kitchenmage

Recent Comments

• Christmas Cookie of the Week: Cranberry, Orange & Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies (Slashfood)

  Dec 8th 2006 5:44PM Ahhh, and here I was killing time while debating where I could come up with a cranberry, chocolate chip cookie recipe for a party this weekend. Thanks for freeing up my one unallocated hour for the day to do something besides search for it. :-)

• Bake-At-Home Apple Crisp meal kit (Slashfood)

  Dec 1st 2006 7:56PM Two questions: Do they really call it a meal kit (not a dessert kit)? And how much did it cost?

• Reasons to use canned pumpkin (Slashfood)

  Oct 24th 2006 8:04PM Big surprise, but I'm with the fresh crowd. I pick up pie pumpkins at the local farm, bake them, smash the cooked flesh, and freeze 1 cup portions. Takes maybe 30 min work to have a year's worth of real pumpkin on hand. When I thaw the pumpkin, I may end up draining off a few spoons of liquid, but that's about all the work involved.

• Controversial energy drink promises drug-like effects (Slashfood)

  Oct 7th 2006 6:20PM I skipped to the end of this because I wanted to see how the "story" ended, only to find that someone has put up a web site to stop the drink from being sold. Worse, it's being used to MAKE THEM MONEY via an associates link to an online store.
  
  Do you all really have so little wrong in your communities that this is a serious issue? Go volunteer at a food bank or a homeless shelter, visit a nursing home, fix up your elderly neighbor's yard, something!
  
  If you think your kids will be confused somehow and turn into drug-crazed zombies by seeing this on the shelf, I daresay you must be stoned. Perhaps drunk on the koolaid? If your kids are that ignorant, talk to them. Better yet, have someone more informed and less hysterical talk to them.

• Cat Cora is the Mini Mart Iron Chef in FHM (Slashfood)

  Sep 7th 2006 4:55PM I'm with Barbara and Utah; WTF are you doing publicizing this tripe, Nicole? You've got a ton of actual content to draw on, mad kitchen props of your own, and nary a hint of T&A needed.
  
  Instead we have the trollBoyz once again acting like breasts were just invented...and just for them. Not to mention that they object when a person who actually possesses breasts has an opinion about the appropriateness of cleavage as a mandatory part of every moment of the day, and every valid female persona.
  
  And crap that barely qualifies as food. (which I note you even say is so lame that you only recommend the piece if you are after the souffled boobs)
  
  Boring and just reinforces the boyChildish obsession with breasts.
  

• Biometrics in the school cafeteria (Slashfood)

  Sep 7th 2006 7:10AM The finger's worse because biometirc technology as implemented in the field just isn't that secure and compromised physical identity data is forever.
  
  Seriously, would you have wanted your parents to hand over your six year-old fingerprints to simplify some bookkeeping scheme? It's not like you can change your mind when you are 18 and take it back.
  
  If you can't expect elementary aged kids to remember a 3 (or 4) digit number (all that would be needed to guarantee uniqueness at pretty much any school) then your school has more serious issues than how kids pay for lunch.

• Age appropriate ways kids can help in the kitchen (Slashfood)

  Aug 15th 2006 8:26PM I have photos of a two year old learning how to windowpane bread dough, baking 'pie cookies' and helping with salads and such. Isn't salad made for two year olds? Tearing the lettuce is the perfect job for them!

• Call Yourself A Cook - culinary skills that everyone should have (Slashfood)

  Aug 2nd 2006 7:15PM Bread. You must also be able to bake a decent loaf of bread.
  
  As for the cultural bias, I'd happily agree to swap a few of the more Euro/America-centric things (steak, for example) for a generic "make three of the top ten dishes associated with your current context" and let people decide what that meant.
  
  But you have to bake bread. And cookies.

• Maybe it's not food that's making us fat? (Slashfood)

  Jul 6th 2006 5:28PM Really now, Sarah, most of the list seems perfectly reasonable as contibuting factors towards weight gain/retention. For example, "Fat people mating with other fat people creates more fat people" is perfectly logical. If two teutonic blondes are likely to produce a tall(ish), pale(r), blonde kid because of their genetics, why do you disbelieve that two larger folks might produce larger kids? From my memory of your discussions of your genetic heritage, I'd bet that you are expecting certain things when it comes to the appearance of your children (if/when you have some) and would find it most odd if you gave birth to a child who bore no resemblance to you...well, one of those resemblances is overall body size. (duh) Add in metabolism, tendencies toward some diseases, etc. and I have no problem seeing how the genetics work here.
  
  Did any of you nay-sayers go read the article? The bullet points have a bit of explanation with them (like the AC, Linda, wherein they say "...when people are hot, they sweat, which burns calories, and tend to eat less." It's not about staying warm, it's about staying cool.)
  
  Chrissy, I was thinking the opposite: that the comments blowing off anything beyond 'eat less, exercise more' as the sole answer to body size were probably coming from people who were genetically and medically predisposed to thinness and young enough to think that the ability to scarf calories and burn it all off easily is a permanent thing...as opposed to a benefit of youth.
  
  Tim, you're just a jerk for wanting to slap *children* whose looks you don't like. Even more so for saying it in public. Apparently some of the ugly american attitudes have made it over there already; when the obesity arrives, it'll be right at home. *(cha)grin*

• The high fructose corn syrup question (Slashfood)

  Jul 5th 2006 2:23AM Dmknkly,
  
  There are questions, at least for me, that go beyond the purity of the end product. If the corn is indeed GMO, then it raises questions of the impact on the greater eco-system during growing as well. Deaths of butterflies that feed on the corn have been reported, as well as cross-pollination with non-GMO'd crops.
  
  Since the latter can result in the 'owner' of the GMO'd corn, going afer a neighboring farmer for financial "damages" based on their unwittingly having the GMO'd corn in their field, you can see how there are additional issues here for some folks.
  
  I'm also not sure that it's true that your clean water from sewage is actually exactly the same as the non-sewage water. I am betting there are traces of things that used to be things you really wouldn't want to drink. So maybe we're talking comfort thresholds here, how many particles derived from dissolved sh...--you know what I mean--how many particles per glass of water are you willing to tolerate? I'm pretty intolerant of untested changes to the planetary habitat, no matter how safe Monsanto says it is. And turning what used to be the bread basket into the "corn for secondary uses" center because it's useful for a handful of businesses/folks doesn't seem like it's a wise idea.