To Thine Own Self, Be Food

Another wonderful, punderful Monday. I would like to talk about eggs.  Easter being right around the corner and all. Eggs are wonderful.  Really.  Not only are they the universal symbol of life and rebirth, but they are also incredibly versatile and delicious. By themselves and one or two other key ingredients, they make an easy breakfast dish.  Add some flour and fat, and you have popovers, cookies, cakes...ad bakery infinitum. I am always a little saddened when I hear of someone suffering from an egg allergy.  Chocolate, okay.  Seafood, fine.  Wheat, probably better for you anyway.  But, eggs?  Sad sad sad.  Sorry, but today's post won't be for you. I used to not think too much about cracking an egg for a frittata or quiche or brownies or carbonara sauce.  Eggs are cheap, just an integral part of the recipe.  When I began to think of my food as simple and unfettered, though, I began to think simple ways to prepare e...

Huh. Today's topic may prove to be one I won't be able to handle with brevity, comedy, or gravity.  Alas, away we go. Let me take you back to, oh, the year 1996.  I was in college at Iowa State University, studying to be an English teacher, and I was enrolled in an upper-level creative writing class.  The professor would have us read short pieces by professional writers so that we could discuss technique...which we would then practice in our own pieces. I can remember one heated discussion centering around the use of the word 'Oriental'.  A writer had used it to describe someone of Asian descent...and some of my classmates were outraged. "We're not rugs, we're people!" is one comment I distinctly recall among the many. It's an interesting word, really.  Oriental. Is it racist?  Certainly, it doesn't carry the connotations of other, more insulting words other races have been called over the course of human history.  But, Oriental?  F...

Say hey, good to be meating you again.  It's been a minute, hasn't it? I have just had a very terrible feeling...that I've come up with a very clever title for today's blog post, but that I'm going to seriously underexecute it in the body.  Like some recent American Olympians or similar. Slice it anyway you like, maybe it's paranoia, maybe I should just get on with it. Life has slowed down here recently.  I'd been adjuncting, and now that the term has ended, I get a six-month break...as there are no classes for me to teach.  This is all good, because it's almost... FOOD TRUCK SEASON! I've been working towards recertification as an ACF Certified Culinarian, and that means all kinds of hours of professional development.  So, I've been reading and studying things like avocados, onions, lamb, food allergies, and cheese.  And while all this bookwork seems tedious, I'm actually glad of it because it's putting me back in the grilled ch...

For the record, this is not turning into an addiction blog.  Having said that, I will say that I've been without alcohol for over a week now.  It hasn't been terrible.  Sure, I have thought about it every day, but I don't think I'm craving it, or suffering from withdrawals. I do miss a good craft beer, though. I've made a goal to get my weight down under 130 lbs.  Then, I will indulge.  Not crazily, not recklessly, friends. Here's the thing.  I'm getting older.  Metabolism is slowing down.  I'm probably going to put on weight as I age.  Errr...not probably, definitely .  But, I'm too much of a fan of food and drink, and not enough of a fan of spending hours in the gym. It's an impasse, for sure - one we all face, undoubtedly. For example... This is a crappy piece of cherry pie. I teach at a college in the Culinary Arts department, so I have access to good food.  *Sigh*  Why, then, did I reach for this Sysco-kn...

So.  Every now and then, I feel compelled to talk about something else besides food here at TTOSBF. Today, the topic is alcohol. I enjoy it.  Probably more than I really should, if I may lay the truth out there at my dear readers' feet. Sometimes it's a clever craft beer or a comforting gin and tonic.  I've realized lately that I often reach for the bottles in the liquor cabinet when I'm a.) bored b.) stressed c.) in a boozy social situation or d.) feel like I need a little reward for surviving (thus far) this Trump presidency. Huh.  As it turns out, most of my life these days moves within the realm of one or more of these four conditions. So, I was drinking often.  Every day. And here was the big epiphany: once I started drinking, my productivity went in the toilet.  Don't jump to conclusions, I hardly ever drank myself into a stupor...but I'd get the strong buzz going for sure.  Then, I was near useless.  I wanted to eat everything i...

Remember when, oh, a little over a week ago, I did a batch of preserved lemons?  Well, a couple of days after that, I did another batch...a quick-preserved lemon recipe I'd found in Paula Wolfert's book Couscous and Other Good Food From Morocco .  And then, the holiday break was done, and I went back to work and forgot I'd done a cool thing like cure freaking lemons.   However, today was a slow day...not to mention a snow day.  My two still-at-home children did a great job of cleaning the house while I was at work, and when I arrived home, I decided to tackle the Purging of the Fridge. Which is when I found both batches of lemons. My heart skipped a beat, my breath was lost in my throat.  Tonight could be the night!  I'd find out what preserved lemons actually taste like! But first, tacos. Yes, you so read that right.  Tacos for dinner at Chez Nelson.  The sautéing of onions, the browning of ground beef, the chopping of various garnish...

Excuse my attempt at tying today's blog entry with an iconic Thomas Dolby song.  What a terrible pun-ishment. Har har har. So, we're on the backside of Winter Vacation/Christmas Break/Holiday Hiatus here.  The kids return to school tomorrow, the freshman and I start back to our respective colleges next Monday. The clock is ticking and suddenly, I am whipped into frenzy to Get Work Done.  I suspect this phenomenon happens to many, many educators who try to avoid that panic-stricken night before they go back to work. And believe me when I say, I had the deepest, most earnest of intentions to write lesson plans, write quizzes, and generally prepare for the restart of my classes next week.  Like, really. And then...I was distracted by...citrus.  This happened. Okay, so....the lemons on the far right are no big deal.  They're available year-round.  But Meyer lemons...MEYER...I only find around here in the winter.  I first read about them i...

Today marks the 458th attempt at reviving this blog.  I make no promises.  I tell no lies. Read on. Life is good.  Life is crazy.  Life is busy.  It has always been this way, it seems.  I am very, very lucky to be working in the foodservice industry - change is inevitable and forward movement is desirable.  I have many exciting projects under my belt, and there are many more coming my way, if I keep myself open enough to the universe. I find that I do not have the time today to bring you all up to speed on everything happening in WanderLunch World, so I'm going to stick mostly to pictures.  However, you'll notice I've changed the blog's URL, as well as the look.  I've owned a food truck for nearly three years now, and it's time to adjust this space accordingly. The parade of photos below represent food I've either eaten, made, or helped students create in the last month .  Ready?? Chicken Spiedini, which is Italian for 'sk...

Standard American refrigerators have many shelves and compartments and drawers.  Because we like keeping our milk separate from our apples and our soy sauce separate from our blue cheese crumbles. Fair enough. My refrigerator has this small drawer positioned just underneath the top shelf (where I keep the milks, the Gatorades, and the wines/beers).  This little tucked-away compartment is labeled "Fresh-Lok Meat Keeper". Two things. I don't like how they spelled Lock.  You're insulting my intelligence, Frigidaire. And, I keep everything BUT meat in that drawer.  At present, there's a bunch of string cheese, a huge knob of fresh ginger, a bag of shredded mozzarella, a wrapped stack of Havarti cheese, a tub of blue cheese crumbles... It would appear we adore cheese more than meat in this household.  Excellent. All right, all right, there was a package of Black Forest ham in that drawer as well.  But, tonight was the night to clean out the Fresh-Lok....

I am going to say it right now. I have a terrible memory.  Really.  My dad, on the other hand, says he can remember things happening around him when he was a toddler.  He's the one we always ask stuff like: Remember that time we went to Yellowstone?  What year was that?  And who was it that puked and had diarrhea all the way home (answer: That was your brother.)? Good old Dad.  Remembers everything.  Mostly. I don't need ancestry.com or 23AndMe to know that I didn't inherit that gene from him. Recently, I found a wrapped circle of dough in my freezer that I'd labeled "Pâte Sucrée".  Okay, cool, right?  Because it's Labor Day weekend and I actually have time to do something with it.  The funny thing, though?  I'd dated the dough disk August 12, 2017.  Roughly three weeks ago, then, I'd made two batches of the sweet dough, used one for something, and froze the other half (unearthed today). But I could NOT remember what ...

With the 4th of July come and gone now, us Americans have entered into that gray void-like time of the summer I call "The Restless Gap".  Vacations have been taken, all camps and the like are done, summer sports are done or close, sports or band practices for the new school year are just weeks away, and the fall plans are now being thought about (or worse, entered into Google Calendar).  There's not much to do, a lot of time to do it in, and the days and weeks stretch out...waiting to be squandered, or put to good use. So, chocolate. It's hot here.  Like, stupid Midwest hot.  And humid too.  I spent a whole ten minutes outside today, pulling out those clumps of weeds hat had grown in the cracks of my driveway. I come back inside, and I feel wet, dirty, and uncomfortable. So, chocolate. If you were to ask my husband his favorite pie, he'd say French Silk.  And while that is a great pie choice, French Silk is incredibly heavy and rich.  Kind of l...

Yes. You read that right.  Keep reading, friends, it's about to get good. Photo by Brent Nelson...who doesn't quite know about shadows and things in photography. Photo by your trusty author, who doesn't quite know about taking knockout food pictures. So, the caboose (Elliot) was in charge of meals this weekend...as part of his requirement for one of his Boy Scout badges.  Even though we'd be eating meals easy for a 12-year-old to put together (usually not healthy), I was totally ready to hand over the reins for the weekend. Saturday night's dinner was supposed to be simple.  Spaghetti.  But then, I remembered I had Justin's Chapple's Mad Tips article for Pasta Bundt Loaf .  I handed that over to the Boy Scout...and things just got awesome. The ingredients here seem to be a cross between those of a lasagna and an alfredo.  One pound of spaghetti noodles is cooked, and to which a bunch of cheese, milk, eggs, and seasonings are added.  All...

Today's blog will cover two things: 1. Assonance 2. Hominy Assonance is a literary device in which words with similar vowel sounds are placed close together.  Example: I feel the need...the need for speed.  The repeating sound? The long 'e' sound.  Especially fetching in poetry (see what I did there?). Holy Pozole Rojo.  Ho-lee Po-zo-lay Ro-ho.  All those long 'o' sounds... In the Mexican Aztec language, 'pozole' means 'hominy'...and thus, we're looking at a traditional soup/stew that contains a lot of....wait for it...hominy.  And typically pork, chile peppers, garlic, broth.  Along with some other good stuff. Rehydrated guajillo peppers, cocoa powder, and garlic constituted my pozole's "base", to which I added the sautéed onions, hominy, black beans and veg broth... Oh yeah, and those weirdo Boca veggie crumbles (number one ingredient: Soy Protein Concentrate) since it's Vegetarian Week at Chez Nelson. While al...

About a year and a half-ish ago, I stumbled into a parent organization called Choir Boosters.  Just about every learning institution in America has one (or several).  If there's a sport or activity, there are parents who want to be involved because their kid's in it. My daughter, who was a freshman at the time, joined her high school's choir.  Actually, she was asked to join the elite Chamber Choir, and for the first time in my parenting history, I had a child in an organization with a booster club I wanted to join.  My oldest son, who is two years older, participates in minimal activities, and not any with booster clubs, so no chances there.  Until now... A very pleasant side benefit of doing this "stuff for my kids" is that I've grown close with a few of the other women, so much so that when our big fundraiser was done in December, we wanted to keep getting together. Thus, the Mad Moms (our big fundraiser is called a Madrigal Dinner..."Mad...

In my wise and well-researched opinion, February is the month with the most haters. Because: 1. Valentine's Day.  There's a lot of pressure on men and women alike.  What if you really hate the color red?  Or are allergic to chocolate?  Or just don't enjoy the contrivedness of fresh flowers? Or you treat your man/woman special EVERY day of the year? February is the month those people just wish would go to a galaxy far, far away.  And, 2. Weather.  Here in the temperate Midwest US where I live, February is the grayest, coldest, gloomiest month of the year.  January is great...we're all still riding that Christmas high.  We have something to live for - paying our Christmas credit card bills, usually.  But, with February, the harsh, cold, bitter truth slaps us many times across the face: Winter has just truly began. Your suffering has just began.   It is the month of dirty, slushy roads, bitter subtundra-like winds, and SAND-BUT-NOT-BEACH ...

I keep asking for forgiveness from my readers every time I take an extended break from TTOWBF, and I'm not sure why.  Like reading my daily sound-off about food was the only thing you all lived for and cared about in this universe.  Very self-centered of me. Sounds like the only person I need to forgive is myself. Very well. Thanks, Amazon.com! Shortly before the holidays, my sister-in-law bought me this book.  I'd heard of it before, but never beyond a passing interest.  Then, I start reading, and suddenly, I am reading recipes and instructions out loud (not in front of my children, natch).  Yes, the schtick is profanity, and there is plenty of it in this book. But, the recipes are actually really really decent!  And clever and easy. And vegan. Right?!  Not a cookbook genre I normally pick up, and I don't know if my sister-in-law knew it as well.  So, yes, there's a few unusual ingredients (nutritional yeast, tempeh, seitan), b...

Remember a few days ago when I confessed that I'd eaten a whole sleeve of whole-wheat Ritz crackers?  Not my finest fifteen minutes (yeah, that quick ).  I realize now that it was induced by hormones.  That monthly inundation of hormones.  You know. I feel as if I've redeemed myself, though, today.  Two days ago, this Tupperware relish tray thingy was full of cucumbers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and green bell peppers.  This morning, the carrots, tomatoes, and bell peppers were the only things left. And as of three minutes ago, there is nothing left.  Except a smudge and swipe of dip there at the bottom of the container. I feel much much better after this chowfest. Hummus is one of my favorite things (cue Julie Andrews music).  It's hard for me to remember that hummus was not as ubiquitous as it is now.  I'd never heard of it until I was probably in my 20s or even 30s...or at least, it wasn't mainstream around here where I live. ...

Way back around the first of April, I informed you that I was reviving my reading and writing habits.  Writing, yes, I have been doing more of that.  Reading, though, has been a little more slow-going. Last night, I finally finished this book.  That I started over two months ago. Here were my thoughts a few pages in... The book is written by Luke Barr, M.F.K. Fisher's great-nephew.  So, through his narrative, his notes, his interviews (maybe?), and his memories, he is charged with the description and discussion of a pivotal year in a pivotal place...in which "American Taste is Reinvented".  Okay. While I'm excited about the topic of this book, I'm less excited about the narrative voice...and I hope it doesn't spoil the book.  But... The Prologue is 20 pages.  It begins with "On a cool August morning in 2009, I drove up a sloping, narrow driveway in Glen Ellen, California, on my way to visit the past."  And it ends with "As I...

Pulled pork. Sloppy Joes. Leftover brisket. Cold fried chicken. Fried eggs. Refried beans. Sausages. Seeing a trend here?  PROTEIN. Goes well with...? Cabbage. Cabbage, I think, is one of the most underestimated vegetables on Planet Earth.  I know I certainly forget about it a lot of the time.  Cabbage is most often the underdog...in fact, Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" could have really been about cabbage, and not Barbara Hershey.  Cabbage is relegated to supporting roles in coleslaw and sauerkraut and huge pots of weight-loss soup. And that's too bad, because the potential for Broadway star is there. Whenever I come into possession of a nice head of cabbage, I think, Ooh! I'm going to do cabbage rolls! And then when the time comes to do said cabbage rolls, I've lost the ambition.  Or, I've lost the cabbage.  Anyway. Recently, we happened to have some leftover sloppy joe and bean mix in our house.  I was not that excited a...

In reality, I am pretty fussy when it comes to my salads, not just chicken salad.  I've also got a tendency to go on and on.  But, today, I've got to stay short and focused. So, in culinary school, I learned that there are categories of salads. Who knew? I sure didn't. There are: 1. Tossed: You know, where everything's just chucked together, dropped onto a plate or into a bowl right before service.  Sometimes the dressing is on the side, sometimes it's been tossed with the salad components.  This is probably the easiest salad to do and the one we see the most at potlucks and restaurants...because, yeah. 2. Composed: Components of the salad are arranged on a plate in a certain way.  Examples include the Cobb or a Nicoise.  These take more time to prepare, obviously, and aren't optimal for large-group gatherings. 3. Bound: Components (usually non-leafy ones) are tossed together before being mixed with some kind of binding mixture.  Usually this ...