It’s 1:10 PM here in Los Angeles and instead of writing a 2nd post today, I thought I’d take this opportunity to answer your questions. So go ahead and ask some questions in the comments—food questions, Amateur Gourmet questions, anything you’d like me to answer–and I’ll answer ‘em. Here we go!
UPDATE: Comments are working again here, so feel free to ask more questions!
“Poor Betty!”
I actually said that out loud last night when, at the end of this week’s “Mad Men” (spoiler alert, I suppose), Betty’s Thanksgiving plate contained a single Brussels sprout, several cubes of stuffing, and a few paltry slices of white meat. Betty carefully cuts a bite for herself, puts it in her mouth, and chews methodically–counting each chew–until she swallows it down and moves on to the next precious morsel.
I’m about to make a scandalous admission, the sort of thing that usually requires a press conference and a disappointed looking wife standing next to you: I’ve been having a sordid affair… a sordid affair with toast.
Now I know what you’re thinking. “Toast? TOAST? You’re having a sordid affair with toast? Couldn’t you have had a sordid affair with something sexier… like, I don’t know, butter? Or bacon? Or butter-flavored bacon?” Hear me out, people. Toast can be sexy. You just have to approach it the right way.
At Cookbook, the delightful store in Echo Park where I bought my first bag of Rancho Gordo beans, I came upon a bag of black chickpeas. “What’s up with these black chickpeas?” I asked the nice people there.
“They’re just like regular chickpeas,” said Robert, one of those nice people. “Except…well…they’re black.” With a sales pitch like that, how could I not buy a bag? So I bought one and brought it home.
Infomercials rarely inspire awe, and yet I vividly remember watching a commercial for a handblender–this was back in the 90s, I think–that showed a glass jar filled with eggs and oil; then the hand blender plunged in, the host pressed a button, and magically it became mayonnaise. It was like watching a David Copperfield special only better: while I couldn’t make the Statue of Liberty disappear, I could buy a handblender and make mayonnaise in a jar. The only catch: I hated mayonnaise. So a handblender I didn’t buy.
Go ahead and imagine the most flavorful bite of food you can. What makes it so flavorful? Is it the amount of salt? The amount of heat? The amount of fat? The amount of acidity?
All of these factors come into play in this recipe for lamb curry from April Bloomfield’s A Girl and Her Pig. It’s undoubtedly the best curry I’ve ever had in my life; but it may also be the single most flavorful bite of food I can remember eating in a long, long time.
Look at how much fun everyone had!
I have to confess, when I typed up the Scavenger Hunt list last week, I was worried that (a) maybe no one would compete (this was my first year not centering it around a specific city; so the challenges were broader); and (b) that those who DID compete might hate this list and grow to hate me because of how much work was required. But based on the pictures, that’s clearly not the case. I mean, check out these smiling Scavenger Hunters!
On your marks…get set….
Ok, wait! Before you get started scavenger hunting, I need to tell you a few things about the 2012 Foodie Photo Scavenger Hunt. First: choose your partner wisely. Not only will you be spending all weekend with them; if you win, you’ll be cooking together for four days at the CIA. This is not a time to collaborate with a frienemy! Second: please read the rules carefully. I’d hate for you to spend all weekend scavenger hunting only to find that because you ignored a potentially crucial rule you’re disqualified. Then I’d be your frienemy and it’ll be so awkward if we run into each other out at dinner. Ok?
So let’s talk about the rules.
