Category: food

Long weekend in Connecticut – Day 3

Sunday morning we met with Jeremy’s mom at the Inn for breakfast (he had lemon ricotta hot cakes, his mom had the spinach, mushroom and goat cheese omelet and I had the eggs benedict) before heading out for a day of exploring. Our first stop was the Submarine Force Museum, home of the USS Nautilus. It was rather fun driving through Groton, since in so many ways it’s like driving through Norfolk with all of the military presence. The Nautilus is one cool vessel, and in addition to being able to tour about half of the vessel we also watched a video on the history of submarines in the US military (more interesting than it sounds 😉 ). For pics of the Nautilus check out the Flickr set.

After we finished our tour there we decided to stop for lunch, at Jeremy’s mom’s recommendation, at Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough. (All the photos from lunch are up on Flickr)

Our meal and view from our picnic table

Our meal and view from our picnic table

This place would be really hard to find without GPS (yay for the Droid and it’s excellent navigational skills 😉 ), but is well worth seeking out. They are only open between Memorial Day and Labor Day for lunch and dinner but even on a Sunday the parking lot was full, with cars from all over New England. There’s a walk up counter where you place your order after selecting what you’d like from the large wooden menu out front, then you take your order to “the long red counter” around the corner to get your drinks and soups then the rest of your order will be called over the loudspeaker when it’s ready. There is some seating inside a screened porch but the majority is outside at picnic tables either under a tent or next to the shore.

Hot Lobster Roll from Abbott's Lobster in the Rough

Hot Lobster Roll from Abbott's Lobster in the Rough

We opted for an open table near the water where we split clam chowder (broth based, no cream, just clams, potatoes, and broth, simple but good), lobster bisque, a “hot” lobster roll (pretty much consisting solely of lumps of lobster meat on a buttered and toasted hamburger roll) and a lobster salad roll (tasty chunks of lobster with mayo and celery on a buttered and toasted hot dog roll). I had never had a lobster roll of any sort and I think this was definitely a great introduction, both were amazingly tasty and the pieces of lobster were huge! Definitely a place to seek out if you are a lobster fan.

After lunch we headed to Mystic, home of the Mystic Aquarium (as well as some humorously named stores spinning off of the town’s name such as “Optimystic Eyewear”). The aquarium, though a bit pricey ($28 adult admission) was fun and full of people.

Clown fish at Mystic Aquarium

Clown fish at Mystic Aquarium

They had a cool jellyfish exhibit along with outdoor exhibits for seals, beluga whales, and penguins, and of course lots of fish (all the aquarium pics are up on Flickr). After we toured the Aquarium we decided to head back, via “the scenic way” to the Inn before our dinner at 7pm. Jeremy wanted to take the ferry so we made our way there along the beautiful back country roads and just barely made it onto the last ferry of the day, as we pulled onto the small 9-car ferry the ferryman shut the gate (the ferry closes at 5pm we got there at 4:59).

Next adventure is dinner at the Copper Beech Inn dining room where we’re planning on having the chef’s tasting menu, yum!

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Long weekend in Connecticut – Days 1 and 2

When Jeremy and I heard that his cousin Lara was getting married in Connecticut a few months ago we decided to make a long weekend out of the trip (leave Friday, return Monday) and take the train up and back. This was the first time I had the opportunity to ride the train (Amtrak to be specific) for a long distance in the US (had ridden overnight in France and Italy before but never in the States). Jeremy and I left the Williamsburg station around 10am and almost 12 hours later stepped off the train in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Overall the train is definitely a pretty nice way to travel, especially when you spring the extra $40 for business class seats, more legroom, quieter, a little footrest, it’s the little things that make it nice 😉 We called the local cab company when we arrived and they sent out their only cab to pick us up and we headed to the Copper Beech Inn driven by a nice guy who had grown up in (as he said) “Bad News” (aka Newport News) so we all chatted about the area for our 10 minute drive to the bed and breakfast. Cabs are a bit expensive (was $20 for the 10 minute ride) but didn’t have too many other options at 9:30 at night. We checked in and promptly went to sleep, who would’ve thought sitting for 11+ hours would make you so tired?

The next morning we enjoyed the Inn’s tasty full sit-down breakfast in the glassed in patio, Jeremy had the Bread Pudding French Toast and I had an omelet with leeks, bacon, mushrooms and cheddar cheese, very tasty. Since we had no means of transportation yet we called the cab again to take us to the rental car place after breakfast, picked up our swingin’ Toyota Corolla and then just wandered around the various little towns for the afternoon. Our first attempted lunch stop  (per Yelp’s high recommendation) was the River Tavern in Chester but, after multiple attempts and drive-bys, we were unable to find the restaurant, there’s an empty lot at 23 Main Street so apparently only locals are allowed to find it. Instead, we stopped at the Whistle Stop Cafe, very cute little place (literally little), with one main inside room and then picnic tables under a permanent tent in the back. Since it was cool outside (low 70s or so) figured it was nice enough to eat outside so even before we sat down the only waitress got our drink order and told us to take a seat anywhere. Jeremy ordered the Reuben (which he left no trace of) and I ordered the “Mr. Okinawa” which was a tuna melt with tomato and bacon on rye, also very tasty. The sandwiches came with either chips or a salad, and since on the train ride up the day before we had only eaten cheese and crackers and trail mix I figured I should get some greens in so I ordered the salad, which was surprisingly tasty for a small side-of-the-road-cafe salad, it was simple with tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, carrots and a spring mix with balsamic dressing but I guess I must’ve been missing those vitamins.

We headed back to the Inn after lunch for a nap before the wedding at 4:30 that afternoon. The couple picked a gorgeous location for their ceremony and reception at the pavilion in Rocky Neck State Park. The pavilion is a huge two story stone structure built in the 1930’s through the Works Progress Administration (which was created to provide jobs after the Great Depression). The bride was beautiful, the rain held off, and the ceremony and reception were great, it seemed like everyone had a really nice time, my best wishes to Lara and Dan!

Pictures to come…

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Early fall weekend in the Blue Ridge

So since the U2 concert was on Thursday we decided to make a long weekend out of this trip to Charlottesville. We stayed the whole time in this cute bed and breakfast nestled in the mountains a quick drive off of I-64 and the Blue Ridge Parkway called the Iris Inn. We get full breakfast every morning and have a nice room with a bunch of windows that let in lots of light and a pretty view of the woods in the morning.

VA Route 814 on the way to Crabtree Falls

The Friday after the concert we decided to head up into the mountains for a hike after breakfast.
We chatted with some of the other couples at breakfast about where to go and decided to head to Crabtree Falls after a bit of internet searching. The Falls were about an hour away from where we were so we Googled for directions and wanted to stay off the interstates so we took the second recommended route which took us on five miles of dirt road along a mountainside that looked like the map screenshot on the right here, quite an interesting drive.

We arrived at the trailhead around 11:30am and had a great hike up to the top of the mountain. The trail was a series of switchbacks and each time you would finish one you would get a new view of the falls, 5 or 6 times you go back and forth and after about 3 hours we reached the top (with probably an hour of that just taking pictures, which will be up on Flickr soon). We snacked on granola bars at the top and then made it back down in under 45 minutes.

Once we got back to the Inn and got cleaned up we headed into downtown Charlottesville to the Belmont district to go to this great restaurant we’d found last time we were here called Mas Tapas. The food there is amazing and a lot of it is locally sourced. The place opened at 5:30 and after our hike we were starving so we were there just after they opened and managed to get one of the last open tables before the waiting list started (by the time we left there were at least a dozen people outside waiting for tables, it’s really that good). We managed to snag our order sheet back from our server so here is are the six dishes we had with our bottle of Castell del Remei Gotim Bru 2006 (very tasty and a very good price):

  • Pan al horno (our cold-fermented, hand-crafted bread, baked with natural starters in our wood-fired brick oven daily)
  • Datil con tocino (dates wrapped in applewood smoked bacon, roasted till crispy)
  • Queso con alcachofas (roasted artichoke hearts, garlic, sweet onion, olive oil and goat cheese spread with bread)
  • Salchicha a la parilla (the eponymous Spanish country sausage – air-cured, dry-aged with smoked pimenton, olive oil and pork)
  • Lomo en capa (Angus beef tenderloin with espresso-smoked pimenton crust, pan-seared rare only with pico de gallo)
  • Mejillones con sofrito (Farm-raised Pacific Penn Cove mussels cooked in a smoky sofrito sauce with our brick oven bread)

And it was all amazing tasting. And we had a warm strawberry-rhubarb pastry thing for dessert, and if you know me and my obsession with (especially Trader Joe’s) strawberry-rhubarb pie that was definitely a treat. The restaurant has been voted best in Charlottesville this year for best appetizer (the bacon-wrapped dates), best service, best “small plates” and best service, and it definitely deserves all of those accolades.

Today we met up with my parents and did a bit of winery touring around the Madison area where Jeremy went to high school. We met my parents at Prince Michel winery right off of Route 29 and enjoyed a rather extensive tasting there, 3 pages of wines! And the great part was they only charge you $1 and that’s only if you do the “reserve” page of wines. We ended up buying 3 bottles of their Cab Sav and then we headed to the famous Pig ‘n Steak for a late lunch (and to get some food in our bellies to absorb all that wine 😉 ).

After starting off with a sampler appetizer platter of fried pickles, fried olives and fried broccoli (with cheese inside of course) we enjoyed bbq and burgers and mountains of fries before heading out to the final destination of the afternoon, Sweely Estate Winery. The tasting room was beautiful and the whole building was newly built with a huge reception hall on one side all in stone and big timbers, a nice mix of modern aesthetic with traditional materials. We were so stuffed from lunch we sat out on the back patio for a half hour or so letting our food settle before heading in for the $4 tasting of 9 wines. The wines there were pretty good, we all preferred the whites over the reds I think, but that may have been due more to the fact we were so full of food and wine that by the time we got to the reds there was just no more room in our stomachs. We parted ways with my parents after finishing the tasting and took a nice scenic route (not as scenic as good ol’ 814, all paved) back to the Inn. We stopped at the grocery store in Waynesboro on the way back and grabbed some cheese and crackers as a snack but we never ended up having any. We sat up on the “observation deck”, a little 3rd floor balcony off on one side of the Inn and watched the sun set over the mountains and then walked down to a lower deck with a swing and sat and read our books for a while in the cool evening before heading in for the night. A very nice, quiet and peaceful way to end a most excellent weekend before heading back to the ‘burg.

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soup results and vegetable stock

So dinner is done and I have to say, it was quite tasty. I followed my plan mentioned in the prior post and chopped and sauteed the zucchini and squash in the same pan I browned and cooked the sausage in and I think that really added a lot of flavor to the dish. Served it with some (store bought) garlic bread and it made a very nice, filling, and moderately healthy meal. And I have enough leftovers for about 4 more meals even after sending 2 servings home with Jeremy.

I also ended up making the vegetable stock today as well as my started-off-as-minestrone-ended-up-more-a-vegetable soup. I didn’t have enough onion based on various stock recipes I’d found so I walked over to Trader Joe’s for a small bag of onions and quartered 3 of those, together with the half onion I had left over from the soup as the start of the stock.

Veggies Before Veggies After
Vegetables for stock, before roasting Vegetables for stock, after roasting

I then third-ed all of the remaining celery and carrots on the bias (to get more surface area exposed) and peeled and separated a half head of garlic and tossed it all together with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and stuck it in a 425 degree oven for about half an hour to get all kinds of good roasted flavors out of the veggies first.
Once they were ready I added just enough water to cover all of the vegetables to my big stock pot, added just about every dried herb I had in my pantry (rosemary, thyme, herbs de provance, bay leaves, random herb packet from Fresh Market, whole peppercorns and kosher salt) and got everything up to a simmer and let it go for an hour (more than that and, according to the internet, the vegetables get mushy and become bitter).

After the hour was up I made a quick ice bath in my kitchen sink (much to the chagrin of the cats, pouring ice into a stainless steel sink is very loud), strained the stock into a metal bowl and cooled things off as quickly as possible then divided the stock up into ice cube trays and a quart plastic container for later use (very tasty as base for rice or risotto), also added a bit of it to the minestrone as it was a bit low on broth after adding all of the vegetables and sausage. Overall, the cooking day was a success I think and all of the photos are posted on my Flickr page.

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Adventures in Latvia – day 4 part 5

So we arrived at the reception place which appeared to be an old converted schoolhouse. It had three stories, two larger rooms on the top floor (one was the honeymoon suite for Robert and Laura) then more guest rooms on the second floor along with a small reception hall where we were for the evening that had a nice balcony/porch looking over the countryside, then the bottom floor was a reception area and the kitchen.

When the limo arrived we were all given rice and rose petals to toss at them as they went in (the little flower girls got a bit carried away with the throwing) then we all followed them upstairs for dinner.

There was soooo much food! All kinds of salads, cold cuts, bread and vegetables were waiting on the tables along with a cluster of bottles every five feet or so, one vodka, one brandy, one red wine, and one champagne. The tables were together in a U shape with the bridal party at the base of the U, Jeremy and I were seated close by in the corner of two tables with some of Laura’s English speaking friends. On e everyone was seated the hot food was brought out, breaded pork cutlets, potatoes with dill, a tasty brown sauce and some kind of braised cabbage that was quite tasty as well. Before we ate the champagne was opened and Dita made a toast to the couple (with Gunta translating). After everyone had their first serving of food, Pastor Joe and then Jim made nice toasts, then we ate some more and had our first dessert, a raspberry mousse/custard with a berry sauce.

After the meal Robert and Laura had their first dance with all the guests circled around them. Laura even taught Robert a simple waltz that morning for their dance. Those two are so in love, they were making googly eyes at each other the whole time. There was some informal dancing for a bit then all the girls got up and each danced with Robert (I tried to get him to do some swing dance steps but he said he didn’t know how to do them) then there was more hanging out and dancing for a bit.

Jeremy and I decided Robert and Jim should do a shot of vodka with usbut when we went to find Robert he was missing. He had been kidnapped by members of the bridal party and Laura had to sing a song fir his release. Once Robert was freed we toasted each other and congratulated the couple and had our shots.

Jeremy and I took pictures the whole time and ended up “chatting”, well pointing and using single words really, with the wedding photographer (a friend of Laura’s) discussing a trick Jeremy showed me of using a business card (or in our case placecards) as a reflector to soften using a flash indoors.

We had wedding cake (a four layer cake with lemon and raspberry filling) around midnight and the last thing was lighting two hearts of tealights and offering well wishes to the couple. We then got a ride home with Maria, Laura’s cousin who had done all if the flowers for the wedding, and her British husband and their two young daughters who were the flower girls. We were packed in the car and the youngest girl was sitting in, then fell asleep, on my lap, it was very cute. Once we got to the hotel around 1 we went straight to sleep after enjoying a great day of celebrating with Robert and Laura.

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Adventures in Latvia – day 2 part 2

Just got back from the rehearsal dinner/BBQ at Laura’s parents’ farm. Their place is about 20 minutes outside Liepaja just past the big wind farms (so cool to see up close). Their house reminded me a lot of my grandparents’ farmhouse in Pennsylvania, you could tell the house grew as the family grew, with little rooms added on here and there. They have cows and 10 hectares of land. There are four farm cats around, three dogs, and a rabbit, plus a very adorable dark brown and white kitten (spent a good amount of time this evening playing with him).

When we arrived one of Laura’s bridesmaids was already there, she speaks English very well so we went outside with her to peel cucumbers and slice pickles (both fresh from the farm) for dinner and chatted the whole time. All the while American pop and rock music was playing in the background, it was a very interesting moment, feeling like I was on my grandparents’ farm, listening to Nickelback, slicing homemade pickles and chatting away with new Latvian friends. Once the rest of Laura’s bridesmaids arrived (they all had to work until 1800) we began dinner around 1930.

So the food, oh the food. Laura’s mom had marinated pork overnight and her father grilled it on skewers over a fresh cut birch-fueled wood fire, amazing, and so much of it! It seemed like there was an endless supply of meat coming from the marinating container. Jim said he thought it was better than anything we got at the Brazilian steakhouse in the States, and I may have to agree. Then there was fresh watermelon, huge green grapes, chips and a yellow-rinded honeydew-tasting melon, not sure what it was called, but it was quite good.

And then there was dessert, a homemade layer cake with three different fillings, one between each of the four layers, a vanilla custard, whipped cream and bananas, and a great citrusy honey layer on the bottom, all of it frosted with a light whipped cream and topped with freshly shaved chocolate. And as if that wasn’t enough I then discovered my new favorite dessert. I have no idea what it is called but it was some heavenly combination of a heavier angel food cake-tasting later on the bottom, topped with a layer of vanilla custard, topped with slices of rhubarb (yum!) then a cinnamon sugar mixture sprinkled on top and baked until the sugar was caramelized and crunchy.

I had three and a half (three inch square) pieces. Soooooo good!

Around 2200 we decided to head out so Robert could drive us back while it was still a bit light outside (yes it was still dusk and not pitch black that late in the evening). Tomorrow will be our day to explore town a bit more, hopefully the weather will hold out for us, it’s supposed to be thunder-stormy tomorrow but it was supposed to be that today too and it ended up being a gorgeous day, so here’s hoping the weather-luck continues!

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Adventures in Latvia – day 2, part 1

So after some late night excitement from the States (my house alarm was accidentally set off, but it was determined all was fine and the cats were ok after a few calls back and forth from the US) we slept in until 1030 and met up with Jim in the hotel lobby to go to lunch at 1230.

After a bit of meandering through the “rock and roll” district (they have a Hard Rock-esque cafe, plaques with the handprints of famous Latvian musicians, and little music notes in the sidewalk leading you around we decided to try a little restaurant next to the university that Laura goes to. We sat down, ordered a round of beers and ordered food that was marked “traditional” on the menu. When we got the beers Jim and Jeremy received big half liter mugs while I got a more elegant half liter pilsner-like glass (more lady-like I guess), either way the beer was quite good.

While we were waiting for the food Robert and Laura met up with us and we all chatted until the food came. Jim has been thouroughly enjoying the Liepajan night life with the other folks in the bridal party and Robert and Laura have been doing a mix of tourist things with Robert’s dad and coordinating wedding stuff. Our food arrived after about an hour but it was well worth the wait. Jeremy had a tasty breaded pork chop and jim and I had amazingly tasty pork ribs with a creamy mushroom sauce and “fried” mashed potatoes, yum. Afterwards we jim and I grabbed a quick cup of coffee and we all explored the market square for a bit. I’ve never seen so much fresh fruit! We bought some beautiful flowers (mums I think of some variety in orange, white and crimson) there to bring with us to give to Laura’s parents and now after a brief hotel break we are off to the farm for the rehearsal dinner. More to come tonight!

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NYC day 3

So today was the day of museums and tasty food. We left the hotel around 9:15 cheated on breakfast and grabbed some food at the Starbucks next to our hotel and then hopped on the train to midtown to start the day at the Natural History museum. The line to get in the front entrance was huge but thankfully Jeremy had the secret-local-knowledge that there’s a second entrance in the subway station so we wentback in and found that, one family in line in front of us, sweet, and much better than waiting a half hour to get in the front. Having seen “Night at the Museum” I had some idea of the exhibits there but wow is that place big, and it’s an interesting mix of new exhibits and kischy older ones. We met up with one of Jeremy’s college friends in the fossil hall for a few minutes before we went outside to wait to meet up with Jenny for lunch.

Once we found each other outside the museum Jenny suggested we try the Shake Shack for lunch, which was funny since Jeremy had found that same place online a few weeks before the trip as a good place to eat. So we went there and everyone had a Shackburger (cheeseburger with a mayo-based “shack sauce”) and I had a tasty chocolate milkshake. All of the food was very good and once we finished we partedways with Jenny and headed to the Met for the afternoon. Another huge museum but in 3 hours we managed to hit all the highlights and then headed back to the hotel to get changed for dinner.

So we made our way to Craft, got there a bit early, and wasn’t sure what the ettiquette was for reservations, if it was better to come in early or exactly on time. We opted for early and they sat us quickly, the servers quickly making sure we had full water glasses and bread right as we sat down. Jeremy and I had decided on the tasting menu with paired wines before we had even left so the menu decision wasn’t hard.
Tasting Menu (some wines may be named not quite right, had a hard time reading the server’s writing for a few of them):

  1. Wagyu Carpaccio, Pickled Quail Egg and Jerusalem Artichokes; served with Vouvray, Foreau Clos Naudin, NV Loire Valley
  2. Diver Scallops and Sweet Garlic Cream; served with Grenache Blanc, Denard, Alta Mesa, 2008, Lodi
  3. Olive Oil Poached Day Boat Cod, Morels, Fava Beans, and Razor Clams; served with Vire Clesse, Denis Jandeau, 2006, Maconnais
  4. Panchetta Wrapped Guinea Hen, Chanterelles, Wild Asparagues and Tortellini; served with Domaine du Meix Foulot, 2003, Cote Chalonnaise
  5. New York Baby Lamb, Artichokes, Porcini and Fiddlehead Ferns; served with Grenache, Syrah, Morvedre, Doyenne, Mesier, 2006 Red Montaine
  6. Lemon Meringue Tart, Hibiscus Syrup and Coconut Sorbet
  7. Crepe Suzette, Chocolate Mousse and Malted Milk Ice Cream; served with Erbaiuce di causo, Passito, Fernando Solatino, 2007 Piedmont

My favorite course was #4, Awesome. And it was really interesting on the 3rd course, the fish was just ok on its own, but combine it with the razon clam stuffing, and it provided the perfect amount of saltiness and texture. For each course both Jeremy and I would taste each component of the dish separately then together just to see how all the flavors played out, very fun for the palate. The whole meal was fantastic, the servers were super attentive and on the way out they even gave us mocha chip muffins to take home. A superb experience and definitely something I could get used to 😉

We got a bit turned around on the way back to the hotel and ended up hailing a cab which I got a kick out of as it was my first NYC cab ride.

Tomorrow we have no definite plans, will probably just wander the city a bit, have a bit more of a relaxed day.
Picture total: 524

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three layer jello

Ok, time for a poll, does anyone remember the “Jello 1-2-3” dessert from Kraft? It was this great Jello dessert that was out in the 80s and early 90s that you would mix in a blender and then pour into glasses and it would separate into three distinct layers, a regular Jello bottom, a mousse-like middle, and a lighter frothy mousse top. It was SO GOOD! My mom used to make it in the dark blue Pfaltzcraff wine glasses she had (which I think was the only time we ever really used the wine glasses until a few years ago). They had strawberry and orange flavors and strawberry was by far my favorite. One day in the mid-90s my mom came home without the coveted Jello 1-2-3 saying she couldn’t find it anywhere at the grocery store and summertime desserts haven’t been the same since…until now!

Trio treatWhile browsing a grocery store in northeast Pennsylvania my mom came across, not true Jello 1-2-3 unfortunately, but a pretty close approximation…Trio Treat. When my mom called to tell me she had found this three layered gelatin dessert I told her to buy a few so I could try it out (and prove to everyone here that it, or something like it, really does exist), and in true mom fashion she does not buy one, or even one of each flavor, but since I reminded her strawberry was my favorite flavor of Jello she bought nine boxes of it, seven strawberry, one orange and one lime (to make sure we had all flavors represented).

So last night I decided to try out this Treat to see how it stacked up, of course I don’t think of this until 9pm and the dessert needs to set for 3 hours minimum, so I made it last night and tried it tonight. I had a few blender issues so I don’t think I got quite enough frothy-ness in to really separate all three layers properly but the result was pretty tasty. It wasn’t quite the same consistency that I remember (but I may attribute that to faulty blending on my part), and the strawberry flavor was a bit different (maybe Jello has a patent on that or something) but it was still good and definitely worth making again (perhaps with a more cooperative blender).

Being the photo dork I am I decided to document my recent tri-layer gelatin dessert attempt, here are the highlights (all the pics are on flickr)

three layers
digging in

top layer
frothy top layer

first bite
first bite

all gone
all gone

Amongst my friends I’m the only one who has heard of or remembers this wonderful dessert, but I am not alone, the internet remembers everything, and there is even a petition to Kraft to bring Jello 1-2-3 back to store shelves, here’s hoping it succeeds.

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best ways to cook veggies

So I just came upon this New York Times article on the best (ie. most nutritional) ways to cook vegetables. It says

The amount and type of nutrients that eventually end up in the vegetables are affected by a number of factors before they reach the plate, including where and how they were grown, processed and stored before being bought. Then, it’s up to you. No single cooking or preparation method is best.

So first, that’s real helpful right? an article that is titled “Finding the Best Way to Cook All Those Vegetables” that then concludes there’s no “best” way.hot wok But in a way that’s good, it avoids supporting the “everything must be steamed” craze we had a few years ago (not that I’m anti-steaming, just please put a little salt, pepper, herbs, butter…something on them when they’re done, otherwise bo-ring). One of the things I found most interesting in this article was that eating raw vegetables is not always the best way to get the vitamins and nutrients and phytochemicals (yes, scientific word, Alton Brown would be proud) out of the food, which is great, since I’m not particularly a fan of raw vegetables (except carrots, celery and cucumber I’ll take those with ranch dip or hummus anytime). The article concludes that any way we can get people to eat veggies is good, and having a little fat with the vegetable, butter with the broccoli, or mozzarella with your tomatoes, can actually help you absorb more nutrients. As long as people think something tastes good, they’ll eat it, even when it’s actually good for them. The study only looked at boiling, steaming, microwaving and pressure cooking…wonder how grilling affects the nutritional value (aside for the token bit of added carbon from the lovely grill marks) or sauteeing (in a wok perhaps ;)).

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