The Profussor is In
According to the digital dashboard, the FUSSYlittleBLOG just hit its first hundred comments.
Some of these comments have been questions, and I had been answering a few of these on an ad hoc basis. But I have decided to start a regular feature whenever we have enough questions to justify its own post.
Ask the Profussor.
Just make sure that if you want a response, please put your query in the form of a question. I will try to do my best to get to everyone. Maybe this is a bad idea. But we’ll play it out and see where it goes.
Now I will try and hammer through some of the backlog. So without any further ado, here we go.
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Do Not Trust the Machine
I don’t care how fancy your oven is. It could be lying to you.
Maybe you’ve been cooking in your oven for years, and you know it inside out. You know that if you turn it up to 425, it runs a little slow. Or if you set it to 350 it runs a little fast. Perhaps through trial and error, you’ve discovered a hot spot in the upper left corner.
But I am guessing that most people are not that intimate with their appliances. So instead, you rely on trust. Blind misplaced trust.
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It’s Summer. It’s Hot. You’re Thirsty.
There are plenty of people who are going to tell you how to throw a party, grill burgers, make side dishes and desserts. There will be thousands of pages written about what beers to drink, what wines to serve, and which cocktails to prepare.
I have a whole laundry list of cocktail posts on my to-do list. But since summer is upon us, they will just have to wait.
And frankly, I don’t really care if you serve this at your Memorial Day party or not. It’s summer, and if you do not know about this quaffer, it’s damn time you learned.
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Cappuccino Try-Outs
There is little I love better than a good cappuccino. However, nothing can ruin my day faster than a bad cappuccino.
You can see how this might cause me some problems.
Luckily, over time I have developed a few guidelines and strategies for helping to increase my chances of getting the cappuccino I desire. And not the one I despise.
Here is my checklist for a good drink:
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The Elephant in the Room
So, I’ve changed.
Thought I would come right out and tell you all about the struggles and what’s been gained and what’s been lost.
There was a lot I loved about the old Fussy layout. I loved how it looked on my Mac. I loved having my latest three posts front and center. I loved keeping the blog junk on the bottom of the page, in arms reach, but out of the way. I loved having the RSS feed button between the masthead and the first posts. I loved the prominence of the Fussy name, and my by-line at the top of the page.
Sadly, there was a lot to hate.
100g of Pure Indian Joy
Honestly. Now that I have kids, I cannot cook elaborate meals anymore. It is near impossible. So I take shortcuts. Regardless of these shortcuts, my home cooking still uses classic techniques to build up the flavor of my dishes.
It’s hard to call this a recipe. But I promised Albany Jane to share how I make chana masala. Here is the dirty little secret. And it’s sad that Mrs. Fussy likes this the best out of everything I cook.
1) Buy a box of MDH chana masala spice blend.
2) Follow directions on the box.
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Local Food, Imported Film
I might have been a bit tough on the Honest Weight Food Co-op in my review of their store when I first moved to Albany. Still, I think it is a fair assessment. Tough but fair.
Last night, the HWFC showed me another glimpse of the shining diamond it can be.
Apparently they have started a film series. Who knew? It’s been going on for three months now, on the third Thursday of each month. I would have loved to go last month for the documentary about the trip a cup of coffee takes from bean to cup.
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Sweet Sweet Tubers
This is about baking sweet potatoes. Scratch that. This is about baking the best sweet potatoes you will ever eat.
It is not a fussy rant about the difference between sweet potatoes and yams, and what is truly a sweet potato, and what is truly a yam, and how people get them confused, etc.
Just so we are clear. We are talking about the things you get in the supermarket, and they are generally called sweet potatoes. They have orange flesh and brownish-reddish skin and tend to be pointy on the ends. That’s all we have to concern ourselves with at the moment.
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Call Me Mr. Bitter
What if you went to a restaurant, you read over the menu, you found a dish that looked good, you ordered it, and when you took a bite you realized it was missing something. You think about it, and quickly realize, “The chef used no seasoning.”
Then what if you went around to other restaurants, and you had the same problem all over town?
This is the sad situation of bars these days. And it’s not just in Albany. Sure there are good bars that keep aromatic cocktail bitters in stock, but an alarming number do not. It is absolutely the equivalent of a restaurant that does not use seasonings in the kitchen.
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I Hate S’mores. Seriously Hate.
Summer is approaching. People will be doing more cooking outside. There will be fire. If there happen to be marshmallows, invariably someone will suggest making s’mores.
It’s just a bad idea. Bad all around.
Toasted marshmallows are fine. They are great. Feel free to put them on sticks over fire until you feel queasy from the sugar, smoke and heat. Until all the hair has been singed off your fingers, and your tongue and mouth are blistered and burned. Until your face and fingers are so covered with sticky goo you could pass for a human flytrap. And do it with my blessing.
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