Praise Mark Bittman

Some women have a crush on Brad Pitt or George Clooney.  Call me odd or completely out of touch with the psyche of a normal woman but for me, Bittman is just dreamy.


Ahh, sigh.

I dream of a day when Mark will swoop in and cook in my tiny little kitchen while I gaze admiringly at the fabulous dish he prepares.  I love his simplicity and ease, moving from one task to the next looking like he is relaxing on the beach.  He makes cooking great fun and muses when he makes a mistake like a shell of an egg going into a cake with, "Oh well, just a little crunch, not the end of the world."  I love that attitude rather than, "Nothing is worse than a shell in your food." I won't name who said that but anyone who watches a lot of Food Network might recognize the "Nothing is worse than (insert earth-shattering mistake)."  

So, what inspires the accolades on this Sunday morning?  Pancakes, that's what.  I found this commentary and several recipes for pancakes, sweet and savory, in his Minimalist column in the New York Times and I was reminded of why he holds a special place in my heart.  For taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary in a simple no frills way.  Cardamom scented oatmeal pancakes, embedded pine nuts in cornmeal with vanilla, bulgur ricotta; pinch me.

No, I have not had a chance to try these recipes because I am reading his column at 3:15 am on Sunday morning and I do not want to get out of bed to start cooking.  I thought it would be more productive to gush on my blog.  I will be trying at least two of these recipes though.  Stay tuned.

xo - AJ

Nutella for Breakfast?

http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/a-healthy-chocolate-breakfast-for-kids/

I recently read this (see link) and I have to ask the question, are there really parents out there who would serve this for breakfast? I love Nutella and I believe it is excellent for a million different recipes but serving it for breakfast to kids in a nation that already has an obesity epidemic is appalling and totally irresponsible. Harsh assessment? Maybe. I just think somewhere along the line we became lazy with nutrition and we can do better.

So, just go for it and chuck the salt soaked lunchables, the fruit roll-ups, potato chips, fritos, gummy anything, granola bars, wonder bread and anything else that has a main ingredient of corn syrup, salt, white flour or partially hydrogenated anything. In the long run when your kids are healthy, diabetes free and above all, not getting made fun of for being fat, they will appreciate that you went the extra mile to make healthy food and to teach them what proper nutrition is and tastes like.

Cheers to the work of child-rearing - not a job for sissies! AJ