Friday Round Up 10/6/06
Author: swampkitty05 // Category: Columbus, Eating Local, Friday Round Up, ProduceThere was an excellent article in the Dispatch this week about eating local foods. Find out which area restarants support the local food movement by reading this extremely positive article that I hope will wake some people up to what they’re missing.
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Speaking of local foods, we’re in the height of apple season. If you’re in the mood for Ohio apples, can’t get to the farmer’s market, and don’t trust the grocery store apples, check this chart to locate your local apple orchard.
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So last week, Dispatch readers chose Cinnabon as the best cinnamon roll in town - I can’t stress how much I disagree with this, Omega’s rolls are *far* superior. Of course, I’m one of the few people who find Cinnabon far too sweet, I suppose. This week, they want to know which restaurant has the best salsa. I’m sad to see that they focused mainly on Mexican/chain restaurants on this one, while ignoring smaller places like Starliner Diner or Betty’s that have great salsa. I guess I’ll do a write in vote for Starliner. As they do every week, by putting in your input, you have the chance to win a $25 gift certificate for one of their winning restaurants.
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Some recipes to try this week: Roasted Corn Chowder with Cilantro from [Gluten Free] Goddess, Split Pea Soup from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, Homemade Bagels from Jumbo Empanadas, Lisa’s Absolutely Perfect Brussels Sprouts from Restaurant Widow, and Truffle Brownies with Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans from Tomsaaristo.
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Want to learn some new cooking skills? This week Kate the Accidental Hedonist shows us how to make the perfect hard-boiled egg, Aidan Brooks tells us about the nutritional powerhouse that exists in salad, and it’s all about baking bread at Smitten Kitchen.
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Also instructive, but more blogosphere related than food related, Jonah on la.foodblogging, instructs us how to make your own city guide with del.icio.us. And a great discussion on fresh vs. frozen at Limes & Lycopene.
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Taquitos.net blogged about Jenny’s Caramel Corn Dittos. I *love* these, but haven’t seen them in years. Anyone know of somewhere in Columbus that has these??
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Confused about the difference between sell by/use by expiration dates? That article at Slashfood will clear up the confusion for you. Me? I use the expiration dates as a rough guide. I’ll use milk past its expiration date as long as its not turned bad. Ditto with bread, eggs, etc. What about the rest of you?
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Well, the great spinach/E.coli incident of 2006 is finally drawing near to the end, and I still haven’t seen a bag of spinach yet. Grr. Just lots of bags of non-spinach with stickers on them telling me they’re non-spinach. Everywhere I went (Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods) tells me a few more days, and that was a couple of days ago. Maybe I’ll wander out tomorrow to see if there is spinach yet. I’m craving a spinach salad, and arugula just isn’t cutting it. The peppery flavor of it just totally changes the vibe. And frozen spinach just doesn’t cut it anymore. Is it wrong of me to say that I would have taken my chances with the spinach over the past month? Only because the chances of infection were so small, and I’ve got an iron gut that has eaten many a questionable thing and survived. Wouldn’t recommend the E.coli lottery for anyone else, of course.
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On the same subject, I read a fascinating post this week by Lea of Copperpots on what happened to real food.There’s been a lot of fuss this month in Ohio about raw milk. Can’t say I’ve ever had raw milk, although I’ve eaten raw milk cheese and loved it (extra tangy!!). So let me get this right. The government says I can’t eat Fugu, Foie Gras, raw milk, transfats….what’s next? Are they going to say that we as a nation are so obese that we can’t have anything high-fat anymore? Are they going to make restaurants make every dish healthy, with only ingredients that they approve? I may be coming across as a bit alarmist, but unfortunately, if you give the government an inch, they’ll take a mile as far as your personal freedoms go. She also talks about the Walmartization of farms - i.e. small family farms pushed out by big factory farms. Unfortunately, the only thing I can do about that is to buy local and support my local farmers by buying into that CSA. I think that this is one of those things where consumers can vote with their dollars. Hopefully the whole spinach thing will wake a few more people up to that.
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Trader Joe’s has rainbow carrots? This I’ll have to look for! Interesting…
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Until next week, folks…
