Flavors 518

I have just finished reading Homeward Bound: Why Women are Embracing the New Domesticity by Emily Matchar. I thought it was a really interesting book, and during the time I was reading it I would talk about it to anyone who would listen. Basically, it explores trends and attitudes as far back as the 1880s regarding homemaking, and she interviews a lot of individuals currently involved in urban homesteading, attachment parenting, blogging about cupcakes, and selling scarves on Etsy. I definitely find myself very low on the spectrum of DIY compared to most of these people, and I have to say right now that I think reusable toilet paper is gross. A big part of the desire to return to the home as the author lays it out, is that the workplace hasn't really been that great for women, especially mothers. When you're unsatisfied with your job, it is a lot easier to glorify ways of doing things that were left behind decades ago for good reasons. I don't really fanta...

I always thought Mcgriddles at McDonald's sounded totally disgusting - sort of like Paula Deen's Krispy Kreme sandwiches . But today we stopped in at McDonald's for breakfast, and Scott got one. I was very skeptical at first, and I found the first bite interesting. I took another bite, and then I realized something - it isn't supposed to be like a weird mix of sweet and savory, it is supposed to be like a portable version of pancakes that is not as messy and does not take as much time to eat. Actually it wasn't half bad - certainly not the most disgusting thing in the world. Who knew?

Today I am going to talk about something very serious and that is cakepops. Now, I know they have gotten a bad rap. Elizabeth doesn't like them and Joy the Baker thinks they are lame (you know, all the cool girls). Some say they are a trend that will pass like cupcakes, and I offer the controversial stance that they are better than cupcakes. Cupcakes are not actually that easy to eat with all that extra frosting. In fact, I went to a place in Boston that sold shots of buttercream frosting, and I thought that was just gross. Cakepops are a smaller portion than cupcakes and therefore not as bad for you. Also, they are easier to transport. Here are things that are good about cakepops with some caveats. Of course the idea of smashing up cake and mixing it with frosting seems gross, but I sort of agreed to go in on a pan with my coworker without realizing I was agreeing ( Me: vague and open-ended - "Oh that sounds interesting." Coworker: "That will be $13." Me: ...

I've been talking a bit about the Pioneer Woman lately. I met her in NYC and I made her doughnuts . Here is a really interesting article about her from the New York Times magazine .  I love all this talk of "Real Housewives" and peeling open the plastic on the tapioca pudding as a huge contrast to Ree Drummond's life: " It takes only a few minutes of voyeuristically perusing Drummond’s pastoral pleasuredome, with its gorgeous photographs of Drummond cooking dinner for her rugged cowboy husband or home-schooling her four towheaded children, before you realize that you are a failure. Gazing at photos of Drummond’s kids riding their horses under a cloud-dappled Maxfield Parrish sky, you can see that, in comparison, you fail your brood every day. Because as you grumble and boil mac and cheese from a box and your kids beg to watch the latest Katy Perry video on your laptop, this woman fries chicken and teaches her children algebra and shakes her luscious ...

I discussed my fondness for marshmallows in this post and I made some for half the people I know for Christmas . I love them! Fluffy, fun to eat, what is not to love? Check out these Mugtoppers , which are cut in the shape of your mug so that they melt evenly over your hot chocolate or other hot drink. Brilliant!

Recently, I stumbled onto the White House Food Blog . It is really interesting because it includes a lot of information about recent discussions about school lunches. Also, apparently steak is big in the Obama white house . I also stumbled on the online portion of an exhibit at the National Archives about Uncle Sam's influence on the diets of the American people . I love all the historical photos. Also, cool images like this one: They also have a tumblr about the exhibit . It is all very interesting. All I know is that pizza is my favorite vegetable. Although, my second favorite is french fries.

I have the above postcard hanging up next to my desk at work. It makes me think about regional foods. Do they mean anything in terms of the sense of identity people have relating to a specific place? What does it say about places if they don't really have their own regionally specific foods? I've lived in three places - Detroit, NYC, and Albany - and when I think about the foods that might be associated with those places I wonder what it means. The funny thing about regional foods is if you grow up in that place you assume everyone in the world knows about those things. It becomes a bonding thing or a short hand for relating to someone who is also from there (like sports teams). If you grew up in Michigan, you couldn't possibly know that if you went to Florida and ordered Mackinac Island fudge ice cream they would look at you like you were crazy. As featured above pasties are big in MI. I saw something similar when I was in Scotland, so I wonder if it was Scottish im...

Williamstown, MA (where I work) may not have a gas station. The credit union may be in a house, and  the movie theater may play only one film at a time. The only coffee shop in town may close at 5pm, but there something new that makes us just as trendy as Portland, OR. There is now a food truck in town. I haven't tried it yet because the lines are always really long, and the students aren't even in town yet. Pretty exciting!