Melted Cheese

My dear friend Shannon may be the best cook I’ve ever known. Her favorite cookbook is from Mark Bittman, so he has immediate credibility with me. But what about his melted cheese credentials?

He appears to have the right idea with this Welsh Rarebit article and video, and claims Queso Fundido is “the original and superior version of nachos.” (I’d substitute with Soyrizo in this recipe.)

No pretensions, just hearty savory melted cheese yumminess.  I’ve got to try both of these!

I offer my seal of approval. Bittman clearly has melted cheese cred.

Why do I care?  Yesterday my friend Roxane shared this newly released video of from the 2007 EG Conference. Like most videos from the TED Talks, it’s a fantastic presentation from a top-notch expert, worth every second of its 20-minutes.

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Well, they have a point.

Tim Ferriss points out that this could feed ten Victoria’s Secret models for a week.

He’s only exaggerating slightly.

Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing
2,900 calories
182 g fat
240 g carbs

Men’s Health: “Even if you split this ‘starter’ with 3 friends, you’ll have downed a meal’s worth of calories.” They aren’t exaggerating. [Photo also from Men's Health.]

You know, the thing is, after you have the first one or two of these fries dripping in melted cheese and dipped in ranch, do you really need to eat any more from the tray? But I’ll keep eating until it’s gone. If only I could get Tim’s Victoria’s Secret supermodels to bring me this whole thing on a platter and then carry it away after I’ve had a taste of heaven!

I’ve never been to Outback Steakhouse.  Anyone want to go and share some Aussie Cheese Fries?

In lingerie?

[Also notable melted cheese from the Men's Health 20 Worst Foods in America... #3: On the Border Stacked Border Nachos and #5: Uno Chicago Grill Chicago Classic Deep Dish Pizza. "Downing this "personal" pizza is equivalent to eating 18 slices of Domino's Crunchy Thin Crust cheese pizza."  I wonder how that compares with Little Star?]

Jovino and Timmii had the bright idea that there would be fewer people at Great America on Mother’s Day.

Less time wading through humanity and more time for bumper cars and roller coasters.

That was an easy sell, so I joined a dozen or so of their friends yesterday.

Good strategy. We could go on a roller coaster twice by getting on the back. Fun was had.

Melted cheese was also had. (more…)

For Cinco de Mayo, Jody offered to make nachos.

She asked how I wanted them, and I invited her to do it exactly as she liked, to make Jody Nachos.

Like a sandwich, I said, it’s always better when someone else makes it and does it their way. For some reason, it just never works as well to try to make it for yourself. If any philosophers out there can tell me why this is so, please put forth your theories in the comments below.

Anyway, she had me go shopping… (more…)