His and Hers Salmon

There are times in a relationship, when no matter how well you communicate, you just can't come to an agreement. There are times when, even though it will win you martyr points, you don't feel like you can compromise. Here is a story of such an occasion, but this time it has a happy ending.

You see, last Tuesday my wife and I decided to make salmon for dinner. When discussing how it should be prepared, we couldn't reach an agreement. Fortunately for us, the recipes were simple enough that we could split the fillet in half and make both.

Here are two simple recipes for enjoying salmon:

His : Maple Soy Salmon
with Maple Soy soaked rice... yum!

Combine ingredients, bring to a boil until it just starts to thicken. Brush onto salmon to coat, pour the remainder of the glaze over medium grain white rice. Bake the fish at 425. Break up fish into pieces and serve 'His Style' in bowl over sauced rice with chopsticks.

• 1/2 cup maple syrup


• 1/4 cup soy sauce


• 2 cloves crushed garlic

Hers: Sweet and Spicy Rubbed Salmon

First referenced April 2008

Brush salmon with olive oil. Combine equal parts chili powder and brown sugar. Rub over salmon. Bake at 425. Serve over medium grain white rice.

• olive oil


• chili powder


• brown sugar

Hopefully this tip will serve you well the next time you have a disagreement about how to prepare the salmon...

Sweet and Sour... and SPICY

Wikipedia will tell you that scientists describe five basic tastes:

• bitter
• salty
• savory
  
• sour
  
• sweet

and you may even recall learning about the anatomy of the tongue and where the specific taste buds are for each of these tastes.

Some people attempt to create dishes that deliver combinations of these tastes. These days, you'll hear folks talk about how they really enjoy the combination of sweet and salty. Examples can be found in chocolate-covered pretzels, many trail mixes and the addition of sea salt to items in bakeries like chocolate cookies.

Sweet and sour is popular as well -- and always has been. This is evidenced by the classic sweet and sour chicken that so many of our parents order in Chinese restaurants. Additionally, many fruits could be considered both sweet and sour. For example, oranges and mangoes.

Among many of the fantastic products you can find on the shelves at Trader Joe's, consider the photo above of Chile Spiced Mango. This snack consists of dried mango (a favorite of mine as is) dusted with a generous amount of chili powder mix. These take sweet and sour one step further by introducing 'spicy' to the mix. While 'spicy' isn't one of the five flavors, it's definitely a great addition. After eating the first piece, the spice sticks with you and leaves you craving another.

A great, healthy snack.

Note that these are relatively spicy and may not be appropriate for everyone. But if you like them, you'll love them.

The World's Best French Toast - In Photos

Coconut M and M's, Easter Candy or not?

If I were ten years old, I would stick out my tongue at this package of Coconut M&M's. Adult Candy, blech! My co-worker Dana who manages to find interesting food often asked if I wanted to try these treats, to which I replied 'Hells Yeah' or something equally zealous.

The M's themselves have different artwork on them, palm trees, flowers, making it interesting to look at them one at a time instead of inhaling a palm full. The first one I ate was shockingly interesting - first you got the SWEET blast which resonated into "oh yeah that's the coconut part". The second one I ate almost tasted normal, kind of like your 2nd or 3rd beer becomes unnoticeable. By the third one, I could appreciate the ratio - a really good amount of coconut to chocolate for that size.

I liked them. I'm not sure I'd eat too many of them in one sitting, but they're definitely worth a shot.

On an aside, does anyone else associate coconut/chocolate candy with Easter? Where I grew up in Central NJ, we always got this big eggs that were filled with coconut (pictured here is a 1 pound egg!). I was assuming Coconut M&Ms are heralding the approach of Easter, and maybe trying to elbow their way into the Cadbury Mini-Egg market. My co-workers have no association between Easter and coconut. How about you?

An American Standard Up for Discussion

Being the parent of a toddler, this big news flash certainly caught my attention,

"Pediatricians Want Redesign of Hot Dogs, Candy to Curb Kids' Choking". Great idea, it's really hard to cut up a steaming hot dog easily, and not giving in and buying some weird As Seen On TV hot dog dicer. As my Mama Bear Protector Genes go, someone finally figured out how dangerous these meat tubes really are. As a foodie who has specific tastes and preferences on how hot dogs should be prepared and condimentized, this is almost as unsettling as having Scott Brown elected to the Senate. New territory, could be bad, could be good, it certainly ain't like the Old Standard we've had for years.

The glorious social networking site allowed one of my super-talented designer friends to find this article from Fast Company, and how they approached the challenge of hot dog design. I share this here, friends, as they put great care into the inside/outside ratio of a hot dog.

I find this debate far more interesting than politics, at least for now. I sense major backlash in the world!