine. Each month, it is not just a different variety, but a different winery. This is also a customizable gift, or a great way to treat yourself because you do get to exercise some choice over what you receive! You can also shop for the holidays now and you won’t be billed until your gift ships in December.

- Choose from monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly shipments. You are not roped into a long contract. On the contrary, you can continue your relationship month-to-month.
- You can sign up and receive one bottle of white, one red, or two of the same, either white or red.

Right now, the first month is on them. If you use promo code ADVENTURE, you save $34.95 at checkout.