Search my yelp reviews for the words gooey or gloppy and you’ll find a few rants against bottled, factory made salad dressings. I can’t stand them, and in my opinion, most of them are just terrible.

Most use soybean oil, which is flavorless, and they’re loaded with thickeners, which gives them that gloppy consistency. Plus there’s the artificial colors and flavors they’re made with. And they’re usually too sweet. Worse, they’re sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, which is just awful for you.

I really don’t get why people like them. They just can’t compare to a simple oil and vinegar based dressing. Not only because of the unpleasant gooey texture, or cloying sweetness, but they tend to be salty, and artificial tasting, and they cover up a great salad instead of complimenting it.

Continue reading “My Wife’s Salad Dressing” →

Is there anyone on the planet that doesn’t love mashed potatoes? If there is I haven’t met them. Mashed potatoes are a crowd pleaser, and any self respecting home cook needs to be able to make a good version of it. They’re incredibly easy to make to make well. Any home cook can make satisfying and delicious mashed potatoes.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I have a repertoire of dishes that are delicious, easy to make, and everyone loves. Mashed potatoes are also on that list.

Making them over the years I’ve learned a couple of tricks to make them taste better. And I think my mashed, despite being simple, are quite good. I’ve even had a family member tell me once my mashed were the best they’d ever had. I say that not to boost my own ego, but to make the point that great mashed potatoes are easy to make. Anyone can do it.

Continue reading “Quick and Easy Mashed Potatoes” →

I’m an IT Professional, and as part of my job, I go to a technical conference every year. This year I had the pleasure of attending Ignite. Ignite is put on by Microsoft, and it’s huge. There were 23,000 attendees this year. 23,000 IT sys admins, developers, engineers, and managers. It’s fun and you learn a lot about upcoming products and technologies.

But I want to talk about the food of course. The conference fee includes breakfast and lunch. I can only imagine the logistics of trying to feed 23,000 people. It’s got to be a massive undertaking. And as you can imagine, just getting that many people in line to get their food, and setting up tables is a job that requires a lot of staff. The hall where the food is served is gigantic. It’s mind blowing how big it is.

Continue reading “Feeding Twenty Three Thousand” →