Tuesday, January 25, 2011

1. Potato 227 up, 15 down

White people living or travelling in South East Asia.

White ex-pats are often seen as fat, white and inert. Common variants are "fat potato", "stupid potato", "dirty potato" and so on.

Potato was first coined in 2008 by ex-pats living in Vietnam. It was first reference in the Vietnam Times in January 2009, and spread quite quickly throughout Vietnam and is currently becoming pervasive in major ex-pat hubs including Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City. Term has also surfaced in the SE Asian community in Australia.

In Sydney the increased Anglo-Saxon interest in Asian cultures has led to this word being used in a derogatory manner to describe Anglo-Saxon patrons to SE Asian establishments.

Potatospeak is a humorous term used to refer to metaphors which use this slang, including:

Potato Salad - a large gathering of potatoes, usually around hotel swimming pools.

Mashed Potato - amotorbike accident involving at least one potato. Often includes a muffler burn.

Baked Potato - sunburn

Potato Wedge - a poorly executed motorbike manouever

Potato Famine - a potato orders a meal at a local restaurant. On arrival he realises it is completely inedible.

Atkins Diet - a period of time when the potato decides he or she doesn’t want any more potato in his life.

Bubble and Squeak - older potato who has hooked up with a younger, beautiful local girl

Fauxtato - a local person who is sitting in a Hard Rock Cafe.
"We went to this really nice Italian Restaurant in the old quarter of Hanoi, and it was full of potatoes."

"You should have seen the potato salad around the pool at the Sofitel last weekend."

Friday, January 21, 2011

Thursday, January 20, 2011

"There are a good deal of vitamins and minerals in potato residues, and it's free of gluten."

"That means that people with celiac disease or gluten intolerance may eat the bread."

"I guess you've noticed something a little strange with Dad. It's okay, though. I'm still Dad."

"I know this sounds crazy, but ever since yesterday on the road, I've been seeing this shape. Shaving cream, pillows... Dammit! I know this. I know what this is! This means something. This is important."

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Don't shoot, piano player

"[H]e seemed to be the typical college student and none had witnessed any unusual behavior from him in the past."

"So. I had a big baking potato, a medium-sized beet, and a small sweet potato — "

Bittman is all about pancakes today which is fine - I love my sweet syrupy p-ann-cakes as much as the next guy. But this is a blog with a potato purpose. So I did a quick search and found just what I was looking for: Unbeetable!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Potato Ships


"With cheese or without."

HELLY MACKEREL! (Or: Why I Won't Be Giving This Recipe A Go Even Though It Contains Delicious Potatoes, Love.)

1. The writer has a hyphenated surname
2. His hyphenated surname begins with "Fearnly." (Sorry - Not appetizing)
3. "Start Happy" What kind of Magic Door Candyland Sesame Street syrupy Bosco blech is that?
4. Those slabs of fish still have their skins on them.
5. The writer uses the word "deeply." I hate the adverb "deeply" almost as much as I hate skin left on my fish slabs.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to manufacture, keep, and bear do-it-yourself potato launchers, shall not be infringed."

It's in the Constitution. Sort of.

(via: chickelit (the commenter))

UPDATE: While you have a Constitutional right to manufacture, keep, and bear do-it-yourself potato launchers, you also have an ethical responsibility to practice due diligence.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Sweet Potato Biscuits

2 c. mashed sweet potatoes
1 stick butter
4 rounded tsp. baking powder
3 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
Sift flour and baking powder in a bowl. Mix remaining ingredients; gradually add flour mixture. Form into biscuits. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes

ADDED: P1050954 Sweet Potato Biscuits Echo Chamber

UPDATE: 14 65 viewers! Yikes! Look out! It's an Annalanche!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Mashing More Metaphors

More violence on our favorite little innocent underground radical:
"It's important that our leaders not leave semen stains on dresses of women who are not their wives [and] know how to spell potato..."
And here is some additional advice, oh dear leaders, even if you can't spell "potato": Do not leave potato stains on your own wife's dresses.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Ray's Cheesy Potatoes

from my friend Ray's kitchen to yours:

8 oz (1 cup) sour cream (not low fat)

1 can (10.75 ounces) Campbell’s "Cream of Chicken" condensed soup

3 ounces large-curd cottage cheese (not low fat)

4 ounces shredded cheese (Sargento Bistro Blend Italian and Cheddar blends recommended)

1 Tbsp. dried onion flakes

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

generous grindings of black pepper from a pepper mill to taste

1 package (20 ounces) Simply Potatoes (plain) Shredded Potatoes (Do not substitute Southwestern-style Shredded Potatoes: this makes for a mushy, unappealing texture because of the added salsa)
4 pinches coarse kosher salt

1 ounce shredded cheese (for optional topping)



Preheat the oven to 350° F. Spray a 2-quart glass casserole dish (or a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan) with a non-stick vegetable spray, such as "Pam."
Mix sour cream, cream of chicken soup, cottage cheese, and shredded cheese together in a large mixing bowl. The consistency will be thick and somewhat lumpy. (Avoid any temptation for smoothness that might be achieved by the additions of milk or cream – this will ruin the casserole with pools of dairy fat in the finished product. Avoid deluxe cheese substitutions, especially extra sharp cheddars and fontinas for the same reason.)
Mix in the onion flakes and garlic powder. Add several generous grinds of black pepper.
Open the package of potatoes and empty it as a pile on top of the mixture of creamed and cheesy ingredients in the bowl. Sprinkle the kosher salt onto the pile of shredded potatoes before folding them into the other ingredients. (Although ingredients such as the Cream of Chicken soup have plenty of salt, it does not penetrate raw potatoes in the same way that a sprinkling of salt will do in an instant. If you omit this step, expect the dish to be fine but taste a bit under-salted.) Blend the potatoes well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. (The dish may be prepared several hours in advance at this point; keep refrigerated.)
Bake covered at 350° for 75 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with extra cheese if desired, and continue baking for 20 minutes.

Serves 3-4*


*To double the recipe for 6 people. Use the same size casserole, namely a 2-quart dish. Use 2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup, 2 packages of Simply Potatoes. Increase the remaining ingredients one and one-half times (do not double the other ingredients). Bake covered for 90 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

"The salty skin that forms on the outside of the potatoes stands up particularly well to herbed or even plain melted butter."

The Salt Potato:
"The salt potato, an iconic central New York side dish, got its start in the late 1800s, when salt was distilled by boiling water from marshes around Syracuse, N.Y. Workers, many of them Irish, would dump potatoes in the boiling vats and then have lunch."

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

"Well, I looked at my watch, I looked at my wrist, punched myself in the face with my fist"

I took my potatoes
Down to be mashed
Then I made it over
To that million dollar bash
Ooh, baby, ooh-ee
Ooh, baby, ooh-ee
It’s that million dollar bash

The only Dylan song with the word "potato" in it.

"When you came out, looking red as a beet, you had wrinkles on the bottoms of your feet"

My Little Potato
(first song I sang to my little sweet potato, 23+ years ago)
Buy it here:



and here:


Preview

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The Potato Hunter

Potato-fueled ice skating Lake Mendota


P1050738, originally uploaded by Ann Althouse.

Dee Dee


(The future Mrs. Meade @2:02)

Corn and Potato Chowder

I'll add a little bacon.

"I reckon I'll have me some a them big'ns."

Back to the potato future...


"We have Potato!", originally uploaded by Ann Althouse.
We're taking a long position.

Ron's Baked Cheese Potatoes

6 Yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced.

1 White onion, thinly sliced.

1/2 pound grated Gruyere cheese ( or Comte...or the Cheddar of your choice! )

pint of heavy cream, 1 cup of milk

salt and pepper to taste.

butter a Pyrex baking dish.

Put a layer of potato slices down, then a layer of onion slices, w salt and pepper.

pour the heavy cream to lightly cover, adding milk to spread it out.

layer the cheese to cover.

repeat this process maybe 4-5 times, and finish with more cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, til you see the edge get slightly crusty and the cheese bubbles.

Good for slices, even the next day or two, excellent with a side salad.
Potato Gold, baby!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Trooper York's Sicilian Potatoes and Sausage

With jumbo black pitted olives.

pm317's Potato Recipe

With "Asafoetida if you have them."

Sweet Potato Vichyssoise

3 tbsp butter

4 leeks (white part only), well-rinsed, dried and sliced

6 cups chicken stock or canned broth

1½ cups dry white wine

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

Grated zest and juice of 1 lime

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy or whipping cream

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Slices of lime for garnish

Melt the butter in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the leeks and saute until soft and transparent. Add the stock, wine and sweet potatoes. Heat to boiling.

Reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in the lime zest and juice, milk and cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Puree the soup in batches in a blender or food processor until very smooth. Gently heat and serve with slices of lime floating on top. Serves 6.

Source: The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook (If you buy it HERE through Mrs. Meade's portal, you'll help me pay the rent. Thanks!)

"Only three men in history have been immortalised by having their names enter the English language as verbs..."

"The first was Irishman, Captain Boycott, whose name entered the language in the 1860s. Another was Louis Pasteur..."

Banting.  A verb.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Curried Garlicky Potatoes



New red and Yukon gold potatoes - quartered and parboiled.
Drain and then stir fry with olive oil, Madras hot curry, garlic, and coarse salt.

"There's a lot of potato detritus around here!"

Update:  Safe for work.  Of course it's safe for work!