News-Record.com

It's been a while since my last post, and I apologize! My dad had to have bypass surgery, so I've been running up and down between Florida and here for the last two weeks. I just found out he's going home Tuesday, so it looks like a happy ending. At least until my dad sees the menu my mom has planned for him -- she's gonna stick to his diet to the letter -- little to no salt, watching fat intake, and all kinds of stuff that he's going to be grumbling about, to be sure.

So right now I'm on the lookout for salt-free recipes, preferably low-fat. I'll post the better ones as I come across them, and I would love to hear from you about what works for you.

And here's my soapbox pitch for the day -- if you smoke, stop now. My dad was in the hospital for at least two weeks longer than necessary because his lungs were in no shape for surgery, and it's likely the smoking was a big factor in him having the surgery. If you can't stop for you, stop for your family, who are the ones who are going to have to deal with it when something happens to you.

Nearly two weeks of links pile up fast, so here's some quick hits for you.

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2sides2ron played host to the 80th Tar Heel Tavern.

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"LONDON (Reuters) - Hedgehogs have finally humbled burger giant McDonald's after years of campaigning, forcing the company to redesign its killer McFlurry ice-cream containers."

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A fun list of what's still not permitted on British flights:
• Any liquid-based food products in packets, tubes, plastic or tin containers
• Pasta or any other foodstuffs in sauces, gravies or other liquids
• Jams and syrups
• Sauces
• Pastes
• Yoghurts
• Soups (carton or otherwise)
• Stews
• Curry

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Print out the coupon at this site and take it to Caribou on Sept. 8 for a free iced coffee.

"The cook at the Sunrise Cafe is sloppy. When she prepares pancakes, they all come out a different size. The server, however, is tidy. Before he delivers a stack to a customer, he rearranges the pancakes in order of size, with the smallest one on top and the largest on the bottom. To do so, he grabs several pancakes from the top and flips them over. He repeats this "grab-and-flip" operation as many times as necessary, varying the number of pancakes that he flips each time. If he has a stack of n pancakes, what's the maximum number of flips that he'll ever need to use to rearrange them?"

According to Science News, if you have a stack of five pancakes, there are 120 ways you can flip them to get them in order according to size. Or you could just devour them at Tex & Shirley's on Wednesday nights before you have time to think about the order they're in.

Journal graphic artist Cassandra Sherrill and Journal library director Julie Harris write about the vegetarian universe:

"Contrary to a popular stereotype, vegetarians are not all champions of self-denial, pathetically munching a sprout on the sidelines while watching the omnivores have all the culinary fun. Instead, the vegetarians we know love good food and know where to get it. They aren't about to settle for a bland meal, either at home or at a restaurant."

Pop in and welcome them to the block.

I count myself among many Southerners who like a little bit of salt on their watermelon. But did you know that we aren't the only ones to spice it up a bit? In Mexico, pieces of watermelon are often sprinkled with chile powder and spritzed with lemon or lime.

You know you've always wondered. Now you can find out.

AllRecipes.com has posted an interesting article listing the top 25 ingredients in the everyday pantries of cooks from different cuisines. Looking at the lists, I definitely tend toward Italian cooking.

Italian Pantry
Oregano
Flat-leaf parsley
Basil
Fennel
Rosemary
Semolina pasta
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Tomatoes
Anchovies
Olives
Lemons
Sage Parmigiano-reggiano
Mozzarella
Ricotta cheese
Capers
Eggplant
Almonds
Polenta
Cannellini beans
Porcini mushrooms
Pine nuts
Arborio rice
Prosciutto di parma

More lists

I got a forward in my e-mail packed full of household hints. I've heard most of these before, so I'm posting them here for you. Have any helpful hints of your own? Pass them along and I'll share them with readers!

Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a non-stick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works. (Toaster oven works great, too)

Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar/calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Broken Glass
Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken glass pieces of glass -- the fibers catch ones you can't see! (Personally, I use a wet paper towel -- the dampness picks up glass slivers.)

Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Good-bye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," & can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, esp. if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

People start trickling in an hour or so before dinnertime, offering to help and chatting as I dash about the kitchen with finishing touches.

Everyone exclaims over Laurie's new hairstyle over at ...slowly she turned, and she tells people how they can donate their hair to Locks of Love, too.

To break the ice, Ogre's Politics and Views tells a military joke that has us all rolling. Bad Example follows it up with a list of fun facts about the quirks of living in North Carolina.

After the laughter dies down, Ken starts telling us about his fascination with magazines, and how that has led to ... just as he starts to tell us what would happen to his magazine collection, the timer goes off and dinner is ready.

After everyone sits down and starts serving out the food, Ken finishes his tale of a packrat gone wrong. Waterfall from A Sort of Notebook mentions a love of magazines, too -- in this case, Cooking Light. She mentions a few of the yummy recipes she tried recently for a recent dinner around the picnic table.

There's a lull in conversation as everyone takes their first bites of the food they've been smelling all evening. Noisy chewing is punctuated by the occasional clink of silverware on the good china.

Bora over at A Blog Around the Clock swallows his mouthful and takes the opportunity to relate a story about his son getting a lesson on the Constitution and standing up for his rights. Many guests comment on his son's bravery in the face of authority.

etbnc is reminded of a previous conversation and starts a discussion about persuasion and communication, and a lack thereof.

After clearing the dinner plates, I break out dessert, which leads Jude over at Iddybud Journal to tell us about apple time in the Catoctin mountains, and she shares a recipe for Pecan Apple Pie that sounds delicious. In return, I share my recipe for Pumpkin Apple Cake, one of my all-time fall favorites.

Speaking of things coming into season, Ron brings out pictures of his night blooming-cereus to show everyone.

As belts start to loosen and people push away from the table, the conversation drifts to what's on TV tonight. Melinama runs down some shows she's caught on DVD this summer, as well as some of the telenovelas she's been watching.

Gradually, people start to drift out the door, remarking that we all need to do this again sometime soon. I close the door on the last person with a sigh of relief as I contemplate bed. The dishes will just have to wait.

Ken Jennings of Jeopardy! fame is thrilled that he has caused Time magazine to coin a new word in his honor.

"So now I have my very own stillborn Time neologism! I’m a celebrinerd."

So, who can we count among the celebrinerds of the cooking world?

My favorite, Alton Brown, immediately comes to mind. As does Michael Chu, who does Cooking for Engineers, although I think his celebrity only exists in the cooking blog world. Is Chef Ferran Adria of molecular gastronomy fame enough of a celebrity to qualify? Perhaps in gastronomic circles. ("Pistachio truffle cooled in liquid nitrogen" definitely gets him the nerd vote.)

Anyone else?

`Tis International Talk Like a Seafarin' hearty day today, an' in honor o' buccanneers everywhere, I present real buccanneer recipes, guaranteed t' keep th' scurvy at bay.

Grog recipes
Hardtack and Salmagundi

Nay up t' talkin' like a shipmate? Here`s a handy translator.

When I was first asked to help judge the cake contest at the Central Carolina Fair last weekend, I thought it would be all fun and games. What could be better than getting to sample dozens of cakes?

Turns out there is too much of a good thing. By the time we got to the last few categories, the sugar, butter, shortening and rich ingredients had me with a tummy ache. One of the other judges told me she learned her lesson last year and had popped a few Tums before judging.

But it was worth it in the end. One cake stood out above all the rest for me — a Sweet Potato Surprise Cake that ended up taking the Judge’s Choice ribbon in addition to first place in the Open Class category.

But how to get the recipe?

Alton Brown, my cooking hero, makes the case for purchasing locally grown foods using the recent outbreak of E. coli in spinach as an example.

Who am I to argue? The man's a genius.

Press release from Goat Lady Dairy:

Fall Open House at Goat Lady Dairy

Sunday, Oct. 1st, 1 to 5 pm

Free Admission – no pets please!

"Come out for a family afternoon on the farm. Get up close and personal with our goats, chickens, pigs and cows. Tour the organic gardens, milking parlor and cheese-room. Learn about sustainable agriculture."

"Taste our handmade, award winning cheeses (and buy some to take home!) Make a pot with local potter, Odell Routh. Enjoy a special art exhibit of farm and animal paintings by the Piedmont Outdoor Painting Society.

"SPECIAL EVENT: Our local chapter of SLOW FOOD is sponsoring several local farmers who will bring their clean and humanely raised meats for sale. They will be on hand to tell how they produce local chicken, pork, beef, lamb, goat and ostrich. Our Goat Lady Dairy Chef Chris McKinley will prepare Tasting Plates for you to experience the flavor difference in local, clean raised meats. We look forward to your visit!"

For directions visit www.goatladydairy.com.

3515 Jess Hackett Rd., Climax NC
336-824-2163
www.goatladydairy.com

There are recipes for anything on the Internet. Harry Potter, Star Trek, Star Wars (the Darth Malt?), pirates, whatever gets your geek on. If you want to have a themed party or gathering, follow this simple formula: Go to google.com and type: (your geekdom here) recipes.

So last night while watching the Season 2 premiere of Doctor Who on the SciFi Channel, I googled some recipes during commercials. (Darn live TV!) I quickly found out that there is a Doctor Who cookbook, and it sounds like the recipes might be pretty good from the review I found. (Do I even need to tell you that I ordered it? It's a cookbook, and it's Doctor Who. It doesn't get much better than that.)

For what it's worth: Two of my favorite fandoms are now connected by David Tennant, who is the tenth Doctor and who played Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Does it get any better than Jimmy Dean Chocolate Chip Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick?

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Rachel Ray will be appearing on Celebrity Jeopardy, along with celebrinerds Martin Short, Regis Philbin, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, Neil Patrick Harris, Bebe Neuwirth, Sam Waterston and CNN host Nancy Grace. It will be broadcast beginning Nov. 8.

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Need to keep your beverage cool at work? Here's a USB beverage chiller.

Laurie over at ...slowly she turned has got herself some new digs. Check it out!