• Sunday, November 16th, 2008
We’re closing in on Thanksgiving, and that means it is preparation time. Yes you really should at least start thinking about getting ready for the big day. In fact there are things you can be doing right this moment to make the festivities go smoother. For one you can prepare all of your pie crusts and stocks for freezing until ready to use. See? I’ve just saved you hours of labor on the day of the feast. You probably like me a lot right now, and it was such a simple suggestion. Want more? more…
Category: editorial
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Confirmed. These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had or made. The flavor improved dramatically over the course of the 36 hour waiting period. Everyone has devoured the cookies and my batch of 24 is now a measly 2. Which means I’m going to have to get baking again. 
Thanksgiving is a holiday of tradition. I love Christmas, and my wife loves it even more, so by extension my enjoyment of the holiday has grown. But Thanksgiving is my holiday of choice for this season. The food, the family, the afternoon nap. These are the great moments I remember year after year. And within that are some disastrous recipes that I cannot believe were ever attempted. So I’ve decided to kickoff the Munch Monster Thanksgiving celebration by sharing the 5 worst recipes ever attempted by me. 
American cuisine is often seen as simple hamburgers and hotdogs. Or a bastardization of imported cuisine, such as Italian here in the Northeast or Mexican in the Southwest. But that limited view of what we Americans offer the dining world ignores the innovative and wonderful treats that make our country just as viable a source of fine foods as France. What I have below is a list of 5 food items that come from a specific region of the country and simply need to be more pervasive in the average American diet. Too many of these dishes simply dawdle in their respective areas of creation, missed by millions. 
Adam Roberts is the amateur gourmet. Not to be confused with me, an amateur gourmet. It’s all in the article. Never mind that for now, Adam has recently posted an interesting piece about the Key Food near his place. Key Food is a grocery store, as will become apparent when you head on over to 
Are there things you think about that you wonder if anyone else has the same thoughts? I ran into such a situation this morning at the store. After dropping my wife off at work I had to make a run to the store to pick up a book for her, and I got myself a nice shiny new Blu-ray copy of The Mist. Because Wegmans is near the local Target I decided to stop in and grab a couple of items for dinner tonight. Once again I’ll be cooking at work and listen, our food can be decent but it gets tiresome. 
If you’re a fellow American look around. Take a look at all of the people that you see each day eating that healthy lifestyle. They drink wheat grass shakes, which I personally know tastes like getting tackled during a game of backyard football. They may accept meat in their diet, but only 3 oz of flavorless chicken breast with a smidge of salt. And yet, we Americans are the fattest and most out of shape country in the world. Take a trip to France now. 
Here at Munch Monster our goal is to enlighten, entertain and educate. Aside from alliteration there is something important about these things when it comes to food. I am right this moment in the throes of deep contemplation. I daresay that what is on my mind might change how I interact with food and local farmers markets for the foreseeable future. You see, I’m about to take a long walk down the stairs into the basement. Not your basement, which is probably fitted with a home theater system and a bar. 
It’s time for summer to say goodbye as we welcome my favorite season of the year. Not only am I lucky enough to live in an area of the world that experiences clear differentiations of the seasons, but I also have the added benefit of classic family recipes that bring to mind each season. I’ll never live in the south because I simply hate the heat. I don’t like sweating with every step I take, and I equally don’t want to get into an argument about humid versus dry heat. You people can keep your hot climate, dry or wet. 