A biscotti kind of day

I started off with the intention of making apple crisp in the slowcooker. I have some excellent apples that I bought at Whole Foods that are from Vermont. While I would rather go apple picking not only for the experience but to support our local apple farmers I have discovered two disappointing things here. One, it is very, very expensive to go apple picking here. Two, the apples south of Vermont do not taste nearly as good. I think the best apples I have ever eaten come from either Quebec or Vermont. I wonder if it's the cold?


When we lived in Quebec, my favourite fall experience was going to Arthur's Orchard near the small southern town of Rockburn. Not only did we get to pick awesome apples (for a great price), but they had a small cafe where they sold homemade pies, chili, split pea soup (oh how I miss French split pea soup). It was quite the experience.


Anyway, back to my point. I have some good apples in the fruit bowl. However the picky eaters here (myself included) have decided that each one has a small bruise somewhere. They've been sitting on the counter making sad apple faces at me for a couple of days wanting me to do something with them. Today I remembered that I used to make the best apple crisp in the slow cooker. Again, this was in Quebec, so I also had a steady supply of maple sugar (mmmmmmm) and I used that along with the brown sugar.


I stared at the apples, and really, truly was ready to start working on them. But, then the part of my brain that is ruled by chocolate took over and demanded biscotti.

Jenna and I pounded out a batch of biscotti. Double chocolate, walnut biscotti to be specific.












And then because I somehow gave birth to a boy who does not like chocolate - I made homemade kettle korn popcorn.

Now, I must get back to cooking healthy again before none of my clothes fit!

The "F" word...

I have to admit, I am a reality TV addict. I also love watching food TV. So, when you put the two together I am one happy girl.

But, I'm starting to have issues with Gordon Ramsay.

I used to watch Kitchen Nightmares, I have watched Master Chef and two seasons of Hell's Kitchen. I liked watching the chefs improve in Master Chef, I liked it when the restaurants turned around in Kitchen Nightmares. I even found the swears and temper tantrums in Hell's Kitchen funny (mostly) in the last season (the first one I watched).

This season of Hell's Kitchen though is bothering me. I have watched every week so far, but each week I am getting more disturbed. I am at the point where I think I may quit watching. But, first I want to have my say about Gordon Ramsay and his antics.

Only 2 weeks into this season aside from using the *f* word more times than I can count and yelling at them to "pi$$ off" all the time - he called one of the chefs - Raj - a "fat ass". This seemed to me to be not only a personal attack but a completely unnecessary one. I remember thinking about this for a while after watching this episode and wondering why it was ok - not only for Gordon Ramsay to say that, but for the network to air that. Perhaps they feel it is ok to have someone be attacked because of their size, but not race, color, religion?

Last week Vinny from Queens got it from Gordon Ramsay. Vinny had the audacity to put out old risotto and was told by chef Ramsay to "shut your fat East Coast mouth you little f*#k".

What?

To make it worse (or I suppose better for TV ratings) it was the 100th service in Hell's Kitchen and family night. So, the restaurant was filled with kids. Not just other people's children, but Gordon Ramsay's own children!

What did he say to his kids? "Listen closely while daddy swears at the people working for him. Maybe some day you can grow up to be just like me!"

I was left after this episode wondering why these contestants put up with this. I get that being a great chef is their dream. I get that Gordon Ramsay is a great chef and he's giving them the opportunity to run a great restaurant and that opportunities like that are very few and far between. But at the cost of your self respect?

I put myself in a similar position when I was younger and would have given anything to keep my riding career going. I had a trainer who was terrible to me. He used to yell at me all the time - swear at me - often punch me in the arm *hard*. I kept with it for a while because I was showing and doing well, and teaching a lot of lessons and making pretty good money. Finally the cost was no longer worth the pay out. I wish I had left it sooner, but I get why some people would put up with it.

Either that or they are all actors and could care less.

The thing is - Gordon Ramsay is not an actor. Or rather, even if he is acting, he's still known as Gordon Ramsay - real person. Could you imagine if Jamie Oliver spoke to someone like that? I'd fall over backwards.

I have watched other shows where I could tell Gordon Ramsay really loves food and loves finding where it comes from. From him I have learned the importance of "respecting the ingredient". I think I could learn a lot from him.

But, as of now I'm kind of disgusted by him. It's hard to learn from someone you don't respect.

It tastes like chicken....

I have heard that phrase often.

Question: "What does it taste like?"

Answer: "It tastes like chicken."

I have heard this used to describe rabbit, frog legs, turtle, snake and probably some other meats that are not coming to me.

As an aside, the only one of the meats listed I have actually tried is frog legs - they kind of did taste like chicken. I tried them once when we were living in Quebec, and they seemed to be in the grocery store all the time. I probably won't have them again after watching my cousin make his frog legs do the can can across the table at The Grizzly House on one of our Christmas trips home. The image was a bit more than I needed - hilarious though!

So, why do we use this phrase to describe something that one would think would not be similar at all? I mean - why on earth would a snake and a chicken taste the same? I did some searching around on the internet and what I surmised was that it is used because of the bland taste of chicken.

Chicken has a bland taste? I guess I had not really thought about it before. I have issues with chicken. I have strong, serious issues with the way most chickens are raised. I actually went for a few years where I refused to buy/eat chicken at all. I try now and buy all my chicken and turkey from the Ekonk Turkey Hill Farm, although I believe soon my dairy farm Baldwin Brook Farm will be selling their chickens for meat (we now get our eggs from them - I love not only the way they taste, but that I get to see how the chickens live).

Almost a year ago I bought an 8lb chicken from the Turkey farm and put it in the freezer to save for a feast. Well, we went to friends for Thanksgiving and then home for Christmas and we never seemed to have the big feast we were planning. Sunday we pulled it out of the freezer and popped it into the oven. We did absolutely nothing to it besides add a bit of water and turn the oven on.

It was amazing. If you asked me what it tasted like, I would not be able to use the phrase "it tastes like chicken" and have you understand it. Sadly, that is exactly what it did. It tasted like chicken. It had a taste - and a good one at that. It also became an awesome broth that I will now freeze and use for some great winter soups.

An 8lb free range chicken. A chicken that ran around outside and lived. It probably tasted because those muscles actually got developed, giving the meat some taste? Or that it ate something besides corn? Or that it saw the sun? Any way I look at it, it made a heck of a good meal.

The price value also was pretty impressive. It was $30 for the 8lb chicken. My family of 4 could probably get at least 5 meals from that, plus I have enough chicken broth for probably 3 of the vat sized soups I make (each soup would probably have 20 mug size servings).

It does not taste like chicken!