News-Record.com

So, last month Mass. state Senator Jarrett Barrios tried to ban the Fluffernutter sandwich from school lunches. Of course, with Fluffernutters such an icon of New England, people all over the country got their knickers in a twist. Then media got in on it.

From the Boston Globe:
"Then the inevitable. Internet orders sent to the mother ship in Lynn skyrocketed 800 percent from 10 to 80 cases a day -- and not just from expatriate Bostonians. Curious Fluffernutter first-timers like James Harmon of Nashville dialed in."

Laurie over at ...slowly she turned is hosting a virtual picnic for July 4th, complete with brownies and iced tea.

Hapy Fourth of July!!

From ChannelCincinnati:

"PHILADELPHIA -- Coming soon to some vending machines: Coke on credit.

"It will soon be possible to use a credit card to buy a soda at 1,000 Coca-Cola vending machines in the Philadelphia area.

"Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co. is rolling out the MasterCard PayPass "contactless" payment system next week.

"The nation's fourth-largest Coca-Cola distributor said Coke machines will use a radio-frequency system developed by USA Technologies Incorporated of Malvern. Consumers will also be able to pay for drinks with traditional magnetic-stripe credit and debit cards."

The only problem I see is overdrawing my account one night during a caffeine attack.

I received an e-mail with this today:

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community.

The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, two children, John Dough and Jane Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

If this made you smile for even a brief second, please rise to the occasion and share that smile with someone else who may be having a crumby day and kneads it.

Check out Floyd Stuart's mouthwatering post about summer grilling. I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

Friday is Peach Day at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market (off of Sandy Ridge Road from I-40), and I will be out there gathering peaches for some recipes this weekend and sampling the free peaches -- a flier I saw says they will have several varieties for people to try, including Winblo, Carolina Belle, Contender and Ellerbe.

Details
When: Friday, July 14
Time: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
More information: 605-9157

Fast facts from Hormel
-- The peak time for peaches is July and August.
-- To keep peaches from turning brown, dip them in one cup of water mixed with one tablespoon of lemon juice.
-- You can ripen peaches more quickly by sticking them in a brown paper bag with an apple and storing them at room temperature.
-- For more tips on peaches, including how to remove the skin and the pit, check out this site.

Recipes

Strawberry Peach pie -- a personal favorite!

Cinnamon Pound Cake with Stewed Peaches

Buca di Beppo Chicken Cacciatore
One of my favorite recipes, this was printed by Fox13 and is supposedly the recipe used by Buca di Beppo. It's very close, and here are my variations on it to make it easier.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Red Potatoes 2 lbs.
Soft Butter 1 lb.
Romano Cheese 5 ounces
Oregano 1 Tbsp.
Salt 3/4 Tbsp.
Chopped Garlic 1/4 cup

Wash your potatoes and boil until soft. Add potatoes and the rest of the ingredients to a mixer and mix on low speed until potatoes are mashed.

Chicken
4 chicken breasts
Red onions, sliced 5 ounces
Capers 1 ounce
Mushrooms, quartered 7 ounces
Oregano 1 tsp.
Sherry 3 ounces
Marinara 16 ounces
Olive oil 3 ounces
Garlic 2 ounces

Bake chicken at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large pan, heat olive oil. Add garlic, onions, and mushrooms. Saute until onions become tender. Add capers, oregano, and sherry. Once half the sherry has cooked out, add the marinara sauce and reduce by a third. On a large platter, place a ring of mashed potatoes just inside the rim. Place chicken on the potatoes. Top chicken with sauce.

Or at least one of their flunkies? Here's a game that lets you do that, without all the actual work.

"World culinary history was changed forever one day in 1933 when Harry Olivieri got tired of eating hot dogs."

National Onion Association: Libya's average per capita consumption of onions is 66.8 pounds per year, which makes it the world leader among onion eaters.

That's 1.28 pounds a week, or nearly 3 ounces of onion a day, if my math is correct.

Published in the News & Record on July 26, 2006.

Trying new recipes is a crapshoot — a combination of research, experience and luck is necessary for good results, along with the willingness to eat hot dogs for dinner when a recipe fails spectacularly.

I bring this up because a friend of mine wrote to me a couple of weeks ago asking for some general advice on trying new recipes.

"So the question is, when you come across a dish that you are dying to try, where do you start? Do you just plunge in and attempt the first recipe you find? Do you do research? Does it depend on whether it's a familiar cuisine?"

First of all, your familiarity, or lack thereof, with a cuisine should never stop you from trying something new. Though I wouldn't recommend trying a new, completely unfamiliar recipe on a large group of people, there's nothing to say that your spouse or close friends can't act as guinea pigs once in awhile. Heck, my husband does it all the time, and he's still around to tell about it. (That's probably because he's never once asked for hot dogs when I decide to experiment.)

The first thing I do is to look for similar recipes. Sometimes I have to look no further than my head; other times, it takes a lot of Googling and looking up recipes in the indexes of many cookbooks.

Once you find a couple of recipes that are similar, you can compare ingredient amounts to see if the one you want to use seems way off on anything. For example, if your recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, and all the others you find call for 2 tablespoons, you might want to go with one of the others.

Searching online is helpful for many reasons. Typically, the sites I read have user comments on each recipe — a quick indicator on whether it's worth trying. Comments also can provide tips that might not be clear in the original recipe, as well as variations.

There is a ton of magazines out there with tips to satisfy anyone. Cooks Illustrated is one of my new favorites, with illustrated techniques and in-depth articles on trying different recipes in every issue.

Finally, once I decide on a recipe, I look up any unfamiliar terms or ingredients. There are several great reference guides out there — I recommend anything, online or in the bookstore, by Alton Brown.

In the end, there is only so much you can do before you just have to cross your fingers and dive right in. Don't be afraid to mess up, and don't worry about veering from the recipe. Trust your instincts, and if all else fails, take notes for next time.