"onion" news and stories

Can you imagine eating a whole, raw onion by itself, let alone polishing it off in a little over a minute?

J.R. Kuka achieved that feat in the onion eating contest that's part of the Pine Island Summer Fest. Mr. Kuka ate the eight ounce onion in a record 75 seconds, where the previous record had been 1 minute, 55 seconds. Reportedly, this year's winner was cool as a cucumber and smiling as he cut and consumed the onion. He also took his $100 prize and goody bag and left the festival before the local reporter could interview him.

Apparently, the Pine Island onions are known for being much stronger than other onions. I'm personally not a big fan of uncooked onions, so I can't really see myself doing this. For $100, I might enter the contest, but I wouldn't be able to eat it very fast. How would you do in this onion-eating contest?

[Via Coldmud]

Be it fish, garlic, or cabbage, dinner is delicious - until it's all gone, but its scent remains in the air, permeating the furniture and generally grossing you out.

Aside from sticking a fan in the window and setting it to 'exhaust,' Apartment Therapy has some great suggestions on how to get rid of those lingering odors:

• Leave a dish of vinegar on the counter overnight, or leave it out while you're cooking (careful of boiling it, though, because then you'll replace the fish smell with vinegar, and that's not really any better)
  
• Simmer a mixture of half-vinegar, half-water on the stove
• Simmer a mixture of lemon and orange rinds on the stove for about half an hour. Throw some cloves in, too, if you have them
• Before you cook fish, core and slice an apple into thin layers. Then submerge the apples and fry them in oil until they turn brown. Then, go ahead and cook your fish.

I'm typically too busy crying to stop and appreciate just how pretty an onion is. This amazing photo by The Barefoot Kitchen Witch makes the onion looks like a piece of crystal in a museum, the rings of a tree trunk, or a sky at sunset. Don't stop with this photo, though. To complete your onion appreciation class, be sure to view The Barefoot Kitchen Witch's other onion photos as well. Each is equally stunning and features different angles of this familiar food.

Next time I cut up an onion, I'm going to hold it under the light and take a closer look.

What does this onion look like to you? Have you stopped before to appreciate the onion's attractiveness?

Years ago I went out with a girl whose mother was named Lorraine. I'm not sure if she ever made quiche or not, but I probably wouldn't have eaten it. If you recall, real men don't eat quiche.

Today is National Quiche Lorraine Day. Here's a classic recipe from Betty Crocker, and here's one from the great food blog Slashfood. Hey wait a minute, that's us!

If your name happens to be Lorraine, leave a comment below. And if you happen to be a quiche, also leave a comment.

For most of yesterday, it was sort of chilly and overcast in Philly (it got sunny and warm in the late afternoon). The cool breeze that came through my window all morning made me thinking longingly of fall and want to put on a sweater. It also inspired me to make soup. However, since it is still summer, I wanted something that wasn't long-simmering or heavy. So I flipped to a soup that my mom made a lot when I was growing up, although back in those days, I always turned my nose up at it. These days, I can't get enough of it, especially when I had a weekend that was chock full off barbecue, desserts and beer.

photo by Marisa McClellan