For Christmas my aunt and uncle, with help from my sister, sent me a bunch of assorted items they picked up around town. One thing my sister picked up was a bottle of 100% maple syrup from Trader Joe's (which we don't have around here). I've been wanting to buy some real maple syrup for a while but thus far my wife has balked at the price which is at least 4 times as much as the corn syrup + artificial flavoring kind. The question then has to be, is the flavor worth the added cost? Naturally, a test test was in order.

Since flavors from pancakes, french toast, etc. can add to or mask the flavor of the syrup I decided to taste them on a spoon. I had about a teaspoon of each. Due to a risk of spilling the viscous liquid, I wasn't able to randomize the spoons but in the end it didn't matter much. The difference was readily apparent.

The artificially flavored syrup, this one from Great Value (Walmart store brand), was sweet and had a nice round flavor. I suppose I would describe it as maple although to that point in my life I had never tasted real maple flavoring. The Trader Joe's syrup, on the other hand, had an extremely rich set of flavors. There was not just one. There were a hundred flavors hitting my mouth at the same time. It was quite pleasant. It didn't seem quite so sweet. That's probably due to the corn syrup in the artificial syrup. It had some vanilla flavors, even some coffee flavors. The range was just extraordinary.

It's going to be difficult (to say the least) to go back to the plain stuff. I'm not sure how or if I can do it. This real stuff was, well, really good.

People seem to have strong feelings about egg nog, mostly negative. I wondered how much of that might be because of commercially available egg nog, since often times home-made items will taste vastly different from something purchased at the store. Such is certainly true of chocolate chip cookies and bread, to name a couple. A lot of factors play into that I suppose. I decided to whip up a batch and find out.

The recipe I followed was of course Alton Brown's, he being my go-to guy with recipes. Be warned that it calls for raw eggs which some people are sissies about. Not me, no sir.

Simply put, you make the nog in two steps. First is whipping up the yolks with sugar. Then toss in the cream, milk and nutmeg (I had to substitute cinnamon as I only to late discovered I was out of nutmeg). In another bowl you whip up the whites to stiff peaks, then combine. I chose to whip the eggs by hand and let's just say I don't plan to do that again. Ouch.

The biggest difference from store bought (and I'm going from memory on this) was the viscosity. Store bought nog is pretty thick, kinda makes you feel 10 pounds heavier after drinking it. Alton Brown's was nothing like that. I started with 3 cups of liquid, plus eggs and ended up with about 6 cups of egg nog. All the difference was air and I could definitely taste it.

I also liked that I could add my own flavoring. As I mentioned, I used cinnamon which was good. I also tried a bit with hazelnut syrup and that was nice too. I bet most of your coffee syrups would be yummy too.

Bottom line, this egg nog is a keeper.

Certainly you haven't missed the rash of food recalls. One that stands out in particular is that of the Topps Meat company, which recalled 21.7 million pounds of hamburger patties due to possible infections of E. coli. This eventually led to the company going bankrupt and closing its doors. I also remember the bagged spinach debacle from last year, because a local kid died from the illness and because I grew some mighty fine spinach in my garden last summer so I didn't worry for a second that I would be at risk for eating the affected food.

Well just today, moments ago in fact, I discovered that the latest recall has hit my freezer. General Mills has recalled a number of frozen pizza products including the "10.7-ounce packages of 'Totino's The Original Crisp Crust Party Pizza, Combination Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza'". I purchased them some weeks back to feed to the kids and in fact the only reason they're still in my freezer rather than in my children's bodies is that the smell of them makes my wife vomit. Don't be surprised by that though. She's pregnant and everything makes her drive the porcelain bus.

Seeing all these food recalls has really got me to thinking about food policy in this country, specifically to the lack of a sane food policy. Look no farther than the farm bill which subsidizes food in the exact opposite proportion of that which the FDA recommends to us for better health. I have just a few questions which I would really like some answers to.

1. What is the USDA actually doing since they're clearly not protecting our food supply? You can see the little "Inspected" symbol on my box of pizza, but obviously they didn't check closely enough. I could cut them a little slack if they missed this E. Coli outbreak because they were all busy playing Halo 3. I mean, c'mon. That's a fair excuse. But I suspect instead it's because the USDA is so filled with corporate goons from the very industry it's meant to police. They've got little incentive to do anything about all the problems.

2. Why do people keep buying this crap? Literally. You do know were E. Coli comes from, right? Perhaps I should explain why I bought "this crap" in the first place, especially since I really should know better. It's because of the aforementioned pregnancy, which has sent me scurrying around the supermarket trying to find something, anything, that we can eat without disgusting my wife. It's getting pretty tough. This was just one of the many things I would normally not buy.

   Consider also that this is the cheapest form of calories in the store. Dollar for dollar you can buy more calories in a frozen pizza than you can in say a carrot (props to my man Michael Pollan whose book I will review shortly). If you look at the waistline of Americans, those are typically calories we can do without. But profits are to be had, so companies go for it.

3. Why are these pathogen outbreaks a nationwide epidemic? While food contamination is a mostly preventable problem, it's going to be impossible to completely obviate them. But let's go back to the spinach incident of last year. If the spinach I bought this year (mine all died the moment it sprouted), I would know exactly who infected it, the wonderful folks at Shoemaker Farms in Blackfoot, ID who sold me a big bag of fresh spinach at the farmers market. He told me that when the news came out, he couldn't give his spinach away until he put up a sign saying that he grew it locally. What a crying shame because they have some of the best produce I've ever had.

   Of late I've been trying to change to a more local diet. We now get our milk at the local dairy (and in fact, it's cheaper now since gas prices have skyrocketed). I spent more time at the farmers market this year than last. I intend to join the new food coop that is getting started up here in Idaho Falls, possibly tomorrow even. We've gotten into canning our own food, my favorite probably being the tomatoes (which we got from Shoemakers).

   It's impossible to change our track and revert out of this global economy that we've constructed, and I'm not sure that I would want to anyway. But just because something can be done, doesn't mean it should. We definitely need to import chocolate from Africa and South America. It just doesn't grow here, so that's our only option. But we shouldn't be bringing in New Zealand apples during the height of North American apple season. Give me a break! (And if you're buying apples in September, you've clearly got no friends.)

That's enough ranting for now. I hope dear reader that you will be spurred to some introspection. I am definitely not the model of perfection, as evidenced by the fact that I bought the contaminated pizza-like cardboard object in the first place. Slowly I'm getting better though. I find that I think a lot more about my food purchases and that's really what I hope to inspire in you. I think I'll send in the UPCs from my pizza boxes, just to send General Mills through the hassle, but I can tell you for certain I won't be redeeming any coupons for frozen pizzas.

For some time I have wanted to try my hand at making cheese. It's such a varied product and unfortunately, artisan cheesemaking isn't something you see much in the US. It'd be fun someday to create my own type of cheese and have a cheese cellar chock full of the stuff. But that isn't going to happen tomorrow.

Starting with David Fankhauser's wonderful cheese pages, I read a lot about the theory of cheesemaking. So far, so good. I decided to try labneh, which is a yogurt chese. To sum up the recipe, you salt some yogurt and hang it out until it turns cheesey.

The last part is where I had difficulty. Wanting to not waste food, I opted to use a 1/2 pint of yogurt rather than a full quart, as called for in the recipe. I think that's where I went wrong. Normally it should be set after 24 hours, but mine sat for 72 hours and was still pretty gloopy. There just wasn't enough weight to force the whey out.

I did get a bit of cheese out of it, though, and that little bit was good. Really good, actually. I tried it on some tortilla chips and that was delicious too. So I think I'll give it another try sometime soon.

For a while, 7UP was running a promotion on their website wherein they would send you a free can of Diet 7UP, Sprite Zero and Sierra Mist Free, so I filled it out and it arrived a few days later. The box came with a cute little instruction card which I found to be a little humorous. Basically they said to chill the drinks, pour them into cups and drink the Diet 7UP last. Well, that's a little less scientific than we do things around here, so we made up our own strategy.

We labeled three cups and filled each with a separate drink, all at room temperature. Then I closed me eyes and mixed them up really good. We tasted each one a few times before making our decisions. Only after we had finished did we look to see which cup was which.

Of the three, we didn't really have a favorite. They were all excessively sweet. Now, let me preface that by saying that neither Karin nor I drink much soda, and in fact sugar products are pretty rare around our house. I'm sure we're not the target audience of these drinks.

The one thing we agreed on was which one we liked the least. Would you believe it was the Diet 7UP? It was the sweetest of the three and the taste was just a bit off balance. It was very hard to discern much difference. The bubbles contributed there. The other two weren't disagreeable, but as I said none of them particularly struck our palates.

After drinking so much pop, I ended up feeling rather sick. I'm not inclined to purchase any of these drinks.

Title: Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think
Author: Brian Wansink
Published: 2006 by Bantam Dell
ISBN: 0-553-80434-0

I've heard this guy on KCRW's Good Food before. He's a professor of marketing and nutritional science, and from the sounds of it he's a creative guy with an extremely fun job. He does research on why people eat the way they do and what influences them most. A lot of the time, it's not what you expect.

One of the best experiments he did was with a bottomless bowl of soup. His question was what makes a person decide to stop eating? What makes us stop eating? He rigged up a bowl of soup connected via a tube to a vat of soup. Without slurping down a lot of soup, basically it was impossible to empty the bowl. On average those with the endless bowl at 73% more soup than those with a normal bowl.

Most were still eating when we stopped them, 20 minutes after they began. The typical person at around 15 ounces, but others at more than a quart--more than a quart. When one of these people was asked to comment on the soup, his reply was, "It's pretty good, and it's pretty filling." Sure it is. He had eaten almost three times as much as the guy sitting next to him.

Another of my favorites is the story of a cook on a Navy ship in World War II. Due to some sort of error, the cook took on too much lemon Jell-o and no cherry. When you're out at sea for months at a time, little things like that can be a big deal. Fights were actually breaking out because of it. Well Billy, our fearless cook, thought quick on his feet and colored the lemon Jell-o red. The crew never even guessed what happened. Because they thought it was cherry, they imagined the taste of it.

But to the point of the book. Our body is quite capable of noticing changes in diet, such as eliminating all carbohydrates or eating half as many calories. That's why 90% of dieters regain their former weight. It's just not sustainable, and generally speaking the quicker you lose the weight the quicker you'll put it back on. But the human body can't detect slight changes, such as 100 calories a day. That amount of change over the course of a year works out to about 10 pounds. So if you drink an extra Mountain Dew every day, you'll gain 10 pounds. If you cut one out, you'll lose 10 pounds. In both cases, you won't notice any difference in your diet.

Dr. Wansink offers a number of ways to work 100-200 calories out of your diet, things like serving yourself 20% less (which will still leave you feeling just as full), fill your plate with fruits and veggies (less calorie dense, more vitamins), don't abandon your comfort foods instead rewire them (deprivation rarely works, but comfort foods are not written in stone).

There are plenty more suggestions, and more importantly, funny stories in this book. The author definitely has a good sense of humor and a good wit. It's an easy read that is still well supported by scientific research and more endnotes than you can shake a pastrami at.

Who doesn't love chocolate, right? Well, my wife for one. She's sucrose intolerant (lacks the enzyme sucrase), so the sugar makes her sick. Can't say I blame her then. It's a good opportunity to try out some fancy chocolate when she's out of town. What can I say? I live on the edge.

I picked up some Amano chocolate over at Amazon. The shipping there was a dollar cheaper than direct from the site, so I went all cheapskate. I bought one each of the Madagascar and Ocumare. To my pleasant surprise it arrived the very next day (04/10). How's that for quality service!

First off, let me up front apologize for not having pictures. My wife took the digital camera on her trip to Oregon and I'm left here with no way to document my life. How will I ever survive?

So, on IRC the other day, somebody was pointing out the vast difference between two things and used the classic phrase, like "apples and oranges", to which another party responded saying that it was more like "apples and tacos". Well, that got me thinking, why not apples and tacos? I mean aside from the fact that they seem so different. Different can be good. I mean bananas and mayonnaise sounds like a horrible combination but turns out to make a delicious sandwich. So it was only fair that I give it a shot.

I complicated matters a little bit because I came up with my own recipe for shredded pork taco meat. Ideally I should have controlled for everything but the apples, but with my smoker out of commission for so many months I've really been craving to slow roast something even without smoke. I purchased a pork roast for just this purpose. (Incidentally whenever possible I but Salmon Creek Farms pork. Yes it really does make a difference, and generally it's actually cheaper. Win, win!)

Well, for this roast I mixed up an unholy combination of most of the spices in my house (ground black pepper, kosher salt, chili powder, cayenne power, paprika, Tabasco sauce, garlic powder, thyme, spicy mustard and worcestershire sauce). That made a nice paste which I smeared all over the pork. Placed it in a dish, covered and roasted at 250° for oh about 3½ hours. Once it cooled I shredded it and stirred it around in a reduction of the sauces that filled the original cooking vessel. So yummy.

But it was late last night when I finished the roast, so I couldn't make the tacos right away. Besides, I was so full of chocolate that I couldn't bear the thought of eating. Instead the pork went into the fridge until today. I diced some onion, sautéed it in some oil with a little ground chipotle, and then added the pork. Once that was warm I tossed in the diced apple and kept cooking until piping hot. I used a Granny Smith which I figured could take the heat while retaining its crispness and the tartness would stand out against all the spice. The final taco was on a soft white flour tortilla with grated mozarella cheese and lettuce.

The apple flavor was definitely noticeable. I think the choice of a tart apple was wise because a mild apple would have been lost in that taco. I would probably do a finer dice (¼ inch or less). My apple chunks were too big and they seems to overpower rather than blend. There were also spots in the taco where there was no apple flavor and that stood out as well.

One concern I had was that the apple would get all mushy and soggy while cooking. It didn't happen. I really should have given the apple more credit. My wife makes and cans apple pie filling. Those things go through a process of cooking, canning and then baking and still come out in one piece. I should have known an apple could sit in a skillet for 5 minutes without melting.

I ate the whole apple so that's probably the last serving of apple tacos for a while, but I think I'll have to try again and see if I can achieve a more balanced flavor.

Title: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Author: Anthony Bourdain
Published: 2000 by Bloomsbury
ISBN: 1-58234-082-X

Joseph told me that one of his culinary icons was Anthony Bourdain. I had heard of him, seen him as a guest judge on Top Chef, but I was curious as to why so I picked up this book. I don't think Alton Brown has anything to fear as far as replacing my #1 food hero, but I have definitely learned a few things about the food industry.

I do respect Anthony Bourdain. He is unapologetically a ruffian. He is, or at least has been, a drug abuser. He's got a foul mouth. You definitely won't want to read this book to your kids. So what's to love about somebody like that? Well, the fact that he is who he is and he's happy about it. He doesn't pretend to be somebody else. He's not concerned with what others think about him. He says exactly what he thinks and you know that's what he means, nothing more and nothing less.

My favorite section, probably not surprisingly, is the chapter about why he doesn't eat fish on Monday. Turns out that because the fish market is only open Monday through Friday, the fish you're served on Monday is likely whatever they bought on Friday and couldn't sell over the weekend. I have since heard the same thing from other sources, albeit with less colorful language. Mr. Bourdain also makes it clear that it is in a restaurant's best interest to serve you food that may not be the most fresh. So whenever you see something that is on special, be wary. Carefully consider any item which is not commonly sold, since it may have been in the fridge for an extended period of time. He tells of one of his jobs which was to arrange the Sunday morning brunch buffet, which consisted of leftovers from service the previous nights (yes, plural). So, also be cautious there.

I think this book has scared me away from ever opening my own restaurant. No, it's not something I've ever seriously considered. Every once in a while I think to myself that it might be fun. I don't think I have my heart into it enough though. There's a vast difference between a love of cooking (and eating!) and the ability to put in the hideous amounts of work required by a restaurant. I fall clearly in the first category and I think I will happily stay there.

Saw a post on ruhlman.com about fried rabbit ears. While it's not exactly my cup of tea, I really don't see a problem with it. Some of the comments on the blog are quite visceral and I just don't get it. Just because an animal is cute or is useful in some other way than food, doesn't mean we can't eat it. OK, I can understand if you think eating animals is wrong. Vegetarians and vegans are totally missing out, but I can completely respect that point of view.

It's a lot like the recent Congressional debate about horses. Many want to ban the practice because "the slaughter of horses is both cruel and inhumane, and it is our responsibility to ensure that it no longer occurs". And why isn't it cruel and inhumane to raise chickens in small wire cages where they have to have their beaks clipped to keep from pecking each other? Oh, that's because the chicken industry has more money than the 3 horse meat producers do.

People who eat meat (that would be most of this country) need to accept that that involves taking a life. We should respect that animal, but unless we kill it we can't eat it. Hamburger does not come from a store, it comes from a cow. Either accept that or you really need to become a vegan.