In a jar, at a bar, near or far

Salsa at the store is tricky.. it rarely is as good as can be made at home and it most definitely is not as good as a quality salsa bar in a good Mexican restaurant.  When I have time I prefer to chop up some onion, tomato, cilantro with a squeeze of lime and few pinches of salt.  Most days I don't have much time and on those days I like to have a ready made jar for all my salty chip and dip snack times. 

False like those eyelashes

I got suckered into believing the delicious looking picture on the package would be waiting for me on the inside.. it was lies.. tragic, tragic lies.  unfortunately the center did not contain peanut butter like the picture promised, it instead contained some dry brick that may have been derived long ago from peanut butter.. Justin's I'm disappointed in you.

 

welcome to disappointment city

pesto~ish (aka the ish post)

Life is sometimes too busy to cook let alone to post about food on a blog that I never plan on making a living with.  Between working weekends and sleep writing has been far from my list of important things to take care of.. sadly it has taken its place long after do laundry and organize shoes.  Luckily I do still find the time to eat and occasionally make something from scratch.  This week I was gifted green tomatoes from someones garden.  I am not talented at frying things; so fried green tomatoes was out.  For those that have not had green tomatoes before they are tart and very hard when not cooked and I was not sure I felt adventurous enough to make some type of fresh salad that could potentially be too crunchy to eat.  After debating on what to do with these pretty green things I decided that roasting them and making some sort of sauce sounded like the way to go.  Thus began the story of the birth of Green Tomato Pesto Spread...

I'm a bakey baker

I would never dream to claim to have much of anything in the realm of baking skills. I am not a fan of measuring if you haven't noticed from my haphazard quantity descriptions. I'm a big fan of pretty close and within reason. That being said I've never been one to dabble into the art of breads and I will probably never touch pastries outside of buying them at shops that have pretty tarts and fancy cakes that they delicately place into boxes that are deftly tied up in string. I admit that I make cookies and occasionally I dabble in the cake world but the results are always deliciously unpredictable. Sometimes my cake weighs as much small dog and sometimes my cookies have a texture closer to cake.

Life is hard stay soft

Whether eggs are good for you or bad for you seems to always be up for debate in the food guide circles.  The only thing I care about with eggs is that they taste freaking amazing for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even dessert.  They go in a billion different recipes but they can stand beautifully on their own.  One of my favorite ways to fix them as a centerpiece in their own right is soft boiled with a side of crusty toast.  Mmmm soft and creamy middle, a white that is slightly less rubbery than hard boiled, topped on a bite of crunchy toast. Texture paradise, tastebuds happy dance. 

missionary work

When I discover someone I know is a picky eater or has an aversion to a certain type of food I take it upon myself to cure them of this unfortunate affliction.  I sometimes imagine it as my divine calling in life to prove that most things have the potential to be delicious when done right or maybe I'm just neurotic. Either way it gives me an excuse to tinker in the kitchen.

Unfortunately almost everyone has at least one food item that has gotten on their no eat list, even me (green bell peppers and black olives unless they exist on a supreme pizza or I'm being polite). Often the offending food is a vegetable, the most common vegetable on S^&$ list happens to be brussel sprouts.  Poor brussel sprouts haven't earned the bad rap on their own they've had the help of many cooks who were probably good cooks but they didn't have the Internet or the variety available to the modern kitchen and maybe, just maybe they believed in the idea that if it tastes bad it's probably good for you...  Anyway.. This post is being written for all the naysayers in particular one naysayer friend who didn't believe me when I said even the brussel sprout can be delicious.

Not so pho tastic

I love pho.. it is so simple yet so satisfying. The broth like any good broth with developed flavor  takes hours to cook. The micromanaging style of the Asheville government has decreed that in downtown there shall be a cute little parking area designated for food trucks so you don't have to go hunting on the hills to find your food truck fix.  While I usually am a huge fan of anything off a food truck and Pho is one of my favorite foods.  I can't say much good about this one.  The broth was flavored wrong, the service was nice.. But broth was just bad, the meatballs were terrible, the meat wasn't sliced nicely... Just all around disappointing.  I only tried the one dish so maybe all is not lost. But if the namesake isn't tasty I don't have much hope. 

No thanks. Not pho me.

fishes and wishes

Smoked salmon is a staple for fish eating Alaskans.  If you smoke your own, finding the right recipe is like finding a gold nugget of deliciousness and putting it in your pantry.  Having a friend who has a great recipe and shares their salmon is like winning the lottery.  While I do make a mean smoked salmon I would say that my recipe is second to one of my favorite person's dad's recipe.. Colin.  His dad, and of course him as well, make the best smoked salmon I have ever eaten.  Tragically I no longer call Alaska home so my supply of salmon only shrinks and doesn't really grow.  So opening a jar of salmon gold when you don't have a big stash of it anymore is a truly special event.  

Special event that inspired this post was a smoked salmon craving that could not be quieted.  The shiny jar of fish was calling to me, beckoning to be popped opened and consumed, I resisted for a moment then caved when I realized I was out of most other consumable protiens.  I used half the jar to mix with veggies and pasta for my dinner and the rest I made into a dip to stretch it's consumable life.

F'ugly duckling

F'ugly duckling

In real life we can't all be winners. Some dishes are destined to be tried and never repeated but like they say about love at least it was tried. So begins the story of the f'ugly Mac and cheese.

Once upon a time there was a lactose intolerant girl who due to her impulse shopping habits had a refrigerator full of mix and match cheeses. She decided it was time for them along with all the other random bits of food in her refrigerator to join together in what was to be called the refrigerator Mac and cheese adventure.

For every adventure there is a misadventure.. that is to say a moment of bad luck which in this story came from not planning and a little bit of carelessness. The first misstep was the very first tester bite, which happened to be a bite of a freshly cooked noodle to test for tenderness.  Within seconds deliciousness turns into tragedy as it was quickly discovered that the pretty curled noodle contained a pocket of hot water that scalded the tongue leaving it useless.

d is for

Dry like the freaking desert, don't as in warning against or dehydration which you'll surely get.

In this globalized economy that seems centered around Ayn Rand's self absorbed philosophies and a obsession for making the most money I often feel that the producers of things have lost sight of caring for the customer and the pride of making quality products so the end result is less quality and a disconnection from our food source.