Thursday, September 30, 2010

Food Songs



I was thinking about songs that involved food and decided that this one is my favorite: Satan Gave Me a Taco by Beck. It is and older song, but there are some nice animations on YouTube. Check out this version or a black and white one. This song always makes me smile...from taco shack to rock star and back to taco shack.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Graham Kerr, a Poll Favorite


Graham and Julia are the runaway favorite cooking personalities in this last poll. Everyone knows about Julia, but this Graham Kerr character put together some great on screen moments himself introducing much of North America to his European culinary specialties. Currently you can see Julia and Graham back to back during the 2 o’clock hour on The Cooking Channel. But here is a little more about Mr. Kerr.



Graham Kerr was born in London, England 1934. By the age of 20 he was the General Manager of England’s Royal Ascot Hotel. While working in New Zealand as a catering chef his first book was published in 1963, ‘Entertaining with Kerr’. Beginning in 1969 on a Canadian soundstage in front of a live audience Kerr spent two years producing the beloved television show ‘The Galloping Gourmet’. Tragically a 1971 car accident put an end to the show, but Kerr went on to do plenty of short features for North American television. Kerr has been involved with the production of well over 20 cookbooks. While his early work and television persona featured copious amounts of butter, fat, and cream Kerr has become a huge advocate of responsible and healthy eating. He currently works with Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington looking for innovational and healthy culinary options

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Get some gas cause we're grilling out.


The good old gas grill. An almost given to be tucked away in every American back yard. Some of these grills get better treatment or at least more frequant use than others, but what we most overlook and underapreciate is that all import tank of gas. The tank of gas that most of us reach for when we think, "let's grill out." I've gone ahead and culled a few facts about the fuel for the fire, propane.


Propane is a three-carbon alkane, normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid packaged into the familiar 20 pound tanks now commonly available.


Propane was first isolated as a volatile component in gasoline by Dr. Walter Snelling in 1910. By 1913 his method of processing and producing propane was issued a patent and he helped establish the American Gasol Company, the first commercial marketer of propane.


Propane is derived from other petroleum products during oil or natural gas processing. The processing of natural gas involves removal of butane, propane and large amounts of ethane from the raw gas, in order to prevent condensation of these volatiles in natural gas pipelines.

After it is produced, North American propane is stored in huge salt caverns located in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta; Mont Belvieu, Texas and Conway, Kansas. These salt caverns were hollowed out in the 1940s,[7] and they can store 80 million or more barrels of propane.

The outdoor gas grill was invented in the 1960’s in Little Rock, Arkansas by William G. Wepfer and Melton Lancaster while working for ARKLA, the Arkansas Louisiana Gas Company. Wepfer, a graduate of the U.S.Naval Academy, was Director of Marketing, charged with finding new ways to sell natural gas to ARKLA residential customers, and therefore bought a basic charcoal grill and re-designed it in the Wepfer's garage so that natural gas provided the fuel for the grill.

Propane is a popular choice for barbecues and portable stoves because its low boiling point of −42 °C (−44 °F) makes it vaporize as soon as it is released from its pressurized container. Therefore, no carburetor or other vaporizing device is required; a simple metering nozzle suffices.
All these facts are from Wikipedia, and the hyper-links will lead you there as well.

Friday, September 10, 2010

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I found this illustration just a hoot! But dread not there are plenty more cleaver creations HERE. Enjoy

Sunday, September 05, 2010

The Incredible Edible.....Tomato!

The tomato is the worlds most consumed fruit ahead of apples and bannanas.

Spanish explorer Cortés may have been the first to transfer the small yellow tomato to Europe after he captured the Aztec city of Tenochtítlan, now Mexico City, in 1521.

Tomatoes were not grown in England until the 1590s.

Currently China produces almost 34 million tonnes of tomatoes. That is three times as much as the U.S.

The pronunciation of tomato differs in different English-speaking countries; the two most common variants are /təˈmɑːtoʊ/ and /təˈmeɪtoʊ/. Speakers from the British Isles, most of the Commonwealth, and speakers of Southern American English typically say /təˈmɑːtoʊ/, while most American and Canadian speakers usually say /təˈmeɪtoʊ/


The heaviest tomato ever was one of 3.51 kg (7 lb 12 oz)

On August 30, 2007, 40,000 Spaniards gathered in Buñol to throw 115,000 kilograms (250,000 lb) of tomatoes at each other in the yearly Tomatina festival.

Botanically, a tomato is a fruit: the ovary, together with its seeds, of a flowering plant.

In 2009, the state of Ohio passed a law making the tomato the state's official fruit. Tomato juice has been the official beverage of Ohio since 1965

The U.S. Supreme Court on May 10, 1893 declared that the tomato is a vegetable, based on the popular definition that classifies vegetables by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert. Thus collecting a higher tariff tax at the time.

The poll resaults are clear and consistant with what the whole world has to say.... Give me my tomatoes!!!!