Hungry Times Two

In addition to my latest read, Keith Richard's Life , (and yes, it's coherent), I'm also reading two food-related works. From SXC/Zsuzsanna Kilian The first is one I snagged via the incredibly helpful Interlibrary Loan at my library branch -- The Essential New York Times Cookbook by NYT food editor and writer Amanda Hesser . Hesser asked for reader feedback and sifted through all the published recipes -- from cocktails to sweet endings -- in the paper's annals and whittled it down to a hefty red doorstop of a compendium.

Haaaaaaaaaay, it's Fridaaaaaaaaaaay. I know I can't be the only one pleased by this. Do your happy dance, whether you're in an office cube or at home, still in your jammies. (If you ARE home, still in your jammies, I envy you. Greatly.) Today I extol the virtues of the cookbook, and books about food, period. Yesterday I visited my local farmer's market in little ol' Riverdale, Md., after I locked myself out of the house and needed some way to pass the time 'til my husband came home. (Long story short - my house key was broken, the bottom half completely GONE. I don't know how this happened, and it really pissed me off when I made the discovery trying to get in the back door. I was even more pissed when a phone call to my husband to find out when he would arrive revealed that he knew the key was broken - the missing half was in the front door when he came home late the night before. He said he thought I knew about it when I left the house. Uh, no. Curses to l...

(I'm doing this post early, as I will be sans computer at the beach in just one day. Yes, I am counting down the minutes til 5 pm!) The oh-so prestigious James Beard Foundation recently awarded the Best Blog of 2009 to Serious Eats , a very cool site full of all kinds of exciting food news, recipes, photos, videos and more. I added them to follow their posts and I am incredibly glad I did, or else I might have missed this gem: Peanut Butter Sushi. Yes, please. I am a lover of peanut butter. I think it's genetic; my late dad, a man of zero culinary skills (not really his fault; he came from a Southern household and generation where women knew their place in the kitchen, thankyouverymuch ), had one solitary game plan when it came to making something: a peanut butter sandwich. Hell, he didn't even need the bread. Oftentimes, there would be four spoons resting in the sink, all covered in crunchy or creamy smears of peanut butter. Give the man a jar of Jiff or Peter Pan and he...

You know when you've made a meal out of a cup and a half of cottage cheese and go out for a jog that leaves you wincing and wondering if you have any knee cartilage remaining that you're on one hell of a guilt trip. Such was the case on Sunday, when I plead my case to the Weekend Food Gods, asking for amnesty despite the last two days of food gluttony. It was gonna take more than some fat-free dairy products and sweaty poundin' of pavement to undo what I'd done. Scott and I hosted his dad visiting from GA and well, those men like to eat. Put fresh cocktails in their hands and full plates of good food in front of them and they're all kinds of congenial. I can't say I'm not partial to their ways. Who can blame them? On Friday evening, after Scott's dad learned the joys of navigating the streets of D.C., we set out for a place I found on UrbanSpoon.com. {US is a handy site - considering the recent controversy over the legitimacy of Yelp.com business review...

I've got to get to 2 Amy's to try what's considered DC's best pizza. How do I know about 2 Amy's? Shout Out to Capital Spice - a very cool blog on DC's best eats. They're on Twitter @ CapitalSpice . Second Shout Out to me - I'm on Twitter too @ writeonerin . See how I master the art of 140 characters or less - or how I just sound really mundane and utterly ridiculous. Tweet, tweet - spring is almost here. Oh, how I have missed the sunshine and warmth. Bring it.

I love the simplicity of this blog - Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide. Lord knows there's enough material in this Metro area to keep him busy bloggin' on good (or bad) eats. And above all, I love his tagline - All Food is Ethnic Food. So true! Have a tasty weekend!

NPR's Morning Edition is presently running a cool series on farm-fresh food finds, sending reporters out to farmer's markets across the country for the freshest picks on the vine. Their template is incredibly well-designed - click on a food product and up comes an article, food facts on the featured tasty treat, and recipes. Yet another reason to blissfully geek out over public radio, and more reasons to support small farms.

One of my co-workers just turned me on to www.freerice.com , a great game she plays when she's idle on the job or needs a little sharpening of her cognitive processing. On Free Rice, you earn "points" of rice grains for every vocabulary word you correctly define, and the rice is then donated to the UN World Food Program. The site's creator says playing the game will help you: Formulate your ideas better Write better papers, emails and business letters Speak more precisely and persuasively Comprehend more of what you read Read faster because you comprehend better Get better grades in high school, college and graduate school Score higher on tests like the SAT, GRE , LSAT and GMAT Perform better at job interviews and conferences Sell yourself, your services, and your products better Be more effective and successful at your job. Big claims, but hey, it's a neat concept and a cool charity.

So I couldn't resist... While at work *sheepish shrug* I found this essay I had to post from Morning Edition. Now I know what taste sensation I like the best!

So, not to depress anyone, but I found a weird blog about Death Row inmates' last meal requests. Steak's a popular meal item, but some, such as a vending machine sub sandwich, are puzzling. Plus, Domino's Pizza as the final meal? Ewwwww - it has killing properties on its own, IMHO. My question: What would your last meal be? Mine: Sharp cheddar cheese and a Granny Smith Apple to start, with Pad Thai (three-star spicy), washed down with a Mango Lassi, followed by Blackberry Cobbler and vanilla bean ice cream. It's just what I'm feelin' at the moment.