Category: reviews

Amazon is selling 6 one-pound packages of arborio rice for $16.99. That’s .18 an ounce. The rice is vacuum packed so it’ll stay fresh for a long time. Stock up and make lots of Instant Pot Risotto all winter long.

The package instructions couldn’t have been more tempting : “Thaw, rinse with cold water, and serve.” About the size of medium sized shrimp these little pink curls have the consistency of lobster or crab, which isn’t surprising, because they come…

On a recent trip down south, my (other) brother, his son, and I managed to hit a couple of fine and famous eateries on a road trip to Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee, ending up in Huntsville, Alabama. Although we only…

Don’t let your grandma’s tale of kitchen terror dissuade you from using this great time-saving device.

Ok. So I fell for it. I watched Jacques Pepin make chili con carne in an electric pressure cooker. I didn’t even know these things existed. I’d been contemplating purchasing a regular pressure cooker for awhile now. I added one…

Daily Lunch is a japanese site detailing one obsessive artist’s lunch box, and their artistic creative presentations. How frozen pizzas are made. What’s in a twinkie? (Amazing. Twinkies have been around for 78 years! They’ve been around as long as…

This was one of my granddad’s favorites. It’s very economical. You can probably make it for less than $5 total provided you have all the seasonings on hand. (Especially if you grab your cheddar from the dairy aisle of the…

I’m not sure how long this deal will last, but if you need a new food processor, or don’t have one yet, Amazon is selling this Cuisinart food processor for $80 off its list price, a savings of 44%. This…

A foodie blogger in the UK has manufactured a meme and came up with a list of 100 items for people to repost on their blogs to say what they’ve eaten, what they haven’t, and what they won’t. I managed…

When you’re the only one who can cook, and you’re used to cooking for two and have to feed a crowd. Well, it looks like I’m the chief cook on this visit to my in-laws. Not that I mind much,…

Not half as good as a real gas or charcoal grill, but considering most apartment complexes won’t allow those on high-rise balconies, this is the best you’re gonna get. I mentioned before that I got an electric patio grill for…

Last week, the good people at La Cense Beef sent me a quantity of their products to try for free in the hopes I’d tell you good things about them here. And after trying some of the items they sent,…

You know, I can understand the outrage of people who think that eating foie gras is evil. The animals are most definitely mistreated in the production of the product… where a tube is forced down the throat of a goose,…

If you’re feeling rich and extravagant, replace the canned salmon with fresh chopped salmon, or lump crab meat. 5 green onions, finely chopped ½ sweet red pepper, finely chopped 1t garlic powder ¼c mayonnaise 1 egg, beaten 6 oz. flaked…

What the second and third class passengers on the Titanic ate. As an aside and an update to the last entry about the Titanic, some people who saw it were wondering what the other people on the ship were eating….

I’ve had an Aerogarden for about 2 years now. When my wife and I moved into an apartment building, I really missed having my own backyard garden, and I thought that this might, in some small way, act as a…

With proper care, these inexpensive pans will become treasured heirlooms. And it really isn’t all that tricky to maintain them. The prime directive for these pans is, never, ever use soap to clean them. I know it probably sounds icky,…

The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson. Many interesting and unique recipes. Fergus is known for his use of products that many of us wouldn’t consider eating … innards, marrow, etc. I’ve tried a couple of the…

I’ve been using a tiny little one-serving crockpot to make my morning breakfast this past week. It’s turning out pretty well. ¼c steel cut oatmeal, 1¼c liquid, and a pinch of salt. Plug it in and let it sit all…

On The Splendid Table (a public radio program that I listen to on podcast), their guest, Michael Ruhlman, suggests an unusual way of making chicken stock. He recommends putting the aromatic vegetables in only at the last hour. He says…

Over on Serious Eats, I just spent a bit of time writing a long message about where people should eat when they’re coming to the DC area. I focussed mostly on budget eats in Arlington. Here’s a bit of what…

They say that a cook’s knives are a very individualized thing. What works for me probably won’t work for you, and that you should never buy a knife without holding it — feeling its balance and heft in your hand….

I found this to be a surprisingly readable book. The author, Steven Rinella, is a writer for sports magazines, and he and his friends spend much of their free time hunting and fishing. When he got a copy of The…

The other night, I had a bit of a harrowing experience. I woke up in the middle of the night to the smell of smoke in my apartment. When I got out to the living room, I could tell that…