We Love To Hate -- Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee

Ooh such a novel idea but what a bumble-head for a host! Though she attended University of Wisconsin, we Wisconsinites refuse to recognize her as one of ours.


I have seen her show a few times and am less impressed with each visit. She touts herself as a caterer and party planner. She is neither and never been. She has been a shill for QVC.

A recipe from her website:
Pink Linen Dusting Powder
10 Wonka™ red PixyStix® candy powder straws,Nestlé's®2 tbsp powdered sugar, C&H®
Prep time: 5 minutes
PREPARATION:Empty Pixy Stix® into a bowl.
Add powdered sugar and mix.
Using a fine mesh sieve, sift mixture into another bowl.
Repeat until mix is well combined and dusting powder is even in color.
Apply powder to yourself and the bed sheets with a new makeup brush or power puff. Enjoy!

I'll bet Sandra has ant infestations in her bedroom if she's dusting with PixyStix.

Now that it's holiday time, they have her looking especially sexed-up. Did you see the personalities get together for a holiday special? Bobby Flay actually rolled his eyes when he saw Sandra Lee walk in the room! He knows she has no talent, no skill in the kitchen. He couldn't even hide it for filming the show.

Wikipedia says, Critics are concerned with the abundance of alcohol used on the program. (In 2004, the show began including a regular segment titled "Sandra's Cocktail Time", and frequently showcases drinks with a high alcohol content.)

On eGullet
Soba: Sandra, fwiw, fills a niche: she fulfills the need for people to see how truly abysmal her brand of "cooking" is, so that when they experience the real thing, they'll flee for the hills and never ever look back.
lyz2814: -She decorated a store bought cake with canned frosting and CORN NUTS!


The tag line of her website says, Semi-homemade 70% premade, 30% fresh. Sandra is 100% grade-A ham.

It's The Holiday Season So Hoopdee Doo And Dickery Dock

I got my Christmas shopping done... finally! So now I can get back to blogging.

First, I need the thank Templar of Food Ninja for the great BBM3 package.


I enjoyed this exchange so much I may be tempted to stick my toe in the Blog By Mail pool one more time.

Templar's package was thrilling, I must say. I felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland with all of the eat me, drink me instructions. The envelope on the outside of the shipping tube instructed me to open it first. In the envelope was a Canada Safeway grocery receipt (all veggies Templar... what gives?) with a note on the back telling me where to find my next clue which happened to be hidden in the archives of his blog.
Templar's instructions for opening the shipping tube:
1 Peel back the tape till you find the string with the black ends.
2 now sitting on the floor or in your favorite chair place the tube between your knees
3 grab the string closest to you left knee with your right hand
4 grab the string closest to right knee with your with your left hand
5 pull towards the middle..
I was really hoping line 6 was not something along the lines of kiss your @ss goodbye. And it wasn't!

Here is a list of all the great stuff in the tube sent by Templar:
Coffee Crisp candies (a bit similar to the texture of Kit Kat)
Homemade oatmeal cookies (these were nearly gone before I even tasted them. Delicious!)
Cheezies (super funky cheese aroma but they tasted really good)
Butter Rum Life Savers (I haven't had Life Savers in a very long time so this was a fabulous treat)
A snowman ornament for the Christmas tree (cute! I have been eyeing those too.)
Store fliers from Templar's area (I wish my groceries were that inexpensive!)
The shipping tube also had a couple of recipes written by Templar




Second, I need to thank Rachel via The Amateur Gourmet Secret Santa cookbook exchange for sending Alton.



Is Alton beginning to look like Elton?



Anyway... thank you, thank you to the generous Templar and Rachel.

...And don't forget to hang up your sock

Ask a Pastry Chef: Italian Pastry Lobster Tail

A question from Ann:
I came across an Italian pastry whose name meant "lobster tail". It looked more like a clam shell with its grooves winding around and around from a apex, spreading outward. The texture was crisp, fried not baked. The filling was ricotta flavored with orangepeel and citron chunks. Slightly sweetened. Do you know anything about it?

continue reading at Ask A Pastry Chef

Parent Control

You may have seen this emailed about. Thanks to Sharboobie for sending it to me.

Ebay in Time for Christmas

I'll bet they're low carb.

Original Cricket Snax
In Salt n' Vinegar, Bacon & Cheddar Cheese, and Sour Cream & Onion flavores to satisfy your urge for crunch!
They are better for you than greasy crisps and they do taste far better anyway
Please specify prefered flavour when ordering.
chirp... chirp!
This product is safe for human consumption. Insects are farm raised under the strictest conditions

I want to see the cricket farm but I'll bring my ear plugs.


A turkey dinner for sale on Ebay?

NO! It's a jello mold. Just add evaporated milk to achieve an opaque look. *gack*


Jones Soda Holiday Pack

You can find the Jones Soda holiday pack at Ebay, but if you buy it from a store or directly from the Jones website, the proceeds go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Flavors in the national holiday pack are Brussels Sprout with Prosciutto, Cranberry Sauce, Turkey & Gravy, Wild Herb Stuffing, and Pumpkin Pie. If you're lucky enough to find a regional pack, you'll enjoy the flavors: Broccoli Casserole, Smoked Salmon Paté ,Turkey & Gravy, Corn on the Cob, and Pecan Pie. I might try these once, just for a thrill.
Oh, and holiday packs also come with Serving spoon, moistened towelette, and suggested wine list.



Remember a while back there were literally hundreds of freaky images for sale at Ebay created by masses of possessed toasters? Today, I couldn't find a single one. I guess the aliens must have loosened their grip on the toasters of world.


So there you go! Plenty of gift ideas for all the loved ones on your list.
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Ask a Pastry Chef

Like many bloggers, I have set up a system to track what draws new people to my site. Search engines and other blogs draw lots of unique visitors. Of course, many of you who visit regularly are quite unique, yourselves... you know who you are. Many people land at my site because they are searching for a particular recipe or list of ingredients without knowing the recipe name. Now, I'm not html savvy enough to figure out how to put up one of those searchable recipe databases that some bloggers have on their site. So I'll do the next best thing...

I'll just ask you.
Are you searching for a particular recipe? Or perhaps you want to know a technique like say, how to get the most volume from whipped cream.

Go ahead, ask me, I can take it.

I may not have the answer right at the tip of my tongue but I have many resources including other pastry chefs (those who actually went to culinary school) at my disposal to ask if the need arises.

I'll hook up one of those funky sidebar things so searchers can ask a question without having to do a lot of additional searching within the site. We'll see how creative I can get without much sweating and cursing.


P.S. IF I get a lot of rude or indescent emails, I'll have to send MrG on a road trip to find you and wash your mouth out with LifeBuoy.

We Love To Hate -- Rocco DiSpirito

I used to like Rocco.
Cute and endearing on the surface. Recently, I caught an episode of The Restaurant2 (don't ask) and turned my opinion 180 degrees. In the episode I saw, he fired the head chef of his restaurant for (what sounded like) legitimate reasons... being a yes-man during meetings, then going back to the kitchen and continuing to run things the way he always had, which just happen to have resulted in success. Rocco called the chef's actions insubordination. The more I watched, the more it sounded more like a power play by Rocco.

After firing the head chef, Rocco volunteers to chef until they can hire a replacement. Rocco steps in, much to the dismay of the rest of the kitchen staff, makes a few meals, then sneaks up to make an appearance in the dining room. Busy looking cute and making new friends, Rocco forgets all about the poor chefs still in the kitchen, causing restaurant patrons to not only have to wait more than an hour to be served appetizers, but some are never served at all. Bad business, Rocco.

With the failure of the restaurant, Rocco is putting his name on lots of new stuff like wine clubs, items at QVC (yeah, Rocco is really using that FoodSaver, I'll bet), and of course tons of cookbooks. For only double the price, you can have Rocco write a personal message in your signed copy. For my $75, Rocco better give me more than a little ink.

You can read the transcripts of Rocco's radio appearances here. I'll summarize what you'll find there: lots of lame jokes by Rocco who is only interested in accessing your dollars. If you are a freshly implanted 20-year-old, Rocco might be willing to share his 5-minute flavor.

Original Recipe: Noodle Pie

Is that a great name for a pie, or what?

And see how great it looks?


This pie uses left-over, cooked spaghetti noodles as a binder rather than utilizing a pastry shell. The custard that surrounds the noodles is eggy, creamy, and only slightly sweet so it makes a perfect breakfast if you, like me, need a bit of protein to get your morning started off right.

For dessert, this pie would be great topped with a rosette of chocolate ganache, a bit of cherry coulis, or just a few perfectly ripe strawberries.

The next time you're making spaghetti for dinner, reserve a little to put in this pie and your breakfast the next morning will be fantastic.

Noodle Pie
makes 8 to 10 servings
2 cups cooked spaghetti noodles
3 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Bourbon vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk (or evaporated milk, or a combination)
[my basic custard pie recipe calls for 2 cups milk, but I found I liked it better with some cream]

Break spaghetti noodles into about one inch pieces and place in a 9-inch deep dish, glass pie pan.

In a bowl, gently stir together eggs, yolks, sugar and salt until sugar is dissolved. Do not whip as you don't want to incorporate air into the mix. Add vanilla and spices then stir in cream and milk. Pour the custard mixture over the noodles and gently nudge the noodles under the surface of the custard. If noodles are left sticking out of the custard they will become very chewy in the oven.
Bake at 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes. A knife inserted in the center should come out clean and edges should be puffed and light brown.
This pie is definitely better the next day so once it's cool, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. In the morning, slice, pop it in the microwave, zap on medium for a minute and a half *and presto! A super quick breakfast for those hectic mornings.

After much Googling with no results that I would consider to be the same end product, I'm satisfied in believing I have invented this. Of course, if you know this pie by a different name, by all means let me know.
The closest cousin of this pie is the Noodle Kugel which typically contains cottage cheese. The Noodle Kugel was my inspiration for this dish.

I intend to try this pie with cheese ravioli instead of spaghetti, which would nudge it closer to that Noodle Kugel.

I hope you enjoy this recipe.
*of course, microwave wattages vary, so use your best judgement for your machine.

Over The Edge with Thanksgiving Photos

Over the edge of the bed, that is. And back from feeling somewhat like a dead fish.

Tomorrow I'm giving thanks for my bed and for that dear young woman, Sara* who worked way more than she should have been expected to. When I left the second time, she had been at work for 24 hours straight. We were basically done at that point and only one wedding cake remained to be decorated. You'll be relieved to know she has the next 4 days off... quite uncommon for our industry but well deserved, I must say.

I know you're excited to see the photos, so let's get to it.


The turkeys lined up in the catering kitchen and ready to be seasoned before going in the ovens.
In the foreground are pumpkin muffins baked for a big day of salad sales in the cafe'. Rather than a roll or breadstick, we serve a pumpkin muffin with each meal salad. Pumpkin muffins are also popular as a side item with catered meals.


The Cakes.
Well, a few of them anyway. We had them stashed into every cranny we could find. Hope caterers found them too!
On a typical weekend day we have orders for ten to twenty decorated cakes and five frozen pies (chocolate mousse, key lime, etc.) or cheesecakes. For Thanksgiving we did... *drumroll*
90 decorated cakes
167 pies and cheesecakes

We had only a few dozen specialty breads, which I thought was odd. I didn't count the number of pumpkin muffins but it also was rather low for a big holiday, probably somewhere in the range of 20 dozen.


The hardworking bakery after a long night... not too filthy but don't ask me how that happened.
The clock on the wall says 5:00. That's a.m. Finished early. I think it was a miracle.

Besides sleep, what do I use to recover from a long night in the bakery?

tomato soup

grilled cheese sandwich

Sobe Energy drink

Allegra allergy meds.

And that's all I need.

Later tonight I'll be baking my own pumpkin pie and my own invention: noodle pie. I'll be posting photos and recipe soon.

*Names changed to protect the innocent and my hiney.

On The Edge

I have slept 9 of the last 70 hours and I'm antsy. More antsy than my kid who has been bored and virtually alone for two days of the 5-day Thanksgiving week off from school.

My house is cleaned (as much as my house gets clean), my dishes are done... except the ones that are cooking on the stove as I type. Am I preparing for a Thanksgiving banquet? No. Am I famished after a long day in the bakery? No. I miss the kitchen.

It's a sickness, I know.


I miss the excitement of the chefs yelling caliente and racing past with full steamer pans on their way into the catering kitchen from the line. There is a certain something possessed by anyone who chooses to work in a kitchen. Something that makes each one of us love that push; the rush. Not a rush of adrenaline (although one of you might tell me that's part of it) but a rush of pushing the food out as quickly as it is made to the waiting hands of a customer and crossing fingers in hopes they are satisfied.

I miss seeing how my new boss deals so gracefully with the pressure of the bakery's busiest days of the year. A few people have asked me if Christmas party season isn't busier than Thanksgiving and it is, but the number of orders is spread out over a longer period of time so there isn't the same concentrated blast of pressure that we have this week.

I also feel a little guilty for not being able to help Sara* more. Not only to help her with the monstrous workload, but to divert the attention of the worst of the raving lunatics in the bakery from casting an evil eye and wicked hot breath in her direction.


I worked at 3 this morning (despite being delayed a full 40 minutes due to a traffic accident which caused me to find a new route to work). I plan to go back to bakeryland as soon as MrG comes home from work. I will be there all night but then I'll get my rest at some point tomorrow before baking my own pumpkin pie. And I will be happy and exhausted and satisfied at doing a fine load of baking.

Photos of the craziness to follow soon.

*Names changed to protect the innocent and my hiney.

The Holidays Are Coming! The Holidays Are Coming!

You might think with the holidays approaching that I would attempt to remove as much stress from myself as possible. You would be foolish in thinking this. For many people this is the most stressful time of year. I personally am hoping to distribute my stress over several weeks rather than having one or two montrously stressful days that would undoubtedly transform me from mild-mannered pastry chef into mega-bitch on wheels.


It is my first Thanksgiving at my current place of employment and I'm told that Thanksgiving is the worst time of year for our bakery. So far this month we have lost two employees, lost one manager and gained a new one, and gained a cake decorator with no experience (and who is paralyzed by her fear of making an ugly cake). All of these things alone would make a typical day in the bakery into a nightmare.

Now compound these things into quintupled orders all due on one day.

I'm told that everyone who worked in the bakery (and most of the people who worked in the catering kitchen) last year worked 36 hours straight in order to fill all the orders on time.

Over the last two weeks my stress level has increased but I wouldn't say it has doubled quite yet.
Despite the increase in stress I have managed to agree to:
make 12 gingerbread houses for my daughter's Brownie troop to decorate at their next meeting.


I've taken a 150-piece pastry order.


I have yet to complete and mail my Blogging By Mail3 requirements which were due last weekend.


I also invited a friend to my home for Thanksgiving, which will require me to cook
rather than relying on MrG to bake a frozen pizza for dinner.

We Love To Hate -- Paula Deen

Maybe it's just me but watching Paula cook with all of that oil and buuuutter makes my stomach do flip-flops. Down home cooking with her 'boys', a dog in the kitchen, and more grease than you'll find on Brad Pitt's forehead, Y'all.

Paula Deen, with her silver tidal wave of hair and multiple diamond rings that she forgets to remove before every cooking program, has a charm that, for many that is reminiscent of hanging out in grandma's kitchen.



From a book review of The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook:
I love her warm, upbeat manner and I'm impressed with her Cinderella story which has been recounted by countless other reviewers. Her charm is found all through this title and its sequel and reading the stories behind the recipes is just as enlightening as the recipes themselves. Paula writes the way she speaks, and you can even hear her easy Savannah drawl as you read. The recipes are down-to-earth, mostly pretty simple, and decadently satisfying. Those doing Atkins or Weight Watchers need not apply here...we're talkin' SERIOUS cheese, butter, and cream (yep, the real stuff!).
In his enthusiastic introduction, John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, writes: "Authentic Southern food is not about pretension." Sure enough, this book doesn't put on any airs. A great many recipes unabashedly list prepared foods among the ingredients. As an appetizer, Garlic Cheese Spread includes an eight-ounce package of cream cheese and an eight-ounce jar of Cheez-Whiz. Shrimp or Lobster Bisque contains, in addition to seafood, a can each of condensed tomato soup and condensed mushroom soup. The restaurant's most popular dessert is Gooey Butter Cakes, which starts with a box of Duncan Hines yellow cake mix. Still, some of the recipes attain a high level of regional authenticity: Georgia Cracker Salad is made with crushed saltines, tomato, scallions, hard-boiled egg and mayonnaise; Southern Fried Chicken acquires its crispy coating with a batter of eggs and self-rising flour. Readers concerned about high fat content should skip this book.

From the time she was a young girl, Paula has suffered from agoraphobia. That may explain why it's tough to find any interviews with her. I did find her restaurant website which features, what else? A write-up of her brother Bubba's new oyster house, y'all. "Bubba and I are so excited about it. He's even letting me serve some of my home cooking there." Gee, what a swell guy that Bubba.

And don't forget, "And did I mention I have a new cookbook come out soon?" We'll be sure to look fer it, darlin'.

Chocoholic Stupor of a Different Sort

When I was a kid, chocolate was not one of my favorite sweets. Caramel, marshmallow and sugar plums: that's what my dreams were made of. I learned to really taste chocolate only a few years ago when I met my husband who was (and still is) one of the biggest chocolate fiends I've seen.

Since the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, of course it became my goal to learn how to handle chocolate. To bake with it, to melt it and roll it into truffles, to dip strawberries in it.

Three years ago I attempted my first truffles. I carefully followed the recipe for the gorgeous chocolate dipped beauties in the cookbook except, I didn't own a double boiler (still don't) so I improvised. Not with two cooking pots as I had seen my mother do a thousand times, no. I wanted to be stingy with the chocolate... hey, chocolate is expensive, right? My bright idea was to put a ceramic plate holding the chopped chocolate over a pot of boiling water. Can you guess what happened? I know you pastry chefs out there cringed, I heard you. The chocolate got runny, then it got hard, then it turned white as a sheet. In pastry circles we call that white stuff bloom. Bloom is what happens when the chocolate is heated incorrectly; the cocoa butter separates out from the cocoa solids and lays nicely on the top for the whole world to look at.

To avoid bloom and stay at a workable consistency, chocolate must be tempered (my mother always told me I had no temper... HA!). Tempering is holding the chocolate at a specific temperature for a specific amount of time. Kids, this should only be attempted by professionals, really. It took hearing this and tempting fate many times before I actually believed it.

So, now I believe it, now what? Do I convince my dear husband to fork out hundreds of dollars for a chocolate tempering machine? (I WISH!) Am I banished from baking with, truffling or dipping with chocolate? No, not quite. You see, there are chocolate tricks (not the kind found in Baltimore City). Tricks that professional chocolatiers don't want the average Jo to know about and rightly so. Let's face it, if You can make truffles any old time then Godiva and Chocolate Garden are out of business.

When I started at my current job I saw some of the other cake decorators doing amazing things with chocolate. Things I didn't think were possible, certainly not by me. Here were ladies dipping strawberries, drizzling chocolate on cakes with abandon, drenching full cakes in liquid chocolate and writing on cakes with chocolate in a bag!

These ladies showed me how easy it was to simply pour the chocolate nuggets out of the box, pop the disposable cup into the microwave and zap! it was ready.

Not possible. Not possible. Not possible my brain said.

It looks like real chocolate... my eyes told my brain.

It tastes like real chocolate... my tongue told my brain.

My hands agree, this is not the chocolate that ended in fiasco so many times before. This chocolate is pre-tempered (kinda like me in a napping state). How is this possible? I have no idea. Where can you get this chocolate? Ahhh... there's a question worthy of many hours of searching our dear friend, Internet.

Pre-tempered chocolate is not indestructible, however. It will still bloom if heated too long or too quickly (though it's not as finicky as the regular stuff). The oddest thing about pre-t is, if it blooms one time, it can actually be salvaged by heating slowly and adding new, unmelted chocolate.

Just for the sake of argument, let's say I got cocky working with this beautiful pre-tempered chocolate found in my workplace. And let's pretend I decided to dip strawberries and truffles at home, with my regular old chocolate, forgetting all of the previous disasters. Would my chocolate miraculously behave simply because I have been working with melted chocolate for a year without many problems? Let's just say... the chocolate wasn't the only one losing its temper over the weekend.

I am more determined to conquer the chocolate animal now than I had been previously. If I get a few more big jobs before the end of the year, maybe I'll just get me one of those fancy schmancy tempering machines. In the meantime, I have to find someone who will sell pre-tempered chocolate in the United States! sheesh... Canadians. Belgians. You're all out to get me.

But guess what? MrG is a chocolate purist. No fruit, no nuts, no caramel, no luscious nugat... nothing to muddy up his milk chocolate experience. So, any chocolatting I do from here on is all for me... and my pride. And my waist. And my booty.

We Love To Hate -- Rachael Ray

Seems it's easy for many to hate Rachael Ray. But why? She's cute (I know I don't look that good at 37), she's sweet, she seems like a genuine person. The former high school cheerleader has followers on both sides of the fence. Her cutesy-pie catchphrases - sammies for sandwiches, stoups for soups that are as thick as stew - are so grating on certain people that they inspired a drinking game in which players take a sip when she uses one. If she creates a new and completely unnecessary abbreviation, they have to swallow the whole drink.
"This is awesome," she said as she looked over the list for the first time last week. "But man, people are going to get hammered." She told the New York Times.

I love the quotes found at Too Many Chefs:
I have to change the channel when Rachel Ray and her joker smile comes on the screen. I get so distracted by her annoying presence that I lose interest in her recipe and her show! Her fake laughs, wannabe cool lingo (i.e., e.v.o.o., yummo, the g.b.), and her hand and arms gestures for every syllable that comes out of her mouth, by emi
ninnyjane says, I also find her soooooooo damn annoying yet some sickness in me just won't let me change the channel.

chance disagrees, I love Rachael Ray! I don't care what anyone says-it's all jealousy-and she is just so fun to watch. The people that turn up their noses at her act as though they eat pansy a** gourmet meals off a silver platter each day.
Cord N Bloo expresses what many (men in particular) feel toward Rachael, I want to marinate her little rump roast and baste her tenderloins! What red blooded American guy would'nt love to throw her on the kitchen counter and ride her till she screams YUMMO!!!

In July, Becks and Posh asked us to Be Rachael Ray for A Day by showing off the best of our local dining on a budget of just US $40 a day. Despite tooth gnashing by some bloggers, the round-up seemed to turn out quite nicely with participants from all over the globe showing how they could dine, with or without the perky.


I was surprised to learn that 30 Minute Meals began as a cooking class in a grocery store where Rachael was a food buyer and store manager.

More from the New York Times: Next week, she will introduce her 11th book, "365: No Repeats," which takes the 30-minute concept and offers a different dish for each day of the year. "That was the stupidest idea I ever had," Ms. Ray said. "That many recipes nearly killed me."
Within a couple of weeks, she will start selling her own extra virgin olive oil, which she calls E.V.O.O. on her shows.

And the Times tells us Rachael is slated for a talk show next fall... ugh. There I must draw the line. Rachael is good at what she does but she should stick to food. Perhaps there will emerge a new drinking game surrounding the talk show. Remind me to invest in Smirnoff and Hazelden.



And by the way, thank you to the person who found my blog by googling "babe of the week". I needed that.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is finally upon us. I have been working like a madwoman trying to get everything ready for the bewitching hour. There are last minute decorations to be placed in the yard today and one pumpkin left to carve of the dozen brought home from the pumpkin patch.

Thankfully I live in a community that doesn't freak out about Halloween making it akin to devil worship. Instead, it's a fun time for kids to dress up like Spiderman and load up on candy. Just like it was when I was a kid and that's the way I like it. My particular neighborhood also has a tradition of trick-or-treating for adults with adult beverages left in a cooler next to the kids candy bowl.

Last year our house was the biggest scare of the neighborhood. Hopefully the word will get around and that will draw a few more trick-or-treaters this year. I have one of those fancy fog machines and despite the fancy price tag it doesn't seem to be working properly after several attempts yesterday. I'm giving it one more chance today and hopefully it will come around and play nice. Last year MrG scared the costumes off some of the kids in the neighborhood with The Talking Skull. He put it beside the candy bowl and when the kids had taken their candy, the skull said, "Happy Halloween" with a result of much shrieking.

Searching for a last-minute costume idea that fits your foodie personality? Check out these sites.


spaghetti and meatballs

The beet is cute and clever but not sure other kids would know it. From Better Homes & Gardens Unfortunately, it looks like you have to pay for a full description and pattern.


Martha Stewarty tomato, pea pod, pumpkin

At work and at home I've been listening to non-stop Halloween music of all different sorts. I've made a few different Halloween CDs, some scary and some funny for different moods, but they usually get played back to back as they likely will for trick or treaters. The new The White Stripes album has 3 songs on it that pretty well scream Halloween: The Ghost, As Ugly As I Seem, and White Moon so The White Stripes have made it into the CD player a lot in the last few days as well.

I'd love to post photos of the decorated cupcakes, cakes, cookies and truffles I've made recently but dropping my digital camera a few weeks ago made this impossible. I took a few non-digital photos but I won't be able to post them until after processing. Such a pain.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!!

Food TV: We Love To Hate You

Food bloggers. We are a funny and fickle bunch aren't we? We have our food opinions and we love to show them to the world. That is what blogging is about, of course, showing the world (potentially) what one thinks of anything and everything imaginable so it is not surprising to find so many bloggers passionate about food and things relating to food.

I have been a fan of The Food Network for a long time. Much longer than I have been a fan of cooking and MUCH MUCH longer than I have been a professional pastry chef. I have seen chefs and shows come and go from the Food Network on a regular basis since I began seeing FN on cable more than (egads!) 15 years ago. Some memorable shows that I truly miss like Death By Chocolate with Marcel Desaulniers and How to Boil Water with various hosts (which I do still see pop up on the schedule occasionally) and some shows that I said "good riddance" to like: Malto Mario with guests who sat around and never said anything while Mario Batali hacked up tiny octopii to drown in cream sauce.

Prompted by a post at Too Many Chefs, I began thinking about all of the 'celebrity chefs' that have made their way into our conversations and thought I would just mention a few of them and see what sort of response I got from readers. I began to list those I felt should be mentioned and the list grew much larger than I anticipated and so, perhaps instead of making one abbreviated post I will make this an ongoing project.

You should expect to see (and I hope you will add your thoughts on) discussions about:
Emeril
Rachel Ray
Alton Brown
Jamie Oliver
Paula Deen
Tony Bourdain
Martha
Low Carb and Loving It
Semi-Homemade
Cook's Magazine (America's Test Kitchen)

If you have a chef you would like to see roasted uh... skewered erm... discussed, post a comment here and I will do some research so I can look like an informed dope instead of an uninformed one.


While not a Food Network personality (yet!), Julie Powell of the Julie/Julia Project is getting a lot of notice. I saw her mentioned at The Amateur Gourmet, Mona's Apple and via comments:
Something So Clever, Accidental Hedonist, and haverchuk to name a few.
Some of the comments I saw about Julie's book and new blog:
The main character in the story was constantly swearing or crying. The cleanliness of the kitchen was questionable, which was making me lose my appetite for the French food being prepared. The only eggs I want to read about in a book about cooking are the kind that come from hens. I really did not want to know that the main character was able to pay off her credit cards by selling her own eggs - twice!
There were good reviews of the book as well:
Powell is a talented writer, and her blog remains one of the better examples of that medium to this day. Her writing style --- confessional, self-deprecating, occasionally rambling --- is really well-suited to the blog space, which makes the book version of her story occasionally feel like it's veering off-center. When she's hard at work in the kitchen, her writing is sharp and self-assured --- but Powell strays off-track a few too many times into less central aspects of her life (and especially her friends' lives) that, frankly, aren't that interesting. One wishes she would keep her focus on the food --- but when she does concentrate on that, Powell is so good you're ready to forgive her the errant lapses (at least until they happen again.)
Well, the reviewer gave the book 3 out of 5 stars, anyway.

She misses the whole point of blogging, to my mind - the act of sharing something important with other people. If I didn't want anyone to see or read my journal entries, I'd write them in Word or use one of those actual pencil-thingies to jot everything down, far away from the peering masses. But I *do* want to share, to dip my toe into the kitchens, the craft corners, the homes of other bloggers while laying mine a bit open as well. There's a sense of community, of shared experience, of simply getting to know other passionate people and watching along as they learn and discover. THAT's what brings me here, and what keeps me writing and photographing away on my own blog.
Sad she missed the very best part of blogging. Her loss, but all of our gain.
Nicely put, Kathy.

I admit that before today I don't recall hearing about Julie Powell and had never visited the Julie/Julia Project while it was in progress. I read her last entry written the day after Julia Childs' death and found it to be uninteresting except for the blast of cursing near the beginning. While I myself have moments when a $0nofab!tc# or a f*c& is effective in conveying a certain feeling, I don't think it should be relied upon as a writing tool. Julie obviously disagrees as her posts (and apparently her book) are reminiscent of a visit with one afflicted with Tourette Syndrome.


This Celebrity Chef Love/Hate discussion will continue. I welcome your comments. Agree or disagree or just mention a chef you feel is important.

A Little Whine, A Little Cheese, A Little Blogging, If You Please

You may roll your eyes, it's okay. Rhyming post titles are lame in the worst way but *I* am the worst way (or perhaps being German it is the wurst way).

The Whine:
I have been busy. I do enjoy the blogging experience but it takes time and I am prone to laziness on occasion. My blog's former description, "A procrastinator's view of blogdom" was perhaps more appropriate. I would like to say, I'll try to post more diligently but really, you do get what you pay for.

The Cheese:
I know you can't get enough cheese. And since my blog is The Power of Cheese, I should have a thoroughly cheesy post once in a blue moon.


Nothin' says lovin' like a message written in cheese from a can. Patrick's Cheese-o-matic can seems to have temporarily run out of the glorious orange goo but see the fun messages written by others.

Send a virtual cheese greeting from Cheese of the Month Club.
Or try this virtual cheese from the Tillamook, Oregon Cheese Factory.

In Wisconsin they don't allow you near the cheese... But in Vermont they don't seem to mind your tootsies wriggling through the whey.


Someone once gave me this book as a joke and I actually read it. Now they need a cartoon mouse to tell you how to deal with change? But, a site that lets you click a cheese for more info... well, who wouldn't love that?

Blessed are the cheesemakers, for even they are affected by the wrath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Cheese Market News tells us that, since as much as 70 percent of the North American supply of polyethylene and polypropylene resins used to make packaging for cheese, milk and other dairy products are manufactured along the Gulf Coast, recent hurricanes continue to spell big trouble for the dairy industry.
[A side note that has nothing to do with food other than your ability to cart it from the market, reduced availability of polypropylene will also affect the production and cost of new vehicles made in the US in the next couple of years. Interior door panels, dash boards and many bumpers as well as numerous clips and clamps that hold cars together (though most people never see or pay attention to these things) are manufactured using plastics including polypropylene. I know this tidbit of info because of my former life in a plastics factory. So, if you're in the market for a new vehicle, get it soon.]


So finally after a short break you have a post on your plate. What will you do with it now?
I'm being too weird aren't I? I believe I may need more sleep... or perhaps more coffee.

I recently broke my digital camera but MrG has endeavored to buy me a new one... isn't he a doll?

Check out the Halloween links on the sidebar.
Also not found on the Halloween sidebar but worth checking out: Martha's last minute costume ideas. Love the jelly fish!

Google Me

As said by Memoirs of a Married Mad Man:
Egregiously lifted from Views from the Back Row who pilfered it from Ago-go, who stole it from the lovely Kalani, who stole.....

Directions:Go to Google and click on the images link. Type in the following and post the first (or your favorite - I did first for each) picture the search engine finds.

- The name of the town where you grew up
- The name of the town where you live now
- Your name
- Your Grandmother’s name (pick one)
- Your favorite food
- Your favorite drink
- Your favorite song
- Your favorite smell


The town where I grew up

This is really a gorgeous picture of it. You see where the St. Croix meets the Mississippi River.

Where I live now

(In that cloud somewhere, I think.)

My name

I'm a Finnish Wolf? That's cool.

My nickname resulted in this



But my nickname actually comes from this
&


My Grandmother's name

I'm sure she'd be pleased (yeah, right!).

My favorite food



My favorite drink

I don't do whipped cream, but it looks pretty.

My favorite song

Boop boop be doop.

And finally.... my favorite smell



I promise to have original thoughts flowing again very soon. No, really!