This week, Kelly and I received our trial shipment from Blue Apron. Blue Apron is a mail-order gourmet food service that delivers recipes and pre-portioned ingredents for three meals for two people for $60 each week. (That’s $10 per person, per meal). Check out the unboxing video and some more of my opinion on the service below.
Category Archives: Food
Coffee Run, a Success Story
figure 1: The lid is too big
So you stepped away from your cubicle to get a cup of coffee. With your favorite mug, you head to the coffee machine. You choose your brew, add some Milk (and maybe some sugar) and you head back to your desk, but along the way, you feel the cold harsh stares from the cleaning crew who have to follow you around cleaning up coffee puddles. Let’s face it, nobody understands fluid dynamics enough to manage across the office without sloshing the coffee. So I had this idea:
Our office provides lids for the substandard paper coffee cups they provide, but these lids are just a bit too large for my mug (see figure 1). I simply made a small tear in the side of the lid opposite the drinking tab (figure 2). Now starting witn one side of the gap I made, you can push the lid down onto the mug. Work around the mug and eventually the whole thing will lock into place. Press down in the center so the top is concave (figure 3), and voila. You can now cross the office without leaving a trail!
Planet Wings to join Pluto
Nope, These are my own. Cooked and sauced in my own kitchen.
Those who know me, can imagine my excitement when a new wing place opened around the block from my work. I pulled in to the parking lot immediately upon seeing the grand opening signs for Planet Wings in Bethpage today. I wish I could say that the experience met my expectations.
Immediately when I walked in, I got a strong sense of “fast food”. The decor reminded me of a popular burger joint. You know, the one with the clown spokesperson. Looking at the menu, the first thing I noticed were the burgers. Odd, for a place called “Planet Wings” but as I looked on I saw their wing menu with 24 award winning flavors.
Their wings are available from $0.90/wing for 5 wings up to $0.65/wing for orders of 100 or more. If you’re looking to sample among their 24 flavors, you’ll have to shell out the extra money for separate orders at the higher rates as they won’t mix/match your wings. I wanted to split up an order of 15, but they wouldn’t have it. Seeing the premium pricing, I expected normal to large sized wings, but was shocked to find what I call Pigeon Wings. These are the small wings served by most dive bars on their ten cent wing nights. I was unimpressed.
Homemade Bacon Candies
I don’t know exactly when this happened, but bacon has made its way from our breakfast plates to our post-dinner snack. Who would have thought that pork would be the next big dessert? A few months ago, it would have been my last choice but lately, I’ve found a place in my heart, and my stomach, for Candied Bacon.
My interest in candied Bacon was piqued with each installment of EpicMealTime, and I found my inspiration to make my own with a recent episode of Outrageous Food on the Food Network. The show went on site to The Sticky Pig, a shop that specializes in gourmet handmade candied bacon. The show featured the Pig in a Blanket, a candied bacon with a sweet, spicy and tropical twist according to The Sticky Pig website.
The Sticky Pig is located in California, and because the candies are made from Bacon, they need expedited shipping. A 4-Piece collection of Candied Bacon goes for $20 (at the time of this post), and has to be shipped overnight to guarantee quality and freshness. This gets expensive when you need to ship it across the country, so rather than shell out $10+ per piece of bacon candy, I decided to make my own. After watching Outrageous Food over and over, taking notes, shopping for the ingredients and setting up my web cam for my latest live cast, here’s what I came up with:
What makes a good cup o’ joe?
What is it about a fresh pot of Coffee that makes it taste so good. Or should I ask, what is it about the pot that someone else made that tastes so bad? Are they using too many grinds (i.e. 2 packs)? not enough grinds (half a pack?). Do I just have the magic touch when it comes to brewing a fresh pot?
I know that the water temperature and brew times are the same because the coffee machine we have doesn’t allow for any adjustments, but the National Coffee Association seems to have the answer.
According to their web site, “Brewed coffee should be consumed immediately after brewing. They note that a pot sitting on the burner for even 15 minutes will begin to develop a burned taste. I like their recommendation about pouring it into an insolated thermos. I’ll have to pick up a good large insulated cup to keep my brew warm.
In the meantime, let me know when you brew a pot and I’ll help you finish it!