What's been cooking?

So it's not like I've been totally lazy these past two months between posts. I had to eat after all. I've just been relying on some old favorites. My comfort foods, if you will. Anyway, here's a little recap of some of the things going down in my kitchen.

Bobby Flay's Chicken Cacciatore: This is fabulous. I love the layers of flavors from the spicy jalapeno to the tangy balsamic. Bobby thought of everything. I still can't believe he lost the throwdown! I bypass the whole chicken and just do mine with chicken thighs.

Emeril's Smoked Salmon Quiche with Potato Crust: A different twist on a classic quiche. Potato crust = Yum. As if potatoes weren't awesome enough, try kicking them up with some Essence of Emeril and Parmesan. Heaven.

My Pasta with Goat Cheese, Chicken and Sun Dried Tomatoes: An easy weeknight meal with lots of bold flavors.

Duff Goldman's Curried Pasta Salad: I whipped this up to go with some jerk burgers at a friend's Memorial Day BBQ. I liked it so much I've already done a sequel to go with the NFNS party leftovers. I probably used twice the curry powder the recipe calls for and spiced mine up with cayenne pepper. Throw in some dried cherries for a sweet balance the spiciness. And impress your friends ... my cubicle food buddy at work thought I julienned the broccoli for the slaw! Thanks Publix!

Emeril's Quiche Lorraine: Who doesn't love cheese and bacon? Simple, easy, freezable. Although, I freeze anything. Perfect to whip out as a snack for a spontaneous Friday evening wine tasting!

Giada's Shrimp and Lemon Linguine: A note to the home cook - don't salt the water too much when using fresh pasta, as I did when I made this recipe. I guess it stands to reason it absorbs more of it than the store bought, dried kind. I've also decided I'm not a huge fan of lemon. Besides those two things, my dinner guest was a big fan of this one.

And we did have a little baby shower action in the midst of all this, during which my friend E and I converted my pad into Kitchen Stadium to whip up six dishes in about three hours. (You have ... 20 minutes). OK, we did get a late start because we had to hit up our fav wine shop for double points Saturday. But we did it! E made a roasted red pepper dip, tuna tartare and bruschetta. My contributions were:

Leek and Mushroom Quiche: The beauty of the quiche ... I used the same quiche lorraine recipe from above and swapped in a pack of portobellos and a leek. Eyeball it.

Rachael Ray's Italian Sausage Sage Meatballs with Apricot Balsamic Glaze: Always a big hit at parties. *Note: This recipe doesn't appear to be on any authorized web sites. It's that good. I'm not about to infringe copyright on Rach's $18 million a year empire. It's in her Get Togethers cookbook.

Rachael Ray's Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites: Why I keep making stuff with lemon is beyond me. But everybody else liked it. I served with some teryiaki.

So that's a lazy two months of cooking for me! Not surprising : )

Today, I just wanted a snickerdoodle ...

... It was Monday. A good day for a good baked product.

A few hours into the afternoon, when I started to get a little bored and thinking I needed some more coffee, I thought about heading out to Main Street to find a good one at some random bakery.

But I've been disappointed by baked goods too many times. Take for example the red velvet cupcake at Starbucks last week. It looked so perfect in the case, the rich red color carefully topped with a nice swirl of frosting...

It sucked. It was stale, like so many once-frozen products. And the frosting wasn't even cream cheese.

I wanted a snickerdoodle so bad and I didn't want to be disappointed. So I decided to make my own.

A quick search of the Food Network web site produced this recipe from Emeril, obviously a winner.

And thanks to the beauty of a well-stocked fridge and cupboard with plenty of basics ... and then some, all I needed to stop and pick up was some Crisco.

For $2.69 - probably the price I would have paid for one crappy cookie at some shi shi bakery - I had dozens of them within an hour of making it home from work.

Now that's what I call a good way to end Monday : )

47 days and counting ...

With my ticket in hand and hotel reservation made, needless to say I was thrilled when I checked the South Beach Food and Wine Festival web site and saw they have posted the schedule for the Grand Tasting.

The day my friend and I picked to go (Saturday) is sold out (not surprising...but you can still get tickets for Sunday). The schedule is packed with celebrity cooking demos by some of my current and former favorite Food Network stars - Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray, Emeril, The Neelys ...

Of course I'm expecting long lines and waits for the demos, so we will have to be selective with our choices. I'm thinking Rachael Ray and Emeril will be priorities...

The rest of the time we can spend wining and dining our way through the food tent. I can't wait! This trip has been years in the making ...

Game Highlights

After discussing the big Iron Chef battle with some of my friends today, I realized my post last night was rather cursory. Perhaps it was the shock of my team's loss. Perhaps it was the vino.

Either way, I wanted to come back and share some of my favorite highlights from the event, most of which involve Mario Batali getting snarky with Bobby Flay. The other one involves sweet potatoes.

To be fair, I do like Bobby. I did drive three hours to spend an entire day waiting for an hour-long cooking demo and a signature in my cookbook. But Emeril trumps Bobby Flay any day. If Bobby was on Emeril's team, I would have been cheering for him.

Besides, I'm a sucker for sass.

Without further ado ...

Memorable moment No. 1: Mario Batali practically running into the White House garden proclaiming he was going to take all of the chiles and tomatillos, staples of the Bobby Flay menu.

MM No. 2: Emeril telling Mario Batali about two nice looking cauliflower in the White House garden, and asking whether they should take one of them. Mario's response: Grab them both. Bobby Flay later was caught yelling back "Did you guys take all of the cauliflower?"

MM No. 3: Mario proclaiming his plans to make tacos and burritos while heading back with his garden bounty.

MM No. 4: Sweet potatoes. Apparently an Obama favorite (we learned as Bobby tried to kiss up to the first lady before the battle). Both teams used the sweet potatoes to make what I think were the best looking dishes of the night - a ravioli from Emeril and Mario and a sweet potato tart with marshmallow topping from Bobby and Cristeta Comerford.

So there you have it. It sure does seem like Mario has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about the Food Network. This article from the New York times says a lot.

"They don't need me," Batali is quoted as saying. "They have decided they are a mass market and they are going after the Wal-Mart crowd. So they don't need someone who uses polysyllabic words from other languages."

Which raises an interesting question ... Were Emeril and Mario in on the fix? Did they realize the odds were against them? Why bother?

My guess is the publicity from the hugely marketed event was probably enough to entice the two chefs to return to the Food Network. After all, we are in a recession, and both could probably use some advertising for their franchises.

I did make me kind of want to eat at one of Mario Batali's restaurants...

Well ...

... I think it was a fix.

I figured it from the beginning. There was no way Food Network would let the White House chef lose an epic Iron Chef battle. Especially when paired with poster child Bobby Flay, and up against two Food Network castoffs - Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse.

But I had hope when the chefs walked across the White House lawn. I thought maybe, just maybe, this would be a fair fight of some of popular culture's biggest culinary giants.

Hope that was shattered.

To be fair, it's hard to say who should have been the champ when you can't taste the food. And I have to say, I'd probably be hard pressed to top any of the dishes put before the judges.

I'll give Bobby and Comerford that their dessert looked the best, a sweet potato tart with marshmallow on top. And any time I hear Bobby Flay talk about chipotle or chiles I feel a little tingle. I love those flavors.

But Mario and Emeril's American birds two ways also looked good. So did their scallops and radishes.

Either way, I'm a little disappointed.

I guess there's no way to know for sure whether Emeril got a fair fight.

And at the end of the day, it was a good show. Maybe one that will inspire America to get cooking.

An epic culinary battle ...

Brace yourselves. Now, consider the following:

Iron chef ... White House ... EMERIL LAGASSE!!!

That's right, many of you who talk to me on a fairly regular basis or watch the Food Network have probably caught wind of what's being billed as the greatest night in culinary history. An Iron Chef battle at the White House featuring Bobby Flay and White House Chef Cristeta Comerford versus Emeril and Mario Batali. They will be cooking their dishes with ingredients from the White House garden.

It takes my breath away a little just thinking about it.

Anyway, it may not be the greatest night in culinary history, but will sure be a good one. Show starts at 8 p.m. Jan. 3 on the Food Network.

I'll give you one guess who my money is on : )

From Emeril's Kitchen

The 10-year-old girl behind me in line grew up watching Emeril with her mother. The two women forged an early bond watching his show on the Food Network.

The woman in front of me was a cancer survivor.
During her sickest times, she lay on bedrest watching Emeril whip up a root beer glaze for his pork chops. She'd send her husband to the store to pick up ingredients for the dish, but every time when he returned she realized she was too sick to get up and make it. He cooked for her.

"Damn," I thought still trying to come up with the perfect thing to say to this food icon. "I can't compete with that story."

Not everyone gets a second chance to do things in life, especially those things from which we get the most enjoyment. But I have been fortunate in many respects, and on Monday I got a second chance to meet Emeril.

I found out he would be signing more copies of the new cookbook in front of his restaurant at Universal's CityWalk at the same time I learned about the book signing in Brandon. At first I thought driving to Orlando on a weeknight would never work. But then I figured, why not make it happen? It would be kind of fun to eat in the restaurant while he was around. So I picked up a weekend shift to get an extra day off so that I could make the pilgrimage.

I spent the weeks beforehand strategizing the perfect time to stake out the restaurant (Lunch? Dinner? Before or after the book signing?) I called to see if he would only be signing the new book (Just the new one, the restaurant said). I studied the menu to pick out the perfect entree (It came down to a gametime decision between the rotisserie roasted duck and quail two ways). I saved my pennies, and then I waited.

Leaving my apartment, I decided on a whim to bring along my copy of From Emeril's Kitchen, the one with recipes from the restaurant. Who knew? Maybe he would stop by my table and sign it.

I arrived at CityWalk about an hour before my reservation and, just like I was in Brandon, was really surprised there weren't more people waiting. I figured people would line up hours in advance for the chance to have Emeril sign their cookbooks. But about halfway through the signing, there were maybe 40 people waiting, a steady line that kept moving.

I decided to ask whether they would let me through to have him sign my renegade cookbook. It was no problem. I hopped in the line in between the 10-year-old girl and the cancer survivor. After I heard their stories, I decided to keep mine simple.

I watched him smile warmly at the woman in front of me as she stood there, meeting him for the first time, telling him about her cancer.

"Well, my story's not as good as hers," I said when I walked up to the table. "But you did inspire me to cook."

He looked at me smiling, like he didn't know what to say to this cheesy line I'm sure he hears often, but was amused by my admission. So I did one of the things I do best. I filled the awkward silence with nonsense.

"So what should I get for dinner? The quail or the duck?"

Emeril's clearly not a sappy or sentimental guy, but likes to get right down to business. He looked up from the signing and the warm, gentile look kind of melted into one of real concentration.

"That's a really tough one," he said. "Those are both really great items."

He thought about it for awhile. Quite a while actually, without ever offering a recommendation. Perhaps trying to move the line along, the employee standing next to him suggested I get both. Emeril suggested I also consider the specials, one of which included a rack of lamb.

He finished signing my book and I said it was great to meet him (not acknowledging the fact it was the second time in a month). I'm pretty confident he didn't realize that.

"The pleasure was mine," he responded smiling. "I'll see you in there."

The restaurant was all decked out for the holidays, with arches wrapped with white Christmas lights and garland. Formally dressed VIPS (or investors) lingered around the bar and lobby sipping champagne like it was going out of style. I ended up scoring a seat right by the window.

When Emeril walked in the restaurant everyone clapped, but the chef hardly paid them any attention. He headed right for the kitchen, where he stayed for about an hour. Then he, looking kind of tired, made the rounds to all the tables, spending a few minutes chatting with the apparent VIPS. But still stopping briefly to ask how my banana cream pie was.

And that was it. Perhaps somewhat anticlimactic. He left the restaurant and I headed home. I was thrilled to get my favorite cookbook of his signed.

Oh and for the record, I went with the quail, served two ways actually. One stuffed with a shrimp and andouille sausage stuffing the other a quail breast. Served with baby carrots and wilted spinach.

It was all delicious.

Before Remy, he taught me anyone can cook

I had been trying to go to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival for about a month, but every weekend something kept me from it.

I put it off until the very last day, and as it got closer I was getting pretty excited. I studied the list of international food and wine offerings (field research for the blog, if you will) and marked all of the things I would indulge in. Part of the reason I wanted to go is because I had a park ticket that would expire at the end of the year, and we all know how I feel about wasting things.

There were few things that would have kept me from going that last day. One of them was Emeril Lagasse.

So what's with this obsession with Emeril, and several other celebrity chefs for that matter?

I guess it's sentimental.

I wrote in my inaugural blog post about how when I first set out on my own and moved to Florida I didn't have many friends and had to adjust to being an adult in my new surroundings. I missed my family and friends, and put a great deal of pressure on myself to succeed in the workplace. Pressure that caused incredible stress and anxiety.

At those times when I felt lonely or down I found solace in the kitchen.

But I never would have ended up there if it wasn't for personalities like Rachael Ray and Emeril. They inspired me into this world where an hour chopping vegetables is better than any other therapy. They taught me to cook, and helped me realize the satisfaction that comes with making a good meal for yourself or to share with others. Food brings people comfort, and over the years has helped connect me with some of the people I am now closest with.

They will probably never know, but their recipes helped me through some of the toughest times at work and in life. They helped me survive the hardest stories. I think it's even fair to give them credit for helping me get through the three consuming and stressful years spent working on the teacher abuse project, which hopefully some good came of. Them and my friends and family : )

They taught me how to manage my stress so I could keep going.

Not to mention, Emeril's food is amazing.

These were the kinds of things going through my mind, and yes I think there were even tears starting to well in my eyes, as I walked up to the table to see Emeril.

But how do you say all that to someone you don't even know without sounding like a mentally unstable stalker?

So I didn't say much at all. The whole experience was somewhat blurred by my excitement and nervousness. I do think I told him he is my culinary hero, and he kind of smiled.

For some reason, at least I'd like to think, he knew what I was thinking. Just like I hope my stories might make a difference in someone's life, or the barista at Starbucks takes satisfaction in pouring the perfect shot that helps get a doctor or teacher going in the morning, I think Emeril probably realizes the impact of his cooking.

So that's why I dropped everything I was doing to make two trips to Brandon to meet the guy.

Now, I just have to figure out what to do with that Disney ticket with a looming expiration. Perhaps I will have to go back to see Chef Remy.

Death of the gourmet foodie?

We pulled into the parking lot just 40 minutes before the book store would open to start handing out tickets.

My stomach twisted in knots the closer we got to the mall, expecting to find hundreds of people who camped out overnight to see my favorite culinary super star. If Bobby Flay could draw a line of over 500, Emeril must bring at least 1,000.

But as we pulled into the lot it became clear there were no more than 40 people standing outside the Books a Million, a relatively few loyal fans who showed up early to ensure a spot for the book signing.

Where were all the foodies?

The scant crowd became the talk among our small group as we waited for the store to open. Maybe the event wasn't well publicized. Maybe Emeril has lost popularity since Food Network dropped his show a few years ago.

Maybe most people - even the most hardcore foodies - just aren't that into cooking.

I love Emeril for so many reasons, not the least of which is that his food is amazing, all packed with bold and daring flavors that just perfectly meld together into incredibly sensuous culinary masterpieces. I've tried a number of his recipes - jambalaya, several gumbos, moussaka, ropa vieja, banana cream pie - and they were all amazing. But a word to the wise: Many will take you hours. Not a feat for the busy, broke or faint-hearted.

Emeril is one of the very best, and many of his recipes are intricate and precise, requiring a keen attention to detail.

But let's face it. How many people will stand there frying dozens of pieces of potato and eggplant just to get the base layers for your moussaka? Or stand by the counter blending a banana cream pie filling (or spend hundreds of dollars on the standing mixer)? Some of these gourmet recipes cost close to $100 to make, and after all we have been going through a recession.

This debate of gourmet versus Rachael Ray has been swirling around the food world this past month with the closure of the nation's oldest food publication. Gourmet magazine was one of the latest casualties of the advertising issues that are plaguing the whole print media industry. Its parent company decided it wasn't profitable to keep it going, especially when it stood in competition to its other food magazine, Bon Apetit.

Foodies all over the Internet have painted the two magazines as rivals in a sophistication versus superficial kind of battle. I've read both magazines over the years, and enjoyed them both. Although I will say I don't think anything jumped off the pages of Gourmet and commanded me to cook it. For whatever reason, it always made me want to sit back on the patio with a glass of wine and casually flip through its pages, not get into the kitchen. The most memorable article I ever read was an investigative piece on the chicken industry.

Something about Bon Apetit made me want to cook. Maybe it was snazzier pictures, or a more engaging layout. Maybe it was the monthly features about restaurants or new kitchen gadgets I found entertaining.

I can kind of understand why Gourmet went out of business. Maybe the recipes weren't any tougher. But there's a lot to be said for perception.

If there's any indication where demand in the food industry lies, just look at the shift in programming on the Food Network. Emeril and Mario Batali are long gone, replaced by home cooks that specialize in fast meals, cheap meals or those requiring minimal ingredients.

Call it the Rachael Ray phenomenon.

But at the same time, I'm not one to knock fast and easy, especially for people who don't know their way around the kitchen. I wasn't born into the cooking world with the skills to put together complex recipes. When I started cooking I pulled most of my recipes from Rachael Ray cookbooks and magazines. They were easy and undaunting, and wouldn't break my bank account with the grocery bill.

I moved up from there, and now I often have dinner parties with elaborate meals courtesy of From Emeril's Kitchen, the cookbook of his restaurant.

As much as many people will knock Rachael Ray - and the scores of people who have followed - there is a reason people like her. Call it lazy, but most people today want easy. They are pressed for time and money. There's a reason many people in this country are more inclined to pull up to a McDonald's then pull out a cookbook.

Even with the simplicity Rachael's style has brought to the food world, I recently saw an interview with Food Network officials who said it's not enough. They acknowledged that while the station has succeeded in drawing people in for entertainment purposes, it needs to find some way to inspire people to get into the kitchen.

Emeril's newest cookbook is called 20-40-60: Fresh Food Fast and gives home cooks instructions for preparing home cooked meals in that respective time period.

I'm sure some of the stuffier foodies will say he is a sell out, or dumbing his food down to make money or compete with other rising stars. But hey, don't we all? The whole world is changing. It's your choice if you want to come along.

As far as Emeril goes, I think it's great his new book might make him more accessible to the masses. His food is great and everyone should try it, even those who might not have hours of time or $100 to put toward making dinner.

Those few loyal hard core home cooks among us, we'll still have From Emeril's Kitchen as an option.

In case you were wondering ...

... that would be the amazing banana cream pie on the left. If you ever eat at one of Emeril's restaurants you HAVE TO try it. The other one was some sort of almond croissant bread pudding, also delicious.

In honor of Emeril

Well there was obviously just one way to celebrate meeting Emeril, getting my cookbook signed and receiving some long awaited banana cream pie advice.

That's right. Christening the cookbook.

The new cookbook is 20-40-60: Fresh Food Fast. The idea is to cook homemade meals in that respective timeframe.

I felt the shrimp etouffee would be an appropriate tribute to my culinary hero. But I did kick the recipe in the cookbook up a notch, adding in about a cup of white wine with the chicken broth and about six links of andouille sausage.

The spontaneous moment in which I met Emeril Lagasse

I came back to the office after an assignment Friday afternoon ready to start the weekend. I was so sick of covering the swine flu. I never liked it in the first place. I was more concerned about my big plans for the weekend than writing, yet another, mediocre swine flu story.

The plan was to hit the Suncoast Food and Winefestival Saturday with some friends and then head over to Epcot for the last day of their annual food and wine event on Sunday. In between would be plenty of time for relaxing and working out to burn off all of those calories.

Then a co-worker headed over to my cubicle and changed everything.

He handed me a copy of the St. Pete Times entertainment section.

"I don't know if you know about this," he said.

Staring up at me was a picture of the legendary Emeril Lagasse - my own personal culinary hero - in a field of fresh greens beside an announcement that he would be signing cookbooks about 40 minutes away on Sunday.

I was, seriously, speechless.

I later apologized to Ron for my lackluster and unenthusiastic reaction. I think I was just numb with some sort of disbelief. Every so often I stalk the Internet looking for appearances by my favorite food celebrities, and Emeril never seems to do many. Was it really possible that he was going to be just 40 minutes away at some random mall in Brandon?

My friend Cathy and I then found ourselves driving up Interstate 75 at 7:30 Saturday morning to secure our spot in line. The Books a Million would start giving out numbers when they opened at 9 a.m. and we wanted to make sure we'd get one. We got there about 40 minutes before the store opened and secured spots in the high sixties, meaning not only would we definitely get our books signed, Emeril would probably still be pretty fresh when we met him.

And then, we waited.

By the time Sunday morning rolled around I was surprised I wasn't more excited. When Bobby Flay came to Syracuse, I couldn't sleep the night before. And he's a fairly new obsession. In fact, I never used to like him.

Emeril has always been my favorite, and his food really ignited my passion for cooking.

I think I was just in disbelief. I thought it was too good to be true and braced myself for the possibility he would cancel at the last minute.

At one point Sunday morning it dawned on me that I didn't know what I would say to him. So many wonderful recipes I've tried. So many memorable dishes at his restaurant. So many stories from so many years of admiration of him. What could I say in a brief moment?

But given that Bobby Flay barely said two words to me and Paula Deen gave me a dirty look, I figured there wouldn't be much time for chit chat.

At about 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Cathy and I were back on the road to the mall, where we found our prime spot in line for the signing.

Once it started it all went so fast. The line moved and we moved with it.

At some point Cathy told me something she was going to say to Emeril. I looked at her and said: "You know there probably won't be a lot of time to talk to him."

"I know," she responded. "I'm just going to tell him real quick while he's signing."

It made me think I should have something in mind to say, but how can I convey all of my love for Emeril's food without looking like a total idiot? I decided I would just tell him I tried to make his amazing banana cream pie, and that it did not come out as good as his.

So that's exactly what I did as I approached him wearing his chef's uniform at the table.

He kind of let out a gush of air and looked up and immediately started advising me on my baking.

"You've got to really whip it. Whip it real good. Just keep whipping and whipping until it stiffens."

(Any sexual innuendo or reference to that tacky song was totally lost on me at this point. I was so nervous. Practically shaking, and really could not believe Emeril was advising me on his banana cream pie recipe.)

"Oh, I'll have to try that," I said politely.

He looked down to sign the book then stopped and looked up again.

"That's a tough one. A really tough one. Good for you for trying. Keep trying and you'll get it."

And that was it. I walked away totally euphoric toward my friend Cathy and barely heard her asking me, puzzled realizing it was too late, if I wanted to smile for a picture. I was so wrapped up in this whole banana cream pie situation that I forgot to look up and smile for a photo.

How amazing though? Emeril was just like he is on tv. The voice, the mannerisms, everything. He was so incredibly nice (although I joked we should wait until the people at the end of the line went through and see how he was holding up by then).

As we walked out we swapped Emeril stories with this girl who was in line with us. She said she went up to the table and told Emeril that she can't cook.

He told her that couldn't be true, and - pointing to the cookbook - said it all starts here and advised her to go home and get started.

Appreciation

One of the things about cooking is that it really helps you appreciate the art of coming up with a good recipe.

Take, for example, cooking something out of From Emeril's Kitchen, which features recipes from his restaurants. Most of the recipes are extremely nuanced and complex. Not difficult, per say. Just extremely detailed, right down to making a veal stock for the Creole Meuniere Base that goes with a number of recipes.

Same goes for Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill cookbook. One recipe for a habanero duck pancake requires three different sauces, at least one of which requires you to make a completely different sauce. Oh. And the duck recipe also calls for chicken stock. But no worries. The recipes for all of these sauces and stocks are in the cookbook.

To think these guys have people doing this every day at their restaurants.

I have had several moments of zen appreciation preparing some of the recipes for this blog, particularly when it comes to the detail that goes into working with certain ingredients. The pho was definitely an example of this.

I mean, come on. Simmering a broth for 10 hours? Who ever thought of that?

There were a few things with the pho recipe I found suspect, so while I was waiting for the broth to finish I did some research. It seemed as far as basic technique goes, and ingredients for the most part, Emeril was right on.

The big thing that kept tripping me up was the accumulation of what seemed to be copious amounts of fat in the broth, especially after I put it in the fridge. A thick, jelly-like substance layered across the top of it.

It seemed like my takeout from Vietnamese restaurants had done the same thing, but it still bothered me. I thought maybe using the short ribs was a bad idea. Other recipes I found suggested ox tail, which might have been leaner. I had also skipped draining the broth through the cheese clothe the first night, so I reheated it to do this and that did seem to skim some of the stuff out of it.

Some more research indicated that there might not be anything wrong with my broth. Apparently the gelatin-like substance is not actually fat, but collagen from the bones you boil. That made sense. Some Vietnamese people will let their pho broth sit over night and then scrape the layer off the top before serving. Others apparently keep some of it on hand to add in extra for flavor.

Either way, at some point there was clearly a lot of thought put into this issue, which I can appreciate.

Speaking of Emeril ...

... I thought I'd post this video for the easily entertained among us. I found it over the summer for my cousin, who as it turns out is becoming a bit of a foodie herself. She wanted to watch Emeril Live, more specifically watch him deliver his signature "Bam!"

What's one to do in this day and age to find such a specific video segment? That's right. YouTube came through on this one.

The 10-year-old and I found it amusing. The best is the part with the chocolate torte and powdered sugar.

What isn't on the Internet?