RANDOM

It has been a while since I've posted and I am not exactly sure where July went, but it is almost officially gone. I have been super busy with work and moving to an apartment (that is on the other side of town, but feels forever away), so I have been neglecting the food, though I have not stopped thinking about it, so here (in no particular order) are my random thoughts:

1. I love picnics! I have to thank Whitney and Megan for making me go on them, but I am always happy that I do. Really I think I just love eating outside and any excuse for a party. (And Matt missed it, but we had scrabble cheese-its that were yummy and educational.)

2. Cinnamon. I know I have taken WAY too long answering Bryan's question. He asked, "Why is cinnamon hot/spicy in foods like gum and gummy bears, while it is not hot on things like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Snicker Doodles?" I thought about it, performed some very scientific kitchen experiments and consulted a food science expert and still I have no concrete answers, but I have a few pretty good hunches-
a. Theory 1: The amount of sugar, here is a very simple kitchen science experiment: pour a little bit of cinnamon on a plate, get a good amount on the end of your finger and taste it. If you get enough and your cinnamon isn't too old I think you will be surprised how "spicy" it actually is. Part 2 of this experiment is to add sugar to the cinnamon. (No less than 2 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon). All of a sudden it is sweet and yummy.
b. Theory 2: There are different kinds of cinnamon, though according to my expert only one is prevalent in the U.S., so this is less likely.
c. Theory 3: Red dye. Now I know that this is highly unlikely, but I would just like to point out that all of the "spicy" cinnamon foods are red, coincidence?

Bryan- you can decide for yourself which theory to believe. Let me know if you have any other pressing questions.

3. This thought has been stewing for a while, but started when I went out to dinner for a birthday party. I noticed this pattern occurring in myself and in those around me. We go to a restaurant, sit, immediately open the menu, stare at it, if you are me you then drink 3-7 glasses of water, stare at it some more, order something that you have settled on, eat it (and drink another 5+ glasses of water), and then say something like "I wish it had come with broccoli instead of carrots." Or worse, sometimes before we even order we say, "I want chicken, but with pasta instead of rice," and then because we don't want to be the confusing/ complicated customer we order another chicken Caesar salad.

So, here is my revolution! I am going to stop ordering what is on the menu. I have worked at food institutions for long enough to know that the customer is always right and if I want an entree of salmon to come atop a salad, they will do it, if I want rice and pasta with my chicken, they will probably do that too. Why do we let ourselves be limited by the options they have created for us?
DISCLAIMER: Restaurants do have menus for a reason and have a limited amount of ingredients and time in which to prepare your meal, so please be reasonable in your requests and understand that special requests sometimes come with a special price tag :)

Happy eating!