Meatlifting

Thanks to Mrs. Picasso for the link to this bizarre story about the number and kind of people who actually steal meat from grocery stores, which hath been dubbed Meatlifting.

I actually wish I found this more surprising but with the cheapest hamburger in our area of California going for $2.49/pound (only if you buy at least five pounds too), on some level I sort of understand it. Funny that it was second to people stealing cough syrup to make meth.
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Blueberry Muffins

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to make Blueberry Muffins from scratch. The main reason is that the price of blueberries around here is usually way too high. However, this week they had a buy one get one free sale, so I grabbed two little packages and began dreaming of blueberry pancakes, waffles or just rolling around in them on the floor. Fortunately, Kristen suggested blueberry muffins instead.

I looked at a few recipes on the web, and adapted the best one that I found. I really pushed the blueberry content of mine to the limit, but only one muffin fell apart when I removed them, so I consider that a major success.

The taste was incredible. When I worked as a cook, I often used frozen blueberries for muffins and these totally blew them away. I really liked the crumb topping too, sure it’s another bowl to wash, but well worth the effort.

Blueberry Muffins

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup plain sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 cups blueberries

Make sure the oven rack is in the middle-lower position. Preheat oven to 375-F.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat until mixed. Beat in the lemon juice.

Stir in one half of the flour mixture until just mixed. Beat in one third of the sour cream. Mix in the other half of the flour mixture. Mix in a second third of the sour cream. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining sour cream. Do not overbeat, just mix until blended. Fold in the berries. (If you are using frozen berries, defrost them first, drain the excess liquid, and then coat them in a light dusting of flour.)

Use a standard 12-muffin muffin pan. Coat each muffin cup lightly with olive oil using a pastry brush, with a little butter, vegetable spray or use paper liners. Fill each cup equally with the muffin dough. Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick to make sure the center of the muffins are done.

Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin and serve slightly warm.

Love Bites – Eat Your Heart Out

Had to come up with some kind of food-themed Valentine (Anti-Valentine?) design. Well, okay, I didn’t HAVE to, but it was really interesting to consciously note how many food-concepts translate well into the area of love. Anyway – the heart in this design should probably be brown/chocolate, but think of it as candy-coated if that helps. 😉 Click on an image to see all the neat stuff with the design:


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It’s an egg, it’s a frittata, it’s… Omelette Man!

And Omelette Woman! Streaking around the globe, folding egg concoctions in half, maintaining fluffy texture, and making sure omelette lovers everywhere are satisfied with gooey cheese and half-moon shaped meals!

Okay, really, John just makes fantastic omelettes. They’re not overloaded with ingredients (I hate crunchy things in my omelettes!) but they’re cheesy, consistently fluffy, and he always gets them folded so perfectly, so I started calling him Omelette Man, which then evolved into a clothing design (for his superhero identity of course.)

There are a number of different styles of tees and sweatshirts available in both men’s and women’s styles, as well as an apron of course. I’ll have to get a few of these so that when one’s in the wash, John can still make breakfast without having to cook in his common street clothes! *grin* Just click on the tees above to check them all out.
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New Wine Lover Designs

Now that we’re finally starting to get a feel for the kinds of wines we prefer, and what a lot of all the names MEAN (lots to go yet of course), we’ve decided to create some designs for specific kinds of wines. “Quick! Merlot Me!” is the design for Merlot lovers – 14 other varieties are also available: Cabernet, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Champagne, Chianti, Sauvignon Blanc, Bordeaux, Chablis, Burgundy, Chenin Blanc, and even Port. They come on many varieties and colors of t-shirts, long sleeved tshirts, sweatshirts, bags, hats, and even teddy bears. Check out the entire line of Wine Lover Gifts today. And if you want even MORE wine designs to choose from, check out our Wine Lovers section of our Food Follies Gift Shop which includes our own designs plus those of other creative designers.

It’s Friday – what kind of wine are you going to try this weekend?
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Wine & Champagne for the Old & New Year

First, for the old year! Late December we decided to branch out in our white wine consumption and purchased a Riesling – J. LOHR 2005 Bay Mist Monterey County White Riesling to be exact. (I have no explanation for why we hadn’t had a Riesling in so long, since it’s one of my favorite whites!) It was fabulous – light and fruity with just enough flavorful punch to it! Will be getting this one again, for sure.

And now for the New Year! Okay, technically we drank this on New Year’s Eve, but it was already 2007 in most of the world when we opened the bottle, so it counts. I’d never really had a ‘good’ champagne before so we made sure that we tried it in the store before we bought it. (There was a champagne tasting going on in the store, otherwise I probably would have skipped it. My first champagne experience was a cheap brut extra extra dry that had been sitting outside during a hot summer day, but luckily I wasn’t scarred for life.) This was Chandon’s Riche Sparkling Wine – not very dry at all, which is what we were looking for. It was nicely sweet and bubbly but not excessive, with just enough crispness to give it an edge. I’m pretty certain that sparkling wines pack more of a wallop than an equal amount of non-sparkling wines though – either that or the timewarp of flipping to a new year caused some unanticipated havoc with my brain cells. Perhaps more experimentation is in order. In any case, we declare the Chandon Riche a success as well.
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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can’t remember what inspired me to want to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but I found myself purchasing some Quaker Oats the other day. (Anyone remember the movie Crazy People? “Quaker Oats… Do they taste good? Who knows. But at least the box is cute!”) The first batch spread out too much, and I figured out that I’d made the round dough balls on the cookie sheets much too big. Going back to a smaller size made them come out just as they should. (Whew!) I can’t include a photo here because there are already none left, and John took a bunch to work with him as an early holiday gift for his coworkers. But rumor has it that they were delicious.

The recipe I used is one I found in various places on the web, so I’ve included our own version here:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2.5 cups oats (NOT instant!)
2 cups chocolate chips (~12 oz.)

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, set aside.

Mix butter, sugars, eggs, milk and vanilla in large mixing bowl. Gradually add flour mixture, stirring well. (Can use mixer at this point if desired.) Then, stirring by hand, add the oats and then the chocolate chips.

Bake on parchment paper if you have it, otherwise an ungreased baking sheet will do fine. Form dough into 1 inch balls (no bigger or cookies will spread too much), and place them on the cookie sheet 1.5 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees between 10-13 minutes or until golden brown.

Kettle Chips New York Cheddar With Herbs

A review of Kettle Brand New York Cheddar with Herbs Potato Chips… (sorry about the swiss cheese icon, but it’s our only ‘cheese’ one) I know Kettle Chips have been out on the market for a long time, but this is the first time we’ve bought them because they were on sale. They also have NO MSG or autolyzed yeast extract (another name for MSG) – yay! Anyway – they’re extra crunchy/crispy, which I knew Kettle Chips were, but this flavor is fantastic. It really tasted like a crunchy baked potato. So, highly recommended if you like crunchy, flavored potato chips. That pretty much sums it up – heh.
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Time for Wines

Over the last few months we’ve tried a number of wines that we’ve been meaning to write up, but just haven’t gotten around to it. So, in an attempt to put SOMETHING in writing, here’s a brief summary just to get something posted!

Elena 2005 Sauvignon Blanc – Very flavorful – fruity but crisp, and easy on the throat.

Kenwood 2004 Pinot Noir – I’d like to try a few more Pinot Noirs to have a little more to compare this to, but overall it was a thumbs up.

Beaulieu Vineyard (BV) Coastal Estates 2005 Sauvignon Blanc – we’re of two minds about this one. I thought it was a little rough on the edges, but John thought it was more bold than rough. Or maybe it’s just our vocabulary that needs better judgment – heh.

Yellow Tail 2005 Cabernet Merlot – Interesting wine – 70% Cabernet and 30% Merlot, but not really tasting like either. Goes down a little smoother after the first glass. Flavorful, almost a hint of sour, in a wine sort of way.

Well, it’s not poetry, but at least it’s online!
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