Tag Archives: #food

Some Forking Holiday or Gathering Etiquette Tips

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Sometimes people don’t understand etiquette. These are just some very basic rules of etiquette for Holidays or Gatherings some for being a guest and some for being a host.

 

1-If a guest brings a gift of food or drink that you don’t like.

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Don’t – Say something like “it’s too sweet” or “I hate forking profiteroles.”

Say – Something like “That was nice of you to bring, thank you.”

 

2- Children at family gatherings should be trained to say Hi or at the very least smile to family members and not blindly stare across the room like  zombies.

A Forking Leper

3- If you make a mess or break something in someone’s home.

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Don’t do forking nothing like a whip and ignore it.

Be a good person and say something to the host right away.

 

4-Be a good guest and DON’T bring some sort of food or drink you already tried that you don’t care for.

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In this case as a host you don’t have to say that was so nice of you to forking bring that. As a guest you should only bring food or drink that you’d consume. Your host worked hard to prepare a nice forking dinner. Do you forking want to be remembered for doing such a thing like that?

 

5- Don’t inflict illness on your guest if you or someone in your home has the flu. Remember your germs make people sick a long time after you are well and your farts also forking smell too.

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Do – Cancel your gathering and reschedule.

 

6-You shouldn’t thank your guest for leaving. You should have thanked them for coming.

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Merry Forking Christmas and Happy Everything Else!

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

Making Cannoli Shells used to be a Forking Drudgery Until I Found Fanara’s Cannoli Cores

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I’ve been making cannoli for many years now. I started making cannoli by purchasing cheese and shells because you really can purchase good cheese and shells from nearly all the super markets that I used to go to on the east coast. All I had to do was just drain the cheese, flavor the cheese and pipe the cheese into the shells. I topped them with powdered sugar and a secret pinch of anisette sugar. When I moved to Arizona I noticed that the cheese from my local supermarkets were the big brands that were noticeably not as delicious (more processed tasting) with a grainy texture so I started making my own cheese. It’s pretty easy, you basically bring milk and cream to a slow boil and then add fresh lemon juice to curdle it and wah la you have cheese….not just cheese but great tasting cheese instead of forking crappy cheese.

It’s not impossible to find already made cannoli shells in Arizona but I did notice the super markets here don’t sell or make them and you have to go to specialty stores to find them. Cannoli shells already made are also very expensive. I’ve seen them for $1.00-$1.50 each without the filling so if you need 30 of them your spending over $30.-$45.00 just for small shells without filling.

I kept trying recipes to make them and after 5-6 recipes that didn’t work out as well as I wanted I developed my own recipe for cannoli that is posted on this site. Just search cannoli if you care to try my recipe. (a less detailed version is posted at the end of this post)

The next step in making cannoli was to find the best cannoli cores. I found that most were too big. Nobody really wants a giant cannoli. I had to find the right small cannoli cores. I make three flavors vanilla, chocolate and cinnamon  so I make small ones so people can try a few flavors.

Some cannoli cores I tried stayed hot so long you’d have to wait an hour to get the cannoli off the cores if you could get them off because they burnt on sometimes. After years of trying several the one I’m sticking with for the rest of my life are Fanara’s small cannoli cores. Although they aren’t the smallest they are the best because the cannoli shells come off easily off the cores always because they give and the aluminum cools quicker so I can keep the production going.

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You just squeeze the end and you can get them off.

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Making Cannoli Shells used to be a Forking Drudgery until I Found Fanara Cannoli Cores.

I am not Forking Paid or anything to post this. It’s the Forking Truth!

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

For about 33 small cannoli (if your like me I didn’t seal a few right or I would have had about 37 small shells)

2 cups flour

2 Tablespoons butter -soft

2 Tablespoon sugar

2 pinch kosher salt

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup wine

1 beaten egg white

Use the yolk for sealing cannoli

need a little extra flour for rolling

and neutral oil to fry with

Finish with 10x sugar and just a pinch of anisette sugar

 

WTFork is Yuzu?

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Yuzu Fruit

Yuzu Fruit

According to www.fruitsinfo.com The Yuzu is a hybrid of the mandarin and the papeda (a bitter primitive citrus). The aromatic Yuzu is considered to be the most important fruit in Asia.

The Yuzu is believed to contain many health benefits.

Lots of vitamin C

Great for your skin

Burns fat

Vitamin P for Blood flow

The Yuzu I tried that is pictured above was sour but not an unpleasant sour like a white grapefruit. More like an orange zest kind of sour. I thought the juice was good over fish.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

KitchenAid Spiralizer Attachment Verses The Padero Spiral Vegetable Slicer

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The KitchenAid Spiralizer Attachment cost between $75.00 (Kohls) up to $149.00 (Macy’s) depending on where you shop and averages at $129.00 (almost everywhere). The Padero Spiral Vegetable Slicer cost around $30.00. (I’ve seen look-a-likes that cost less and might not work as well?)

The Pros

1- It’s a KichenAid Product that mostly metal with some plastic parts -Padero is mostly plastic with some metal.

2- It’s easy to clean – As is the Padero.

3-It has a peeler attachment – The Padero does not peal.

4-It makes a nice shape spiral for frying. – The Padero makes slightly thinner spirals.

The Cons

1-It cost more than the Padero Spiral Vegetable Slicer

2- It doesn’t do angel hair strands like the Padero

3-Odd shape potatoes don’t spiralize unlike the when using the Padero

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Potato that I couldn't Spiral cut from KitchenAid I could use in the Padero

Potato that I couldn’t Spiral cut from KitchenAid I could use in the Padero

4-Potatoes that are medium/large and larger need to be cut down because they don’t fit in. The Padero  can slide to do a larger potato or squash.

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5- I wasted some potatoes that I tried to spiralize and the waste splattered all over my counter.

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Well the forking truth is that the Padero doesn’t look as cool as the KichenAid Attachment and how long it will last against the KitchenAid Attachment I don’t know. It also doesn’t peal but for me it works better and more efficient.

So I already Forking Returned the KitchenAid Spiralizer Attachment.

I can’t say it’s not worth a fork because it can spiralize nicely under the right conditions.

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The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

Great Tasting Green sauce for Eggs, Potatoes and Fish Recipe

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I wasn’t sure about what to call this sauce but I discovered it’s quite good with eggs, fish and cheesy potatoes so I just forking called it green sauce that is good with eggs, potatoes and fish. It’s very tasty with a little heat but not much heat. You can easily make it hotter by adding a jalapeno to this recipe but that will unbalance the seasonings.

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This is an easy sauce to make. I had some extra fresh prepared seasoned spinach and onions, A roasted poblano pepper, fresh cilantro, lemon and a few spices, oil and just whipped it up.

Ingredients for 6 large servings

2 cups seasoned prepared fresh spinach and onions

1 large roasted poblano pepper – skin, seeds and stem removed – rough chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro – rough chopped

1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions – just blend it up and heat to use.

This just was an easy to make healthy and tasty sauce.

This is really tasty and that's The Forking Truth

This is really tasty and that’s The Forking Truth

WTFork happened to Candy Canes?

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A long time back in a land far away it’s said that children were given candy to shut the fork up while in church on Christmas. Someone in Germany decided to put a little religion into the candy sticks that shut kids up and made the candies hook shape to remind the children of shepherd’s  hooks like from the dudes in the Noel Scene.

Some time latter someone thought that hyssop should be added to these candies (that shut kid’s the fork up in church) because hyssop was used in the old testament for purification and sacrifice. Maybe nobody wanted forking child sacrifice on their hands and possibly because mint was cheaper or probably because mint forking tasted better than hyssop they went with mint flavoring because it was similar.

Some people say the red stripe was added to symbolize Christ’s Blood.

Recently I went to the Forking Supermarket and noticed mostly all the candy canes were forking weird!

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I saw Candy Canes that were filled with Pixy Stix Powder. Why would you want powder spilling out of a candy cane?

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These Candy Canes are filled with SweetTart Powder.

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Chocolate Mint Candy Canes sound tasty.

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Dum Dum Candy Canes

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Smarties Candy Canes….Would you want a Dum dum or a Smarties?

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Fruit Flavored Candy Canes

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Jelly Belly Candy Canes

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MORE Jelly Belly Candy Canes

Doesn't Forking matter what flavor the candy is. The Forking kid will shut up with candy in his mouth.

Doesn’t Forking matter what flavor the candy is. The Forking kid will shut up with candy in his mouth.

Merry Forking Christmas!

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

References

Wikipedia.com

whychristmas.com

noelnoel.com

 

Dining with Dogs at Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery Phoenix AZ Worth a Fork

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"Where are we going to eat today?"

“Where are we going to eat today?”

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery is a small fast casual restaurant that specializes in the Vietnamese Sandwich called a Banh Mi. The sandwich is made on a Vietnamese Style Baguette that’s made with rice flour in addition to wheat flour. The sandwiches at BMBVE get topped with fresh sliced cucumber, fresh cilantro, pickled carrots, daikon radish, jalapeño, house made aioli and one of ten fillings to pick from. Most of the sandwiches look similar to the photo below. I’ve tried three of the ten Bahn Mi Sandwiches so far. The bread seems much lighter than a regular baguette with a different kind of crunch to the exterior and a soft center. All the sandwiches taste different and so far all that I tried were very tasty. They are the perfect blend of savory, sour/sweet and spicy. I also like that you can eat a big sandwich and it doesn’t leave you with a rock in your stomach like a regular hoagie or submarine sandwich.

Banh Mi Sandwich

Banh Mi Sandwich

This Vietnamese Restaurant does NOT offer Pho. This is a Pho-free Vietnamese Restaurant.

Other items they offer are….

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Lotus Root Salad

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Green Papaya Salad (more sweet than sour and accented with fresh mint)

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Egg Rolls served with lettuce fresh herbs and fish sauce so you can wrap them.

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Tasty plump Pot Stickers in chicken or pork

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Noodle salad bowls called bun. It’s almost like a pho salad.

This time I tried a rice plate with chicken. I note that this plate came with an egg roll that my husband swiped.

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This was really FORKING delicious! The dark meat boneless chicken was moist, juicy and developed with exotic flavors and brushed with more flavors. Even the salad was light and delicious.

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The dogs forking enjoyed some of the food too! This is dining on a budget. Prices run from $4.00 for a salad, most Banh Mi Sandwiches run 6-$7.00 and the rice plate is the most expensive item on the menu and runs $8.00 at the time of me writing this review. (I do note prices are subject to change)

Other items that they offer are specialty drinks such as Vietnamese Iced Coffee, Milk Tea and Smoothies.

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“Banh Mi Vietnamese Bistro is Worth a Fork!”

Your most likely not going to drive across town to dine here but if your in the neighborhood this place is suggested.

Your most likely not going to drive across town to dine here but if your in the neighborhood this place is suggested.

For more information on Banh Mi Vietnamese Bistro go to www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

MORE-Does Fecal Material Matter 2-U in Your Food

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Fecal Contamination

Fecal Contamination

Does Forking Fecal Material matter to you in your food?

I was deeply bothered about the recent Consumer Reports Story.

Actual from Consumer Reports

Actual from Consumer Reports

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In short they said that every sample of ground beef they tested contained some fecal matter.

Some of the ways fecal matter gets spread to the beef are……

At the Slaughter house from a number of ways

Removing the hides (cutting threw everything)

Breaking the gastrointestinal tract (splashing all over)

Simply from the tools not being cleaned after feces contact.

I don’t know if kosher beef was tasted. I know kosher beef is only the front quarter of the cow so chances of fecal material getting on that meat would be more difficult.

I was surprised to learn that Sardinian People enjoy cheese with maggot poop.

Casu Marzu Cheese

Casu Marzu Cheese

The cheese called case marzu is banned but is still made anyway. The cheese starts out as a pecorino that they leave out and cut the crust off attracting maggots to lay eggs. The eggs hatch and turn to larvae and then the larvae poop and that becomes the unique flavor of this cheese. It’s said that when you eat this cheese you have to chew and kill the maggots or they will chew threw your intestines. I read this from the Huffington Post.

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According to infowars.com if you eat fish from China it’s likely the fish were raised eating pig poop. Most of China’s poultry are raised eating pig poop too according to infowers.com.

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The FORKING SAD thing is……

The FDA rejected thousands of food shipments from Asia due to FECAL contamination and the FORKING kicker is that only 3% of the food gets inspected.

A study from the International Journal of Food Microbiology states that Fecal Contamination often happens at soda fountains.

I don’t even want to know how the fork that happens.

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The DailyTech.com posted that the Japanese are already experimenting with growing steak from FORKING POOP.

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What the fork would you have with that?????? A side of Pees?

Now that is FORKED up!

Now that is FORKED up!

Does fecal material matter to you in your food?

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

Forking AWESOME Lemon Verbena Lemon Pickles with Apple

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Lemon Cucumber

Lemon Cucumber

The lemon cucumber is the best cucumber you ever tasted. It’s so sweet and crispy. This recipe will NOT forking work with any other cucumber.

I love the smell of lemon verbena

lemon verbena

lemon verbena

and I thought these special lemon cucumbers would make a delicious light refreshing salad paired with fresh squeezed lemon, lemon verbena and crisp sweet apple. The recipe is very simplistic. I want the ingredients to shine.

Ingredients for about 6 servings

7 lemon cucumbers (no need to peal but trim the flower ends) sliced in chip shapes

1 honey crisp apple – pealed, cored, sliced in chip shapes

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about three lemons)

8 lemon verbena leaves finely chopped

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

Place your cucumbers and apples in a large bowl. In a small pan slowly bring the rest of ingredients to a boil and let simmer around five minutes. Pour mixture over the cucumbers and apples and refrigerate over night.

Lemon Verbena Lemon Pickles with Apple

Lemon Verbena Lemon Pickles with Apple

This salad is delicious and so light. I think everyone would like it.

This is Forking Yummy and That's The Forking Truth

This is Forking Yummy and That’s The Forking Truth