2011 Food in Review

With a year just ending and a new one beginning, I feel compelled to look back on the tasty... and the tasteless, and share the gastronomical experiences a year has brought me.

Gadgets

Worthwhile - Good quality blender and small food processor, fantastic set of knives, having "too many" of the same baking pans, 3 different sized Crockpots (which saved me in more than one last minute get-together), Lock & Lock food storage containers, low-cost digital cookbooks on Kindle and Kindle Fire, and Ziplist recipe box/grocery shopping list application for my phone.

Worthless - Electric pressure cooker with a failed gauge (less than a year old!), virtual or paper post-its for grocery lists, "free" (aka worthless) digital cookbooks on Kindle, cheap plastic ice cube trays, mismatched glassware, and hand-crank apple peelers that claim to skin potatoes.

Trust me, there's a story behind each of these LOL  Most of them start with, "I was trying to... and I found out that..." combined with either a giant cunning grin or a frustrated scrunchy face.

Food Bloggers

Worthwhile - All my "grass roots" type ladies who are making it big! I think the most successful way to touch a domestic-chef's heart is to use NORMAL ingredients.  Some of my favorites include Hungry-Girl Lisa (who made it to Food Network on popularity alone!) and sweet genius Gina from Skinny Taste!

Worthless - The "froo-froo" chefs who send you on a wild goose chase to the expensive grocery store for an item that you can barely find crammed into their exotic foods section. Um. It's a recession. Cook real food now, k?

Restaurants

Worthwhile - Places that give calorie counts and healthier options on the menus and, of course, all local eateries.

Worthless - Places that are sure we don't care what fat-laden mistreated animal pieces we're shoving in our faces and only offer palm-slicking, teeth-coating menu options.  Yeah and national chains... franchise it or be lost in the big-chain shuffle. I want to support fellow business owners near me, not line the pockets of some overly-tan schmuck doing all his business from a 4G tablet on some exotic beach. Though, I guess, good for you for climbing that creaky corporate ladder...

Don't get me wrong, I'm still gonna get a chick'n nugget and paper sleeve of golden fries every now and then. Just don't count on my last dime - if I'm gonna spend what little I have to give, I'm gonna look for quality and a conscience.

Tomorrow's blog - gonna feature a *delish* soup I learned a few years ago and a couple recipes that have become my recent favorite from my lovely lady bloggers!