Anonymous

Chip has a "no anonymous comments" policy for the blog, but I am about to break that rule. We got a couple of comments from people who were trying to be mean-spirited but who actually ended up complimenting Chip and making me laugh. These comments also made me realize that maybe it would be fun to add some commentary to Chip's food posts.

Comment #1
"You guys are just like that semi-homemade chick except you try to make things look like you went to the Cordon Bleu."

Aw, that's so sweet! I mean, Chip's hobby is to take pictures of food with the hope that he can make it look more interesting and appetizing than it really is. And he is obviously succeeding, and is able to make it seem like I'm trying harder than I am. Semi-homemade? Which part is homemade?

That leads to comment #2:
"it is amazing what you can do with nutella, wonton wrappers and hot oil. what part of this dish actually uses culinary skill?"

Heh. Obviously, no part of it uses culinary skill! Oh, that's hilarious. That recipe has four ingredients (well, five if you count the hot oil). But this comment made me think that maybe I should write about some of the food pics Chip puts on the blog. If nothing else, those of you who say things to me like, "I want you to fix that for me!" can see how easy it all is and fix it your own self.

For those of you who forget about Nutella, remember to pick it up every once in a while! (Although apparently not at Whole Foods- they don't carry it because it's "artificial." That's why Chip didn't use the word Nutella in the description. It's generic Nutella! I didn't know they made such a thing.) It really makes everything you add it to taste magical. This recipe was too easy not to do weekly- a spoonful in a wonton wrapper, fry it up. I made strawberry puree to go with, but if you don't want to dirty up your food processor you could buy something to dip it in just as easily. Or let the hot oil residue count as dip. Mmmm moist hot oil.

The following weekend, I used the leftover Nutella to make a dessert pizza- it was a cooked crust topped with the Nutella, white chocolate shavings and strawberries. I got the idea from a recent CA article, but since I was too lazy to make my own dough (bought it frozen from Valenza), this also required no culinary skill whatsoever.



Also requiring no skill? Wonton wrappers. I appreciate that real pasta dough is easy to make and use, but I just don't make a lot of doughs or do a lot of baking. But since I like to do my own fillings, I love the magical shortcut of wonton wrappers. They can be fried or boiled, no problem. I recently used them to make raviolis with chicken, bacon, and ricotta filling. Well, I made "beggar's purses" so that Chip would have something interesting to take pictures of, but I used the leftovers for regular ol' ravs. They worked fine fresh or frozen. I also used wonton wrappers for the smoked trout raviolis from a few weeks ago.

So there are my quick, no-skill-required tips for the month- wonton wrappers rule, and Nutella makes everything taste better. Enjoy!

Oooh, meat and potatoes. . . fancy? Nope, just the picture!