Archive for the ‘recipes’ Tag
We woke up to five inches of snow this AM. I was forced into snow-blowing the driveway at 7:15. I’m really glad I didn’t wait because the snow was slowly melting and getting heavy making the snow-blower work extra hard. The driveway is now clear making it possible for my shopaholic better-half to get out and about. I really haven’t decided what to post today so taking a tip from some of my teachers of years ago, when in doubt they just gave us a pop quiz. Since food always seems to interest everyone, here are ten questions for you foodies out there. The answers will be listed below.
- What animal is the source of milk used in making Roquefort cheese?
- What part of the banana is used to make banana oil?
- Two states have official beverages. Florida is orange juice, what is the other?
- What words are found on the three rings of the Ballentine beer label?
- How many quarts of milk does it take to make one pound of butter?
- How much money did American Airlines claim to have saved in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each of it’s salads served in the first-class sections?
- What fruit did the Visigoths demand in ransom when they laid siege of Rome?
- What is the BRAT diet to eliminate diarrhea?
- What do Eskimos use to prevent their food from freezing?
- If you ordered the Five B’s breakfast in New England, what will you be served?
Answers
The Ewe (female sheep), None-banana oil is a synthetic, Ohio-tomato juice, Purity-Body-Flavor, 9.86 quarts, $40,000.00, 3,000 lbs. of peppercorns, Bananas-Rice-Applesauce-Toast, Refrigerators, Boston Baked Beans and Brown Bread
Christmas is gone . . . thankfully. I love all the presents, and I love all the decorations (if I’m not forced into putting them up), but my downfall is all the damn food. I’m what you might call a “taster”. I love tasting everything and this year was the worst since last year. I swear we had enough food for twenty people but unfortunately, there were only seven of us. That means that I’ll be eating reheated holiday leftovers for at least the next two weeks. Also, let’s not forget the large influx of food anticipated on New Years Eve and again on New Years Day. I have absolutely no willpower and I’ll probably be found dead with a large slab of lukewarm ham hanging out of my mouth. With that cheery thought in mind, I’ll be posting a few tidbits of trivia about food as I sit here eating blueberry donuts and cherry lifesavers.
- Animal Crackers were introduced in 1902 as a Christmas novelty item and packaged with a string for a handle. It made it easier to hang them on the Christmas tree as an ornament.
- Coffee was officially recognized as a Christian drink by Pope Clement VIII in 1592.
- Most of the egg rolls sold in grocery stores in the United States are actually produced in Houston, Texas.
- The American city that consumes the most ketchup is New Orleans.
- Eighty-seven percent of whole milk is water.
- Miss Piggy of Muppets fame was once quoted, “Never eat more than you can lift.”
- The term “Surf & Turf” was coined by gastronome Diamond Jim Brady and was first served to him at a waterfront restaurant in Brooklyn, NY, in the late 1880’s.
- The name Lorna Doone was the name given to a shortbread cookie in 1869 based on a novel by the same name.
- Baskin-Robbins introduced an ice cream, Lunar Cheesecake, in 1969 to commemorate the moon landing.
- Salsa overtook the ever-popular ketchup as the top selling condiment in 1991.
BRING ON NEW YEARS, I’M NOT TOO AFRAID
I don’t know about you but I’m a bit of a foodie. As like everyone else I have certain foods that I absolutely love but very few that I dislike. I like trying new things and I’ve eaten some things I regret. I spent two years in Korea and inadvertently ate dog soup and spring rolls made with cat. Those for sure I don’t recommend because the resulting projectile vomiting ruined my meal. With that disgusting thought in mind, I felt a post on food trivia was called for. Eat up . . .
- Chocolate was once considered a temptation of the devil. In Central American mountain villages during the 18th century, no one under the age of 60 was permitted to drink it, and churchgoers who defied this rule were threatened with excommunication.
- Vinegar was the strongest acid known to the ancients.
- Most healthy adults can go without eating anything for a month or longer. But they must drink at least 2 quarts of water a day.
- A herd of mountain sheep in Alberta, the Canadian province, has been in danger of being killed off. The herd neglects the normal grass diet in favor of the candy and other junk food offered by tourists. The animals are losing weight, and the females may not be producing enough high-quality milk.
- When tea was first introduced in the American colonies, many housewives, in their ignorance, served the tea leaves with sugar or syrup after throwing away the water in which they’d been boiled.
- The annual harvest of an entire coffee tree is required for a single pound of ground coffee. Every tree bears up to 6 pounds of beans, which are reduced to a pound after the beans are roasted and ground.
- The Manhattan cocktail – whiskey and sweet vermouth – was invented by Jenny Jerome, the beautiful New Yorker who was the toast of the town until she went to England as the wife of Lord Randolph Churchill, in 1874, and shortly thereafter gave birth to Winston.
- A highway 55 feet wide and 6 feet thick that’s built entirely of grain and stretches around the world at the equator – that’s how much the world’s annual consumption of grain comes to: 1.2 billion metric tons.
- Kernels of popcorn were found in the graves of pre-Colombian Indians.
- While Europeans in the 16th century did not live by bread alone, it can be said they almost lived by grain alone. Beer and ale, both derived from grain, were consumed in vast quantities. Dutch soldiers on campaign in 1582 received 2 gallons a day. Queen Elizabeth’s men got only one.
FOODIES RULE ! !
Do you consider yourself a “Foodie”? I love a great variety of foods and have gone out of my way over the years to try almost everything once. There are a few things I absolutely love and on the backside of that a whole lot of things I absolutely hate. That doesn’t make me a foodie it makes me a nitpicker. I pick the nits I like, and I ignore the ones that I dislike. With that thought in mind I thought maybe a class on food trivia might be called for and give you a little information you probably haven’t heard before. I’ll just throw 15 facts at you, and you can deal with them as you please.
- Coca-Cola was first bottled in 1894 in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
- A 12-ounce cup of brewed coffee contains 200 mg of caffeine.
- The average ear of corn has 800 kernels.
- A medium-sized potato provides 45% of the recommended daily value of vitamin C for an adult.
- Nescafé was the first instant coffee. It was introduced in Europe in 1938.
- The Chinese restaurant item, chop suey, was invented in the United States.
- Fulton, Kentucky was once known as the “The Banana Capital of the World” because 70% of all imported bananas to the United States used to be shipped there.
- The United States military has created an “indestructible sandwich” that can stay fresh for up to three years.
- Black olives contain 10-30% more oil than green olives.
- The Aztecs considered avocados an aphrodisiac.
- The red and white colors of the Campbells Soup label came from the colors of the Cornell University football team, which Campbell’s executive Herberton Williams watched play in 1898.
- White and brown eggs contain the same nutrients in the same quantities.
- The Marquis de Sade loved chocolate so much that he had it sent to him in prison.
- Post Cereals developed the first cereal, Grape-Nuts, in 1897.
- The national drink of Iceland is a potato schnapps called “Black Death.”
🌶️🥪🍱
EAT UP!!!
I’m a huge fan of both the Cooking and Food channels. Being a huge fan of food makes it almost a requirement. Without a large assortment of food the human race would cease to exist in short order (no pun intended).
I’ve been a cook for most of my life and to this day maintain a large handwritten recipe book with family recipes and many of my own that I use on a regular basis. Nothing fascinates me more than finding a new dish that I’ve never experienced and attempting to remake it “my way” and then share it with friends.
Needless to say everyone who enjoys cooking thinks their family recipes are the best and that their mothers and grandmothers are the final word on anything food related. I fall into that category myself not so much with my mother’s cooking which was only so-so but with my grandmothers which was sooooo good.
I thought today I’d present you with a short trivia challenge on food and cooking related items. As with any other subject there’s thousands of trivia items available to stump and puzzles us all when it comes to food. Here are 10 that I found somewhat interesting and I hope you do as well. The answers will be posted tomorrow so you can check and see how you’ve done. Have fun with it and then go eat a sandwich.
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1. In which American city is the greatest amount of ketchup consumed?
2. Who said: “Never eat more than you can lift”?
3. What was the first commercially manufactured breakfast cereal?
4. How many pounds of dry saffron does an acre of crocus plants yield?
5. Under federal food labeling regulations, how much caffeine must be removed from coffee for it to be called decaffeinated?
6. What are the five most frequently consumed fruits in the United States?
7. What snack food commercial was pulled off the air in 1970 because of complaints from an outraged ethnic group?
8. What popular lunch and snack food did an unidentified St. Louis doctor develop in 1890 for patients requiring an easily digested form of protein?
9. What do Eskimos use to prevent their food from freezing?
10. What eating utensil was first brought to America in 1630 by Massachusetts Bay Colony governor John Winthrop, who carried it around with him in a specially made, velvet-lined leather case?
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I selected these questions because I felt they could be answered easily if you just think about them for a moment. I could be wrong so check back tomorrow.
This morning is for recreation and not creation for at least a few hours. The better-half is long gone to work, the cat’s been fed, and the coffee fresh. I think a short trip to Middle Earth is necessary before I continue what should be a rather busy day.
42” of X-box is the only proper way to kick start a day and I’m loving it. This new Lego Lord of the Rings is a hoot and it appears that it will take a great deal of time to master. I’m at 23% completion and I’ve been working it at it off and on for a couple of weeks already. Hours and hours of continuous fun ahead for me.
Late morning has pulled me back into the kitchen where I’m beginning the process of making my special spicy pasta sauce. My hands smell of onion and are burning like fire from the jalapenos (forgot my gloves). Did most of the prep work last night so it’s all about the cooking and canning today. I’ve got to get back to it right now before things overcook.
La-Dee-Da (Time passing)
Well its two hours later and I’m putting the finishing touches to things. I just finished canning seventeen pints of some really tasty meatless sauce. I went easy on the heat for this batch since many of the people who will be receiving it aren’t crazy about really hot food. I held back one quart jar that we’ll be using for dinner later today. I can’t wait. The one downside to all of this is the cleanup which seems to take twice as long as the preparation. It’s a big, gigantic, huge, pain in the ass.
Tweedle-Dee-Dee
Just finished a rather enjoyable meal of miniature cheese raviolis covered with my delicious sauce. I’m not really bragging but it was one helluva good vegetarian dish. We’ve been trying a little harder to cut down the amount of meat we consume but don’t worry, I’ll never quit completely. I’m a big believer in eating a little of everything but a not lot of any one thing. It’s all about portions and quality for us now. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy making my own food, I know exactly what’s in it. No added sugars or preservatives just great flavors.
Our hobby has expanded to include the making of sauces, relishes, jams, canned pickles and veggie mixes, and spicy green beans (all from the garden). Both my better-half and I make our own versions of home-made wine, flavored vinegars, and a habanero cooking wine that is to die for. Besides being a little healthier for us both it’s also great fun.
Well back to the cleanup. I want to be finished before my better-half gets home.
everyuselessthing.com 