• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

GF-Zing! logo

  • Nav Social Menu

    • Email
    • Facebook

humor

Smaller Plates – a bit of food humor

1 · Nov 27, 2012 · Leave a Comment

By Alice DeLuca

“…I really, truly, absolutely, do not care about you or your food. I don’t. Sorry. Take more pictures of your cat. That might keep me interested.”  Katherine Markovich  An Open Letter to People Who Take Pictures of Food With Instagram.

As you can see in this photo, a few months ago my cat’s super power was to read books that made the bestseller lists. Here you can see Tucker pointing to his summer reading material, in a photo taken by his roommate, the dog:

What the Dog Saw and the reader is the cat, Tucker

 

Reading was a gateway drug for Tucker. After reading this sentence, “Most happy snappers, let’s face it, shouldn’t give up their day jobs and can make a meticulously plated dish resemble a dog’s breakfast,” Tucker first took offense, bristling just at the mention of dogs and their breakfasts. Then he took up the challenge and now he uploads his photos helter-skelter to websites for user-submitted-pictures-of-food.

Cats dominate the internet and Tucker is a trendsetter among them.  Which of the other millions of cats are photographing their food? Tucker is teetering on the feline technological cutting edge.

Tucker is sitting on 3 Ipads in the summer of 2012

Tucker just posted a photo of “Catfood Two Ways”, with both an Amuse Bouche (or perhaps amuse gueule) and a Catfood ‘n Catnip Wrap.  The 2 individual kibbles used in the stacked amuse bouche set this dish apart, offering a crunchy dimension to the dish. So bold and appetizing, you would not guess the ingredients!

This little appetizer item cost Tucker a pretty penny at a trendy little neighborhood bistro, but price is often of no consequence in the ratings war for trendy bistros; these days the ratings can depend only on the appearance of the food, the locally sourced ingredients and the cocktails. For heaven’s sakes, the restaurant doesn’t even have to appear to be open for business and it can be successful. For Tucker the cost of his restaurant adventures is measured in cell-phone-cost-units, not dollars nor the gold standard.  This meal cost only a nickel in cellphone currency units, or 1/20 cellphone.  He makes his choices and he pays the price.

Catfood Flight or Catfood Two Ways

 

Here, Tucker demonstrates that a simple crystal goblet can add a bit of flair to an Asian Fusion Wedge Salad En Gelée. This gelled wedge salad has the retro-Mad-Men-edginess of a gelatin salad from the 1960s, composed from just a sliver of Cowboy Cookout cat food garnished with a tiny organic catnip leaf – a classic combination.

These dishes are called  “Small Plates” instead of tapas, as if cats can’t handle the Spanish language. Clever food display techniques make the “small plate” attractive, and so much kinder to the waistline! Tucker ordered his small plate at a “tall table” near the bar. He ate the garnish first, then became inexplicably overwhelmed by a sudden urge to roll around to impress his date and fell off the very tall chair. Fortunately for him, that embarrassing moment was not caught on camera.  It’s difficult to look macho while tumbling through the air, squirming to land on all fours.

Catfood Wedge 2012

What do you know? Tucker was recently seen again at this same bistro that serves tiny portions of food at the same price as the formerly ginormous servings that yielded 2 “doggie bags” (who named the “doggie bag” anyway?). He tried a “Flight of Catfoods” that included three items:  a simple coupe (or scoop) presented on a Chinese porcelain soup spoon, a slivered Catfood Chef’s Salad, and of course the ubiquitous wrap. You just can’t get away from the lettuce wraps these days; so paleo and heart-healthy!

The plating was simple yet spectacular, down to the lathe-turned toothpick. Nothing extra, but somehow 2 tablespoons of catfood became so much more. If less is more, then nothing may be everything, as one astrophysicist has noted.

Catfood Three Ways with Wrap

Tucker, barfly that he has become, enjoyed a purrfect finish to the meal – an after dinner cocktail created as a complementary pairing to the “Flight of Catfoods.” The “Gato en la Casa” was an infusion of the very same catfood, dramatically hand-shaken by the bartender with natural spring water and homemade artisanal liver bitters that are kept in a mason jar out-of-sight behind the bar (is that even legal?) Tucker lapped up the little drink – again caught on camera by the dog and then tagged on Facebook.  They are both at it now, and we may get a chance to see the dog’s breakfast soon.

Food Humor, Food Writing cat, catfood, cats, humor, Tucker

Day of the Un-Dead

0 · Oct 28, 2011 · Leave a Comment

The Day of the Dead and Halloween are nearly upon us and I am frantically digging for recipes that can protect the living against the Un-dead.  Books and papers fly as I paw through shelves and piles, seeking something to ward off the Zombies, Vampires and Werewolves that may be lurking outside the door, or that may invade my kitchen at any moment. They all have highly specialized dentition designed to make swift work of the main course – me!

I’m calling on restaurateurs –  please, this time of the year, an “amuse bouche” for the living might be just the thing to calm the customer’s nerves. Could chefs please get a little creative, and instead of offering me a puddle of olive oil, or herbed olive oil, or olives in a lake of olive oil with obligatory bread (that I don’t eat anyway), could they provide something that will protect our table from monsters? Let’s get our priorities straight please; safety comes first!

You can’t ward off zombies per se, with garlic or crosses, but you can put something on the table that won’t attract them to your establishment in the first place.   How about some complimentary zombie-immune starters along these lines:

  • Vegetable Pakoras with  a little yogurt sauce or a cilantro chutney on the side
  • Lightly pickled Carrot sticks and Dilly Beans, seasoned with garlic of course
  • A homemade cheddar-garbanzo bean cracker with a pear chutney
  • An endive boat with a vegetarian Banh Mi style filling
  • A black lentil salad with plantain chips
  • Yucca Fries with a sprinkling of salt and various peppers, and fresh limes

And chefs, if all the customers start moaning after the salad course, don’t assume narcissistically that they are in ecstasy over the fabulous new pâté de foie.  Admit it, you were just making the pâté as a cost-recovery measure to use up chicken livers. It’s time to think on your feet – could the moaning coming from the dining room be a sign of zombie behavior spectrum disorder [i]? If so, take appropriate action immediately.  If you are a fan of the zombie movie genre, you will know that you cannot necessarily trust anyone at this point, not even your sous-chef.  Especially take  note of this if you happen to be in Nashville, Tennessee this weekend where the Zombie Buffet 5K will be happening.

For the Vampire problem, everyone already knows to wear a garlic necklace, and frankly a random grouping of bulbs of garlic would fit right in with the giant globular necklace trends this season.  Help us out please!  Let’s see some velvety aioli, or the Greek skorthalia, or perhaps a beautiful green broccoli-garlic spread for gluten-free crositni or crackers – so easy to make, so garlicky and so green and lively that no zombie or vampire will come near the eater.

Broccoli spread:

  • · For each ½ pound of broccoli florets, 2 cloves garlic – peeled, 2-3 tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper
  • · Bring water to a full rolling boil.  Add the broccoli and cook until tender in boiling water, about 5-10 minutes, uncovered.  Drain, dry and put into the food processor with the raw garlic.  Process until smooth,   adding the oil as needed.  Season with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature on gluten-free crostini or crackers.

One caveat about the drinks menu – The brilliant Zombie movie  Ahhh! Zombies, a tale told from the perspective of the unfortunate zombies themselves, clearly demonstrates that to keep from attracting zombies you must absolutely avoid brain milkshakes, so there is no need for chefs to develop grizzly new martinis on the brain theme, thank you very mush.

For the werewolves, you need only serve the broccoli appetizer on a silver platter, and your diners’ problems with werewolves will be over.  No matter who comes through the front door, the customers will be able to survive until the dessert course.


[i] The Zombie Attack Disaster Preparedness Plan from the University of Florida http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~jybarra/zombieplan.pdf

 

Appetizers, Fall, Holidays, Recipes, Restaurants, Vegetarian gluten free, halloween, humor, vegetarian

Primary Sidebar

Check out our Coupon Collection

Click Here to go directly to the Coupon page

Read more at The Rambling Epicure:

Click Here: The Rambling Epicure

QR code for your phone

qrcode for gfzing
NFCA logo

Blogroll

  • Aloha World Ono Recipes
  • Book of Yum
  • Dulce Cocina sin Gluten
  • Gluten Free Beer Association
  • Glutenfreie Rezepte | kaMehl
  • Hawai'ian Electric
  • Laylita's – Ecuador
  • Nombudsman
  • Papilles et Pupilles
  • Sea Salt with Food
  • The Rambling Epicure The Rambling Epicure is a daily international food chronicle, and the first online newspaper to follow global food trends and news.
  • Triumph Dining

Monthly Archive

Proud member of FoodBlogs
Proud member of FoodBlogs

Load up on new recipes, exclusive goodies, + more!

Get the exclusive content you crave straight to your inbox.

Things to Read

Find by keyword

baking banana blueberry cake cardamom carrot cheese chicken chocolate cinnamon coconut cookies cooking curry custard dairy free dessert DIY dressing fish food fruit GF ghee gluten free gourmet homemade kids maple syrup meat microwave pie pork potato pumpkin recipe recipes rice salad sauce sausage soup sourdough sweet potato vegetarian

Copyright © 2025 GF-Zing! on the Cravings Pro Theme