My Newest Obsession

Fried Green Tomatoes! This all started from a lunch at the Black Eyed Pea. They were a featured dish for one of their lunch specials. Well, let me just say that they were so good. I’ve tried to recreate them with regular red tomatoes but they just weren’t the same. Apparently, there is something about green tomatoes that makes them taste better and the their texture isn’t the same a regular hothouse red tomato. One problem – I cannot seem to find green tomatoes anywhere! Kroger, Farmers Market, Wal-Mart, Albertsons, nowhere. But, in case you run across some, below is the recipe. And if you guys run across green tomatoes in your many travels – I better get a text, e-mail, or phone call.

INGREDIENTS

3 medium, firm green tomatoes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
2 beaten eggs
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or cornmeal
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

METHOD

1 Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt and pepper. Let tomato slices stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place flour, milk, eggs, and bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes.

2 Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Dip tomato slices in milk, then flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs. In the skillet, fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 4-6 minutes on each side or until brown. As you cook the rest of the tomatoes, add olive oil as needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Food Network TV!

I cannot seem to turn this channel off at my house. It just seems that watching TV about food (delicious sounding & looking) is addicting. Whether I’m watching Barefoot Contessa, or Cook Like a Restaurant Chef w/ Ann Burrell, or Chopped, or whatever (NOT-The Neeley’s eugh.) I just get so engrossed I can’t turn the channel. It’s been like this since I was a child…I can remember getting up early on a Saturday mornings as a child and instead of turning on cartoons or something of the like I turned on Yan Can Cook. I’ve learned a lot from these shows too. For instance, fruit and vegetables don’t get marinated, instead they are macerated, only meat is marinated. I learned that you should always salt (and a lot) of the water you cook pasta in because after its cooked pasta isn’t able to absorb salt. So the only way to get salt in the pasta is to add it to the water. How many people already knew that? That’s what I thought…

Aldi, shammaldi!

So I fell for it. I’ve been seeing all these commercials for this new Swedish grocery store chain, Aldi. They supposedly have good quality food at very low prices. And while, I’m not poor, I’m not made of money either. Well let me tell you it was traumatic from the second I set foot on their parking lot. Before entering the store I went to retrieve what I am convinced was a shopping cart the size of a 1960 Plymouth. BUT, before I was able to drive it into the store I had to deposit a quarter to use the cart. STRIKE ONE.

Aldi only sells their brand of food, no modern day mainstream brands. No Heinz ketchup, no Cheetos brand chips, no Kraft cheese, and no Coca Cola Classic. Instead its Aldi brand everything. STRIKE TWO.

I was brave and bought some chips, sandwich meat, and bread + a couple of other items. So far the bread is the only thing that hasn’t tasted like shiz. I threw the sandwich meat away as it had a golden/yellowish hue. While checking out I had to pay for the shopping bags that I used to take my groceries home in. $0.06 for paper and $.10 for plastic. STRIKE THREE.

Oh, and they don’t accept credit cards, cash and debit only. STRIKE FOUR

Let me just say that this, though my grocery bill was only 36 dollars for the week, only 8% was edible - I WILL NOT BE BACK.