It's actually quite ironic. An entire spur on this website is devoted to food; but apparently, that's not enough.
The food must go on.
Concept
Yeah, I like a good art project. And the idea behind this is simple enough. These are my favourite food related item(s) in each of the following categories.
Sure it's a silly page. But, I ask you, have you seen the rest of the Web recently? I rest my case.
Entrée
Since this is a word association project as much as anything else, fried chicken comes rapidly to mind. A pan, some chicken thighs, medium high heat, and fifteen minutes later, golden perfection, just add salt.
Meat
Um, yeah, what's not to like. But let's go with duck: duck or steak. But doesn't duck sound like a much more lively answer?
Vegetables
Hey, fun story with this one. And yeah, I'm sort of going off a list, so you'll get what you get. Anyhow, in the greater, what was it? Utah area? Yeah, I was in Northern Utah last summer and I stopped in some diner. I was assured it was the best place in town. And since, I wanted something a little lighter, I ordered extra vegetables instead of the mashed potatoes. And growing up in the Midwest, this should not have surprised me, but the vegetable was corn. Oh, I like corn. But having spent a few dozen years in California and more than a few in Hawaii. And I can assure you, not everyone treats corn like a vegetable. Anyway, story time over. I like corn. But for real vegetables, I like brocolli, have heard good things about mashed cauliflower (it just sounds good), and iceberg lettuce is about as healthy as a guy can get.
Fruits
I like them in all shapes and sizes, which is supposed to sound like some sort of 'fruity' joke, but I doubt even I'll understand what I meant by that in a few years. Bananas and oranges top the list. But if we were going to go oddball... OK, got it: mangosteen. Ha! So oddball, the spell check doesn't recognize the word. So, um, maybe it's time to update my editor. Anyway, mangosteen is really just the start, the reference, the jumping off point. It's got a cirtus-like pulp between the seeds that is hardly worth the effort of digging out, but if it came canned, would be delightful. And lots of fruit (or at least one other fruit) is like that: cocoa. It's not good. It's not bad. It's like musk mellon. Sometimes it just hits the spot. Oh, and the best part, the stuff ferments like nobody's business. So, I call dibs on being the first one to mention Cocoa based Liquor (call it a cordial) on the Internet (and not some chocolate flavoured vodka, but): the drippings from real fermenting cocoa beans distilled down. If you're willing to pay $100+ a pint, I try and whip up a batch. Well, no, not I. But, that'd be the cost.
Snacks
Nuts. I eat a lot of nuts. Smoked almonds are good... or a spoonful of peanut butter, cottage cheese, cheese, salami, ice cream... or my real decadence for the last few months has been this Cajun Flavoured Hot & Sweet Trail Mix that I'm getting from Walmart. I could not begin to tell you the real name. And I probably should not be calling you, you. So, dear reader, you, yes you... wait, that didn't work either. Oh, well.
Drinks
Milk is the hands down winner, well, that and water. I'm going through two gallons of whole fat milk a week these days. None of that no fat, low fat, or shudder to think, two percenter stuff for me, let me tell, um...let me tell whoever is reading this, maybe you, maybe someone else, you never know... Drat! Said it again.
Come to think of it, for dinner tonight, I had a big bowl of meatballs with spaghetti sauce (no noodles) and at least four big glasses of milk. Just now, I'm drinking the last of it.
Desserts
I don't each much dessert these days. Oh, I guess that's a giant lie. See, in my world, ice cream is almost like health food. And seriously, anyone who knows me, knows I'm not one to quible about the difference between almost and pure when it comes to health food. So, yeah, ice cream, the good stuff, low ingredients list, sugar, egg yolks are good, corn syrup is bad, and tending towards the simpler flavours: vanilla, chocolate, oh, and I had a really good malt chocolate the other day. Truth is, I buy a lot of what's on sale.
Baked Goods
Just say no! Or, does lasanga count? I like the idea of mince meat pie made as a main course with real giblets. Though, Beef Wellington is overated, so who knows why the pie sounds good. Ah, got me wanting pie, you do, now! Oh, no, that 'you' is OK. If you think I'm taking blame for my current cravings for a pecan pie, you've got another thing coming. And now I'm hungry: shortbread, ginger snaps, and I've got a real weakness for oatmeal raisin cookies. The last time I truly indulged in a 'baked good', it was a box of oatmeal raisin cookies. They did not last long.
Broiling
Toast, pizza bread... did I actually make toast this way in the past? For a few years, I was making cookies almost daily. And then, I switched over to toast. Toast done right can be amazing: cripsy, buttery, salty, and loads of jelly. Or if that doesn't do the trick, ribs sound good. Though, I must admit, the last ribs I had came from China Town; and so, they were more like char su.
Pan Frying
Have I mentioned chicken? Yes, well, how about eggs? Though eggs seem so boring. And I go in waves, so the last few dozen eggs, I've eaten hard boiled, mixed with salami, cheese, and mayonaise, oh, and sometimes lettuce, if I have any lying about. I make my chili in a pan sometimes. Does that count?
Sandwich
I had a bacon, banana, grilled cheese sandwich the other day; and it was marvelous. OK, it didn't really have any grilled cheese, but those fried banana sandwiches are good, so are grilled cheese, or pastrami. I like that pastrami, but if I'm making it myself or ordering out, nine times out of ten, I'll just go with salami or the house Italian mix.
Breakfast
I had oatmeal and raisins today. Usually, it's just a cup or two of hot cocoa. The way I make it, the calorie counts comes to 1,000 right there. Though, I think how I made it today was likely more like 5-700. Who really knows? I used to make it with half and half, but one day, I looked at my belly... and it looked back. Hey, come to think of it, that's probably who the you is in all this. So, what do you think we should have for breakfast. Oh, and that did not take long at all.
BACON! BACON! BACON!
Got to love a belly that knows what it wants.
Lunch
Well, I'm going to have chili for lunch, today. And it's a day later, now, so if there is some inconsistency, Dear Stomache, that's why. Or, maybe I'll have tuna fish, just tuna fish and mayonaise. I can't say I really like tuna fish, but it's reasonably inexpensive and full of protien. But if I could have whatever I wanted for lunch? I've always wanted to make bacon cheeseburgers out of Fillet Mignon, so a third pound meat, maybe a little more, maybe 3oz of cheddar, perhaps more, and half a package of bacon.
BACON! BACON! BACON!
That does, indeed, sound good.
Soup
That would be Tom Kha Gai: a coconut curry soup with lemon grass, red peppers, a bit of fish oil, with the secret ingredient being lemon juice, just a tad. It's really good stuff.
Dinner
After soup? That Italian stuff, Cioppini, sounds good, but I think I'd rather have the Cajun variety, Jambalaya: nice and hot, rice optional, so much easier to throw in an extra bag of shrimp or more of that Andouille Sausage than thin it with rice.
Nuts
Have I not covered this before? I probably have, so let me say Grape Nuts this time. It's about as close to a full fledged starch as I want to get these days.
Cheese
Some of the best cheese I've had recently was an incredibly mild sheep's milk cheese. I like most cheeses. Not too wild about Swiss. Colby is a bit lame. But cheddar, blue, all the smelly ones, runny ones, fat filled ones; Meunster, Havarti, yeah, I like cheese.
Cold Cuts
And that brings around to salami again. Like cheese, it's probably easier to define cold cuts by the type I don't like (bologna) and let the rest be fair game. I was in Germany last October and for breakfast every day it was a giant platter of cheese and cold cuts and fish salads and it was great and awesome and I would be happy to eat like that every day for the rest of my life.