August 2009

Rocket Doughnuts: Bacon Maple Bar

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As far as I know, VooDoo Doughnuts in Portland, Oregon was the first doughnut heaven shop to create a bacon maple bar. But a local purveyor of paradise doughnut shop, the amazing Rocket Doughnuts, has now produced their own bacon maple bar.

Now, I need to stop and make sure you realize that I am a doughnut fiend expert. And when I tell you that Rocket Doughnuts are incredible, they really are. Plus, they have a life-size statue of Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still. But last week they surpassed themselves and they improved on their already stellar and yummy Maple Bar by adding bacon.

Dorito Conversion

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I have avoided Doritos brand chips for a long time. Even when I was just a young, impressionable consumer who was still impressed with the innovative-at-the-time concept of pizza rolls and drinks with questionably legal amounts of caffeine, my palate wouldn't let me indulge in a bag of neon orange snack food. The longest running flavor in the Doritos line is Nacho Cheese, which to me was always way too artificial tasting. I still think the heavy nacho powder generously dusting the chips is like a whole packet of cheap Mac n' Cheese minus the Mac. I'd have been happy to avoid those oblong triangles of tortilla for the rest of my days in favor of more grown-up kettle chips, or even other tortilla chips with light lime flavors or a salsa dip. That is, until a friend introduced me to some of the newer varieties.

Celebrate Waffle Week!

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The first week of September is National Waffle Week. Leggo your bland Eggos and break your fast every day this week with a better-than-the-average waffle. Try some of these ideas or come up with your own creative waffles.

Use your waffles for a sandwich. Try peanut butter and jelly or honey. Grill your waffles and use them for a steak or tuna sandwich, or stack them and add your favorite lunch items in between the layers.

Substitute your regular English muffin with waffles and add what you’d normally eat on top, or make a sandwich by placing a scrambled egg and your favorite breakfast meat in between two waffles.

Top your waffles with blueberries, raspberries, or your favorite fruit.

Serve a waffle on a stick to kids with plenty of yogurt or fruit dip.

Crumble waffles and use them in cobblers, pies and toppings. Substitute them as your salad croutons.

Mmm Mmm Frozen Yogurt

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I used to spend a lot of money for a small amount of frozen yogurt from Red Mango.  What I loved about Red Mango was that they had so many yummy options for your yogurt toppings, including different kinds of cereal (cinnamon toast crunch, fruity pebbles, etc.), different fruits (banana, kiwi, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, etc.), different candies (reeses pieces, kit kat, chocolate chips, yogurt chips, etc.), mochi balls, honey, nuts, pretty much everything you could think of.  What I hated about it was that it was so expensive and every topping was an additional cost.  They would also serve it up for you, so some employees might sprinkle a small amount of toppings, while others sprinkled quite a bit.  I would always walk away with a 4oz cup of frozen yogurt and two sides and pay no less than five dollars a pop.

Recently I discovered my new favorite ice cream shop popping up all over the US, maybe you have heard of it or tried it out, it is called Yogurtland and the founder is brilliant! 

Slow Food National Day of Action

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Though it’s been around since 1986, the Slow Food Movement has only recently begun to spread across the United States, hitting Boston University as recently as 2007. Founded by Carlo Pertini, it was actually started to protest the opening of a McDonald’s in Italy. Today, it is a grassroots movement that aims to preserve cultural foods and to move away from the world of fast food, active in 122 countries.  Some famous people in the U.S. who are involved in the movement include Michael Pollan, Alice Waters, and Eric Scholsser.

How To Learn To Cook

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I had always justified my crap food habit by promising myself that if I ever worked from home, I'd cook for myself.  A few years ago I finally transitioned to working from a home office.  I decided that it was time to put up or shut up.

I obviously can't speak for everyone.  But personally, the reason that I never properly cooked until that point was A) I was raised as a latchkey child by a single working mother who was attending night school to earn her MBA.  In other words, I was raised on Hot Pockets and Lean Cuisine.  And B) pre-packaged food is just so EASY.  It tells you what to do right there on the side of the box!  No one ever dithered over a box of Kraft Mac 'N Cheese wondering if they were doing it right.