Categories
Well Stocked Pantry

Celebrate the Noodle

noodles
Photo by qoo monster (Flickr)
[CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Did you know that March is National Noodle Month? If not, don’t worry — neither do many other people when asked. Why does the noodle have its own honored month? Well, pasta is one of the top foods in the United States. Heck, Mac ‘n’ Cheese is practically a national dish!

Pasta History

The very first commercial pasta plant within the U.S. was founded in 1948 in Brooklyn, New York. Many more plants were build over the next few years that the manufacturers and retailers decided create the National Pasta Association. This way they could pool their resources and help each other with issues in marketing and manufacturing. The NPA was founded in 1981.

But noodles got their start much, much earlier than that. In the 4th century B.C., pasta was eaten by the Chinese and was even mentioned in Greek Mythology. There are two notable figures who have been credited with the introduction of pasta. Marco Polo, who brought noodles from Asia to the Western world, and Thomas Jefferson, who brought the first “maccaroni” maker to America n 1789 and later invented a pasta machine of his own.

Categories
Product Reviews Tools of the Trade

Product Review: One Touch Can Opener

If you are a regular in your kitchen, then chances are you know exactly how frustrating opening a can can be. While sometimes you are able to get the can open without any incident, other times the can opener either stalls, forcing you to open the rest of the can yourself through brute force or it simply doesn’t work on the can. It is difficult to see which one would be worse, since while not being able to get the can open at all can be very frustrating, getting it open partway and cutting yourself while prying it ope the rest of the way could be even worse, not to mention potentially dangerous to your health. Conventional can openers are just frustrating things and that is ultimately why the market response to the OneTouch can opener has been so great.

For under $40, you can get your hands on this cool kitchen gadget, allowing you to kiss the days of frustrating can opening goodbye! The can opener itself is shaped like a large remote control and this large surface area allows it to interact directly with the can on a number of different fronts; something you would never be able to do with the old can openers that most people still own today. The can opener’s large surface area gives it the versatility to use the one-touch system to open any can of any size. Previously the biggest knock on automatic can openers was that they did not accommodate size very well, but this is a thing of the past as far as the one touch can opener is concerned.

There are drawbacks, however. For one, the can opener is operated by battery power. Although one set of batteries can get you through opening 100 cans, you’ll still have the added expense of batteries. If you open one or two cans a day (people that use a lot of canned goods in their cooking might achieve this), that one set of batteries can last anywhere from two months to well over a year. So, maybe it isn’t that bad after all. To improve your return on investment (ROI), you can use rechargeable batteries and extend the value of the batteries even further.

Another that I found is that it can be a little hard to figure out at first. It took me quite a while to get it to open one can. Of course, after using it for a while, it will probably become second nature. But for those who get frustrated easily, this might not be the can opener for you.

Now on the best feature of the one touch can opener. Rather than leaving something sharp and potentially dangerous, the can opener leaves something that would not even cut a balloon ball open! That is simply remarkable and it is perhaps the biggest and most welcome surprise that came out of the development of the one touch can opener. Now, you can get a manual can opener that does this, but I haven’t had much luck with those, returning all of them back to the store.

I give it a 3 out of 5 chefs — the frustration factor was a bit much for me and I don’t like the added cost of batteries — I’d always need to keep a manual on hand in case they ran out and I didn’t have a backup. However, I think this might be a good choice for people who have a hard time using manual can openers.

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Categories
Tools of the Trade

Choosing The Right Bread Maker

There is something wonderful about the scent of fresh baked bread. But how often do you have the time and energy to do all that kneading, waiting and then kneading again? That’s where a bread maker comes in. However, there are so many to choose from that you might find it daunting to even try looking!

I’m here to let you know that choosing the right bread maker is relatively easy. All you need to do is visit your local store that sells kitchen appliances and choose the one that best suits your needs. Of course, the Internet can play an important role in helping you research before you drive around from store to store. So, how do you choose the right bread maker?

Take a Look at the Space in Your Kitchen
You need to make sure that you have enough room for your bread maker. Though not overly big, it will require some storage, so you want to make sure that you have plenty of space to place the bread maker when not in use.

Categories
All Things Pumpkin

Tip: How to Pick Up a Pumpkin

carrypumpkin.jpgAlways pick up a pumpkin from the bottom.

Never carry it by the stem, as this might damage the pumpkin around the stem and maybe even cause it to break off.

Once you pick it up, notice how it feels. A pumpkin that has a good, solid weight is more likely to be healthy all over. However, a pumpkin that appears oddly lightweight and hollow might just be rotting on the inside.

Categories
Creative Cookery Special Occasions

Cooking for Two on Valentine’s Day

Valentine's dinner setting
Photo via pixabay.com [CC0 Public Domain]
I always know when my special beau calls me on my cell phone, for it suddenly will start playing “our song.” Every time I hear it, my heart flutters.

Do you feel that way about your special someone? If you do, you might want to share a special meal for two tomorrow in celebration of Valentine’s Day. You could go out and enjoy dinner together at your favorite restaurant or the restaurant where you shared your first date.

But then, there is something about a home-cooked meal that says “I love you” even more than an nice restaurant. The good thing is that cooking for two can be done and can be a lot of fun if you pour your heart and soul into the meal planning and preparations. (Of course, if you’re just thinking about this today, you might be a bit pressed for time.) That’s why I’m posting this today (besides it being a Wednesday, the day I usually post).

Categories
Special Occasions

Chinese New Year Cooking Ideas

Julia and Alpha's CNY Yee Sang Prosperity Salad
Julia and Alpha’s CNY Yee Sang Prosperity Salad
Photo by Alpha via Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0]
Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Tomorrow The Year of the Rat begins, so I thought it would be a nice touch to talk a little about one of my favorite cuisines — Chinese!

There are few festivities that are felt around the world on quite the grand scale as that the Chinese New Year. In fact, I really feel for all those people in China who might not make it home for the holiday because of the dreadful weather.

This is an event that affects people all around the globe and the celebrations are quite exotic and a lot of fun for everyone involved. (Did you know that now is the time to put into place new feng shui remedies? If not, you might check out my dear friend Anna Maria Prezio at fengshuiharmony.net.)

One thing that many outsiders may not realize is that several of the aspects of the Chinese New Year celebration have a very specific purpose and meaning — including the food! Whether you are Chinese are not, I know very few people in the world that couldn’t use a small degree of good fortune to make things in their worlds run a little more smoothly.

Categories
All Things Pumpkin

Pumpkin Wine

pumpkinwine.jpgHere’s something interesting found on the Internet: Pumpkin Wine. Three Lakes Winery in Wisconsin makes this and it sells for $9.95 a bottle. According to the marketing description, it is made only from 100% pie pumpkins (that would be sugar pumpkins, I assume). “It has been described as having qualities of a semi-sweet Chardonnay.”

Then again, I found an article by Dan and Krista Stockman of the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind., that found it to have quite a different flavor.

We bought Three Lakes Winery’s Wine of the Pumpkin for $2.99 on clearance at a grocery store…. The label said it was wine made from pie pumpkins: We knew it was strange, but we couldn’t resist, especially at that price.

We opened it a couple of weeks ago and realized why it was on clearance. It smelled like pumpkin guts. It also tasted like pumpkin guts….

Checking the label, it said to drink fresh, that it was not meant to age, and there was no telling how old it was. Hmmmm.

So now I’m terribly curious. What does this wine taste like? Did the Stockman’s bottle taste funky because it was too old? If you have the opportunity to try this wine, please post your experience as a comment to this post.

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