To Thine Own Self, Be Food

If you live in the midwestern United States, there are a few things you know to be true. a.) Seafood, which you love, is expensive...and if it's not, then the quality is doubtful. b.) People who live outside the Midwest aren't usually quite sure where exactly your state is located.  They know general area, but Iowa is Idaho is Ohio is North Dakota for them...and it's totally whatever, you know. c.) Weather is a capricious, capricious thing.  Snow one day, sixty degrees and sunny the next. After the first day of spring a couple of weeks ago, we were hit by five inches of snow shortly afterwards...Mother Nature's way of reminding us not to put our faith in psuedo-prophetic burrowing rodents.  Of course, the snow was gone in about three days - and I think I can finally, finally say that spring is definitely, permanently, here. And when I think of spring, I think of asparagus. I am preparing a Celebration of Spring event for the winery next month (see link here

First of all, hail to my readers in France, Sweden, Canada, Germany, Spain, and Ukraine!  Welcome to "To Thine Own Self, Be Food"! It looks like I'm in a rhyming mood today...which I've just now gotten out of my system. Today we're going to have some choice words about that most primal protein: beef. If I had a dollar for every time a restaurant made a misteak on cooking my piece of meat, I'd have enough money for a half-tank of gas.  The solution was to learn how to cook meat to my exact specification.  But, it was daunting.  I mean, meat and fire is the domain of man, right?  Man grill, bring woman food!  I didn't want to emasculate my husband by taking that away from him, but, by golly, how many times was he going to give me a medium-well steak when I wanted medium-rare!? Well...in the words of Shakespeare, sometimes you have greatness thrust upon you.  I am doing a cooking demonstration for the winery folks tomorrow that consisted of preparin

When I say Midwest, you say....? cornfields? Idaho? potatoes? "meat and potatoes"? Wasn't that a fun word association exercise? Typically, the phrase "meat and potatoes" is an adjective that represents stodginess, unexciting, unimaginative.  The phrase is most often used to describe diets, mostly of people my parents' age and older (but is by no means exclusive).  This diet usually consists of three items: a portion of meat (beef or pork usually) and a starch (read: potato)...and sometimes a vegetable (often another starch, i.e. corn). However, this three-way approach to meals should not be limited to an older generation, because according to a report called " Center of the Plate: Beef & Pork Consumer Trend Report " Technomic, a Chicago-based market research firm, relays some interesting information about the way we arrange and plan our dinners: When dining out, beef choices make up about 33% of consumers' choices for protein.