random appetites

Random Appetites: Go Cups

Nibbles

New Orleans and Las Vegas are the two cities I know of where it’s perfectly legal for you to walk down the street with your beer or cocktail in hand. Consequently, if you’re in a wandering mood, you can request your drink be put in a Go (or Geaux, in The Quarter) cup rather than the usual glass or whatnot and mosey on down the way. While many places use coated paper cups or Styrofoam, some have capitalized on this and have printed plastic cups for their to-go orders. These also make useful “throws” during Carnival season (beads are not the only thing thrown from parade floats, t-shirts, cups, footballs and other items are quite popular).

Of course my recent move was what had me thinking of to-go items and this post has been a result of such stream of consciousness thought. If you’d like something more potent with your Random Appetites, check out these three wine-related articles that came, of all places, from Entrepreneur.com while I get back to digging my way out of cardboard purgatory.

This Winery’s Vintages Speak for Themselves

Art is Science at Six Sigma Ranch

Experience the Luxury of Hall Wineries

And, finally, a quick reminder that next week’s Random Appetites will post on Monday under a new name! Even if you read this through RSS, please stop by the some time next week to see the new, fresh look of Random Acts Comics!

Random Appetites: Fast Feasts

Nibbles

As much as I try to avoid it, sometimes I do succumb to the lure of the drive-through for those busy nights or just the don’t-wanna-cook blues. With the move this coming weekend and trying to pack and clean and not put anything else into the apartment before the truck arrives, fast food is probably on the menu as I get later into the week.

The problem, though, is that no one place has the perfect everything available on their menu. Since driving to 3 or 4 locations isn’t generally viable and sorta kills the time savings these quick fixes offer, we generally have to sacrifice one part of the meal for the sake of another, depending on what we’re craving the most. If I had my druthers, though, my “perfect” combined meal would be:

  • Burger King’s Chicken Tendergrill (formerly known as a chicken Whopper)
  • McDonald’s French Fries
  • Wendy’s Caesar Side Salad
  • Arby’s Jamocha Shake

And, of course, all the calories & cholesterol removed from the above, lol.

What would your perfect quick cuisine consist of?

Random Appetites: For the Love of Peeps!

Nibbles

Ah, yes, those sugared puffs of piped marshmallow fluff. I’ve found you either love ’em or hate ’em, and I happen to love ’em. Unfortunately it’s more of a love-hate thing, since they make me verrry sleepy if I eat more than a couple at a time. Sugar overload makes me sleepy, go figure. But even if you don’t like to EAT the bunnies, chickies and other figures that feature prominently in many holiday candy aisles (but mostly Easter) there is much more to their fluffy little heads.

Have you ever heard of peep jousting? It’s simple: place two peeps–each fitted with a toothpick lance under one, uh, wing–facing each other on a paper or other microwave-safe plate. Pop them into the microwave for just a bit (30 seconds should be enough) and watch who stabs who first.

Here’s a lovely, commentary-rich video of the event http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I18FIrE5xfk but don’t let that stop you from trying it yourself!

Of course, if you’re into less blood sugar-thirsty peepitude, I came across a couple of sweet books on the confection, but not like you’d expect. Check out Peeps: A Candy-Coated Tale or Peeps Ahoy!: A Candy-Coated Adventure on the High Seas. Or, if you’ve hit the local Dollar Store and found lots of peeps for only a few pips, check out Peeps: Recipes and Crafts to Make with Your Favorite Marshmallow Treat to use up your sugary score.

Random Appetites: Fail-Safe Foods

Nibbles

This week’s strips got me thinking about that moment we all have: someone’s coming for supper and we don’t have much time to prepare. What to make?

I think everyone should have at least 1 fail-safe meal they can whip out at a moment’s notice when the need arises. Mine happens to be a heavenly rosemary rissotto that I usually pair with chicken breasts. Simple and virtually fool-proof. Granted, rissotto isn’t exactly quick–taking 30 minutes on average–and needs constant stirring but the end product is a nice, rich comfort food that is sure to please most guests.

Another common fail-safe dish is (or, at least, was) linguine with clam sauce. A little more daring, true, because not everyone eats seafood (and some may be allergic!) and there’s a real danger with over-cooking clams, but the requirements for a good clam sauce can be kept on hand for any emergency.

What’s your fail-safe food?

Random Appetites: What’s for Dinner?

Nibbles

That’s got to be one of the most hated questions ever (right up there with the 10th ‘why’ from a child), right? Even if you’re only asking yourself.

When I was first married I had the brilliant idea to comb through my cookbooks each week, pick out recipes for supper and make out my grocery list so I only had to buy what I needed. I even categorized my list by the sections of the store to make shopping easier. And, really, this was a great idea–too bad the 1st husband never looked at the list I posted on the fridge and insisted on asking me, every day, what was for dinner. Sigh…

Amusingly enough, just before the dissolution of marriage #2 I found out someone else had the same idea I had 10 years ago but took it a few steps further, turning into an online service. That service? The Saving Dinner Menu Mailer.

Leanne Ely, the Dinner Diva [great name!], puts together 6 entree recipes with serving suggestions every week and makes them available to subscribers as a pdf file complete with a categorized, itemized grocery list. Nice, huh? And it’s really affordable, too, starting at $9.95 for a 3-month membership and only $29.95 for a full year. The Menu Mailer comes in three styles: Regular, Heart Healthy and Low Carb/Body Clutter, with vegetarian and kosher alternatives listed for most, if not all, recipes, plus breakfast and lunch suggestions.

I’ve used this service for several years and the only reason I didn’t renew last time is because I had over a year of menus saved to my harddrive and still hadn’t made it through all of them. (I cook 4 servings at a time so I only have to cook every other night and still have 2 dinners and 2 lunches for each night spent in the kitchen.) Overall, the recipes are easy, tasty and healthy with several fan favorites showing up often but enough variety overall that you really get a variety of dinner options week after week.

So if you’re continually stumped by that age-old question, there is help out there, if you know where to look.