Christina Lee - Part 2

Posts Tagged ‘christina lee’

The Truth About National Grilled Cheese Month

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

No, that's not the Virgin Mary you see in your grilled cheese sandwich -- that's the omnipresent eye of Big Dairy. Photo by Svenstorm/Flickr.

No, that's not the Virgin Mary in your grilled cheese sandwich. What you're seeing is the omnipresent eye of Big Dairy.

In Epi-Log’s report today on National Grilled Cheese Month, blogger Tanya Steel joked that the big cheeses at Kraft were likely behind this dairy-friendly holiday.

The story got me thinking: Is National Grilled Cheese Month a Congress-sanctioned, lobbyist-promoted commemorative month, or is it just an unofficial gimmick that feeds story-hungry bloggers (like me) a news hook?

After a bit of hunting around on the Internet, I found this 123-page report to Congress on the National Dairy Promotion and Research Program and the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Program. It’s filled to the udders with disturbing details about their widespread dairy promotions — including April’s National Grilled Cheese Month.

Apparently, these dairy PR firms are behind all kinds of ubiquitous events that we’d never guess were premeditated in board rooms. Everyday happenings — like the cheese sampling tables at Kroger or the rolling out of new fast food sandwiches — help pad the dairy industry’s bottom line.

Check out this (long-ish) blurb from the report about the dairy industry’s behind-the-scenes collaboration with big name fast food companies:

DMI [Dairy Management, Inc.] staff provided Taco Bell ® with consumer research and trend data to show the large impact of cheese in how customers decide which menu option to choose. As a result, Taco Bell ® developed and launched a new Chicken Quesadilla item, which featured a blend of Cheddar, Pepper Jack, and Mozzarella cheeses. Taco Bell ® reports using more than double their usual amount of cheese during the five-week promotional debut of the Chicken Quesadilla. And, for the third straight year, Wendy’s ® restaurant introduced its popular Cheddar Lovers’ Bacon Cheeseburger sandwich. During the four-week promotion period, Wendy’s ® sold more than 12 million sandwiches, each featuring two slices of Cheddar cheese and a Cheddar sauce. The promotion used nearly 1.7 million pounds of cheese and the chain’s cheese use grew by 15 percent, compared to the same time period a year ago. DMI assisted Wendy’s ® with the development of this cheese-friendly sandwich in 1999.

It turns out Tanya’s conspiracy theory wasn’t too far from the truth, which does nothing to relieve my general paranoia.

Maybe I should go distract myself with a grilled cheese sandwich.

Photo Credit: Svenstorm/Flickr.

– Christina Lee

A Sweet Peek at the Peeps Show

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Flick member brett neilson's lovingly rendered "Peep Show" was not a contestant in the Post's Peeps Diorama Contest...but it should have been.

Flick member brettneilson's punningly rendered "Peep Show" was not a contestant in the Post's Third Annual Peeps Diorama Contest...but it should have been.

I’m still kicking myself for missing the March 15^th deadline for the Washington Post’s Third Annual Peeps Diorama Contest – especially since CVS is currently hawking the best-selling non-chocolate Easter candy for only 96 cents a box.

This year’s champion mallow craft won’t be announced until Easter Sunday, but it’s not too late to check out last year’s winning entry (along with the 36 finalists) in the 2008 “Peeps Show.”

The most visually arresting entry for me is Arlington resident Peter Byer’s “Nightmare in Pink” (see 3rd slide in the Peeps show). The Post’s caption to this Lewis Carroll-inspired nightmare scape sums it up:

It’s a twisted funhouse of pastel dread, so vivid you can almost hear the vicious hiss of the demon feline bearing down on the sleeping Peep.

My vote for last year’s Most Subversive Use of Peeps? Kate Bowen’s diorama of Senator Craig’s illicit bathroom scene (see 8th slide).

Yeah, she went there.

While we’re on the topic of Easter (however loosely), have you made your brunch reservations yet? Check out our 2009 Easter Dining Guide for ideas on places to brunch, likely spots for Easter Bunny sightings, as well several non-brunch venues for folks who seek unconventional good times.

– Christina Lee

Heat Eat Review: A Convenience Food Guide for Busy Lunchers

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Photo Credit: danorth1

Whether or not we’d admit it, many of us probably have some Lean Cuisines stashed away in the freezer for emergencies (or for lunch…and sometimes dinner).

Those microwavable meals stacked neatly in the grocery freezer aisles are constantly on massive sales (Giant, for example, features Stouffer’s entrees at 5 for $11 in its circular this week), making it even easier to give in and pick up a few boxes to supplement the nutritious, preservative-free, lovingly homemade meals that otherwise sustain you.

How do you decide which convenience foods to buy and which to leave on the shelves to marinate in their own sodium benzoates?

You certainly can’t judge these books by their deceptively stylized covers or even rely on brand names for consistency. At lunchtime, you’re left playing a rather unpleasant game of trial-and-error.

Abi Jones, a former volunteer at Teach for America Corps, has come up with a better way. On her website Heat Eat Review, she and her team of 30 writers from all over the U.S. very nicely offer to play guinea pig for us and report thoughtfully on all varieties of nuke-able fare.

In keeping with Jones’ day job in user-centered design, her website is a pleasure to navigate. Want to search for only five-star products (or the scary zero-star products)? You can do that. Counting Weight Watcher’s points? You can sort her reviews by WW point value. There are even reviews on food for vegans (like Heather’s review of Tofurkey) and others on specialty diets.

What’s more, the site is fun to read. Here’s a sample review for an unfortunate kid’s fish sticks meal (check out the play-by-play video review as well):

This meal wasn’t so much a lunch as an act of vengeance. If you’ve been doing some sinning lately (Fat Tuesday festivities and poor voting choices on Super Tuesday both come to mind), you could always choose this meal as part of a Friday Lenten penance. It must be worth at least 40 Hail Marys.

I’m happy to report that reviewer Daria gave Campbell’s Select Harvest 98% Fat-Free New England Clam Chowder a five out of five rating. That very can of soup has been sitting in my desk drawer (next to the tea bags and the bus schedules) for a over week now. I’ve been putting off the inevitable in case it turns out to be one of the many evil-tasting convenience foods that I loathe. With that positive review from Heat Eat Review, I think I might crack it open today and give it a try.

What are your go-to convenience meals? Alternatively, what’s the worst microwaved meal you’ve ever eaten?

– Christina Lee

Extreme Frugality Goes Gourmet

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Photo Credit: Pink Moose

W. Hodding Carter writes a new series for Gourmet called “Extreme Frugality,” an hilarious and honest account of his family’s attempt to live within their means: $550 a month for a brood of six.

While Carter readily admits that his family’s lifestyle isn’t as “extreme” as some penny pinchers out there (he probably hasn’t started recycling vacuum bags like self-proclaimed “Frugal Zealot” Amy Dacyczyn), his methods extend far past clipping coupons and ordering from the dollar menu.

Going back to traditional ways of living is key for Carter: raising hens for eggs, heating the hearth with bartered firewood and throwing stones at wild grouse in hopes of a free meal.

As-yet unsuccessful at killing his own game, he finds an alternate source of free-range fowl:

A friend of mine named Adam Scott couldn’t get up the nerve to eviscerate and prepare one of his chickens, which had apparently committed suicide by banging her head into a plastic crate. I arrived home to find his dead chicken hanging by its feet next to the front door…I cut up the bird; smeared it with chopped garlic, olives, and anchovies; covered it with potatoes; bathed it in chicken stock; and baked it in the oven. Lisa and the kids, having watched the bird hang by the front door for a day while I procrastinated, were a bit hesitant to dig in, but the potatoes won them over and they all ate at least a little bit of the free free-range chicken.

While waiting for summer to give his garden a kick start, Carter employs a simple yet effective grocery strategy to feed his family on $350 – $400 a month. He buys only what’s on sale, which inevitably leads to buying what’s in season.

By rejecting the common practice of sticking to strict grocery lists, Carter shops like upscale seasonal restaurants, such as 2941 and One Block West, that change their menus daily to take advantage of the freshest available ingredients.

As Carter puts it: “This new way of shopping is the poor man’s answer to the chef only buying the produce or meat of the day at his local farmers market: Shop with the slash mark and cook with your heart.”

Side Note: I first heard about the “Extreme Frugality” series from the cheerful frugality blog, Like Merchant Ships, written by a mom blogger who was frugal way before it was cool. “My goodness,” Meredith says in her blog, “we are certainly in vogue.”

– Christina Lee

Restaurant Rumors Confirmed

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Despite the spate of recession-related restaurant closings, a few brave chefs have been flirting with the idea of expanding their brands. What plans for new openings are actually in the works?

Photo Credit: Seth Freeman/Northern Virginia Magazine

Eponymous Chef Geoff Eying Tysons

Fans of Chef Geoff Tracy of Chef Geoff’s and Chef Geoff’s Downtown will be pleased to know that he’s opening a new location in Tysons Corner called (what else?) Chef Geoff’s Tysons. Located in ritzy Fairfax Circle (home of Tiffany & Co., Hermes and Kinkead’s Colvin Run Tavern), Cheff Geoff’s Tysons will serve his signature Modern American cuisine.

New District Digs for Donna

Chef Roberto Donna of Arlington’s Bebo Trattoria plans to open a new restaurant in D.C. this May. The new upscale Italian restaurant will resemble the former Galileo, including an attached Laboratoria, but with one kitchen to serve both “so there will be more control,” says Donna.

While Donna mans the new place in D.C., Claudio Sandria will be in change of Bebo Trattoria. Sandria, who attended a cooking school with 14-year-old Donna in Italy, used to work with him at the former Galileo and Laboratoria.

As for Bebo, Donna says it will stay pretty much the same, remaining the more casual counterpart to the more upscale dining rooms in downtown.

Morou: More Mulling, More Shopping

Plans for a new D.C. restaurant by Chef Morou of Farrah Olivia in Alexandria have been put on hold for now. Having worked in the District for much of his career, Morou seriously considered the former Butterfield 9 on 14th Street, but that plan “didn’t work out.” He’s still shopping around for locations, but he doesn’t “want to think too far ahead.”

If a new place does pan out, Morou knows exactly what kind of restaurant he wants to open: a casual, “recession-friendly” bistro-like place offering “different small dishes from all over the world.”

In the meantime, the West African chef is working on “reintroduce[ing] Farrah Olivia to the public as not as expensive as people think we are.” According to Morou, Farrah Olivia has “the cheapest menus in D.C” and is “not as stuffy.”

– Christina Lee

Edible Scrabble for Epicures

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, March 20th, 2009

At Giant recently, I noticed a geeky new addition to the snack cracker aisle: Cheez-It Scrabble Junior.

Of course, I picked up a box (I’m a sucker for foods that spell). Still, I’m offended by the idea that Sunshine Foods and Hasbro seem to think that lettered cheesy crackers are the sole domain of “Junior” players, as if we adults can’t get as giddy as the neighborhood spelling bee champ about them.

They’re letters of the alphabet, after all. You can use them to spell “dog” or “Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”

So to prove that Scrabble Junior Cheez Its can be every bit as sophisticated and erudite as, say, Scrabble Grown-Up Cheez Its, I’m going to use them to spell some of the new, Scrabble-sanctioned food words added to the fourth edition of the OSPD (known to Scrabble novices as the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary).

In order of increasing point value (calculated the lazy way using this engine):

biryani1