Blackberry Pie Pt. II

Sadly, everyone hated my pie. Even me.

Gross 2

Walking around the store this morning a couple things caught my eye and I thought I would share...

This is just nasty. I have seen these a million times, usually with dust on the jars because no one ever buys them. Seriously, who buys these? What do they use them for? Anyone know? Tell me in the comments.

This here actually caught my brother's eye. When he pointed it out I thought it was some of that fancy cheese with added Italian herbs or something, because it was greenish...but, it's mold. I took a pic of the cheese without and with mold right next to each other so you can really tell. I understand how cheese is made and everything, but...gross.


And, to top off the post I'll make a list of...

5 Gross Foods I Wouldn't Touch With A Ten Foot Pole

1. Casa Marzu [Do yourself a favor, don't click on the link]
2. Pig feet [See above pic...again]
3. Escamoles [Click. I dare you.]
4. Balut [Don't click. I threw up a little in my mouth reading about it.]
5. Baby Mice Wine [Okay, so it's not a food...or is it?]
   

Blackberry Pie Pt. I

It's too bad you guys cannot smell the house I live in right now. The smell of delicious, golden-brown fruity blackberry pie is all around. I could just dive right into it right now-but, it's hot and I don't want to burn my flippers.

I took some pictures for you guys...
I chipped at the side taking it out of the oven!

Still, for my first blackberry pie I don't think I did a bad job...

I hope it tastes as good as it smells! [I will certainly let you all know.]

Happy Thanksgiving 2008!

Thanksgiving dinner actually went well this year. Dad complimented something someone cooked and it was something I cooked! It was my bird! I took a few pictures of some of the stuff I cooked just to share with you guys...

Cranberry sauce is one of the best parts of the Thanksgiving meal in my opinion. Here is my cranberry sauce cooking!

It was delicious!

I mashed my sweet potatoes with a butter and brown sugar glaze, then added an egg and baked them. I thought they turned out awesome. Everyone said they were good.
My brother and I think this picture looks kind of dirty. [Totally looks like two potatoes are getting it on while the third watches...lmao]

My bird [BEFORE] I made a rub concocted of sage, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and cumin, then I cute slits in the breasts in which I inserted pats of butter.

My bird [AFTER] After five hours at 350 degrees it turned into this. It was tender, juicy, not one bit dry anywhere that I found and everyone kept complimenting me on it!


I am really glad there was no fussing or fighting this year. I cooked everything myself, so no one else was in the kitchen to bitch with anyways...
Well, hopefully this post finds you all well.

Gross

My early lunch. Or is it late breakfast? I don't know. Either way it's in the picture below. It wasn't very good at all. The tomato was gross. At least the pretzels were yummy!

Jim [my brother] and I were at the market earlier and I came across these 'beef feet'. I have seen a ton of pig's feet, but these are the first beef feet I can recall seeing. $2.14 for four. Is that a good deal for bovine feets? All I have to say is EWW.
Thanksgiving is pretty much under control. I just hope I don't forget anything when I'm cooking. I keep meaning to make a checklist, but I get lazy and forget. I know I have to make turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and...uh...other stuff.

I would like to know...What is your favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner?
Mine has to be the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. I can't decide which I like better.

Eggs-actly

Not a clue why I had so many eggs in one bowl, but going through the pics on my cell phone I found this one and decided to post it. It looks kind of cool to me...like little aliens about to hatch.
Mmm...yummy.

The Fruit Juice List

Fruit juices are delicious. Well, the ones I can drink anyway... Thanks to some allergies to so many fruits I have to watch what I drink. The grape juice I'm drinking now got me to thinking about how many delicious juices there are out there on the market today so I'm gonna list my favorites:

• apple juice - I like the no sugar added stuff, the real juice from real apples with no artificial flavors.
• pomegranate juice - Like a mass of other people, my favorite is probably POM. It's delicious and they mix it with flavors like cherry and blueberry.
• cherry juice - I very rarely have this Juicy Juice, but it is heavenly!
• cranberry juice - The cranberry is very versatile and it goes well with a whole bunch of other fruity flavors. Ocean Spray makes some really great combinations.
• tomato juice - I suppose since it is technically a fruit (or so I hear...) that tomato juice is one of my all-time favorites. I really love V8. I drink the low sodium kind and it's absolutely tasty!
  
• grape juice - Grape juice is my last, but certainly not least favorite fruit juice flavor. Much like the cranberry it goes well with quite a few other flavors, but I prefer it straight up grape. I can only think of Welch's when I think of grape juice and I'll take it in white or Concord, but they have amassed quite an array of flavors over the years like White Grape Pomegranate and White Grape Peach for you to indulge in.

Speaking of Welch's Grape Juice, there new spokesperson for their 100% Concord Grape Juice is none other than...

ALTON BROWN!

If you are a fan of Mr. Brown's you will want to check these links out:
Welch's site - There's the advert with him in it on the front page!

Alton Brown on the Welch's site - Click 'video list' on the bottom left to see eight short videos featuring Alton giving useful facts about the health benefits of the Concord grape.

And, in case you haven't seen it already his own personal website: Alton Brown.

I've shared my juice likes, please share yours in the comments if you feel inclined to do so!

Fresh Doughnuts At 4am

My brother and I went and got doughnuts a little while ago, and I had not had one in a while. I forgot how delicious they are. The slightly crispy and chocolaty outside, fluffy middle and the vanilla pudding stuff in the center. Dare I say perfection?
I dare.
PERFECTION.

I also had a tiny chat with my good friend Mustard about the spellings of doughnut. You know doughnut/donut. He says we live in Texas, so it has to be donut. That bugs the crap out of me for some reason. I am amused by our little doughnut rant though.

The Cheese Lists

It's list time! This time I am listing some of my favorite cheese-related foods...

• fried mozzarella
• cheesecake
• grilled cheese
• toasted cheese sandwich
• cheese fries
• nachos
• string cheese
• 5-cheese pizza
• quesadillas

I just love cheese in general. I'm on a provolone kick now.

My top ten cheeses [in no particular order] are:

1. Mozzarella
2. Gouda
3. Havarti
4. Vermont white sharp cheddar
5. Fontina
6. feta
7. parmesan
8. Romano
9. Gruyère
10. Μετσοβόνε aka Metsovone

What are YOUR favorite types of cheeses? And, what do you like to use them in?

Impending Day Of The Turkey

With Thanksgiving right around the corner I am really excited about making dinner. I love cooking, especially trying things I haven't tried before. I'm not going to get to do much of that though, because Thanksgiving in my family is pretty much set in it's ways.
I do know for sure that we're making:

• turkey
• ham
• sweet potatoes
• pumpkin pie

And, that's about all I can put down in ink right now. I hope the pumpkin pie turns out really delicious. I'm considering 86ing the ground cloves in the recipe though. Cloves remind me of a horrible ham experience I had once...