Chicken Wars

There are some pissed off people out there.

McDonald's recently released its Southern Style Chicken Sandwich, which (to me, and most other people) seems to be a direct knockoff of the beloved Chick-fil-A version. With a fried chicken breast, 2 pickles and a little bit of mayo, there isn't a whole lot of room for variation.

A Chick-fil-A franchisee is so upset that he is offering a free sandwich to those who bring in the lame McD's impostor sandwich.

I'll admit that I have been curious about trying the McD's one but I know there will never be a substitute for Chick-fil-A!

New Series: Food With Faces

By popular demand (*ahem* R_Dub), I am debuting a new kind of post called "Food With Faces". You are intrigued already; I can tell.

Bacon, Extra Bacon, With a Side of Bacon

To continue my posts about bacon, here's a complete list of things you can do with bacon. 50 things, to be exact: http://startcooking.com/blog/395/50-Ways-to-Use-Bacon

I sure would love some bacon-wrapped tater tots!

Enjoy.

*tear*

It is with a heavy heart and much sadness that I give you the following tragic foodie news: The Department of Health in LA has decided to ban the sale of bacon-wrapped hot dogs. Some representative reportedly said that "Bacon is a potentially hazardous food." Get this guy a hangover and some brunch and we'll see what he thinks then.

Vendors can continue to sell the bacon-wrapped delights, but only if they cough up $26,000 for a new cart. Without it, they aren't allowed to sell bacon. Makes no sense to me.

Because of this outrage, I feel compelled to share the following graph with you:



Time to heat up those frying pans!

Awesome Book: Let's Cook Japanese Food!

Back in the beginning of the year, I bought a book called Let's Cook Japanese Food by Amy Kaneko. It's full of amazing imagery and great descriptions of everything you need to make the perfect Japanese dishes. I highly recommend picking it up from Amazon if you enjoy the cuisine and want to make simple meals yourself.

My new favorite thing to cook at home is oyakodon. While I loosely follow the recipe, I find that making my own small tweaks makes it even better.


(Unfortunately this isn't a pic of the oyakodon I made! It's from Flickr user egseah.)

Oyakodon is "parent and child" donburi, since it involves chicken and eggs. Everything is simmered in a sweet sauce containing mirin, soy sauce, sake and rice vinegar. I like mixing my chicken in a bowl with oyster sauce, corn starch, soy sauce and sesame oil first since it helps thicken everything later in the pan.

I definitely recommend experimenting with your own Japanese comfort food dishes!

Off Hiatus!

Hello there, lovely fans. I realize it has been quite some time since my last post but I'm BACK. Now that Lent is over, I'm able to indulge in all things fried once again. This weekend I satisfied my craving for tempura (french bean, to be specific!) as well as french fries (garlic truffle). I'm getting hungry just thinking about all of it.

Rob and I ferried up to Sausalito for the weekend, which was every bit as relaxing and fun as we thought it would be. We shopped, ate, walked through the small town, enjoyed some great Japanese food and played a game of Scrabble right near the water.

Pizza was on the agenda also, which we had with a lovely SF view.

I can't wait to go back to Sushi Ran, which is where we ate on Saturday night. We ate:

scallop-chive dumplings
vegetable taster (fried potatoes, bok choy, ginger eggplant, spaghetti squash)
miso black cod with french beans (insanely good; not sure I can eat fish anywhere else now)
unagi
chicken teriyaki (don't laugh)
french bean tempura
rice
some kind of hamachi dish with grapefruit and avocado

...and a huge bottle of sake.

Good thing I am getting back into running shape!

Ladies Who Lunch. (And brunch.) (And eat donuts.)

It's official. Paula Deen is trying to kill us all. The Food Network star uses butter like it's going out of style, but I have (which I am reluctant to admit) been enticed by her shows including fried chicken, brownies, chicken pot pies and casseroles. After stumbling upon her Lady's Brunch Burger on the Food Network site, I was intrigued then repulsed.

The sandwich is basically a standard burger, except with a few modifications. Instead of hamburger buns, she recommends using glazed donuts. She also includes bacon and a fried egg. Whoever thought the Red Robin burger with the egg on it was decadent, this is a completely different level of unhealthiness.



Source: FoodNetwork.com