The entries for this month’s photo contest are posted. The topic is “food”.
Archive for the 'Food' Category
Here are a couple of resources I found for food photography. Here is a page linking to excellent food photography articles and advice. Also, there is a forum dedicated to food photography at bigoven.com, it seems kind of quiet but there is some good information in the posts and the food photograph gallery shown on the bottom of the page is perfect for examples.
vietworldkitchen has some Pho articles dealing with the history of Pho and other topics. As my #1 favorite food of all time, followed closely by Banh Mi, I need to post more Pho links!
Pho is my favorite food of all time. Banh Mi is well up there too. I found a very interesting history of pho here, along with excellent cooking suggestions for making good pho at home.
Anyone who has visited the house, has seen my shameful addiction. I cannot resist recipe books and magazines. Granted, I learned a hell of a lot from my cooking encyclopedias and reference books, and I have a very old 1960s Vietnamese cookbook which has the best recipes I have ever cooked.
But, most of the books and magazine clippings just sit there. When I want to look something up, I find myself on the Internet checking out cooking advice and recipes. A recipe no longer seems complete without being able to read the reviews, advice and modifications left by others who have tried it out already.
I am finding far more useful and approachable recipes online than in a cookbook. A few weeks ago I was struggling to get sugar to properly caramelize for Vietnamese Caramelized Fish from a cookbook. I should have been here, seeing how to properly do it. (If you think that is good, try out the pork version.)
Processed food. If I go to Giant or an American grocery store and buy what I “need”, I end up with a cartload of crap and spend over $100. If I go to the big Korean store down the street and get everything I want, I end up with a cart full of fresh meat and seafood, fresh vegetables, curry ingredients, rice and noodles and spend $60 maximum.
Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing:
 Serving size, 2TB (yeah, right!)
 14 grams of fat
 140 calories
 260mg of sodium
Kirkland Meatballs from Costco:
 Serving size: 5 meatballs
 20 grams of fat
  270 calories
 610mg of sodium
That is just insane! I power-walk for 45 minutes on the treadmill to burn just under 500 calories. I predict a dramatic change in what goes into the refrigerator from now on.
We already do pretty good, since we eat Filipino food with rice every day and heavily emphasize fresh vegetables, etc. However, its the small things that are killing me. A soda or two, regular dressing on the salad, and these fake meatballs in the spaghetti are wasting the time that I spend working out.
Of course, if you think that 610mg of sodium is a lot, check out the amount of sodium in regular soy sauce sometime. 1200mg per tablespoon, almost half of what you should have in a day, is not unusual!
I was in Providence last week for training and work. Providence is one of my favorite places to go which is fortunate since I spend so much time there. The food is simply amazing.
One benefit was that the first night I was there, I was fighting the flu and sinus infection. After a very long evening beginning at Capital Grille dining on martinis, Delmonico steak and a Wedge, I ended up at Ri-Ra trying out Tullamore Dew.
Woke up in the morning - no flu and clear sinuses!
I was sick for a week with the flu and sinus infection. This happens at least once a year for me. At a certain point, I start to eat salsa, red chili peppers, Korean ramen and anything to keep the sinuses clear. Recently I discovered that there is nothing better than a huge bowl of rice porridge full of chicken, ginger, garlic and black pepper! The variations on congee are infinite. Here is a sample and further explanation.
This is an absolutely amazing vegetarian chili recipe from the wife of a VeriSign sysadmin at a get-together we had. I didn’t even notice that there was no meat in it!
Chop 2 large onions and saute them in about 1/4 c. olive oil.
Add 2 chopped green peppers and some minced garlic (I used 3 cloves).
Saute for awhile.
Add 1 tsp. ground cumin, 1/2 tsp. chili powder (I use more) and salt and pepper.
Add 3 large (28 oz.) cans diced tomatoes (used 2 cans “fire roasted” and 1 regular).
Add 3 large (25 oz.) cans kidney beans, drained.
You can add more beans and/or tomatoes depending on how many you’re serving and how you like it. Can also use some garbanzo or black beans in place of, or in addition to, the kidney beans.
Add 1 can beer and 1 tbsp sugar.
Let it stew for a while. Taste to see what else it needs.
Serve with plain yogurt (or sour cream), grated cheese, fresh cilantro and cornbread.
