A new magazine! I never saw it before!

A new magazine! I never saw it before!

Of course you never! Only us explorers can get it.

My first two issues of my new Saveur subscription arrived in the mailbox today. Sure I got to borrow it free from the library, but it was always checked out and I just ended up photocopying whole sections anyway. Woohoo! It's my favorite food periodical (yup, even more than Cook's Illustrated): the National Geographic of food, with lush pictures, colorful articles about exotic locales, and recipes with hard-to-find ingredients. Adventures galore!

Memories of Apple Pie

Memories of Apple Pie
Today at McDonald's for lunch, just as the girl was about to ring up the final order, I threw caution into the wind and said, "Er, can I get an apple pie too?"

"Two for a dollah?" Two?

"Ummm, sure." I looked at Foodgoat. Foodgoat looked at me. I could contain myself no longer and flung my hands in the air. "YAY! YAY! APPLE PIE!!!"

That is today's story of how I got laughed at by the McDonald's cashier.

I haven't had the pies in years, but they seem to be ... smaller than they used to be. Didn't they used to fill out the box? And wasn't the box have more like a curved envelope? And wasn't the box green instead of red? And didn't the crispy crust have more air bubbles? Like it had some kind of apple pie plague?

Ah yes, but I do remember the rather pathetic number of actual pie chunks collecting on one end.

Be Lentil with Me

Be Lentil with Me


While Foodgoat will wax lyrical over a plate of lentils, I've always secretly been a little suspicious of them. They seem small and ... beady. Like the shifty eyes of a pickpocket who takes watches off the drunks while pretending to help them into cabs after last call.

Okay, so I'm being too hard on them, since lentils are quite tasty and healthy and cheap and versatile and protein-rich and an all-around food winner. Maybe it's because Esau sold his birthright for a "pottage of lentils." Maybe it's because I never ate them or even heard of them until recently. Maybe it's because I don't know if they grow on trees or underground or what. Maybe because it's traditionally eaten (due to its high nutrition) during times of fasting (lentils ... Lent ... ohhhh).

Mostly, though, I think it's because of the color. The lentils we get at the grocery store are brown. Not luscious, smoky brown like a well-done steak, but dull, dusty, muddy grayish-brown. Don't get me wrong, it tastes delish, especially when prepared with lots of bacon and a big smoked ham hock, but the color is just ... bleah.

That's why I got the yellow lentils, known as toor dal in India, from Urban Herbs. Bright yellow, sunshine yellow, highlighter-fresh-out-the-package yellow. They came in red and green versions too, but yellow is the color of spring, my friends. It tastes quite similar, but somehow I like it much better.

Goats Gorge on Gingerbread Houses

Goats Gorge on Gingerbread Houses

Thursdays are always my blogging downfalls. Today, instead of another witty episode in our lives (I'd only babble on about mortgages and interest rates and lender fees, so trust me, I'm doing you a favor), I share with you someone else's fascinating adventure:

Yes ... Goats enjoying a nice snack of gingerbread house.

You see, it was once someone's dream to build a gingerbread house and see it consumed by a hoard of hungry goats. You believe I jest, but I swear to you, this tale is a true one. And they have more pictures to prove it.

I'm thinking the new house should be christened "Goat House" or "Goat Hill". Do you think they allow pet goats in South Euclid?

Tea that goes BOOM!

Tea that goes BOOM!
I was a little disappointed to find out that the gunpowder tea was just green tea that had been tightly rolled into tiny balls. It just looks like gunpowder. I guess I was expecting more along the lines of Pop Rocks.

It's actually considered one of the highest grade of green tea, and while it is generally from China, gunpowder is the favorite green tea of Morocco and the Middle East. There, it is commonly prepared with mint and plenty of sugar. The gunpowder tea is often mixed with peppermint leaves to create a unique blend called Moroccan Mint. I see why: I thought the gunpowder tea was pretty sharp-tasting, considering that it's green tea, but Moroccan Mint is a great favorite of mine, and much more pleasant. Local custom dictates that it be served by men, and be poured in such a way as to create a sizeable foam atop one's glass. I leave it to any Freudians out there to make sense out of that, as unfortunately, I don't know exactly what that special way is.