Croque Madame...sort of

Here we have my first ever attempt at frying an egg. Looks aren't everything, right?


Well, it certainly tasted good folded up on a grilled cheese! I didn't have any ham, hence it not quite attaining Croque Madame status. I only had Swiss cheese and parmesan on hand too - swiss does not melt too well and doesn't make for a good grilled cheese. But I'd be hard pressed to find a concoction of bread, eggs, cheese and butter that I didn't like! Washed down with a glass of mintade...yum. And now I can't cool off after standing in front of two hot frying pans, darnit!

Mintade

This recipe is from the June 2007 Gourmet that a woman named Suzan Mah (Toronto) included in a letter to the magazine: 3 cups cold water, 2 cups fresh OJ, 1 cup fresh pink grapefruit juice, 1/2 cup fresh lime juice, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, 1 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves (torn), and 1/2 cup sugar (or to taste). Just mix it all up and chill! I did not use a 1/2 cup sugar, probably closer to a 1/4 cup, and I forgot to tear the mint leaves (duh) so I didn't get too much mint flavor - only a hint. And I had to mix it up in a vase because I didn't have a pitcher that was big enough!


Ready to drink, with a splash of blueberry vodka. Delicious!

One-Eyed Salmon Burgers with Pepper Relish

The "one-eyed" comes from the fact I made this while recovering from my PRK surgery in my left eye. I learned the hard way NOT to chop onions one day after having PRK! I thought the protective contact they put on my eye would have, well, protected my eye from the onion like my normal contacts do, but it didn't. Boy did it not! My eye has never hurt and watered so much from an onion I thought I had totally ruined my surgery. I managed to recover from the onion and finish the dish, and I'm glad I did.


The pepper relish is from At Home with Magnolia. It is so easy and delicious I know I am going to be making this to put on all sorts of things. I simply chopped up one red pepper, one yellow pepper, and one small onion in my Cuisinart mini-prep and cooked it all in one tablespoon of unsalted butter and one tablespoon of olive oil for a half hour, then added salt pepper to taste. The recipe called for a Vidalia onion, but I used a regular onion and I'm glad I did because the relish was sweet enough without it. Next time I will also throw in an orange pepper, for variety and also for a larger yield, as it didn't make very much.

Svedka Espresso Beans

G got this little sampler pack thing at a liquor store. It was about the size of a pat of butter. In case you can't read it it says: Add both Svedkatini espresso beans to 3oz. of chilled Svedka vodka. Wait one minute. Stir. Wow. The ingredients are espresso beans and natural and artificial flavor.



The package contained three, not two, shriveled up espresso beans, which released an odiferous chemical funk that immediately filled the entire kitchen, causing G and I to feel sick and immediately toss them in the garbage and take the garbage out. Flavormatic Industries needs to head back to the drawing board with this one. YUCK!!

Frozen Mosaic

I tried my hand at this frozen mango, blackberry cassis, and vanilla mosaic from the new issue of Gourmet. Couldn't find mango sorbet, so used peach, and didn't have any creme de cassis so I used a couple splashes of pomegranate juice.



So delicious, and cool to look at! I was totally captivated by the picture in Gourmet. I knew it wasn't going to look anything like the pic, but I'm happy with how it came out.

I didn't use all the blackberry puree, but definitely will next time I make it. And I didn't use two pints of sorbet, only one, and it still made a generous-sized loaf. Isn't a pint more than two cups, anyway? Sure seemed like it. This was very easy and fun to make. Recommended!

4th of July Brownie Cake

My mom made this awesome brownie shortcake for 4th of July. Wouldn't mind one of these sitting around the house next time I visit (hint hint!).

Hamburger Cake

Hamburger cake at Hanneford in Manchester, NH.

Farm Bill Info

To add to Kerry's post below, you can find more info, and get updates on, the Farm Bill at Farm and Food Policy Project, and you can send a letter to your Senator regarding the Farm Bill through HealthyFarmBill.org.

(I just found these links in the new issue of Edible Rhody, which is part of the Edible Communities family of publications, which also includes Edible Brooklyn, Edible Seattle, and Edible Boston. They are really cool, high quality, and informative little mags, and they are free!)

Farm Subsidy Update

OK, I know I get strangely excited about these things, but you may remember my previous post complaining about the evils of the Farm Subsidy Bill that supports farmers of wheat, soy, rice and corn. Well, the NY Times reports this is the first year that activists are facing off with lobbyists to make some changes. These changes would help small farmers, make fruits and vegetables more affordable, end fixed subsidies to large farms when they produce nothing, and reward those who participate in responsible farming. All those high calorie, low cost snacks made from wheat, corn oil, and high fructose corn syrup are the result of subsidies for crop farmers who needed help during the Great Depression. The snacks have contributed to the obesity epidemic in this country. What's more, billions continue to be handed out to farmers even if they don't produce any crops, and often when they are dead! Oops! The new changes would help create a better market for all fruits and vegetables and help stop this unhealthy trend. Now let's see if congress will listen to reason and not just money from the industry lobbyists.

Reading...

I'm in the middle of this book, What to Eat, by Marion Nestle. I had to return it to the Seattle Public Library, but I decided to buy it from amazon since it's so good. It completely sucked me in once I started it. Very knowledgeable Nutrition Professor Marion Nestle takes you through the supermarket product by product and has stories about how the food industry attempts to mess with your mind. Think there's a friendly company out there that innocently just wants you to buy their food? No way. Full of facts like this one: countries with lower rates of osteopearosis generally do not consume milk. Yet the dairy industry makes you think milk is the best source of calcium. Folks in these countries are likely to get their calcium from vegetables. Look at cows. After they stop drinking their mothers' milk, they eat mostly grass, not milk. But they are able to have strong bones and support that large frame. The message so far: eat organic, eat local, mostly plants, and nothing you can't pronounce.