TheSnackHound

We were in the grocery store last night and came across an Apple Pear.  In fact, we bought one, as it was amid the Fiji apples and I think we did so by accident.    From my previous post, The DillVinci Code, you know that if the code on the sticker is give digits and starts with an “8,” the fruit is a hybrid. This baby had the four digit code of conventional fruit, which really confounded us.

Apparently, there are Pear Apples that are hybrids, and there are Apple Pears.    Apple Pears apparently occur naturally and are not apples at all.   Rather, many varieties of pears from Asia do not have the bottom heavy shape that European pairs do.  Hence, they are apple shaped pears. I don’t know why they couldn’t have just been called something else. It is kind of like the same conundrum we had as kids when crayola had both orange-red and red-orange and yellow-orange as colors in their stable. It caused many, many misunderstandings when we asked eachother to pass us a crayon, because there is “the crayon you meant” versus the “crayon you mentioned.” Visually, you knew you rather have the red that had a tinge of orange in it, rather the orange that had a bit of red in it, but you could never keep them straight.

Most grocery stores would never have a Pear Apple and also have Apple Pears, so I can imagine being sent off to the store with a request for them, and someone being upset because they wanted an Apple Pear, and you were just supposed to leave it there if they only had Pear Apples. There would have been many moments of doubt, with you wondering if you had misheard them, or were being too literal.

Can you guess, in the photo above, which is the Pear Apple or the Apple Pear is?

Okay, you’ve twisted my arm.

In the middle, it is actually a variety of pear, even though the color would have made you think it may have some apple in there. At right is a gala apple. Plain and simple. No tricks there. The Apple Pear is actually the fruit at left. Would you have guessed it if I hadn’t told you?

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.”

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!

A few of my cousins have gone on Wine Tours in various parts of the country. They really enjoyed them, as unlike other tours, they weren’t rushed in and out like cattle. A lot of tours promise to take you to several wineries and teach you how to make wine. They never used the information they learned because they are just the types to not slow down, but they did say that they sampled a little too much! Even so, you don’t have to go overboard on the tours, and you are also shown some beautiful areas of the countryside that you normally wouldn’t get to see. Partly because we are always worried about getting from point A to point b and don’t notice, but because much of it is private acerage that you would normally not get a peek at.

I am just an occasional drinker, but think there is a lot of value in learning to make your own, even if its just once in a blue moon, and a bottle or two at a time. You won’t get the various sulfites like some commercial wines, and can cater to food sensitivities when looking for a base for a delicious recipe.

The buzz is everywhere.  Food prices are up.  Surely, some think, it means the End of the World.  What are we all going to do?

Over on Udderings, their opinion is that it is all about population boom, the race for biofuels and more.  I am not going to even give a link to show what one particular blog is saying - that food crisis means capitalism doesn’t work.

I don’t see this as a crisis, I see it as an opportunity to get off our rears, shape up our act, and get creative!

Five simple tasks

1) Look at the tag in the store.  Not the one on the food, but the one on the shelf.   Usually, it gives you a cost per ounce of the product.  You may think you are conserving by buying the smallest portion, but you may be actually leaking money.  Often, by buying the larger size, it is a much better value.    That equals no emergency trip to the store where you will be tempted to buy a few other things.

2) Skip the crap.    You don’t NEED potato chips to stay alive.   If we all read our labels, and then also cut out the items that are blatantly bad for us, we will have lots of cash to spend on the necessities.  Junk food should be a treat, not a staple.  But after you cut the junk out for awhile, you won’t crave it.   You will also shave money off your doctor’s bill too.

3) Experiment with spices.   If you bought the larger package of fish or chicken, or that whole stalk of broccoli, you can get out of the funk of feeling like “I just ate this LAST night” by playing with what you have  in your spice rack, spice drawer, or cabinet.

4) Take it with you.  If you MUST have a snack that is unhealthy during the day, at least buy a package and portion it out for you to take to work or school or wherever.   The small bags and containers for individual use are very expensive.  If you bought a small bag of something at the convenience store, you really are paying $10 or more for a full bag of chips or pretzels!

5) Skip the fast food.   If you eat out a lot, try to start changing that by eating two meals in per week when you normally have the urge to go out, and go from there.  If you are meeting friends for drinks after dinner, make sure you eat before you go so you are less tempted to order a full meal.  This may seem contrary to popular wisdom that food soaks up alcohol but I said you were meeting them for “drinks” not for “drunk” If meeting them for a late dinner, have something before you go, so you won’t get the urge for a salt laden appetizer.

If everyone followed these steps, we would find it difficult at first, but after awhile we would just be thrilled at the great nutritious foods we didn’t know we could afford!

Today, I have been brainstorming about the funky NewWave Caffe mugs I decided I need to have after seeing them this morning. They almost remind me of a stylized drawing.  The form is just so different, that there must be a few more ways that I can justify buying a whole bunch.   I can’t resisit the style, or the 50% off sale this month.

Here is what I have come up with:

1) In the Bathroom.   The scene: A spare, Japanese or Ultra Modern bathroom.   Imagine placing a mug/snack plate combo on the vanity.  The snack plate could have fancy soap.  The mug could hold cotton balls or brushes, and the handle could hold a little teeny fancy guest towel.     That would justify me getting another mug set.

1a) A much prettier toothbrush holder mug. Not those unsanitary build in models.

2) Finger Food.  You can put dips in the mug, and chips or bread on the plate.   What about french onion soup? That may justify getting another mug set.

3) Place a votive on the snack plate and plant philodendron in the mug.

We went out for coffee with some friends this morning.   I will call my coffee “non coffee,” as I always get Hot Chocolate.  At the restaurant, they have a coffee bar with over 40 different flavors of frozen lattes and coffees.   They pile whip cream, caramel squiggles and chocolate shavings to make them extra fancy.   It was a beautiful sight to behold. Except, of course, the flimsy plastic cup with the domed lid, even though we were eating “in.”

I think from now on, especially since my husband is laid up for awhile, I will have people over for coffee instead. A scone mix, some chocolate syrup, and a few NewWave Caffe mugs will give us a time that is a little more relaxed than contemplating smudge marks on the industrial food service mugs.

I would serve one of my favorites.**

1/2 cup chocolate malted milk powder
4 cups milk
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
your favorite ice cream

Combine 1 cup of milk and add the malted milk powder.   Make sure the powder dissolves.  Then, add the rest of the milk.

Add the peppermint, vanilla, and salt.   Put it in the fridge to chill.  When you serve it, you can add ice cream, or leave plain.

(**=Just a sidenote here. If you have been reading this blog for any extended period of time, you can guess that I took the milk, vanilla and peppermint and mixed that up first.  Then I added the powder.  I got my grandmother’s “dry ingredients first” tip backwards, as I tend to try to commit recipes to memory with a “yeah, yeah, I’ll remember it.”  Something is always lost in translation.  My cooking is more like freeform interpretive dance.)

Do you have a “coffee hour” drink suggestion that you can share with me that is a little more “un-mess-uppable?” I’d love to hear it! I always got an “A” for effort in kindergarten, but unfortunately, the gold star hasn’t opened many doors for me in life.

(Above: Scene from a Florida gas station.  They have coffee, lotto tickets…and boiled peanuts.  They are EVERYWHERE!) 

Outside the Disney-fied areas of Florida, you cannot drive or walk twenty feet before a sign hawking boiled peanuts smacks you in the face.  Some of the more professional establishments put out a sign that points to a little stand with a parasol over it, that tricks you into thinking it is a hot dog stand.  Some boiled peanut-eries look like the booth Lucy used when giving Charlie Brown professional advice.  More common yet are signs made from leftover pieces of cardboard or hunks of word with the enticement of plain or jalapeno flavors spray painted onto them. Often, it appears that the sign maker misjudged their available space, left out a letter, and then wrote them above the message with an arrow, indicating to the reader that they could spell, they just didn’t plan appropriately.

I didn’t want to ever try them because I sometimes am afraid of “unknown food”.  My husband reminds me that my response to going out to eat, when we first met, was “I never had that,” in reference to just about any food.

One day I tried them and the best I can describe them is thinking about chickpeas.  Kind of mushy, but with a slightly peanutty taste.   They do not taste quite like peanut butter.  It is the sort of thing that if it had been mashed up and presented it as such, you would say to yourself “oh this is a weak tasting peanut butter, but I could eat it.”  However, in its traditional form, you bite into something expecting it to be at least slightly hard, and when it turns out to be mushy, people who are not prepared for it might find it less than appetizing.

Sorry to offend the humble citizens of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas, by giving a thumbs down to a traditional favorite.  As I have read, the tradition at least goes back to the Civil War era, but could possibly could have originated earlier.  If someone can write in and convince me by way of recipe that I have been missing out on something, please set me straight.