News: FDA Warns Don't Eat Certain Types of Tomatoes

Due to an outbreak of salmonella, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning that certain types of tomatoes may be responsible for the outbreak.

While still under investigation, preliminary data points to raw red round tomatoes, raw red plum, and raw red Roma tomatoes as the cause.

The FDA warns consumers who eat tomatoes to only eat the following types as they are NOT likely to be the source of the outbreak:

• cherry tomatoes
• grape tomatoes
• tomatoes sold with the vine still attached
• tomatoes grown at home

It is also safe to eat tomatoes of any type if you know they are from the following areas that the FDA has found to NOT be the cause of the outbreak:

Safe Sources (U.S.)
Alabama
Arkansas
California
Georgia
Hawaii
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Minnesota
Mississippi
New York
Nebraska
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
West Virginia

Safe Sources (Foreign):
Belgium
Canada
Dominican Republic
Guatemala
Israel
Netherlands
Puerto Rico

As a result of the warning, you may find that many of your local restaurants have temporarily stopped using tomatoes altogether rather than risk contamination. You may also find that your local supermarket have temporarily stopped carrying Roma, plum, and round tomatoes.

For more information and updates, you can visit the FDA webpage on the warning at: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html

Homemade Recipe: Texas Toast

Texas Toast is basically buttered thick-sliced toast made in a pan or grill. According to Wikipedia, Texas Toast was first served at the Pig Stand (a now defunct fast food chain) on Calder Avenue in Beaumont, Texas in the 1940s. As the story has it, Royce Hailey, Pig Stand president, requested that the bread from the Rainbo bakery be sliced thicker, but the bread was too thick for the toaster, so a cook buttered both sides of the bread and placed it on the griddle, toasting it medium brown.
Since I had extra thick-sliced bread from making French Toast, I decided to make Texas Toast as a quick snack. All you need is:

• Thick-sliced Bread (sometimes sold as "Texas Toast" even though it's not toasted)
• Butter
• Garlic Salt if you like (Other ideas would be to mix cinnamon and sugar with the butter to make Cinnamon Texas Toast.  If you want fresher flavors, mince garlic and parsley and mix it with the butter before spreading.)

All you need to do is butter both sides of the bread, sprinkle whatever seasoning you like, plop it on a pan on medium heat, and cook to your desired color.  

Grilling

You can also cook it on the grill if you're having a barbecue out back.  Just butter the bread and place it right on the grill.  Just be mindful of burning the bread since the heat is higher.

Review: Jack In The Box - BBQ Bacon Sirloin Burger

Jack In The Box's BBQ Bacon Sirloin Burger is the burger that prompted Carl's Jr to send out this press release expressing its displeasure with imitators of its Western Bacon Cheeseburger (which I recently had and was unfortunately doused with BBQ sauce). At $4.79, Jack In The Box's BBQ Bacon Sirloin Burger comes at a premium and size that I wouldn't normally pay. However, I was hungry after a late night of class and I figured I could blog about it.
With a number of fast food burger joints offering premium burgers featuring Angus beef patties or sirloin patties, I thought I'd explain the difference. Angus is a supposedly superior type of beef, it is known to have a higher degree of marbling that is desirable in cuts of beef. Sirloin, on the other hand, is a specific cut of beef from the lower portion of the cow's ribs. It is commonly cooked as a cheap steak.

Of the two, I would think the sirloin would have a higher tendency to dry out when cooking. However, I don't know how much that would matter, since all fast food places cook their burgers well done nowadays to decrease the chance of bacterial contamination.
I have to say, while a bit more than I would normally like to eat, I enjoyed this burger more than the last Western Bacon Cheeseburger I ate. As you can see, it's not slathered in BBQ sauce; as a result, I could taste the flavor of each individual ingredient. The onion rings were very crisp since they weren't drenched in BBQ sauce and the meat had a bit of char, which I liked, but was a bit dry. The proportion of the ingredients was balanced well, and everything is held together by a large toasted kaiser bun.
While I'm not sure I'd get it again unless I was sharing it with someone, it's a pretty good burger when you're in the mood for something "western."

Jack In The Box
Locations

News: Crumbs Bake Shop's - Free Cupcakes At New Larchmont Location on 6/6/08

I got this tidbit from LAist here. I've never heard of Crumbs myself or ever been; I'm not that into the whole cupcake craze. I like the idea but the execution and high cost are a bit underwhelming.

Anyway, Crumbs' new location on Larchmont Blvd. in West Los Angeles is giving away 1,000 cupcakes today starting at 8 am to celebrate. The cupcakes usually go for about $3.50. Its best seller is the Artie Lange Cupcake created by the eponymous comedian of the Howard Stern Show.

Free Cupcakes - June 6, 2008
Crumbs Bake Shop
216 North Larchmont Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90004
(323) 464-8400
http://www.crumbsbakeshop.com/

Review: Carl's Jr - Western Bacon Cheeseburger

The Carl's Jr. in my area (southern California) recently started offering their Western Bacon Cheeseburger 2 for $4 which gave me as good an excuse as any to buy two. The burger features a charbroiled beef patty, two bacon strips, American cheese, two crispy onion rings, and BBQ sauce on a toasted sesame seed bun.

Review: Baja Fresh - Churros

My Favorte Churro

As a kid, I would always remember eating those long churros they served at Disneyland. I was fascinated by how they would go through the toasting machine and then were rolled through a tray of sugar and cinnamon. Sometimes, just thinking about it makes me want to go to Disneyland... But then I remember Disney now costs $66 (compared to $25 or so back then!) and those churros are now probably at least $5 a pop.

Fortunately, the other day I decided to go to Baja Fresh and saw that they now have churros(!) on the menu for 99 cents.

I think they bake it, but I could be wrong. It was very tasty: crispy, sweet, and crunchy on the outside, moist and soft on the inside. I took a good picture too! I kind of want a churro now...

Baja Fresh
Store Locations

Homemade Recipe: Tortilla Soup

Here it is! My super secret tortilla soup recipe! Okay, it's not really super secret but whatever. Here's what you'll need:

• 1.5 pounds of chicken (usually I use breast but I've also just thrown in half a small chicken before. But it you use dark meat and/or skin be prepared to skim the grease.)
• a 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes
• a can of corn (I just use whatever size I happen to have usually 14 ounces)
• 3 to 4 cans of chicken broth
• salt, pepper, and sugar to taste
• a large brown onion diced
• 4 cloves of garlic chopped finely
• 1 to 2 chipotle peppers (bought in a small can with adobo sauce. You'll want about 2 teaspoons of that adobo sauce.) Put more if your mouth can stand it. Be sure to put in that adobe sauce!

Condiments:

• tortilla chips (or strips if you feel like cutting and frying some corn tortillas)
• shredded cheese (I usually just buy a bag of shredded "mexican" blend cheese but you can also used monterey jack, colby, cheddar, or a blend of the three)
• sliced avocados (if you like, I don't usually.)

Start by searing the chicken a bit with some oil in a 4-quart pot (or whatever large pot you have available) on medium-high heat until you get some nice browning. Add the onions and garlic and let them cook until you get a good aroma and sizzling. After that, you can put all the other ingredients in and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes, but longer if you like. Be sure to taste the soup and add salt, pepper, and sugar to suit your tastes. Serve with chips and cheese. Makes 6 - 8 servings.
It's soup! Taste it while it's cooking to make it to your liking. Don't be afraid to experiment by adding and subtracting ingredients, adjusting amounts and what not.

Review: Z Pizza - Pepperoni Pizza

I'm a simple guy and the pepperoni slice is the standard to which I hold all pizza places. While out in Upland, WC mentioned that she remembered Z Pizza being good so I decided to try it.

The chain started out of Laguna Beach, California and touts its premium ingredients such as "award-winning skim mozzarella from Wisconsin, certified organic tomato sauce, MSG-free pepperoni, additive-free sausage, and fresh produce." Basically stuff I don't really care about.

I'd say the pizza slice ($2.65) was about average, nothing special, about the same as you'd get in your standard mom-and-pop pizzeria. I didn't care for the sauce too much, it was tart but didn't have that slight sweetness that I like or the taste of oregano for that matter. The crust was doughy and a bit on the chewy side. All-in-all it was just "okay" for me.

Z Pizza does offer the more Californian-type frou-frou pizzas popularized by Wolfgang Puck and CPK. WC was tempted to try such offerings, which ranged from the most notably named "Berkeley Soy Veggie Cheese" to the California standard "ZBQ" (BBQ Chicken Pizza), but decided that it was pricey compared to her (and my) favorite: Bollini's (see her write up on Bollini's here).


Z Pizza
Locations

Rant: I Hate Sonic - America's Drive-In

If you happen to live in southern California, you might hate Sonic too. Why? Because even though the nearest Sonic is in Anaheim (the only Sonic in the LAish area actually), Sonic airs its commercials through out southern California. Most of the California locations are in or around Bakersfield for some reason. When I lived in the SF Bay Area, they did the same thing! The nearest Sonic up there was in Tracy a good 40, 50 miles out!

In fact, I've only been to Sonic once! While passing through Bakersfield... The food is pretty good for fast food, plus there are a fair amount of choices. Also, Sonic has its Limeades in a variety of flavors. They have carhops! Carhops! They always advertise interesting new items that I want to try but they don't have any locations nearby! Vexing! In conclusion, I hate Sonic!

Homemade Recipe: Ginger Chicken

Ginger Chicken served on a bed of steamed white rice. This is something I first made for a quick and easy dinner for one a few years ago. It's pretty simple. You'll need (these are rough estimates... I don't really measure anything):

• a 1/4 inch of ginger minced
• a clove of garlic minced
• a tablespoon of sesame oil
• a chicken breast (boned preferably but that's really up to you)

Put all of the ingredient in a small ziplock bag shake it and put it in the fridge for 30 mins, you can do it ahead of time but I wouldn't store it for any longer than 2 or 3 days in the fridge.
When you're hungry, just take the chicken out of the bag, put a little oil in a pan, and fry it at medium heat for 5 minutes a side or when the you poke it with a fork and the juices run clear (again rough estimates... I don't really time myself either). That's it. It's done. Cut it, shred it, or serve it as is, for a quick bite.

For Here or To Go: California's Sales Tax for Food Products Demystified

You should always get your food "to go" in California.

I found out back in undergrad that if you order a "cold" sandwich at Subway, you didn't have to pay sales tax. The owner of said Subway posted a flyer next to the cash register stating that all cold (non-heated) sandwiches would be sold "to go" unless otherwise requested and explained that no sales tax would be assessed on those sandwiches. I figured that to mean that as long as a sandwich was not "cooked" at the store and the order was not made to be eaten on the premise, there would be no sales tax. In that sense, the effect would be the same as if you bought a sandwich from a supermarket pre-wrapped.

Review: Taco Bell - Big Bell Box Meal

So I tried Taco Bell's Big Bell Box Meal for $4.99 billed as "the meal that's made for men."