I’m sorry we’ve drifted apart. I know it’s my fault. The calls became less and less frequent, until I stopped calling all together. I know it’s been over a year, but I miss you. I’ve been going though old photos and remembering what fun we had together.

Maybe we can start seeing each other again and see what happens…

M

Food Jammers consists of three brilliant, inventive and persistent guys who love food and power tools. It’s like watching friends sit around and talk about food, playing “what-if”, but then you actually get to see the follow-through.

In one episode, they want to make SuperFoods. Which in and of itself doesn’t sound that hard: get your seeds, pack them into jars and let them sprout. But they take it one step (or several) further and end up making a rotating carousel in which the seed jars move around a light source that simulates the sun.

In another episode, they are going camping and want a full thanksgiving dinner. By trial and error they end up freezing the turkey solid, slicing it with a saw, dehydrating each slice and reassembling it into a whole turkey (or something that resembles a whole turkey). And while it doesn’t exactly turn out as planned, it was fascinating to watch, and as a by-product, they end up making a kick-ass fruit leather jacket with the dehydrator.

The last episode I saw involved a food train that served up an amazing looking dinner. Each item was cooked in a hollowed out log and transported to the dinning area on a cobbled together track.

I’m lucky enough to have seen a few episodes because my brother knows them and has their dvds. But in trying to view more recent shows I’m dismayed to find out you can’t buy them, rent them or stream them (legally). You CAN get them via torrent, or if you’re a technical god and know how to spoof your IP so it looks like it’s coming from Canada, you can view them on foodtv.ca.  I suppose you could also plan your future trips to Canada, Australia or Latin America based on tv scheduling.

I wish, wish, wish American Food TV would pick them up. I really want to see the Hot Tub Shabu Shabu and the office filing cabinet smoker. If you too would like the see these, you can email Food Jammers at iwantfjonmytv@foodjammers.com or contact foodtv to request American programming. Please.

Technorati Tags: dehydrated turkey, food jammers, hot tub shabu shabu

Mayonnaise v. Bacon

Technorati Tags: bacon, baconnaise, mayonnaise

Celia Cheng at Cravings recently interviewed me for her special feature on the year of the pig: I HEART OINKERS!!!

Thanks Celia! Happy (Chinese) New Year!

Technorati Tags: Year of the Pig

In the package were two packages of the coveted ice candy bags. I’ve yet to use them as the weather in Seattle has been so dreary that just the thought of opening the freezer makes my bones cold. I’m saving them for the summer time.

Santos also included some curried macadamia nuts, a tin of hot & spicy spam (specially formulated for Guam), a hot pepper paste made from Guam peppers (Guam likes it hot!) and a jar of really delicious jerk seasoning.

The last two items were a little more random.

The box of Korean Chicken Snacks looked scary, but after my bout with bacon spray, I figured I was ready to take on anything. The Chicken Snacks reminded me of Munchos (remember Munchos?)—except that they were shaped disturbingly like chicken drumsticks and tasted like stale chicken bullion.

Lastly, Santos sent me a bag of maxi-pads.

This seemed a little too personal. But then I found her note telling me that no, she wasn’t sending me maxi-pads, but rather, clever little pads that are used to soak up and dispose of cooking oil. So when you’re done deep-frying your chicken, French fries, or what have you, you toss in this pad (which has crazy absorbent properties) and it swells up and consumes all the oil. Then you put the whole thing in the trash. It’s all very handy and clever. Although, I wish they were shaped more like… well, anything other than a maxi-pad.

Thank you Santos!

Technorati Tags: Guam, ice candy, spam

Daniel recently hosted the pork fest to end all pork fests with over FORTY POUNDS of pork—and he even made porcine desserts. This was the incredible menu:

• Brined pork tenderloin on crostini with a puree of sweet potatoes and bacon
• Mini pork burgers made with Italian sausage and potato rolls
• A beautiful smoked ham hock terrine

Yes, those were just the appetizers…

• First Course: Boiled bacon with a star anise, coriander & cinnamon rub and a port & honey glaze
• Second Course: Pork belly braised in chicken stock and soy sauce (this sounds a little like the incredible Su Dong Po pork I made a while back)
• Third Course: Pigs head (sweetbreads, tongue and ear) fried in butter
• Fourth Course: Pork loin roast stuffed with bread cubes, bacon, garlic, rosemary and parsley

Are you salivating yet? But wait! There’s more…

• Fifth Course: Sixteen chop crown roast
• Sixth Course: Roasted and salted pork shoulder

And now for dessert…

• Dessert One: Pierre Hermes Suzy’s Cake with toffee bacon and caramel ganache (yes, I said TOFFEE BACON)
• Dessert Two: Bacon brioche pudding with a sugar bourbon glaze

Pictures and a detailed account can be found here and here.

Bravo Daniel. Next time, I’d like to be invited ;-)

Technorati Tags: bacon, food, pork, roast

MIT Media Lab’s Counter Intelligence Group, which develops innovative kitchen designs, has created a machine that makes dishes on demand and recycles them after diners have finished a meal. The dishes are made from food-grade, nontoxic acrylic wafers, which are shaped into cups, bowls and plates when heated, then resume their original wafer shape when they are reheated and pressed.

How cool would that be? Acrylic wafers!
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,69113,00.html

Technorati Tags: acrylic, dishes, DishMaker, recycle

So how did I celebrate? Bacon would be the logical choice. But no, I celebrated with homemade wild boar jook. Bet you didn’t see that one coming…

Technorati Tags: congee, jook, wild boar

At first I was convinced that she was misinformed. People don’t eat fertilized duck eggs ON PURPOSE. Duck eggs that contain bones, beak, eyes and feathers. Her story was screaming ‘Urban Myth’. But I soon realized that it was true; Balut is considered a huge delicacy in some parts of the world. In the following days I read as much as I could about balut. I found it fascinating in a grotesque and horrifying way—given my phobia. I even emailed The Sneeze to try and get Steve to eat it.

Low and behold, Eddie was the one who pulled through. I was thrilled when I saw his latest food foray:

http://deependdining.blogspot.com/2005/09/balut-egg-of-darkness-pinoy-pinay.html
(a.k.a. Eddie eats balut. And lives to tell about it.)