Amazing Things You'll Find on the Internet

Sometimes, serendipity happens. I love finding things that I didn't know existed. Like the blobfish. I never knew that existed. And forgive me for being so species-centric, but man! is it ugly!

But this is a food blog, and I cannot imagine eating one of these things.

Foodies have their fun on the net as well. Take The Grill Sergeants! This website showcases The Pentagon Channel's on-air cooking show. Make no mistake, the recipes are ok and typically taste good enough (albeit the printed format is often incomplete), and is perfectly representative of nearly every other cooking show. The real magic lives in the personalities. Each chef is, as the name suggests, a Sergeant in the military. For example, SFC Brad Turner, combines the on-air personality of Emeril Lagasse with the in-your-face charm of R. Lee Ermey. And if it sounds like terrifying spectacle, well, it is.

While cooking and food sites usually boil down (forgive the pun?) to a list of recipes (if you're lucky) and lots of advertising for kitchen gadgets, a few exceptions stand out. Cook's Illustrated gathers all of it's revenue from subscriptions and production of PBS shows and has no advertising on its website nor in its magazine. Its product reviews are objective, with the end user in mind, and the recipes (complete with an almost Carl Sagan-like nerdiness of explaination behind them) are nearly foolproof and quickly sorted with their search engine. However, as their intellectual property is their only revenue, you must pay to play. (Worth every penny IMHO.)

I also rather enjoy Cooking.com, but the recipes all have some kind of agenda. For example, look for "rice." 739 results and not one tells you how to cook rice. Sure you can see how to make a serviceable paella, but if someone wants to make a pot of rice . . . tough.

And then there is the discussion of vegitarian vs. carnivores. Or worse, vegitarian vs. vegan. Regardless of your politcal stance, basic nutrition dictates that a balanced diet has room for some meat and far more veggies than most of us eat. The World Wide Web is another story, though! Meat is comparatively under-represented. There are some gems, though. Case in point, the very classy, very well designed Exotic Meats USA. Lovely to look at, easy to navigate, simple to shop. Also, entertaining to read. (Look for the "Eat Your Mascot, 8Lbs. Sampler.") However, the recipes are a challenge to find, and not numerous.

Compare this to VegCooking, a very good source for vegetarian and vegan recipes and musings. But not as pretty to look at. (As an aside, will someone please tell me, why do vegetarians WANT everything to to be meat? "Mock Fish." "Mama Gleaton's Tofu Turkey with Dressing." " 'Beef' and Broccoli Stir-Fry." Meat substitutes can be found everywhere and in all forms. Rare is the product or recipe that touts, "I am not a meat and proud of it.")

But the most disturbing vegan cuisine, at least visually, is Cuitlacoche, a corn fungus. I will say little more on the subject. However, Steve says a LOT more, and far more colorfully than I would dare on this family-oriented posting.

The culinary arts are warming up and I'm excited to discover where the future will take us. Wherever it may be, I know I'll be able to get there on the often frustrating, occasionally informative and always amazing internet.

And in case you thought I would leave you stranded:

Rice

Put between 1/3 and 1/2 cup of dry white rice per person into a pot. Tap the side of the pot until the rice is evenly distributed over the bottom of the pan. Barely touch your fingertip to the top of the rice and fill with cold water until the water comes 1/2 way between the 1st and second knuckle. Add a bit of salt. Put it on the stove on high and bring to a boil. Without lifting the lid, immediately reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. (If you use an electric burner instead of gas, put it on another burner or you will boil it too long while the element cools down.) Let stand, covered, for a minute or two while you set the table, fluff the rice and serve.