Synaptic Sugar

When you want to explain to your customers how the name of one of your products should be pronounced, at least take care to make sure you are getting it right first.

Thanksgiving day is a holiday created to give thanks for all the things one has at the end of the harvest season. It is observed in more than one country and stems from many different traditions and/or political events in each; as such, there are also several variations in the composition of the traditional meal that is also closely observed by most people nowadays on this day. Here’s a brief example of a possible food assortment:

• Herb-roasted chicken with gravy
• Great stuffing with white bread, cornbread, pine nuts, garlic, sage, celery, parmigiano cheese, onions, mushrooms
• Mashed potatoes, made with three varieties of potatoes and cheddar cheese
• Honey-glazed baked ham
• Molasses rolls
• Pumpkin pie, with whipped cream
• Sparkling apple cider to blend it all

Enjoy.

More mysteries from the United States. The Sam’s Club warehouse chain has recalled a brand of ground beef patties nationwide after four children in Minnesota developed E. Coli illness between September 10 and 20, a move made necessary by the inability to know for certain that meat from stores different from those the tainted meat was bought at would be safe. Two of the children were hospitalized, but one has already been discharged (note: for reference, the meat in question is produced by Cargill Inc. under the name “American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties”, has an expiration date of February 12, 2008, and is coded UPC 0002874907056 Item 700141).

This only adds to the large number of reported cases of E. Coli infection in food products, with the most recent involving the recall operated by Topps Meats of 21.7 million pounds of beef, and various reports of tainted spinach and lettuce. Now, Escherichia Coli is a species of bacteria that live in the lower intestine of mammals and is beneficial, but creates potentially serious problems when it reaches other parts of the body such as the stomach, for example when ingested with food. However, for it to actually be on food products, the food itself or the machinery it is processed with must come in contact with, as you may have guessed, the contents of the intestine of mammals.

How can it be so easy to taint meat and vegetables with bacteria that naturally thrive in a place that should have little, if anything, to do with food destined to human consumption in the first place? How much bacteria does end up on those meats, for the colony to survive first the temperatures outside host mammals and afterwards those in a skillet (E. Coli is easily killed by cooking meat well — spinach and lettuce may often be consumed raw and thus the bacteria may survive, but the question on how it got there originally still stands)? How exactly are they processing these products? Be careful what you do with your food — you know where it’s going, but you don’t know where’s it’s been. And that’s the Word, we’ll be right back.

Tired of having to stop working to have lunch? Does having to use both hands to eat make you uncomfortable? Do you find plates and utensils cumbersome and inelegant? Fear not, Crispy Cones may be there just for you. Rumored to open in new locations elsewhere soon, the chain currently has only one store available in Arcadia, California, and offers the best of two worlds: tasty and successful foods, with the convenience of a patent-pending production process that can stick them in a “smart drip-free” cone.

From the website:

With its easy-to-handle shape, the Crispy Cone is the food you’ll love to eat on the move. Whether in the car, the mall, or walking down the street, the Crispy Cone lets you enjoy its delicious, hassle-free flavors while shuffling through your MP3, driving your car, working at your desk or talking on your cell phone.

Why wait till your next meal to enjoy good food when you can just grab a cone and continue doing whatever it is that you’re doing? With a growing menu that includes pizza, quesadillas, chicken dishes, salads and sweets (all in a cone), eating won’t ever be an inconvenience anymore. Remember: when you concentrate food, you unleash its awesome power (and if Homer Simpson says it, then it must be true).

Thanks to Cat for pointing this out to me. I find a similarity to “Jimmy Dean’s Pancakes & Sausage On a Stick”, in the picture below. Yes, those are chocolate chips.

I know I said I’d post more regularly but there’s always so much to do. For now, here’s a recipe for banana bread which I liked quite a lot.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup and 3 tablespoons mashed overripe bananas

Alternatively you can use regular table sugar in place of the brown sugar.

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes.

It’s that easy!