November 20, 2004

Friday Fry #12

Tvdinner  Yesterday's early morning commute was enhanced by NPR's report, Pure Chocolate for the Holidays.  Susan Stamberg's  interview with chocolate expert, world class chocolatier and 'grand dame of chocolate, Fran Bigelow, who is now an author of the new recipe book Pure Chocolate.  Fran is the owner of Seattle's Fran's Chocolates the most visible of her products is the gold bar.  The site includes recipes for Chocolate Espresso Sauce and Figs Stuffed with Chocolate Ganache.

Food News You Can Use   The daily work commute runs, each way between 80-120 minutes each way.  If I didn't have an IPOD and Audible life would be unbearable behind the wheel.  I simply plug a cable into the cigarette lighter and sound is emitted from the car speakers. I carry a number of tunes, audio books and NPR weekly programs.  If you've yet to discover this quality of life enhancer check it out.  And if you need a reason, starting now, To The Best of Our Knowledge is delivering a month long food series.  Each show segment is two-hours (one-hour is the food series) and a month-long subscription available for your listening convenience is a mere $9.95.  Sign-up by today and you'll get the first program, Mimi Sheraton  (the next one comes out tomorrow) as part of the subscription. Additional programs are Slow Food Nation, Meat & Potatoes, Spice, Spice Baby, Java Jive, and Sweet Tooth.

Does it Include Service?     Five thousand dollars for 37-courses, let's see that's about $135 a course.  That's what is being planned by the Societe des Chefs de Saskatchewan for a centennial project and charity fundraiser. The meal will be based on recipes and cookbooks written in France from 1600 to 1850. Among the courses will be caviar, a whole roasted wild boar, truffles, foie de gras, turtle soup, pheasant, and eight dessert courses.

TV DINNER @ 50  What is life but one of extremes?  Swanson's TV Dinner turns 50 this year.  Clarence Birdseye may have invented the process of freezing food products.  However the rise of TV dinners is due to Swanson's creativity in packaging the food in a segmented tray that gave the liftoff to the alternative to home cooking. The idea for the aluminum trays came from the airlines. According to the a recent news report Swanson's "did receive 'hate mail' - mostly from disgruntled husbands who were suddenly coming home to find precooked, reheated dinners instead of their favorite home cooking."  Today 66% of Americans eat dinner with the audio box.  The Single Man's Guide to TV Dinners can serve you us some serious critique on the choices.

Nov 20, 2004 8:45:00 AM | Quick Bytes

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what happens to the hole when the donut is gone?

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