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For anyone who's worn out their copy of Lilek's Gallery of Regrettable Food, here's an equally hilarious collection of Weight Watchers recipes from the 1970s: The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan: Classic Diet Recipe Cards from the 1970s

My take is that cheap foods are only cheap foods in the buying of them. The long term consequences are not cheap, however. Even poor people have to pay to some extent for health care occasioned by their faulty diet, so money saved on cheap carbs is no long-term bargain. But the bacon double-cheeseburger that costs less than a head of lettuce can be eaten without the bun for no more money than one with the bun. In my opinion, what we need is more education as to what a ‘good’ diet is, but we’ll play hell getting our friends in Washington to promote a low-carb diet, when they are the very ones who have afflicted us with the food pyramid.

But one the other side, I get to pay cheap rent, eat good cooking and at the end of it, get to buy a flat, no more Mr Landlord for me, I hope.

We brined and grilled a turkey for Thanksgiving again this year. We did it once a few years ago, and I forgot nearly everything we did, so this year, I decided to bookmark a few online resources and snap a few photos to help me remember how to do this more easily in the future.

To roast pumpkin seeds, wash in colander, dry seeds, and then toss in a small amount of vegetable oil. Salt seeds and spread on cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Celini serves up traditional Italian recipes with a modern twist. The restaurant showcases a wood-fired pizza oven, rotisserie and charcoal grill—all built into its dramatic open kitchen designed by Molteni of France. The seasonally changing menu features an authentic selection of antipasti, risotto, fresh pizzas and pastas. An impeccable wine list includes Chateau Mouton Rothschild (Rs. 18,000 or $403), a perfect accompaniment for the lamb chops (Rs. 1150 or $26) or sautéed prawns (Rs. 1050 or $24.)

There’s more than one way to overindulge during the holiday season. You can carol until you get a sore throat, or scarf too many cookies at the office party. You can stress over the perfect prime rib, or try to work off 5 pounds in a day so you can fit into that slinky cocktail dress that night.

Q: Will it also contain fun holiday recipes for a raw New Years?

I baked this Mississippi mud cake for Alex R to celebrate his work permit. I got this recipe at Food Netowork website.

The theme this week is “chicken” — I didn’t realize. (I sent in a wheatless cookie recipe.) But that’s okay, because I firmly believe that you can’t have too many chicken recipes!

Comidas: We were happly surpised the Mi Tierra Chiriqui has a Mexican flovor to their menu, we miss Mexican Cuisine.

I’ve gotten hooked on the FOOD Network. Probably not the best choice of channels to get addicted to; FIT TV would probably be a better choice for me right now. The personal trainer thing didn’t work out.

The default station for the TV in my kitchen is the Food Channel. I see most shows more than once, enough for them to get on my nerves at some point. So, rather than bitch about them, I’m gonna list a few of my peeves as a drinking game.

Even though we all got our big gift for the year on Election Day, that’s no reason not to celebrate this holiday season. Join your fellow progressives and toast the new Congress, share cookie recipes, or just chill out with friends. We’ll also be collecting canned goods and other non-perishable food items to take to the Capital Area Food Bank. For the past two years, members have been incredibly generous and have brought lots of food in to help the homeless — let’s keep that tradition alive in 2006.

We’re having a house-full of company tomorrow for PM’s baptism. She asked for Kalua Pig and Settler’s Beans, both of which are cooking or ready in the fridge as I type. Of course, we had to clean house. We had to get groceries. We ran so long today that I never had a cup of coffee at home. I did get a white chocolate latte (skim milk) tonight, but that’s it. I also made a batch of fudge and a pretzel/Rolo thing That Man heard about at work. Tomorrow, I’ll make peanut brittle and possibly Bon Bons for my Dad.

I don’t have one of these. Yet. I saw a product demo, though, and I was thoroughly impressed. One of the problems with your typical backyard smoker is that it’s nearly impossible to cold smoke. This smoking system allows you to do just that. Imagine cold smoking a whole beef tenderloin and cutting it down into steaks. Or perhaps making your own smoked salmon? Yum. Of course, it also hot smokes and roasts. Smoke roasted prime rib, anyone? The Bradley comes in a variety of sizes and finishes, and there are 6 “flavors” of hardwood smoke to choose from.

i just watched an entire one-hour show on the food channel about fried chicken. now i didn’t really watch and listen to the whole thing, but it was on tv while i was been sitting here doing other things. they showed plate after plate of delicious-looking, golden brown poultry that left me actually hungry.

Just a quick note to let you know the latest issue of my Investment Cooking Newsletter is out. It is filled with lots of yummy Christmas cookie recipes that are actually good for you.

Nina Planck has written a book called Real Food. Real Food are old foods, traditional foods like wild salmon, raw milk, eggs, butter (she mentions butter a lot - must be a favorite). These are foods prepared in the same way they were many years ago and are not tampered with in some industrial fashion. She posed a question - why are people on seemingly healthy diets (according to the media) getting sick? What is responsible for obesity, diabetes, heart disease? Her conclusion is that it is industrial foods as opposed to real foods that are responsible for these ills. Nutritional advice given is politically correct but not nutritionally correct. The Food Pyramid is fattening America.

Catching up with Jac and Lisa is always so much fun, its a shame we don’t do it enough. Although, truth be told we seem to be following a little gastronomic pattern of gorging ourselved with plentiful enough to skip breakfast, morning tea and lunch the next day whenever we seem to go out. Surely no complaints can be had of the finger licking good food of The Clove but what more when one goes to the premier wine bar of Sydney — Winebanq and then follow it up with a traditional French cuisine at our all time favourite — Tabou in the company of lovely friends.

Although the menu is expensive, the atmosphere at A Voce is informal. The space is attractively decorated, and the swivel chairs are quite comfortable. But the tables are fairly close together, the noise level builds rapidly, and the serving staff gets a little stretched as the restaurant fills up. Andrew Carmellini’s upscale Italian cuisine is wonderful, but he hasn’t really provided the elegant stage on which it deserves to shine.

Pizza is undoubtedly considered as one of the symbol of Italian cuisine and it is one of the most famous dishes worldwide, but not many people know that the traditional recipe dates back only to the 19th century. As actually Wikipedia explains us “the tomato - which is one the main ingredients for pizza - was brought to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century, it was believed by many Europeans to be poisonous (…). By the late 18th century, however, it was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread, and the dish gained in popularity. Pizza became a tourist attraction, and visitors to Naples ventured into the poorer areas of the city to try the local specialty.” The first pizzeria opened in Naples in 1830, but it was only in 1889 that the word pizza became an Italian word. In the summer of that year the Italian royal family was spending their holidays in the south of Italy. One day the Queen, Margherita of Savoy, heard by some noble ladies about the exquisiteness of this low-class dish and she asked to taste it. On that occasion a famous pizza-maker, Raffaele Esposito, baked in honour of the Queen a special pizza, made with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and basil: the pizza margherita.

Thanks to Michele for this link. It is a really cool way to find some new cookie recipes (and is all in tune with the season!). I gotta get myself going on these cookies. I bought some whole wheat gingerbread mix, so we can make some men, but otherwise I am not so good at cookies. Anyone have favorites they’d recommend?

At the annual Christmas party, my coworker Zoe commented that I’m not that fobby. She told me that there are levels of fobbiness, and I am about level 4. I can read and write Chinese. I listen to Chinese music. I go to karaoke sometimes. And, I enjoy bubble tea and Chinese food. Does that make me a fob?

I cannot recommend the show highly enough. The Greek food is awesome (the moussaka was ambrosial), the service is attentive and warm, and the band, hoo wee, the band. It’s a bunch of old Greek guys who look like they’ve been doing this kind of thing for decades, just because they like to. The violinist, though, his name is Fred Elias, and even if there weren’t fabulous bellydancers, he’d be worth the trip alone. Words cannot describe how his bow on those strings draws you out of yourself into another world of enchantment and awe.

My friend Adam is making a Turducken for Thanksgiving. It is a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey.

Entertaining and having friends and family over for dinner has always been my true passion. I am from Tuscany, a region of Italy rich in tradition and famous for delicious foods–I think of them often now that I live in the US. The soup that my aunt used to make in her little country village near the city of Pisa is one of my favorite family recipes. The soup recipe is not strictly defined. As a matter of fact, as often happens with Italian recipes, the dish often changes based on the season, using whichever fresh vegetables are readily available.