Can you do the math challenge? Hint: it's about food, not math

What is it? Well, according to the Posterous site:

On April 6, 2010, ten high-profile Torontonians (and their families, if they're joining them) will pick up a standard food bank hamper at The Stop. These hampers - which include an array of non-perishable food, as well as a little bit of fresh produce - typically last a person three or four days, though many folks stretch this to a week or ten days. Our participants will live exclusively off the contents of the hamper for as long as they can. They will not eat out or accept free food or drink (though they are encouraged to eat at least two meals at a drop-in). They will be allowed to use up to five standard pantry ingredients - oil, flour, salt, coffee, etc. - but are asked to keep track of the quantity of these items used.

Sounds interesting to say the least. (And as a techie, I like their use of Posterous). If you are on Posterous, you can subscribe to them. Or follow along in other ways.

A new trend? The 99 cent pizza slice

In Toronto, there is a rush of gourmet burger joints coming out. In my neighborhood in the last year, at least three have popped up that I know of. Which made me wonder if the next thing we will see in Toronto is this: In Expensive New York, Pizza for $1, or Even 99 Cents. If New York does it, Toronto may not be far behind.

A note on the blog

I found myself getting stuck blogging about Jamie's book -- something I still want to do -- so I am going to blog about food in general for awhile and then hopefully get back to his book. The trick of blogging is not to get in a rut, but blog your way through writing block. So I will.

Why you want to make this: Spare Ribs With Olives, Lemon and Rosemary from Mark Bittman at the NYTimes.com

This: Featured Recipe: Spare Ribs With Olives, Lemon and Rosemary - Bitten Blog - NYTimes.com, is delicious. It seems quintessentially Mediterranean to me, with lemons, olives, and garlic. It's simple to make, but the result is sophisticated. It's the kind of recipe that you make over and over again.

I agree with Mark Bittman: you want to use good olives, as well as good olive oil. When I made it, I used a combination of the black oil-cured olives and the big and fat calamata olives. Use your favourite, as long as they are fresh and tasty. I used dried rosemary -- rosemary dries well -- and I went with a teaspoon of chili flakes (use more if you like more heat). I also used water instead of wine: the flavour from the lemon is quite strong and most wines may be overpowered. That said, a wine that would compliment the lemon could provide a very rich sauce. I used a richer, golden chardonnay to counterbalance the acid from the lemon. A good reisling or a Soave or even a fuller rose might work. For that matter, a really good cold glass of water would be perfect.

Another thing I did was substitute some of the ribs with smaller pieces of chicken. I am glad I did this. The combination of chicken and ribs on my plate made the dish even better. I had chicken legs, but I think the next time I would go with chicken thighs (because they are smaller and richer in flavour). The chicken is thoroughly infused with the flavour of the sauce: the left over chicken would make a superb sandwich or a great addition to a salad with a lemon or creamy dressing. Plus I think the chicken adds to the wonderful sauce that results. If you wanted a real stew, you could poach some fish or shellfish towards the end of cooking and end up with a paella-like dish. But part of the charm of this dish is its simplicity, so less may be more.

I also took some of the liquid, added some water, and used it as the base for some couscous that I had along side the meat. I would recommend you make the couscous on the dry side: there was lots of sauce at the end of cooking the ribs and chicken, and a drier couscous could soak that up. That said, I think a nice bowl of rice or even bread would be a great way to use up all that lemony good sauce.

Needless to say, I recommend you make this. Another great thing about this recipe is that come spring or fall, or anytime in between, this will be a good dish to prepare and enjoy.

(Great shot of olives from jurvetson's photostream on flickr.com).

The problem with the chart: why does a salad cost more than a Big Mac

This chart is getting alot of publicity on blogs that I read:

But as this post points out, Why a [U.S.] Big Mac costs less than a salad : Contrarian, it is "chart junk". Specifically, why is a pyramid used? At best it should be a bar. But using a pyramid, you can overemphasize subsidies to meat and dairy and visually distort the actual subsidy. That isn't to deny that meat and daily don't get alot of subsidies. But there should be no need to change the chart to represent that.

I would also argue that a salad in Burger King -- where I eat salads -- does not cost more than a Whopper (roughly equivalent to a Big Mac). So I don't know if the comparison holds. A salad in a restaurant other than a fast food restaurant will cost more than a Big Mac. But that has to do with alot more than meat and dairy subsidies.

That all said, I think it would be ideal if people ate more vegetables.

Bernie's BBQ "cheat" sauce

I am going to write more about Jamie's book, but I was searching for something else and came across this recipe that I use often and refer to as my BBQ "cheat" sauce. It's actually a Chatelaine Recipe for Chili-molasses-rubbed ribs. I love this sauce, and it is easy to make. I call it a cheat sauce because you start off with a store BBQ sauce and then spice it up with theme and chili powder and salt and make it sticky and sweet with molasses (I get the fancy and not the cooking molasses...the former is much nicer in taste, I find.)

Sometimes I will make a big batch and use it for all my BBQ needs, be they pork, beef or even chicken. (I don't think it would go with fish or lamb, but it would go well with hardier vegetables).

The BBQ sauce I start with is usually a chipotle variety. But if you prefer plain, hickory, jalepeno...well, pick whatever you like. While I wouldn't recommend a really expensive BBQ sauce for the base, don't get a really cheap one either.

Jamie's Pancakes and my own (plus crepes)

Because I tend to ease into things, I started with the recipe for pancakes. It's a fairly easy recipe, but here are some tips you might find helpful.

If you are truly a novice cook, somethings to keep in mind if you haven't made pancakes or anything with flour and liquid ingredients is this: mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients seperately, then mix them together. It is also easier most time to gradually add the mixed dry ingredients to the mixed wet ingredients.

After you mix the wet and dry ingredients, let it sit for a bit in order to rise. During this time, you can let you pan get hot.

I find for whatever reason, my first pancake is never cooked as dark as I would like it to be. I likely don't let the pan get hot enough. Keep it in mind, since I often don't serve my first pancake and you might find the same thing.

In my case, I had self-rising flour, but I had had it for awhile and I think it went somewhat flat.

I like this recipe, but if I had my choice, I would go with a traditional recipe I use of :

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1-1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted (I think this is optional, though...I never use it)

I prefer this for a few reasons:

1. I don't care much for self-rising flour. It's basically flour with baking powder and salt. Better just to have those three ingredients. Having all-purpose flour is much handier and useful for other things. And of course you should always have salt.
2. Sugar, milk and eggs are also things I always have around.
3. I can basically go from making pancakes to crepes with mostly the same ingredients
   

Crepes consist of

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon salad oil (e.g., corn oil)

There's no sugar, baking powder or salt, and there's less flour and more milk and alot more eggs. This is why they can take richer and are thinner and why they don't rise and appear cakelike as the pancake does. You should mix them up in a blender or use a mixer or even a good hand mixing, then let them rest for 1 hour at room temperature. Or mix them the night before, cover them and stick them in the fridge, and then make them in the morning.

If all this sounds like alot for you, stick to Jamie's recipe. It's good, and a good way to get into the book.