8 March 2007
Vegetarians Are Smarter… But Why?
My dad sent me an intriguing This is London article that references a study from the British Medical Journal which claims vegetarians are more intelligent than our meat-eating counterparts. While I think a vegetarian diet is healthier overall, I’m not sure I’m convinced that a vegetarian diet is any better for your brain power than a healthy, moderate omnivorous diet.
As to why vegetarians may be more intelligent, I agree with researcher Dr. Catharine Gale who said “…there could be several explanations for the findings, including intelligent people being more likely to consider both animal welfare issues and the possible health benefits of a vegetarian diet.”
Several of my good friends are also vegetarians, but we were all bright, honours-course-taking individuals before we ever became vegetarians. I personally became a vegetarian for health, moral, and ecological reasons, and I believe many people become vegetarians because they choose to stop and really think before putting something in their mouths.
posted by Becky at 23:18 | no comments
8 March 2007
Chayote, the Anxious Vegetable
Whilst perusing the produce at the Buford Highway Farmer’s Market, I saw a green item that caught my eye. It looked like an old man without his dentures, so I giggled and had to buy it. The sign overhead told me I had picked up a chayote, which I later found out to be a member of the gourd family.
Upon further review I think my green gourd actually looks really nervous.
Unfortunately, I photographed the chayote then put him in the fridge and completely forgot about him until he became speckled with brown spots. Since he was never eaten, I don’t know what he was so worried about in the first place.
posted by Becky at 0:54 | 1 comment
6 December 2006
How Old Is Your Nutmeg?
Do you remember when you bought the marjoram that’s sitting in your spice cabinet? What about the anise seed? Almond extract? It was probably longer ago than you think. A good habit to get into is keeping a Sharpie in the kitchen, and then when you open any new spice or extract, write the date on the jar. You’ll be surprised at how long rarely used spices will sit around. And in case you’re wondering what the shelf life of your sage is, here’s a handy guide:
ground spices: 2–3 years
whole spices: 3–4 years
seasoning blends: 1–2 years
herbs: 1–3 years
extracts: 4 years
Pure vanilla extract actually lasts practically forever. I used to bake cookies and banana bread a lot during senior year at CMU, and Liz once said I was the only person she knew who went through multiple bottles of vanilla during a single year at university.
For more tips on how to best handle and store spices, visit McCormick’s site. Here you will also find a Date Code Decoder into which you can input the date code from any McCormick spice to find out how old it is.
posted by Becky at 0:57 | 2 comments
24 October 2006
Biscuits for Brunch
As long as we’re talking about Baron’s birthday, I should mention where we ate brunch that day: The Flying Biscuit Café. There are 2 locations, and we went to the Midtown one. The Flying Biscuit is a local favourite that serves breakfast all day in an eclectic, yet cramped space.
I had never actually eaten at the Flying Biscuit before, and when I suggested going there to Baron, he wouldn’t stop talking about their cranberry apple butter, which comes with the biscuits. I took this as a “yes” to my recommendation.
After parking in their tiny, tiny parking lot, I ordered The Flying Biscuit Breakfast: 2 eggs, a biscuit, sausage, and grit or potatoes [I chose grits]. One thing I appreciated was that I had the option of ordering soysage instead of sausage, so of course I did so. But since I rarely eat fake meat, I made Baron inspect it before I would eat it to make sure that they hadn’t accidentally forgotten to substitute the soysage. As a devout vegetarian, you learn how to always be a little paranoid and on the look-out for rogue meat.
For his meal Baron chose The High Flyer, which is the same as what I ordered, except it also comes with an organic oatmeal pancake topped with peach compote. Everything we had was tasty; I did rather enjoy my biscuit with the cranberry apple butter. I also enjoyed Baron’s pancake, of which I snagged a few bites. It was denser and heartier than the pancakes I’m used to. Even though the restaurant is really tight and crowded, the food is filling & tasty, the service is decent, and the atmosphere is fun.
The Flying Biscuit Café
1001 Piedmont Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30309
+1 404.874.8887
posted by Becky at 22:08 | 1 comment
9 October 2006
A Tale of Two Cakes
Even though Baron’s birthday was 6 weeks ago, I still have the urge to write about the yummy cakes I baked and bought for his birthday. I’m getting a reputation at work for being a baker, so I had to outdo myself when it came time to bring in a cake for Baron’s birthday. I decided to go for the delicious, yet time-consuming Jewish Apple Cake. This moist cake is always a crowd favourite, and I swear it weighs 10 pounds.
Jewish Apple Cake
prep time: 45 min. | bake time: 90 min.
6–8 apples, peeled, cored & sliced
2 tsp. cinnamon
5 Tbsp. sugar3 c. flour
1 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. orange juice
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. water [or less]
1. Heat oven to 350°. Grease a tube pan.
2. Place apple slices in large bowl. Sprinkle with cinnamon and 5 tablespoons sugar. Toss until apples are evenly coated. Set aside.
3. Put remaining ingredients in another large bowl and beat until smooth.
4. Pour half of batter into greased tube pan. Arrange half of apple mixture over poured batter. Pour in remaining batter and top with rest of apple mixture. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Cool on wire rack.
All the peeling, coring and slicing of the apples does take a while, but the cake is rather heavenly. It was also worthwhile because I received a lot of compliments as the cake quickly disappeared. Plus the birthday boy seemed to enjoy it.
Since we played hooky on Baron’s actual birthday, we had the Jewish Apple Cake the day before. So this left me with having to provide another cake since he had to have an official birthday cake on the actual day. Whilst ditching work, we went to the Georgia Aquarium during the afternoon. To go along with the day’s fishy theme, I bought a Fudgie from Carvel. A Fudgie is an ice cream cake with a layer of chocolate ice cream and a layer of vanilla ice cream with chocolate crunchies in between and fudge on the outside. Carvel ice cream is so creamy, and the crunchies add a nice change of texture. According to the sign in my local Carvel shop, Tom Carvel once said, “Ice cream is good, but an ice cream cake shaped like a whale and covered in fudge is better.” And, oh my, is that true.
posted by Becky at 23:35 | no comments
17 September 2006
Episode 10: Pittsburgh & Pierogies
11:07 | 13mb | QuickTime 7
- Low Resolution [13mb]
- Medium Resolution [51mb]
- High-Definition [172.6mb]
During May one of my best friends from university, Rie, went to Pittsburgh for a visit from Tokyo, where she now lives. Since I’m always looking for a good excuse to go back to Pittsburgh, I decided to meet Rie up there for a few days.
Pittsburgh is one of my favourite cities in the whole world for a myriad of reasons including, but not limited to: my alma mater is located there, the city has a lot of character & history, it’s a great place to photograph, plus there are so many fantastic places to eat and buy food and just look at food. Watch our 10th episode to learn about places to visit in the foodie haven that is Pittsburgh. For the contact information for each of the places mentioned in this episode, please see below.
Hummus wrap, russet & sweet potato fries, pint of Yuengling
Fuel & Fuddle
212 Oakland Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
+1 412.682.3473
posted by Becky at 22:54 | 5 comments
9 August 2006
A Yummy Way to Help Children
Tomorrow is Dairy Queen Miracle Treat Day, during which participating DQ locations will donate all proceeds from Blizzards to local children’s hospitals.
In 1984 Dairy Queen teamed up with Children’s Miracle Network, and since then DQ has raised nearly $60 million for children’s hospitals affiliated with the Children’s Miracle Network. They estimate that tomorrow alone they could potentially raise $2 million from the sale of Blizzards. So get to your local Dairy Queen, have a Blizzard [Mmm… Oreo…], and help children in need.
Visit blizzardfanclub.com to find out more.