Nothing Says Love Like Bacon

For Valentine's Day, Foodgoat and I shared an intimate meal ... over burgers and fries from Wendy's. After all, what could be more romantic than matching Baconators?

The Wendy's Baconator, introduced last June, consists of six strips of bacon on top two quarter pound beef patties with two slices of American cheese, mayo and ketchup.

Besides having the most awesome burger name ever, the Baconator is actually really tasty. Wendy's burgers tend to be among the better of the fast food choices, but the Baconator stands out as being particularly yummy. The key, I think, is the bacon: the hickory smoked bacon is slightly sweet and quite flavorful and crisp. It's an aptly named product. And it's huge - much bigger than I could finish off. Or would want to: the Baconator comes in at (gulp!) 830 calories.

But every once in a while, Foodgoat and I look into each other's eyes ... and decide what we really want is a Baconator.

Super Taco Tuesday

It doesn't look pretty, and it can an agonizingly long time to digest. That was today's taco dinner, as well as the waiting for Super Tuesday results to come in. Hopefully the primaries will end leaving as good a taste in my mouth as the tacos did.

Foodgoat has managed to perfect his taco construction technique: blue corn hard shell tacos held inside a soft tortilla with a layer of warm refried beans. You get the crunch and the flavor of the blue corn hard shell, without the danger of structural collapse. Some ground beef (flavored with taco seasoning), some cheese, some salsa, and of course a dollop of sour cream, and you can face a night of primary returns fortified.

Tacos never look very big, but they are incredibly filling. Foodgoat doesn't know if it's the tacos or Hillary Clinton causing the indigestion. Maybe it's both.

Food You Don't Expect For Your Birthday

For his birthday, Foodgoat got just what he wanted: a case of military MRE's, or Meals Ready to Eat.











MREs are self-contained, individual rations in lightweight packaging designed for field conditions where organized food facilities are not available. They're designed to last 3 years in 80-degree weather; longer if stored in more optimal conditions.

Why would he want this? Peace of mind: we are set for at least a week should disaster strike. That can of Wolfgang Puck soup is just not going to cut it for us if we are hit by gamma rays from an exploding neutron star or Canada attacks Cleveland or if a volcano blows up in New York. (34 is apparently the age when paranoia strikes).

Plus, MREs have apparently come a long way from their days of being known as Meals Rejected by Everyone, Meals, Rarely Edible, or Three Lies for the Price of One (it's not a Meal, it's not Ready, and you can't Eat it). Nowadays, they are reputed to be quite palatable. The military changes up their menu of MREs every year based on feedback as well.

Typically, each MRE has:

• Entree - the main course, such as Spaghetti or Beef Stew
• Side dish - rice, corn, fruit, or mashed potatoes, etc.
• Cracker or Bread
• Spread - peanut butter, jelly, or cheese spread
• Dessert - cookies or pound cakes
• Candy
  
• Beverages - Gatorade-like drink mixes, cocoa, dairy shakes, coffee, tea
• Hot sauce or seasoning - in some MREs
• Flameless Heater - to heat up the entree
• Accessories - spoon, matches, creamer, sugar, salt, chewing gum, toilet paper, etc

Want to learn more about MREs? This site is loaded with information.

Since we have not actually been hit by gamma rays recently, we haven't yet tried eating any of the meals. But stay tuned for the next time the power goes out!!

One Food Hack, One Non-Food Hack

The food hack:

To prevent foods from sticking to the pan when pan frying or sauteing, preheat the pan before adding any oil or butter. Use the heat setting you intend to use when cooking (not high heat), and pre-heat for a few minutes. When is it ready? When the pan is about 180 degrees, or until it passes the "butter test": add a dab of butter on the bottom of the pan. If it bubbles briskly without burning, it's hot enough.

Add your oil and allow the oil to heat. Then throw in your food. No sticking to the pan!

This tip ended a long string of bad pan stickiness I've had lately.

Why it works:

I truly thought I read about this in Harold McGee's The Invisible Ingredient editorial, but re-reading it, I don't see it anywhere, so I'm at a loss as to where I heard it. But here's Foodgoat's best guess as to why it works -

When the metal pan is cold, its surface has actually rough, although it may look and feed quite smooth. Heat will cause this metal to expand, which causes the surface to even out and become smoother. But, if you add the oil when the pan is still cold, the oil gets into those surface hills and crevices, preventing it from smoothing out.

Oil added to a preheated surface, however, sits right on top of that surface, so that it acts as the slick, lubricating layer you need to keep food from sticking to the pan.

The Non-Food Hack

If, by chance, you should suck up the Wii Sensor bar with your vacuum cleaner, thereby mangling it beyond all recognition, you can still play with your Wii by lighting two candles, set about 9 inches apart, in front of your TV. Your Wiimote and all the games will work just as well with this super low tech sensor bar stand in. This is how we spent our Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It's really quite romantic.

Why it works:

The sensor bar doesn't actually sense anything, nor does it send any data to the Wii console. It just has two blue lights, one on each end, that the Wiimote uses to triangulate its position. It's the Wiimote that talks to the console. The sensor bar is just plugged into the console to power the lights. Candles provide the needed lights just as well.

Milk It For All It's Worth

Last Friday was National Milk Day, in honor of the first day, in 1878, that milk was first delivered in bottles.

Foodgoat is a longtime devoted milk drinker who routinely pours a big tall glass to go along with his dinner at home. But now, he has also made milk his drink of choice for lunch at work. While everyone else grabs a soda (or pop, if you must call it that) or a bottled water at the cafeteria, Foodgoat is among the few adults drinking milk along with their meal.

And why not? Maybe because buying milk at the cafeteria is sooo 3rd grade. But for Foodgoat, as in about 36% of those of Southern European descent, milk can continue to be a healthy, delicious option for adults as well as children. Milk, more nutritious and more filling than soda, has calcium and protein and a whole host of other vitamins and minerals. There's surprisingly a lot of controversy around the health benefits of milk, but I attribute it to the agitations and warmongering of vegans.

Me, I do not have dairy herding in my genes. I am among the 90-100% of Asians, who stop producing lactase, the enzyme required to digest milk, in adulthood, and thus can be found curled up and clutching their tummy after having a big a milkshake. Fortunately, there is yogurt.