Thursday, May 30

 
Cooking with the Farmers Market

We're on the cusp of summer; so, it must be time to head out to the Farmers Market. You who live in warmer climates can eat fresh all year long; we in the northern climes live for the day when a radish - usually the first veggie of spring - comes out of the ground instead of from the produce aisle. If we still lived in Madison, Wisconsin, we could even now head down to the Dane County Farmers Market, which brings a dizzying array of fresh foods to the Capitol Square every Saturday from thaw to frost, to see what's fresh out of the hothouses and coldframes. Up in Green Bay, though - 130 miles and three cultural lightyears away - the market won't begin for at least another month. Till then, I'll have to content myself with what's at the store and save the recipes in this excellent Baltimore Sun story about chefs cooking with whatever's available at the market. That to me is the sign of a good cook - anybody can produce something memorable with a truckload of imported goods, but making a fabulous dish with whatever's on hand is true culinary genius.
posted by Unknown 2:44 PM

Tuesday, May 7

 
The world’s greatest hot dog maker?

I dunno. This looks like a much pricier version of the Presto hot dog cooker my brother dragged home from a rummage sale sometime in the late 60s or early 70s. I'm not a fan of one-purpose appliances, but the guy who wrote this column thinks it's the greatest thing since, well, since sliced bread. It looks and acts like a toaster, except the slots are different. I think it's telling that a guy thought this was great, whereas your typical overworked mother is thinking, "Great. I don't have anyplace to put this, I still have to clean it out, I can't put brats or Vienna dogs in there, it costs $50, and my kids eat too many hot dogs now as it is." It might not ever replace the microwave-toaste oven combination, unless of course you're a single guy with more money than sense.
posted by Unknown 11:55 AM

 
Burger chains ready for fight in 99-cent war

Today, from the pages of the Chicago Tribune, this alert to a new marketing incentive by executives of major burger franchises in the U.S.: the initial skirmishes are between No. 1 McDonald's and No.2 with a bullet Burger King, but you can bet the shake machine that the ramifications will filter down to your local Sonic or Fatburger soon. Just great: Another temptation to get take out instead of a "real dinner!"
posted by Unknown 9:55 AM