ODG Eats

 I went grocery shopping Saturday, and, I've gotta say, I got a little miffed at Kroger. And by "a little miffed," I mean really fucking pissed. I'm trying to find as good of a balance as possible among flavor, affordability, convenience, and nutrition. I really wanted some onions, and there were no canned onions. Then I realized I don't think I've ever seen canned onions, so I Googled it. Turns out, canned onions don't hold up well. And then I found myself in the produce section looking at onions when I saw a box, $5, EBT eligible, of julienned onions but no indication of how much onion was in the box, so I grabbed a box and threw it in the scale. About 0.6lb for $5. The same onion, whole, cost $1.39/lb. That means they're selling 83 cents of onion for $5. That's about a 500% markup. In more real world terms, if it takes you 5 minutes to slice an onion, spending $5 on that sliced onion is reasonable if you earn $50/hr. So, long story short, they...

I still relish the memory of the first time I ate an authentic curry while summering in the north of Connecticut as a precocious child. Wait, never mind. That's bullshit. Sorry, I read a couple other food blogs this week and forgot that this is supposed to be about food, not being a pretentious dipshit who tries to assert my own superiority over everyone else due to my family's wealth. We did okay, but we weren't any of those rich assholes who thinks that authentic anything comes from northern Connecticut. Fuck that shit. This is a place for real food. Well, the pasta-making bug has bitten my ass in spades. After my pre-seasoned spaghetti and meatballs  experiment, I started thinking about what other weird shit I could do. The first idea I had, for better or worse, was making my own curry powder and mixing it into some noodle dough. I also wanted to make some vegan noodles for my vegan friends, so I mixed water with flour and extra virgin olive oil to make the dough. I just...

You ever just been lazing around on a Sunday thinking, "Man, I have no chores, no responsibilities, all the time in the world, and plenty of energy to spend on cooking!" while surveying your property? Me neither, but I chose to ignore my responsibilities to spend a few hours making spaghetti and meatballs from as close to scratch as I could.  I actually read a recipe for making pasta. It said to make a "nest" out of two cups of flour, then crack three eggs into the middle with a little olive oil and salt. I decided I wanted to be fancy, so I added in some basil, oregano, and parsley. I like my noodles to be interesting. I would like to quickly note: I am not Jacques Pépin, Martha Stewart, or Garden Contessa, so I don't have fancy little herbs growing just outside my door. I like using fresh ingredients as much as possible, but it's not always possible. I couldn't find oregano or basil at Kroger, so I grabbed one of these little bastards. They're drie...

I picked up a pack of pork chops at Kroger the other day because it was grocery shopping time and I love pork chops. Seemed like some damned sound reasoning to me. Anyway, after I got home from the store, I had to make myself some lunch because it was lunchtime and I was hungry. I was on a fucking roll with my logic. Since I had pork chops, bread, and a few other ingredients, pork chop sandwiches seemed like the logical conclusion. I might be a logician. First off, I cooked my pork chops. They were seasoned with some salt and pepper, then pan fried in butter and olive oil. I'm not breaking any new ground here. This is a pork chop sandwich. They're simple. They're lovely. They're what's for dinner. When the chops were cooked, I pulled them out and let them rest, then dumped some thinly sliced red onion into the same pan and let those start browning. I love me some red onion. Of course, I couldn't just let that lie. I added some thinly sliced mushroom to the pan o...

It's been a busy-ass week at work, and, to top things off, I had a pork loin I was going to cook a few nights ago, but, when I got to the house, the fucking air conditioning wasn't working, and there was no way in hell I was going to be cooking a pork loin when the house was already hot. Luckily, I was able to fix the AC that night, but it was far too late for cooking, which meant that the next night, I had to cook all of the pork loin because I didn't want it to start to turn. Well, pork loins are pretty sizeable, so I ended up making two meals (four servings) simultaneously. It was exciting. There were two pans and two pots on four burners, plus another pan in the oven. There were entrees, sides, and sauces. There were not a ton of pictures. My bad. Starting off, I trimmed as much of the thick-ass fat off as I could. I know, I know, fat is love, fat is life, but the thick slab of fat on a pork loin can get unseemly really fucking fast. After the cleaning, I cut the loin i...