* raw pork coke
* i made you a cookie but i eat it cat
* mackerel health
* what kind of milk is good for monkeys
Monthly Archives: February 2007
A conversation at breakfast
Iris put two slices of Nueske’s on her plate.
> **Me:** Iris, are you takin’ my bacon?
> **Iris:** I’m just taking two. See, there are many for you on the plate.
> (pause for Iris to transfer one more slice of bacon to her plate)
> **Iris:** Actually, I’m taking three because I love them so much.
Mano-a-clammo
In today’s Seattle Times:
King Clam: Innuendo aside, geoduck is the stuff of regal repasts
Innuendo aside? Maybe the headline writer didn’t see the part about Moby Dick.
At some point I’m planning to work up a home version of Seis’s Korean chowder, sans geoduck. It’s a spicy, brilliant soup.
Fuller brushes
There are plenty of tips on how to clean pastry brushes. Dip them in a bowl of salt. Wash with soap and lemon juice. “Lather, rinse, repeat,” offered one message board posting. I tried various things and then gave up and bought silicone brushes.
Silicone has been insinuating itself into all sorts of kitchen gear, and lately I’ve seen various articles debating the merits of particular pieces, including a treatise by Marian Burros in the New York Times. The brushes I’d been using were almost great. Their only fault is that they just don’t hold liquid like the natural-hair brushes too–especially if the liquid is water- rather than oil-based.
Good Grips to the rescue. The Good Grips silicone brushes, which are available in two sizes, have these hole-punched flaps in the middle that pick up liquid. They work about 95 percent as well as the non-silicone, and they’re dishwasher safe or easy to hand wash.
While brushing some butter onto Iris’s waffle the other day, I realized that this isn’t the first time I’ve been delighted to dump an all-too-natural utensil. It’s been years since I replaced my wooden spoons with Matfer Exoglass spoons, and I’ve never missed the wood. Pretty soon I’ll be preparing seasonal organic produce using nothing but synthetic tools created by eggheads in lab coats.
Old dumpling, new dumpling
I love packaging redesigns. I’m sure Laurie has lost count of the number of times I’ve come home and said, “Hey, look, Doritos redesign.” Actually, the most recent one I can think of is Fritos, which Laurie pronounced “retro but not retro enough,” and I concurred.
But I have never seen so radical a redesign as this one. On the left is the old Safeway Select potsticker package, and on the right is the new one. It’s awesome.
