Weekend Cooking: Chew - Volume 1: Taster's Choice by John Layman

Chew - Volume 1: Taster's Choice by John Layman 

Completion Date: November 6, 2012
Reason for Reading: Review copy from Image Comics through NetGalley.

Tony Chu is a detective with a secret. A weird secret. Tony Chu is Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. It also means he's a hell of a detective, as long as he doesn't mind nibbling on the corpse of a murder victim to figure out whodunit, and why. He's been brought on by the Special Crimes Division of the FDA, the most powerful law enforcement agency on the planet, to investigate their strangest, sickest, and most bizarre cases. Collects CHEW #1-5.

I finished a book! Do you know this is the first book I have successfully finished since August?? It's nuts! It's depressing! I HATE it! So, you can imagine my excitement when I reached the end. I had successfully finished a book. My reading rut might be coming to an end. I might be able to finish more books. November might be a good reading month! It is almost the end of the year, so I would like to finish it off finishing things. I do read, but so sporadically and I don't seem to finish anything. On Tuesday I posted about books I would love to be reading right now. There are many many more. I also haven't reviewed a book in forever and a day, so this might be bad.

Graphic novels are so expensive that I tend to lurk on review sites for those chances to read e-copies. Of course now I have read Volume 1 of Chew and started a big series that I want to see more from. I didn't love it in the sense I wanted to rush out and get Volume 2, but it was intriguing enough that I want to see what happens next. So, I think it is great that publishers give you a chance to read comics without having to shell out the cash because not everything works for everyone. And, if you are like me, you will wind up buying a physical copy of the comic eventually if you really enjoyed it, so it is win/win. If I carry on with Chew I will have to have all the editions. I collect comics, but I also am a bit picky about my ownership. Until my recent 'splurge' I only bought Fables and The Unwritten. I want to branch out, but series are so long and I want to know what I am getting myself into before splurging... This is a long winded way of saying I am very excited about the chances provided by online sites like NetGalley and Edelweiss to preview even series that have been out for a while.

On to the comic. I told you I was out-of-practice. Not that I ever wrote all that exciting reviews before... Chew is actually on a Weekend Cooking post because it is a comic that talks about food throughout. The very first scene is from a cooking show. Now, it is not exactly gourmet. There are some very disturbing images and is not actually recommended if you plan to eat soon after reading it. As the description above says the comic centres around Tony Chu. He has the ability to eat something and pick up on all the history. This makes him a key detective in a huge organization. It is also a comic about conspiracies. This is because a large part of the population died from what was called the Bird Flu. This means that you can only get poultry from the Black Market. It is a crime to serve or sell chicken. The chicken ban plays a big part in this book.

And, there is just food everywhere. I did mention it was not the most appetizing of moments necessarily. There is one character that has the ability to describe the meals she eats in such detail that you can experience it with her as she explains it. She does not always eat at 5 star establishments. Then there is of course the fact that Tony has cannibalistic moments in the attempt to catch his killers. You might be surprised to learn that I was actually more grossed out by a couple other scenes than the fact that he was eating people. I am not sure what that says about me.

Overall, it was a fun read. I am so happy to finally read something!

Weekend Cooking is hosted at Beth Fish Reads.

Book in the Series:

Chew, Volume 1: Taster's Choice
Chew, Volume 2: International Flavor
Chew, Volume 3: Just Desserts
Chew, Volume 4: Flambé
Chew, Volume 5: Major League Chew

Weekend Cooking - Food Pictures

I didn't get a chance to make anything new this week, so I was stumped on what to post about. Then I remembered I take food pictures and never use them for anything. So, here are some of the meals I have either made recently or enjoyed when we ate out:

I am supposed to be having a month of grilling food, but it hasn't worked out quite that way. The most complicated thing I have made is hamburgers, like the ones above, and a few steaks. I will hopefully get around to some of the grilling recommendations soon.

Sometimes going out just means a beer and a nice atmosphere. The picture above is the one I used for 'somewhere I sat'. I would have liked to take more pictures but the lighting was terrible. This shows the nice grain in the chairs, right?

One of the good things above living in Nova Scotia is the lobster experience. There is a restaurant near here that you get to pick out your own lobster and they cook it for you. Then, enjoy!

Then, I started messing around with my slow-cooker. Have you ever used the liners? They are so convenient! Normally I cook something and then have to soak the slow-cooker before it will come completely clean. And, I mostly avoid cleaning it. With the liners you can just rinse the smell out and reuse. It saves lots of time.

And, there is always coffee... The white mug says 'Surrender the Bounty' and the blue one has Disney characters on it.

Pasta! If we are going out to eat it is typically Boston Pizza. We just split a plate. This is how much half is. And, have to love their cheese toast. I am not crazy about garlic bread.

Dessert is always good. This is Blueberry Grunt that I got at a restaurant in Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. I was actually hoping to make my own batch for Weekend Cooking this week, but didn't happen.

Lobsters are a big part of Nova Scotia as you can see by the above picture... I eat at restaurants and watch people document the entire experience. Restaurants even give silly bibs for this purpose.

Haddock is always good, too. Not the best I have ever had, but a decent meal. Seafood restaurants are found all over the place.

What sort of food do you enjoy during the course of a couple weeks?

Weekend Cooking - Ravioli in the Slow-Cooker

I used this recipe found here.

INGREDIENTS
2 bags frozen ravioli
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
6 oz can tomato paste
1 small onion, diced (optional)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil 1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. sugar salt and pepper to taste
1 cup Mozzarella, shredded

I mixed things up a bit: I used fresh ravioli and only one package. We still have leftovers, so 1 package was plenty. It was the largest size, so might be about the same as two frozen packages. I included the onions, which after 3 hours were still crunchy, and I also threw in some mushrooms. I had considered peppers but I was trying to get rid of the mushrooms and used a lot. The guy isn't big on spices so I played around with the instructions there, too.

INSTRUCTIONS
Pour the frozen ravioli into the slow cooker.
Stir the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, onion, garlic and seasonings together in a bowl. Pour over the ravioli and stir to coat all the ravioli with sauce.
Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 5 hours.
About 20 minutes before you're ready to eat, sprinkle the ravioli with Mozzarella.

More changes: I put the sauce and veggies in for two hours. And the few spices. Then for the last hour I put the ravioli in because I didn't want it to be too mushy. And, really, the cheese doesn't have to be Mozzarella. I used some Tex-Mex stuff we had in the fridge.

Overall Thoughts: I really liked it! I thought it turned out really good. The guy had a complaint, though: No meat. The second day I barbecued pork chops, because we had some, and served the ravioli as the side-dish. But, if I make it again I will probably have to either include meat in it or serve it as a side-dish. There is a lot of Ravioli for just a side-dish, though.

This post also counts for Trish's Pin It and Do It Challenge.

Weekend Cooking - Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Can you believe this is the first time I have ever participated in Weekend Cooking? I can! I don't really do a lot of fancy cooking and never really think I have anything to contribute. Well, this weekend I have decided to share my favourite recipe. I really like pasta and have always enjoyed it was homemade spaghetti sauce. One day I would like to make it even more by scratch, but first I need a garden and a bigger kitchen.

The Ingredients:

3-4 small onions (I tend to use one large one)
3 cloves of garlic (optional)
1 green pepper (or red, yellow, orange, etc.)
1-2 pounds of hamburger (I have done both. The guy prefers 2.)
mushrooms
2 smalls cans tomato paste (I buy 1 of the bigger size.)
2 cans tomato sauce (I buy 1 of the bigger size.)
2 cans whole tomatoes (I actually only use 1 can of diced tomatoes. Sadly someone isn't a huge fan.)
salt & pepper
onion salt
Italian spice
chilli spice (I only use this one, but I have made it with the others.)

The recipe is pretty easy to be flexible. There is only two of us so I try to make enough to have a couple meals and some to freeze without going crazy. My mother also uses a spoonful of sugar because she finds the tomatoes bitter. I don't, so I don't usually. It might be because she uses whole tomatoes and I always use diced ones.

Sauté onions, garlic, and green peppers. Add hamburger and mushrooms. Cook until hamburger is done. Add all other ingredients and mix together. Add spices to your taste. Simmer on low heat with cover on for 1-2 hours. Stir occasionally.  (I actually put the meat in first because it is the thing that actually needs to be cooked. Sometimes it is still partly frozen, too. And then once it starts cooking I throw in all the veggies.)

Serve with pasta (and cheese) and enjoy! The guy actually likes this white cheddar and pasta stuff that they sell at the grocery store as his pasta of choice for the sauce.

Also, remember to look at pictures so you can take a better one if necessary... Sorry!

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads.