Food Revolution

Holy Giant Marshmallows, Batman!

So, the day after Thanksgiving (aka Black Friday), we decided to skip the overly crowded malls and head for Mexico to shop for a few Christmas presents we knew we wanted. Along with several hundred other similarly-minded folks (oops), we crossed the river armed with a wad of cash and a shopping list. We got just about everything on the list … plus a few extras, the most notable of which is shown here.

Malvaviscos Marshmallows – $2.10 for 30 at our favorite Mexican tourist/grocery store. See on the package where it says “Super Gigante”? They aren’t kidding – these are quite possibly the BIGGEST marshmallows I’ve ever seen.

What? You say the bag looks “normal”? Well, check out the following photo for verification of size:

Yes, that’s TWO marshmallows in an 8-oz low-ball glass. Your typical “short” glass. We were joking about putting one in the microwave to see how big it’d puff up, but that makes me nervous – I might end up cleaning marshmallow off the inside of my microwave!

Here’s a photo of 1 marshmallow in a cup of hot chocolate:

Also, these marshmallows are quite possibly the tastiest and freshest I’ve had in quite a while. The bottom one is vanilla and the top one is strawberry. And they do have flavor. Three cheers for Mexican Marshmallows!!

The Things I Love

Well, as you can see, I haven’t been doing much cooking this week. Beyond the leftover chicken fajita meat, we’ve been eating a lot of sandwiches, etc. So, I thought I’d do an update on a couple of my favorite kitchen things.


Kapoosh Universal Cutlery Block



As you can see, this is possibly the most unique knife block I’ve ever seen – and possibly the most useful. When Rob and I got married, we had to combine two very random knife collections – mine, consisting of a number of Wusthof knives and some cheapo steak knives, and his, consisting of a whole set of cheapo knives, plus two VERY nice Santokus by Anolon. Altogether, we had about 15 knives that we didn’t want to part with. Now, honestly, have you ever seen a normal-size knife block that would hold 15 knives? I didn’t think so. But this block by Kapoosh – which has no slots at all, but rather nylon/plastic “rods” – will hold that, plus some. It is dishwasher safe, the knives won’t dull from hitting the rods (like they would if you accidentally hit a wood block), and you can arrange them however works for you. If I were only allowed to choose one thing to receive for our wedding … this would have been it. No kidding.


Pampered Chef Bamboo Spoon Set



Oh, wow. These spoons look so simple. And they are. But I love them. As you can see, they come three to a set – 2 round spoons (one with a long handle, one with a shorter handle) and one oval spoon. So far, I’ve never found a reason to like the oval one. But the ROUND ones??? Oh, I could write a sonnet. They’re perfect for mixing or stirring anything in a round container – because of their shape, they fit right into the curve of the bowl. Because they’re wood, they won’t scratch a non-stick surface, and they go right into the dishwasher. I have 4 round spoons (having given the oval ones to my mother) and wouldn’t trade them for anything!

My Favorite Things

For those of you who know me well, you know that I LOVE pampered chef. I’d sell it, except that down here you have to be bilingual to be successful. All that being said, I have a slightly older version of this … mine is white and not the “new and improved” version (which has stronger ball bearings).

I love this tool caddy because it keeps the tools from getting all tangled up in a drawer. I put it right next to the stove, which makes grabbing what I need really easy when I’m cooking. No more stuck-on sauce while I’m hunting for the right spoon!