CHG Favorites of the Week

Hey everybody! Just a quick heads up: be on the lookout later today, as we here at CHG are launching a new feature on the great wide world of vegetarianism. Going meatless ties in beautifully with the blog’s central themes of health and frugality, and I’m eager to learn more, so we're gonna give it a whirl. More specifically, my friend Leigh, a 17-year Veggie vet, is gonna give it a whirl. A wondrous writer of copious skill and excellence, she’ll be penning pieces about all kinds of vegetarian trends, issues, and recipes. Hopefully, she’ll also include at least one picture of her dog, the smushy-faced and adorable Snack. (Seriously, this pup will melt your face.) (In a good way.)

So, stay tuned! 3pm! It’s coming.

Food Blog of the Week
Ramblings of a Frantic Home Cook
Of course the writing’s pretty great and the recipes look dang good, but the highlight of this super-neat blog are the picture captions. Case in point: May 5th’s top picture includes the phrase “tomatillo cleavage." Which? HA!

Food Comedy of the Week
“Great White North” from SCTV
What’s this all aboot, you might ask, eh? Well, back in the early ‘80s, the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) thought that too much of the country’s TV programming was being provided by the U.S., so they required all channels under their jurisdiction to have some distinctly Canadian content. SCTV’s Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas responded with Bob and Doug McKenzie, two over-the-top Great White North stereotypes who loved nothing more than beer, hockey, and the word “hoser.” Eventually, they became SCTV’s most famous running characters. (The previous facts were brought to you by three years of grad school. Finally, the degree comes in handy!)



Food Organization of the Week
AIDtoCHILDREN
This week’s site includes another vocabulary game, with the proceeds going directly toward WorldVision, a philanthropic org focusing primarily on poverty-stricken kids. Charity Navigator gives WV four stars, and you can read more about them here. Thanks to reader bluesky for the suggestion. (Incidentally, sweet readers, if you have a favorite local, national, or global food-related charity, lemme know and I’ll make every effort to highlight it here. My knowledge of philanthropies is distressingly limited, and I’d love the chance to pitch in and spread the word.)

Food Quote of the Week
“Annie, there's a big lobster behind the refrigerator. I can't get it out. This thing's heavy. Maybe if I put a little dish of butter sauce here with a nutcracker, it will run out the other side.” – Alvy Singer (Woody Allen), Annie Hall

Food Tip of the Week
This one is probably intuitive to most readers, but a lot of supermarkets have an About to Go Bad bin located somewhere near the back of the produce aisle. Usually, you can pick up deeply-discounted fruit and veggies, which can be cooked up that very night or frozen for future use. I’ve scored broccoli, snow peas, and the occasional apple from those shelves, but have also seen salad in various states of horrifying decay, so be careful about what you choose.

Untried Cheap, Healthy Recipe of the Week
Tofu and Bok Choy with Sesame Ginger Udon Noodles at A Good American Wife
Lemme know if anyone can find the recipe for this, because Mama likes. (Mama being me, but also Anne, who is actually a real Mama of the ever-adorable Walter.)

Food Video of the Week
“Red Red Wine” by UB40
Neil Diamond’s tipsy standard is given the semi-reggae treatment by UB40, who I can only recall ever having covered other artists’ songs. Speaking of that, I’m of the opinion that for a cover song to be successful, it has to bring something new to the tune. Like: Jeff Buckley doing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” Sinead O’Connor juicing up Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Johnny Cash totally reworking Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” and the Cowboy Junkies slowing down Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane.” Any other suggestions? We should make a mix!



Extra Special Totally Unrelated Bonus Essay of the Week
“The Tinkler” by Lisa Kogan
Oprah's O Magazine is great for many, many reasons, including, but not limited to:
A) Substantive articles,
B) Writing that doesn’t assume women are idiots,
C) Headlines that don’t read like Anorexia How-to Guides,
D) Lisa Kogan.
Kogan is O’s monthly Life columnist, and she cracks me up in a clever, post-modern Erma Bombeck sort of way. This piece, about her office’s resident toilet seat sprinkler is hilarious, not to mention deeply, deeply resonant.