All right, another fantastic website I frequent.
It's not uncommon for people to start blogs about cooking. I can name about 5 off the top of my head, and honestly, I really like those sites more than the "Food.com" places. The blogs tend to have more pictures and step by step instructions, and you can really get a feel for how the chef does things. I feel that if you can adopt their style early on, I would have no trouble cooking anything they make. Now, if only a site existed where these chefs could submit their recipes, and they were displayed or divided up into nice little categories.
OH WAIT! That site DOES exist, and it is the little gem of the web known as "Foodgawker.com"
This site rules. I'm not sure I have to even describe it. The main page just has all of the most recent entries listed with pictures, captioned with a nice little description of what it is. Clicking on any picture takes you directly to the blog article/recipe/how-to that tells you how to make it. Along with the main page, though, you can choose at the top to give you random collections of recipes, or to give you the most popular entries for different time periods. There is also a search function.
Located at the bottom of any page is the treasure trove. There is a list of the categories that all the recipes fall under, so if you are in the mood for a certain type of food, it's just a click away. There are also categories for what looks like feature blogs, so that's also nice if one really seems to shine above all the others.
If you enjoy cooking, or are trying to learn, Foodgawker.com can be very helpful (I learned how to dice an onion without fucking it up, for instance). If you don't cook, you still might find it enjoyable. Give it a look
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
My God, It's Full of Carbs!
I routinely spend time online, and I have many sites that I always stop in to check. I figure every now and then I can post about some of my favorites that I check every now and then.
First off, the heart-cloggingly glutton fest, This Is Why You're Fat.com . The website is only pictures of user-submitted foods that are clearly some of the most unhealthy concoctions to ever exist. Unfortunately, I've noticed that as I get older, there is no possible way to imagine myself ever trying anything on there, no matter how delightful it looks. But I can still dream.
Some Highlights:
Eggs: Five Ways. Contains 11 eggs, cooked 5 different ways.
Taco Burger. A Jack-in-the-Box Taco crammed into a Jumbo Jack.
Rubix Cubewich. I.... can't even begin to describe it. Looks interesting.
The Taco Town Taco. From the Saturday Night Live Sketch: crunchy beef taco with nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato and southwestern sauce wrapped in a soft flour tortilla with a layer of refried beans in between, then wrapped in a corn tortilla with a layer of Monterey Jack cheese in a deep fried gordita shell with guacamole sauce baked in a corn husk topped with pico de gallo, wrapped in a crepe, filled with egg, guerre cheese, sausage and portobello mushrooms, all wrapped in a chicago-style deep dish pizza wrapped in a blueberry pancake and finally deep fried with spicy vegetarian chili dipping sauce. Bonus: The Sketch that inspired this monstrosity. (Link)
And of course, My Favorite: The McGangBang. A McChicken Sandwich inside a McDouble.
Most of this stuff is disgusting, but I find myself drawn to some things like a moth to a flame.
Enjoy the heart attack.
First off, the heart-cloggingly glutton fest, This Is Why You're Fat.com . The website is only pictures of user-submitted foods that are clearly some of the most unhealthy concoctions to ever exist. Unfortunately, I've noticed that as I get older, there is no possible way to imagine myself ever trying anything on there, no matter how delightful it looks. But I can still dream.
Some Highlights:
Eggs: Five Ways. Contains 11 eggs, cooked 5 different ways.
Taco Burger. A Jack-in-the-Box Taco crammed into a Jumbo Jack.
Rubix Cubewich. I.... can't even begin to describe it. Looks interesting.
The Taco Town Taco. From the Saturday Night Live Sketch: crunchy beef taco with nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato and southwestern sauce wrapped in a soft flour tortilla with a layer of refried beans in between, then wrapped in a corn tortilla with a layer of Monterey Jack cheese in a deep fried gordita shell with guacamole sauce baked in a corn husk topped with pico de gallo, wrapped in a crepe, filled with egg, guerre cheese, sausage and portobello mushrooms, all wrapped in a chicago-style deep dish pizza wrapped in a blueberry pancake and finally deep fried with spicy vegetarian chili dipping sauce. Bonus: The Sketch that inspired this monstrosity. (Link)
And of course, My Favorite: The McGangBang. A McChicken Sandwich inside a McDouble.
Most of this stuff is disgusting, but I find myself drawn to some things like a moth to a flame.
Enjoy the heart attack.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Bat
I've been on a Batman kick lately pretty bad. I've been reading the comics for the first time (Knightfall storyline), and started rewatching the old Animated Series from 1992. It was on FOX in the afternoon, if I recall right, and is still considered to be a great iteration of Batman. It was a different kind of cartoon at the time and featured more adult themes than other cartoons at the time, including drug use and people actually getting killed every now and then. It was dark and gritty, and it wasn't unknown for episodes to have an unhappy ending.
One of the better things it featured were making some of the villains just normal people who were pushed too far or made a poor life decision. Sure, there are a few villains who are just criminals or thieves but they were notorious for fleshing out classic villains more. For example, they came up with the idea of Mr. Freeze being a tragic character who was out to cure his dying wife instead of being a cold-themed mad scientist (his first episode actually won the show an Emmy for his performance).
Another thing I love, is that it has a fully orchestrated soundtrack with each episode done as if it were an animated film, with the music actually matching the onscreen action, and even going so far as to give themes to characters. I also looked up that they would record the entire dialogue for the show with every actor in the room. This let them have more realistic reactions to each others dialogue, which helped the show tremendously.
Anywho...
Most of the villains have very specific themes that let most people know who's involved with the crime being committed. But sometimes Batman doesn't seem to realize it. Case in point, I saw an episode involving plants acting up, and Batman was SHOCKED to find it was Poison Ivy. Seriously, who did he think it was? The OTHER plant-based villain in the show? Or whenever Joker breaks out of prison, Batman never seems to find him until after he commits a crime, but his hideout is always an abandoned carnival, or a toy factory, or something even close. I'm just saying if he knew what he was doing, the first place I'd check would be any carnivals, circuses, or toy factories, or toy stores, or what have you, because the odds are he would be at one of those (also, Gotham City sure looks like it has a bunch of abandoned carnivals).
Finally, for the uninformed, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) was the voice of the Joker. He does a fantastic job on that performance (Ron Perlman also does a voice for Clayface, which is a pretty good episode too).
I'll probably have more Batman posts later, but for now, this is all I got.
One of the better things it featured were making some of the villains just normal people who were pushed too far or made a poor life decision. Sure, there are a few villains who are just criminals or thieves but they were notorious for fleshing out classic villains more. For example, they came up with the idea of Mr. Freeze being a tragic character who was out to cure his dying wife instead of being a cold-themed mad scientist (his first episode actually won the show an Emmy for his performance).
Another thing I love, is that it has a fully orchestrated soundtrack with each episode done as if it were an animated film, with the music actually matching the onscreen action, and even going so far as to give themes to characters. I also looked up that they would record the entire dialogue for the show with every actor in the room. This let them have more realistic reactions to each others dialogue, which helped the show tremendously.
Anywho...
Most of the villains have very specific themes that let most people know who's involved with the crime being committed. But sometimes Batman doesn't seem to realize it. Case in point, I saw an episode involving plants acting up, and Batman was SHOCKED to find it was Poison Ivy. Seriously, who did he think it was? The OTHER plant-based villain in the show? Or whenever Joker breaks out of prison, Batman never seems to find him until after he commits a crime, but his hideout is always an abandoned carnival, or a toy factory, or something even close. I'm just saying if he knew what he was doing, the first place I'd check would be any carnivals, circuses, or toy factories, or toy stores, or what have you, because the odds are he would be at one of those (also, Gotham City sure looks like it has a bunch of abandoned carnivals).
Finally, for the uninformed, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) was the voice of the Joker. He does a fantastic job on that performance (Ron Perlman also does a voice for Clayface, which is a pretty good episode too).
I'll probably have more Batman posts later, but for now, this is all I got.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Heart-Attack Helper
I used to not care what I ate. I would just eat whatever tasted good, and not care about how bad for me it was. Recently, I've changed my ways somewhat since I'm not getting any younger. I stopped subsisting solely on Campbell's Soup (so much sodium!) and am trying to eat healthier in general. Not SUPER healthy, mind you. I am not interested in becoming a vegetarian at all. I just think I can cut out a lot of processed foods.
Anyway, I was going through my pantry and I noticed I still had a box of both Tuna and Hamburger Helper and I glanced at the back. I used to stretch one of these over two days, but I think I need to cut them completely. I don't feel too bad eating a pound of hamburger over two days (Hamburger Helper's main ingredient), but Tuna Helper might not be much better. For some reason, the box of it I had called for 1/4 cup of butter.
That's half a stick. Of Butter. For one person. And none of it will be wasted, it will be the sauce.
So what's worse? A pound of hamburger meat, or half a stick of butter?
A pound of ground round contains (and this is basic research) approximately 20 grams of fat. Not great, but that's to be expected.
A half stick of butter contains.... get ready for it.... around 45 grams of fat.
Holy shit. Never again.
Anyway, I was going through my pantry and I noticed I still had a box of both Tuna and Hamburger Helper and I glanced at the back. I used to stretch one of these over two days, but I think I need to cut them completely. I don't feel too bad eating a pound of hamburger over two days (Hamburger Helper's main ingredient), but Tuna Helper might not be much better. For some reason, the box of it I had called for 1/4 cup of butter.
That's half a stick. Of Butter. For one person. And none of it will be wasted, it will be the sauce.
So what's worse? A pound of hamburger meat, or half a stick of butter?
A pound of ground round contains (and this is basic research) approximately 20 grams of fat. Not great, but that's to be expected.
A half stick of butter contains.... get ready for it.... around 45 grams of fat.
Holy shit. Never again.
The Lost Goodwin
I recently resumed watching Lost. I watched the first season around 2 years ago, but when I started Season 2, I kind of wandered off for a while and never came back until last month. I began with Season 2, since I figured I'd just remember everything that happened a few episodes in (I did). Right now, I'm on the first half of Season 3, and I haven't had time to get back to it in a few days. But that's not what this post is about.
I heard from my friend Amber that there was a character named "Goodwin" in the show. Being the self-obsessed man I am, I was excited. What would the character who shares my name be like? I waited with anticipation for my namesake to appear.
In Season 2 of Lost, one of the characters is running through the jungle when he stumbles across a body impaled on a stick. The character chasing him catches up and refers to the impaled body with the following: "His name was Goodwin."
...... Great.
I heard from my friend Amber that there was a character named "Goodwin" in the show. Being the self-obsessed man I am, I was excited. What would the character who shares my name be like? I waited with anticipation for my namesake to appear.
In Season 2 of Lost, one of the characters is running through the jungle when he stumbles across a body impaled on a stick. The character chasing him catches up and refers to the impaled body with the following: "His name was Goodwin."
...... Great.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Mekong River
I love Pho. My friend Doug turned me onto it, and we went to a place recommended by my friend Alex called Pho Saigon. Delicious!
For those who don't know, Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup. It is basically Beef Broth, Pieces of steak, and Ramen noodles. I've had it with bits of onion and cilantro as well, but it's mainly those three things. And it is DELICIOUS. At the few places I've had it at, they give you a plate of things to put in it, like Mint (I think it's Mint), bean sprouts, Jalepeno slices, and a lime wedge.
I've had it from only two other places, but today I went to Mekong River on 6th street according to my friend David's advice. The broth is a very main part of the flavor, and the broth there was one of the greatest things I've ever had. Knocked Pho Saigon out of the park as my favorite place. If you like Pho, go here. No questions asked.
For those who don't know, Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup. It is basically Beef Broth, Pieces of steak, and Ramen noodles. I've had it with bits of onion and cilantro as well, but it's mainly those three things. And it is DELICIOUS. At the few places I've had it at, they give you a plate of things to put in it, like Mint (I think it's Mint), bean sprouts, Jalepeno slices, and a lime wedge.
I've had it from only two other places, but today I went to Mekong River on 6th street according to my friend David's advice. The broth is a very main part of the flavor, and the broth there was one of the greatest things I've ever had. Knocked Pho Saigon out of the park as my favorite place. If you like Pho, go here. No questions asked.
The Blog is Alive
I've decided to start posting about random things. Episodes of TV shows that I like, food that I cook/eat, songs I like, books I read, etc. Anything and everything I feel like posting. I feel this is a good way to help me relieve stress, so I hope this works out.
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