Lucas Blackwood Contemplations » Food

Chocolate fountains

Lucas — Sun, 06 May 2012 02:24:13 +0000

Guest post by Rita Sheldon

Have you seen those commercials on television for the Golden Corral restaurant where they show photographs of chocolate fountains? To be perfectly honest when I saw the commercial I thought to myself that it sounded pretty gross.

So when I found myself going to the Golden Corral myself a few days ago, and I saw the big chocolate fountain in the dessert section, and all of the plates of fresh fruits and pieces of angel food cake, marshmallows, and Rice Krispy marshmallow treat bars, all skewered with bamboo skewers I decided to pass it up. Until I saw that the chocolate fountain was actually really, really popular. I decided that I would go ahead and go up to the fountain and take one of the skewered strawberries and dip it in the chocolate and give it a try. I mean, what do I have to lose, anyway? I’d already paid for my meal, and it was all-you-can-eat buffet. Isn’t one of the biggest reasons that I go to a buffet is to be able to try new things without committing to ordering a huge plate of some unknown food and then hating it? Of course it is!

Well, to my surprise, I really DID like it. I think that the reason I thought that I would not like it was that I was expecting the chocolate to be dark chocolate, which is bitter, and I don’t like bitter. But this chocolate was delicious – I’m not sure if it was milk chocolate, or semi-sweet, or a combination. Regardless, it was delicious and I went ahead and took a lot of the different fruits and dipped them into the chocolate and filled up my plate with a lot of chocolate dipped strawberries and apples and marshmallows and pieces of angel food cake.

I think that I’m going to look into what kind of chocolate they used and see if I can get some of it to melt in the crock pot at home and just dip some fruit in it at home and see if I can get a similar taste. That would be a nice dessert to have at the next family party that I have to hold!

Frozen Pizza

Lucas — Fri, 04 May 2012 00:27:15 +0000

I am a pizza fan. I could eat pepperoni pizza, seven days a week. It used to be that pizza was a cheap meal but those days seemed to be long gone. So it is nice to see the pizza wars that are going on with the several large pizza chains that are here in town.

As far a frozen pizza goes, you just don’t want to go there!

Donuts?

Lucas — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:27:03 +0000

From what I have learned, the worst thing you can eat for breakfast is a food that is mostly white flour, fat, and sugar. But one of the most popular breakfast foods is a donut. So what caused this contradiction? Why did people start thinking that eating donuts was a good way to start the day? And don’t get me started on why our law enforcement officers always seem to enjoy the donut!

Bizarre Foods

Lucas — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:56:12 +0000

One of my favorite TV shows has been Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern, that man has put some of the grossest things in his mouth. And very rarely do you see him crinkle up his face with the look of utter disgust that people do when they have just eaten something nasty tasting. When this does happen his motto is to “try it twice” which I’ve seen him do on a rare occasion and usually he still doesn’t like it. You got to give him credit for trying so many ODD foods all across the world. I don’t think that I would enjoy sharing a meal with him though. I’m just saying………

Milk and cookies

Lucas — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 01:24:52 +0000

Every now and then someone tells me that dairy products aren’t good for you. I don’t really understand why they think that. I drink low-fat milk, only about one glass a day with my evening meal, and a little bit in my morning coffee. Oh, and in my morning cereal. I LOVE having milk with a cookie, a piece of cake or pie, or a brownie. I keep meaning to try that milk substitute that I see advertised on television, I think it is called Almond Silk. But I keep forgetting about it when I get to the store. I’m thinking that it might taste like white chocolate, and I love white chocolate!

Fresh Vegies Traded For Clean Pool Privaleges

Lucas — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:00:31 +0000

The stores are starting to put out all of the items that are needed for our spring work and our summer fun in the sun. The patio furniture, garden supplies, lawn mowers, flip flops and pool accessories are lining the shelves just begging us, the consumers, to start digging in our wallets and dishing out the bucks on all of things that we have become famous for buying this time of the year.

My neighbors are getting anxious just waiting for this warm weather that we have been experiencing this winter, to get just a bit warmer and they can start getting their pool supplies in order and ready for all the water activities that having a backyard pool can bring to friends and family members. I’m so glad that I’m on good terms with both neighbors on both sides of my place and that I have an open invite to go over and enjoy a dip in either one of their pools, or a whole afternoon if I please to. They get to deal with all of the various pool supply issues while I just get to enjoy the feel of the nice clean water that they are so careful to get with all of the pool filters and pool chemicals that they have to buy each year.

While I in return turn them on to all the goodies that I grow in my wonderful vegetable garden in my back yard. So it works out very well for all concerned.

Breakfast for Supper

Lucas — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:20:32 +0000

Do you ever eat breakfast for supper? I don’t very often, but I plan to eat it more often! I like breakfast, and rarely have time to eat one. And by that I mean the full-blown eggs and bacon and toast, not just a bowl of cereal. Or pancakes with syrup, or french toast. I really enjoy all of those. And with the economy getting worse, it seems like a good way to trim the cost of dinner! My wife and I have decided to eat breakfast for supper a couple of times every month. Pinching pennies can taste good!

Politics as usual

Lucas — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:56:07 +0000

My family always gets very invested in the presidential election. They watch every debate, following through all of the primaries, and we have very spirited discussions about the candidates and their views. Most of my family generally votes the opposite party that I vote, so I try to keep a low profile so as to avoid the temper tantrums that some people in the family have. Others in the family are not as mindful of keeping the peace, and often will wear their favorite political candidate’s advertising products on their body.

I can remember the last presidential election there was a big spirited discussion when my brother-in-law wore a ron paul shirt to the family Thanksgiving dinner. I’m not sure if the high emotions amuse me or scare me, but one thing is for certain, my family takes their politics very seriously and if you do not support their candidate of choice you can be deluged with muck raking information about your own candidate. I’m always glad when the elections are over!

Large Marge

Lucas — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:13:47 +0000

I appreciate the guest post, Lindsay Valdez

If you go to direct tv lexington watch the news and take notice of how large our population has become. You hear all of the statistics about our country’s increasing waist size especially in relation to the rise of weight-related health issues like diabetes and heart disease. Driving down the interstate the other day, I was surprised to see billboards with young children on them advertising that words like “chubby” and “thick” aren’t cute but are dangerous. These public service announcements seem harsh, but clearly they are necessary. The number of young children who are clinically obese is nothing short of alarming. Our world today does nothing but encourage this problem either. We are a society dependent on fast meals due to our busy lifestyles. Outdoor play has been replaced with video games, computers, and televisions. When kids have to be reminded to “get out and play for an hour a day,” we are in real trouble. Kids innately should want to play. They should want to imagine and run and jump and climb. Their fresh bodies shouldn’t be dumping grounds for food that is lesser in nutrition and quality than that which we feed to our animals.

Where’s the meat on the meat lover’s pizza?

Lucas — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:12:31 +0000

Over the past couple of months Pizza Hut has been running a special where you can get any size pizza, any type crust, any specialty, for only $10. Well, my family likes Pizza Hut Pizza a lot, and I had received a couple of Pizza Hut gift cards for Christmas, so I decided that I would go ahead and take advantage of their $10 special and order some of our favorite pizza – their large pan meat-lover’s pizza. Well, I have to admit that the last two times that we did that, the meat lovers pizza did not have much meat on it at all. In the past, there was so much meat on the pizza that you could hardly see the cheese or the sauce! Now you can hardly see the meat. Very disappointing.