Thumbs Up & Thumbs Down

I went toddling off to the market today to pick up a few groceries. Leaned over to grab a bag of flour and, when I raised up, there before my astonished eyes was the display for corn starch -- in a brand new type of container. Although I still have a goodly supply in the old style box (see above), I grabbed the new kid on the block because . . . well, just because.

I love this new container. It has a bigger footprint on the pantry shelf than the box but, as the label points out, getting the corn starch out when you want it is no longer a messy proposition. Not only that, the container is a lovely size for other things once you've used up the corn starch. Now that I'm making my own dry mixes for various and sundry food items, I tend to keep an eyeball peeled for suitable containers. And here's the kicker . . . the price is the same on the 16 ounce plastic container as it is on the 16 ounce cardboard box! Woohoo, Argo! Kudos to ya! Thumbs up.

Now that I've said the nice things, let me rant just a little. What I call my therapeutic bitching. Remember that bag of flour I just mentioned? Yeah. Five pounds of my trusty Gold Medal all purpose flour. I love their flour but I cuss every time I open one of their paper bags. I swear they must be using Gorilla Glue to seal the damned thangs. It takes saintly patience and perseverance to separate the folds of paper from the glue weld. Any time I can pry a bag open without making a mess, I feel I should pop the cork on a bottle of champagne because it's such a notably rare occasion. Why, I ask every time, why in bloody blue hell do they package their flour in such a frustrating, belligerent fashion? Do they take perverse pleasure in making me puff up with righteous indignation? Do they think just because they are selling one of the main ingredients for the staff of life (aka bread) they can test my better nature and taunt me with impunity?

Given the simple beauty of the Argo container, the question became even more urgent. So I went online and Googled for enlightenment. Well. I'll be dipped. Gold Medal has come out with a flour container that uses the zip seal type of closure. Haven't seen it myself but I guess it's been around for a little while. Investigating further, I was disheartened to find this more convenient packaging contains less product for a heftier price. That's just not even nice. Shame on you, Gold Medal. Thumbs down.

I don't know what it's like elsewhere but here in the states, more and more different kinds of food are being packaged in resealable containers. The nice thing about it is the containers are usually a heavier plastic and can be washed and reused to freeze food when the original contents have been consumed. Recycle. Recycle. Recycle. Which makes me believe Gold Medal -- and other flour companies -- could do the same thing without hurting their profit margin -- or gouging their customers.

Okay. I've stalled long enough. I have to leave you now and wrestle that flippin' sack of flour into its cannister, hopefully without poofing way too much of it all over way too much surrounding real estate. Then I'm going to fix myself a nice batch of maifun rice noodle stir fry with chicken and I'm going to have it with a nice glass of decent chardonnay. It is entirely possible that I will have managed to stop sulking by the time I'm finished. If not, well . . . heh! I'll just have to compose a serious letter to Gold Medal, that's what.

Put the Blame on James, Boys

Yes, I've been sadly remiss about posting these last few days -- but I have a really good excuse. I'm blaming my grandson James (with apologies to Rita Hayworth in her Gilda role) for the delinquency but please note it is a benign blame. James (see above) has been home on a surprise leave from Uncle Sam's Canoe Club (otherwise known as the Navy) and two of those nights he spent here.

It was great fun and, fortunately, I had whupped up a big batch of Snickerdoodles and an apple cobbler before I even knew he was home. Whew! That means I get to keep my Granny card a while longer. As we sat there at the dining table, talking until the wee hours, James inhaled the cookies and made short work of the cobbler which he artfully topped with whipped cream. Gotta keep that hollow leg of his well packed, don'cha know?

Yesterday I turned the culinary wheel in a different direction and made some soft cheese with a quart of Nancy's Plain Yogurt. Remember that trick? You just plop the yogurt in a cloth or paper towel-covered strainer and let it drain for several hours, then you use it like you would soft cream cheese. Today I decided what I was going to do with at least part of it. I got to feeling the hungries for a spicy sandwich spread to go with a freshly baked loaf of bread and the sliced ham in the fridge.

These are just rough guesstimates as far as amounts are concerned but the mixture went pretty much like this: about a cup each of yogurt cheese and finely grated cheddar cheese and a couple of tablespoons of dried onion flakes, a teaspoon of Mrs. Dash Chipotle seasoning and 2 tablespoons of ground Brazil nuts. Mixed it all together really well and taste-tested for quality control. That's when the infamous Domino Effect clicked in. You know -- as in "one thing leads to another." Instead of spreading the bread with my mix thus far and then laying the ham slices on it, I decided to run the ham through the chopper and add the ground results to the mix. So I did. Another taste test. Almost just right. Almost.

Aha! Another domino fell. I grabbed a handful of dried cherries and ran them through the chopper and mixed them in with all the other goodies. They turned out to be the perfect tart-sweet complementary accent for the savory ham and cheese combo.

I slathered generous globs of spread over two slices of bread, cut the slices into triangles and laid them out on a pizza pan. Slid them into a 400 degree oven for about 12 minutes. Enough time for the bread to nicely toast and the topping to get hot.

I dutifully snapped the above photo and then sat down and ate every single bite of every single triangle. Coffee Mates, that is righteous chow, really. And I'm thinking that filling would be great on crackers or as filling in turnovers or -- oh yeah! -- topping on a big fat baked potato. A glob smacked down on a serving of steamed veggies would be nice, too.

And healthy. Don't forget yogurt cheese is healthy. Just don't tell your grandkids that.