New Year, New Food Challenges

Last year, I had promised a few recipes that I just never got around to. (nor did I ever end up finishing reading that book Cleaving by Julie Powell, but I will...)

I've become addicted to Top Chef  in the past month, and there was one particular challenge that they had to do.  The Vending Machine challenge.
The chefs had to make a fabulous meal with only what they could find in a vending machine and gas station corner store.  (actually it was two challenges)
I posted on my main blog  the other week about it.  I'm very much thinking about trying to do this challenge. 

I'm not giving a date on this, just sometime in the up coming year. 

With the ice rink that this city had become and will stay covered in until March, I won't be getting out much at all.  Which will be leaving grocery shopping in general pretty slim.  It's a good thing I still have that 1kg of Silly Circles cereal Eh?.... I also have a storage bin of ramen noodles.  The trick is figuring out how to make those things interesting.   Just not together.  No, that would be bad.

Okay my Spudguns, has anyone else become addicted enough to the Top Chef shows, to actually try any of their challenges at home?

Ramen Recipes

I had been doing another blog.  It was successful for what it was, but it put too much pressure on me.
The original theme was a food blog -soap opera.  I ended up dropping it but... here are a few of the ramen recipes I had posted on there.


Ramen #7 (originally posted on Friday April 30th 2010 on The Year I Lived Off Of Ramen Noodles)

2 cups water
1 vegetable bouillon cube
1 cup frozen vegetables (broccoli, onion, green beans, red peppers, mushroom)
1 serving of noodles
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
parsley
a half can of baby corn

Boil water, add frozen vegetables, add noodles, stir.
Add garlic, parsley and bouillon cube.  Stir.
Drain baby corn then add just as you are turning off the heat.  Stir and let sit for about 5 minutes.  Should serve 3.

I got the noodles in bulk at the Dollar Store.  What at first looked like two servings of noodles, turned out to actually be 8.  Which made it even better for the money.  One package was only $1,  and because it looked to be only two servings per package, I picked up three packages. So for $3 I got my money's worth.

Homemade Ramen  (Originally posted on March 15th 2010 on The Year I Lived Off Of Ramen Noodles) 

Photo by ME copyright hcvp'2010

You read the last post that my oven is dead.
There is one small working burner at this time.

Just enough for me to make a pot of something.

I went out to the grocery yesterday and bought a bag of noodles. Last night I made a small pot of homemade ramen.

3 cup water
1 medium onion sliced
1 cup frozen mixed veggies (carrots, celery, onion, red peppers)
1/2 cup frozen carrot coins
1/2 frozen Asian mixed veggies (broccoli, green beans, onion, mushroom)
pinch of dried oregano
pinch of salt
3 whole black peppercorns
pinch of red pepper flakes
pinch of marjoram
1 vegetable broth cube
2 handfuls of steamed broadcut noodles

Boil all ingredients EXCEPT the noodles for 20 minutes. Add extra water if needed, stirring every few minutes. Then add dry noodles. Stir turn off heat and serve.
This severs three.

Food Inc -dvd

This is a documentary that sort of opens up a few facts that have been hidden from the general public.  And that is how much of the food we eat is

1. Controlled by the same four companies
2. The way the animals are raised and slaughtered
3. The main ingredient in 90% of what we buy food and otherwise

Did you know that the same item that is used to make diapers is what is found in pop, syrup, and also fed to the livestock?   I had no idea till I saw the film.  And it's simply corn.  Corn.  I knew that corn was used as the main thing to feed animals, but was clueless that it's byproducts were used so widely.

The tagline for this documentary is "You'll never look at dinner the same way again"   And it's very true.  I've been a vegetarian now coming up 10 years, and seeing this film has made me even scared to eat anything. 

The main subplot of this is that we need to get more involved with what it is we are eating.  The school system needs to really start to rethink what they allow in grade schools for meals. And of course, we all need to support the organic food suppliers but buying at local farmers markets and growing our own gardens when/where we can.

This is not for the faint of heart, as they actually show footage of chickens and pigs being slaughtered.

Soul Kitchen - DVD review

Plot: Zinos owns a small diner that serves nothing but deep fried frozen foods.  A real estate agent wants the land for development, his staff haven't been paid in a while, and the tax man is after him. Meanwhile, his brother who is a con-man with a gambling debt comes to work for him, just as Zino's girlfriend dumps him.  Can he survive the next two months or will he loose everything and everyone he's worked the last few years to call his own?


This is a brilliant German film. (I had a subtitled version.)  It's a comedy and a drama all rolled into one and somehow manages to hit the right notes at the right time while still keeping it's balance.

There isn't alot of food in this foodie movie, but it does center around the diner itself.  Udo Kier has a small two minute cameo in this film, (who is usually known as a horror film icon) that adds a touch of solidness to what at times is just a light hearted display of fun. 

There is a scene where the chef makes a love potion and serves it to a packed house while a rock band is playing, giving everything to the Dionysian vibe.  And having the lead actor look like a sloppy Jim Morrison really adds a punch to the movie's title of the borrowed song Soul Kitchen. You're constantly reminded that food and music go hand in hand as both feed the senses and the ... well soul.

Again, I have to say there is a sense of balance in this film which plays up the opposites between Zinos and his brother Illias. Zinos for all his failures at the beginning is the responsible one (ironically the comedy element) where as his brother is the screw-up (ironically the dramatic element) who thinks he's got everything under control when he really does not.
We see an evolution with a few of the main characters, Zinos obviously being the one with the largest arch. The montage of his cooking skills comes right back to a basic thought, follow your heart, dedicate yourself to your passions, and of course anyone can cook. 

I would have liked to have seen a few more food scenes, but all in all, this is one to rent on a lazy Sunday afternoon. 

Ratatouille- Movie

 I put a link out on my Twitter (coffinscookies)  the other week to my last post about foodie movies, and ironically Chef Michael Smith (Chef at Large, Chef at Home)  put up a Twitter saying Ratatouille was one of the best foodie movies he'd ever seen. I became obsessed for the last week trying to get my hands on a copy.  I admit, I had originally  stayed away from it because it was a "kid's movie", but beyond glad that I took his advice and found a copy at the rental place. 

The message is simple, anyone can cook.  Which is true, just look at me.  With it being a Disney film, I was thinking for sure I would cry, but I found myself laughing the whole time and craving vegetarian stew. 

Food in movies, seems to flow with the theme of self discovery, and this is no different. The subplot deals with a guy who just learns who he really is and what is expected of him, giving him for the first time not just a passion for something but an identity.  (which was the main theme in Julie/Julia, Ramen Girl) 
 This is one that I am going to have to add to my movie collection.

Tuesday Morning Thinking of Food

 This was originally posted on my main blog on Nov 16th 2010   So don't worry, I haven't lost my mind completely yet and mixed up my days of the week. Yet.  but I did realize I had forgotten to add it here to my list I've been trying to create of foodie movies/food in the movies posts.


Taking a short break this morning from the book reviews cause I'm getting a headache, and have Julie/Julia in the dvd player.  It's got me thinking, about a few foodie movies that are on my can't wait list.

One is Soul Kitchen  which I believe gets a Canadian dvd release next month.  It's a subtitled film about a guy who's cafe is going downhill till he hires a prize winning chef.   I saw a trailer for it months ago and have been waiting as impatiently as I can for it to be released here.

Today's Special  was just released in the cinema this week.  Of course, it's not scheduled for my city cause Thunder Bay sucks.  But it's on my can't wait list.  When I first saw the poster for this one few months ago, I wasn't too sure about it, as it's about an East Indian chef, and after having been greatly disappointed by another East Indian foodie film Cooking with Stella; well the trailer for Today's Special changed my mind.  It's suppose to be about a sous chef who has to return to his family diner and take over the business.

The last foodie movie on my can't wait list is a documentary called Kings of Pastry  which also was just released in Canada about a month ago, which once again did not come here and I have to wait for the dvd.  My city sucks I know.  But it's a documentary on the pastry masters competition.

They all look yummy and I can't wait....

Thursday Morning and ....

 Yeah I have no idea what I was thinking.  I went grocery shopping yesterday with mom, Ninja and Uncle and that should say everything right there.  Ended up in the cereal row, which by the by is a rare thing for me. Specially since they stopped selling Count Chocula here.  Anyways, I wanted something sweet and it would have made too much sense to go to the bakery or to the cookie row.  I start looking for  Fruity-O's (generic Fruit Loops)  and I can not find them anywhere. I am about to give up when, no word of a lie, this old guy smacks his cart into the bagged cereal.  This fell to the floor. 

I started laughing.  Dude, you know I did.  Poor old guy standing there looking at me cause I'm laughing like a lunatic.  So I bought it.  Look at the size of this thing, it's sitting on my computer chair.  The cereal takes up a chair!  Good god man that will take me all winter to get through. 
Suppose I could always invite a certain wrestler over .... sorry I had to it was a ready made joke man.