I never have any idea what to put in a salad. I know this much: make your own dressing, that's a given. Mushrooms are a good bet, as they soak up all the flavor and end up being remarkably delicious. Leaves: yes. Good oilve oil and vinegar (or lemon / lime juice). Salt, fresh pepper. Avocado if you feel fancy. Raw onions, just a bit, taste sweet when combined in with the vinegar....
On Sunday night, I was subconsciously looking for a kind of willing-the-weather-to-change activity. After a cool week of light sweaters and no sweating on the subway platform, Saturday and Sunday heralded the return of muggy weather, which was very unwelcome. The threat of rain provided sufficient justification for me to hole up and read and watch movies all weekend (save a trip to Bensonhu...
Just like your grandmother, I now own a cast-iron skillet. It seemed like the logical choice after I realized the finite possibilities of non-stick, yet was not ready to burn my whole month's salary on an All-Clad frying pan. This cost $19. It's heavy as a brick--actually, more like a couple bricks. You can toss this war-horse around with glee and it will take it all. Clang it around...
Traditionally, I've wondered why farmers' markets are so expensive. It's almost a given that the price per pound for things can reach double what you'd pay in a grocery store. It doesn't make any sense to me: we're cutting out lots of middlemen, the farmer and I, by communicating directly with one another. There's no shipping the tomatoes halfway around the world, no large distributor tha...
This wasn't one of those Manhattan street fairs that blocked traffic on random weekends and offered the same tired stand of roasted corn, corn dogs, and grease laden elephant ears, block after block. Brooklyn's Atlantic Antic (rated number one street festival by Time Out!) was as hodge podge as Atlantic Avenue always is, except now the music spilled onto the streets and so could the beer (...
As we were pulling the dark brown breaded chicken nuggets from the bubbling pot, dropping them onto the oil-soaked paper towel to cool and drain, the whole thing struck me: this is the most unhealthy food I’ve eaten all year. It follows: Kids eat total crap in school. If it isn’t fried, it’s poor quality meat seasoned like crazy, processed and emulsified and water-injected and general...
Besides meatloaf, it's the ultimate mystery meat. Coated with a thick brown sauce and usually hard as a rock, Salisbury steak was the meal I most genuinely hated during my school years. Its presence institgated the hoarding of dinner rolls and the unfortunate act of talking to girls, just so I could make off with one of their mini cobs of corn. It was a tough day on the streets, and one I...
Hot Dogs are the universally pretty-tasty food. From middle school to college cafeteria dining, the fair ladies in hairnets have always had quite a hard time messing up the basic formula: buy from distributor, boil or steam, place in bun and send the smiling kids off to the condiments line to fight over packets of pickle relish, and who has to end up with the dijon mustard once the packets of...
And like that, it's over. Summer's stronghold has disappeared. The days no longer top out in the 90's, the sweat only beads down my face around noon, and that funk has actually started to lose it's grip on the 14th Street Station. Last week I only walked on the side of the street completely covered in shadow, and now I can walk wherever I choose. Really, I'm not sad. But I just got a gr...
Billy Madison: I guess that Snack Pack is pretty good huh? [the little kid smiles and nods] Billy Madison: Wanna trade me the rest of it for this banana? [the little kid smiles and shakes his head] Billy Madison: You know how how hard I could beat you? From Internet Movie Database. In any serious discussion of school lunch food, you cannot forget to mention the packed lunch. Anyon...
Blake and Nick live in Chicago and have written for The Paupered Chef and other publications since 2006.
