A Classic Cookie Makes a Comeback
Given the choice between Hyrdrox and Oreos as a kid I chose Hydrox—I preferred the texture of the latter. I’m in luck, the Hydrox is back, for a limited time only. Kellogg’s, which owns the Sunshine brand, has resurrected the cookie that originally debuted in 1908, several years before the Oreo.

Another Candy Contest
Folks, you’ve got five more days to vote for the new JellyBelly flavor. The finalist flavors include: Honey, Sublime Chili Lime, Thai Ice Tea, Mojito and Acai Berry. I’m no candy expert, but it seems odd to make an artificial honey flavored jelly bean. Wouldn’t it be tastier to eat real honey?

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Even better than finding old cookbooks at garage sales and books stores, is finding clippings and handwritten recipes inside those books. Luckily, most of the books I’ve picked up over the years have notes and tidbits hidden inside the pages.

Mexican Fudge handwritten inside of The Betty Furness Westinghouse Cook Book, 1954. I either picked this book up in New Orleans or Austin, I can’t remember.

This NY Times article was tucked inside the Ladies’ Home Journal Cookbook from 1960 that I picked up at a garage sale in Providence. The article, dated Jan. 1, 1970 takes a look back at The 1960’s: Haute Cuisine in America. The author, Craig Claiborne looks back at the trends of the last decade including, French cuisine, the influence of the Kennedy’s in the White House, the abundance of new restaurants in NYC and Julia Child.

“The most astonishing part of the nineteen-sixties on the New York restaurant scene was the awesome debut of restaurants of numerous nationalities.”

The caption below the photo of the beef Wellington notes, “The most sought-after entree towards the end of the nineteen-sixties was the difficult-to-prepare beef Wellington, above. Fondues of all varieties–cheese, meat chocolate–were also popular for dinner parties.

What I found most odd about this clipping was that there were not attached recipes, the previous owner simply folded up the article and tucked it into her cookbook

Even funnier is that the reverse side of the paper is the sports section–hockey headline to be exact: Gilbert Returns to Action as Rangers Take on Black Hawks on Garden Ice. Even in adulthood I can’t seem to escape my childhood of Upstate NY full of food and hockey.

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Thought I’d roast a turkey breast for sandwiches instead of buying the deli stuff.  Made a batch of rice stuffing to bake underneath the turkey.

Drizzle turkey with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika.

Rice Dressing
3c cooked rice
1/2 c chopped celery
1/3 c grated pecorino romano or parmasean cheese
1egg, beaten
1/4 c chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all dressing ingredients and place in the bottom of a baking dish. Top with seasoned turkey breast and bake at 350 until internal temp. reaches 160. This was a fairly large turkey breast so cooking time was nearly 50 minutes. Take out of oven and let turkey rest–it should reach a temp of 165.

I left the skin on for cooking but removed before slicing. I also bought the breast still on the bone so I could remove the meat for roasting and use the rib bones for making stock.

Had a few slices of the the meat and some stuffing for dinner and will use the rest for sandwiches this week. I’ll use some of those super-fresh tomatoes from the market along with a crusty slice of sourdough bread, no mayo needed.

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I’m afraid I finally met a candy I don’t like. The problem with Violet Crumble is the texture. The inside ‘honeycomb’ is the texture of those crispy, baked meringues. To me that gritty feeling in the mouth is like eating chalk–not to mention the sensation. I simply can’t get past the texture to even talk about taste.

Clearly I was the kid in school that cringed in actual pain when teachers dragged chalk down the chalkboard. OUCH.

There are a few other, not so biased, reviews out there:
Candy Blog
Candy Addict

Btw, I found this at Long’s Drugs on Shattuck Ave in Berkeley.

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Inspired by my recent Thai cooking class, I stopped by the local Asian food mart in search of galangal, shrimp paste and fish sauce for green curry sauce. As I stood in line to pay I spotted a big bin of freeze dried durian. Normally I only make last minute impulse purchases when chocolate is involved, but having recently seen and read so much about the much-maligned fruit, I quickly grabbed a bag and added it to my basket.

Ok, so while I was excited to tear into the package, it wasn’t in the same way that I might anticipate a creamy chocolate bar or moist cake snack. Instead, I was eager to taste this indescribable king of fruits. What does it taste like? Indeed, it is indescribable. The best I can do is to say that, the freeze dried version anway, tastes like very strong, stale Japanese rice cracker snack mix with a fishy, salty aftertaste.

After doing some research, it seems that the gasses the fruit emits is likely to contribute to the intense flavor. Since there’s no gas in the freeze dried form, I’m guessing it’s much milder than taking a bite out of the fresh, chewy flesh.

I ate one piece and stored the rest away in a sealed bag–if anyone has a hankering, let me know. I don’t intend to finish the bag!

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