Food Blog Round-Up
First off, we suppose we should mention July 4. After all, it's only American, right? And everyone has a picnic, right? But before you go off all half-cocked and over-marinated, check out what Biggles has to say over at Meathenge, all right? On the other hand, maybe some of you aren't grillers. In that case, listen to Food Musing's Grandma, who has some good advice on that very picnicky dish, fried chicken. And Celeste has some musings on independence and party planning over at Chopstick Cinema. Lastly, Wayne from 101 Cookbooks writes about his lunch at the White House, which, regardless of your opinion of the occcupants (at any time), is just about as perfect a pairing of the Fourth of July and food as you can get.
It's not exactly patriotic (especially not with the current big business regime), but it is political over at Bacon Press, where Kevin gets into a long rant about how the restaurant biz could be a little more socially progressive, by doing the little things, like paying minimum wage. And Scott, chef over at Mavericks, has taken the time from his schedule to bemoan the current state of organic food legislation, and pit Safeway's "O Organics" brand versus Whole Foods' 365 Organics brand in a to-the-death cagematch of organic proportions.
When we visited Thailand we mistakenly ate some spiced gristle (and calling it gristle is being generous) from a street vendor in Bangkok near Lumphini Park, where we had gone at 6 a.m. because of the horrific jet lag. Long story short, to disguise the fact it was gristle the "meat" had been heavily, heavily spiced and sauced. My teeth melted. Which means that we're dying to go to the Prince of Wales Pub and check out their Habanero burger.
As previously documented, we really like the cheese. We have a bunch of books about artisinal cheese-makers in America, the cheeses they make and the stories behind the creameries. All of them were bought used, and at least one is over 20 years old at this point, so they're all out-of-date to varying degrees. When we open them it's always a little bittersweet to read about these small cheese-makers and their lovely product, and then Google them to find out they're no longer around. It's life, we suppose, but it always makes us a little heartsick. Gordonzola feels the same way.
And now, to cleanse the palette, Popeners!
The pic is of poppy-seed shortbred, taken from Pastrygirl at Dessert First. There are more beautiful shots of shortbread over there, check 'em out.