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Eating, drinking, and blogging
By Jennifer Wutz-Lopes
I’m not exactly what you would call a foodie. Most likely, I could happily dine on Lean Cuisine panini and Doritos for the rest of my natural life (which would probably be cut short from excessive salt intake). However, I like the idea of being a foodie, and spend lots of time thinking about good food and studying the menus at the occasional fancy restaurant I might visit. Last night even found me ordering the black pepper-crusted sirloin strip with pomme frites, green snap beans, and a peppercorn/dijon mustard glacé at a very fancy restaurant. However, most times I stick to my boring, low-class food and let other people eat—and blog about—the good stuff.
Since I commute to Philadelphia for work, and room service gets really old sometimes, I like to visit Philafoodie (philafoodie.blogspot.com) to find where I might be able to eat without going over my budget … too much. David, the author of Philafoodie, includes posts on some of his favorite eateries, with a focus on wine. He’s a lawyer by day, but seems to be a pretty good guy nonetheless. His post about the New Year’s Eve champagne tasting party he held is very interesting, and makes me wish I had been invited; I would have brought a bottle of my favorite Asti Spumante.
Fork You! (www.forkyou.tv) is a vlog (video blog) hosted by Marisa and Scott, who bring you video how-tos on creating and serving waffles, potato pancakes, chicken soup, and more. You can easily bring a laptop into your kitchen and follow along with these two friendly and gregarious vloggers. I may do just that tonight, as my husband is getting a wee bit tired of Stouffer’s family-size lasagna for dinner, every damn night.
Claiming that entrées are evil is the Tastingmenu blog (tastingmenu.com). The author’s philosophy on just why entrées are so bad is interesting, and is worth some perusal. In a nutshell, he states that Americans love quantity, not quality. We love to super-size and are probably getting fatter as a society because our restaurants offer enormous main dishes laden with equally huge sides. Our restaurants don’t offer appetizer-only menus, and we are all too tempted to order a huge entrée and most likely clean our plates. He suggests eating like the French, Japanese, and Spanish (tapas, anyone?) by ordering a few appetizers and savoring each small bite.
Food Friday (foodfriday.blogspot.com) is a blog by three Buffalonians, who used to travel to a new destination every Friday, “sampling every possible delight Western New York has to offer.” I say “used to travel” because there hasn’t been a new post since last June, which makes me sad. The trio’s ratings and reviews of La Tee Da, Shango, and the Left Bank are great, and I hope these guys start up again soon. Blog on, I say!
One blog I like to visit when I’m starting a diet and want to kill my appetite is Deep End Dining (deependdining.blogspot.com). These bloggers do not fool around with the mainstream. Recent meals include lutefisk (eww), stir-fried crickets with Asian noodles (double eww), and the grand prize of eww-ness, a “raging plate of squirming, writhing, and willful baby octopus tentacles.” Yes—this blogger ate live tentacles, and sort of enjoyed it. I can’t even write about the Balut (duck fetus) entrée … it’s just too disgusting, so you’ll have to check it out for yourself.
There are a number of blogs online that focus on one type of food—Italian, Chinese, Mexican—even fat-free and vegan foods. To close, I leave you with a listing of links you can visit to get a fix on your favorite foods.
• Were hamburgers really invented in Hamburg? I’m not sure, but these bloggers will cover everything related to the hamburger at A Hamburger Today (ahamburgertoday.com). After reading, you might be inspired to get yourself to the DB Bistro in Manhattan to try the world’s most expensive burger—sirloin with truffles and foie gras—for $99. Or not.
• All candy, all the time is the theme at Candy Addict (candyaddict.com), a blog that reviews, well, candy. I’m particularly fond of the reviews of all the old-school, retro candy I loved as a kid, including Pop Rocks, Gobstoppers, and Laffy Taffy. Check out the post on the top ten grossest candies: you’ll love the white chocolate maggots and ear wax jelly candy.
• Pizza! Who doesn’t like pizza? My very strange three-year-old, that’s who. Never mind him, check out Slice NY (sliceny.com) for all things pizza.
• Ummm, bacon. Here’s a blog about nothing but bacon. You’ll get one bacon recipe every day at The Bacon Show blog (baconshow.blogspot.com).
• A thousand ways to bake cupcakes (did you know that Dr. Pepper cupcakes are delicious?) can be found at Cupcake Bake Shop (cupcakeblog.com). If I can stop myself from drinking all the Guinness, I’ll be making the Black and Tan cupcakes very soon.
• Tacos are muy bueno at Tacos, Bitches (tacoaddiction.blogspot.com), where even our very own Mighty Taco gets a shout-out.
Jennifer Wutz-Lopes is probably eating a Lean Cuisine Panini and/or Doritos as you read this article. She lives in Lockport with her husband and son and blogs at Jen14221.com.
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