Missing My Take Out Food

After their lockdown was lifted New Zealanders were asked what they missed the most. Many said McDonalds's, namely the Chicken McNuggets and malteds. That's true . We're all missing our fast foods. Yet there is take out. We can still support our favorite eateries and the people working in them.

Quarantines are being lifted  slowly  but surely throughout the country and the world. That means you can return to your favorite chains and mom and pop restaurants. Yet, as here in New Jersey our ban will be lifted in less than two weeks. There's still no eating in restaurants or mall food courts. However we  can still order out from our favorite places. Why not? If you're really craving burgers and fries then head to your local McDonald's or Wendy's. Some places only have drive through with the indoor counter and seating area closed. if that's the case then bring the food home.  Some experts recommend taking the food out of the paper bags and Styrofoam containers them microwaving it for thirty seconds. However there are some that say food containers are safe, especially the plastic containers and cups. It's safe  to eat in your car (although always keep a bottle of hand sanitizer and paper towel in your car for a quick wipe down). It's really the staff that has to be watched with a wary eye. Call and speak to the manager and ask if the employees have been sick lately and what are they doing to monitor their employees health.

What about the larger restaurants? You can still order take out and curbside at such places as Texas Roadhouse and B.J.'s Roadhouse. Family owned ones such as Bahr's in the Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey will bring a tray with your food and drink to your car.  They still give you their great dinners of steamed lobster or sauerbraten along with a side and favorite cocktail. It's like eating inside. You can also get takeout to bring home  also from them. Diners can also give you those home cooked meals too. If you're craving really well made French toast or chicken salad sandwich then head to your favorite one. It's also a boost to the diners that had to scale back their twenty-four hour around the clock hours to only three or four a day. More orders mean more work and that could bring back sous chefs and assistant cooks now on furlough. What about the meat shortages that are hitting some parts of the US? Order your favorites when you can . Prices for burgers and chicken dishes may go up at national chains like Burger King and Checkers.  You could also switch to vegan alternatives found at Dunkin Donuts and Burger King. Beyond Burger is at such chains as Hardee's and Carl Jr's as well at Subway's.

Fast foods and restaurant fare from our places are sorely missed right now. Yet you can still get the dishes and drinks that make you happy. Take out today. Support your local eatery. Support the workers there too,.

Good Friday Thoughts

Good Friday is a day of reflection and thinking of others. It should be very apparent this year with the protesters and LGBTQ bans from certain chain restaurants. They need not just our support but  alimentary support too.

If you're a restaurant owner think about donating food to your local demonstrations. Sandwiches  and small salads will be fine along with cold bottles of water. If it's more organized, think about getting together with a few other restaurant owners to form a buffet.The hot dishes will be appreciated if there's rainy or cool Spring weather.Even chains such as McDonald's or Wendy 's can participate.

As for tolerance, everybody should be allowed to eat where they want to eat or order a wedding cake.  Think about tolerance and how the New Testament emphasizes that. Protest eateries and shops that promote exclusion. A big enough backlash can close down one place.

Be thoughtful for this Good Friday and practice tolerance and acceptance all year round.

So, Do We Go Vegan?

There is a new report out claiming that red and processed meats cause cancer. This is no big news , it's been known for at least thirty or more years. What is controversial is that the World Health Organization or WHO now equates them with asbestos and tobacco. Yet are they that bad?Or is this an over exaggeration?

To be honest we do need meat, We need it for our bodies to produce amino acids . We also need it  for Vitamin B12 and protein. Vitamin B12 or iron can be found in lobster but that comes with a warning of its' own - its' chock full of cholesterol. If do still redmeat or bacon, then cut down on it. Try to limit it to maybe once a week  the cut down to twice a month and then maybe once a month. I know this is easier said than done. Most of us rely on our supermarket's deli or Subway for lunches . What can be done is looking to fresh cut meats , such as chicken or roast beef. Also subbing in soy meats helps along with switching to veggies. This can be done slowly. Start by adding more tomatoes and spinach. Cheese slices are also good and get familiar with the different types out there.Another idea is looking at vegan web sites and cookbooks . These are chock full of delicious recipes that can help transitioning over to a more meat free diet.

Other meats have come under fire as well, namely hot dogs, burgers and sausages. Again these are going  to be hard to get rid of or at least decrease.Look , Wendy's and McDonald's are a huge part of the American diet. Fast food is just easier  to deal with , especially after a long work day or busy weekend. Luckily we can cut down on the amount of burgers and dogs we consume.Wendy's offers a wide array of salads plus baked potatoes  to wean you off those Baconators. Morningstar Farms offers a variety  of veggie burgers and  hot dogs that can stand in for the real thing. To be honest we need to look to Germany who gave us the first two along with a huge variety of sausages and wursts. For some reason, Germans don't have the high cancer stats that we have and yet our diets are relatively similar. It could be portion control (they're not gluttonous by any means) or how the meats are processed. There could be less nitrates and chemicals in the meat.It could also be that they're not as heavily into the carcinogenic  barbecuing as we Yanks are. Maybe if we stop all this excessive grilling we can keep that extra chilidog or Sloppy Joe in our diets.

So what do we do? Eat well, eat for our bodies and not our taste buds.Try more plant based foods, nix all that barbecue - and like with alcohol and sweets - just cut back. It 's the start of a healthier way of eating.

Food Icons

Food icons never really go away. Unlike celebrities, they are eternal, lasting from year to year and from decade to decade. We have them in our daily lives. We make them an important part of our holiday and daily traditions.


My food icons are of course what I grew up on. I was lucky to to have Piedmontese and Swabian food all the time as well as American classics.There is and will be nothing like polenta , especially when it's fried and topped with two sunnyside up eggs. There there is spaetzle with string beans. For any kid here in the States spaghetti is always the dish of choice. This icon follows us through adulthood, winding up one of our valued and cherished food icons, Another is Coke. It's not just an icon for us Yankees but also for anyone in the workd. Who hasn't popped open a can after a game or hard work? We even put another food icon in it, vanilla ice cream to make it more of a treat.


Of course fast food restuarants. are the epitome of any kind of icon. Take McDonald's with its' classic hamburgers shakes and fries. It symbolizes American eating at it's best(or worst depneding on how you look at it. Another is Taco Bell with it's south of the border menu, symbolizing Mexican food.Diners, especially here in the Garden State, are iconic of New Jersey. Who hasn't driven through this area without stopping for a three egg omlet or a stack of pancakes, complete with a host of sides at any time of the day?.



Food icons are eternal. They never really die. They're there for us when we need them to get through tough times and to celebrate the good ones.

Hamburger Heaven

Hamburgers are the meal of choice during these summer days. They're easy to cook up and also fun to stop for on a balmy night. The best thing is you can have them your way, as a famous burger chain has always offered. You can have them as plain or as fancy as you want.

We have to thank Louis Lassen for creating the first burger in 1900 in Connecticut. Yet it was the Menches family of Hamburg New York who gave this concoction of ground beef and bread its' name .A few years after that the cheeseburger was born in Pasadena California where a young Lionel Steinberger (what else???) accidentally added a slab of cheddar to his sandwich. The very first hamburger chain was White Castle, created in the late Teens and early Twenties. Of course we all know about Ray Kroc who franchised the McDonald brothers' hamburger stand. The burger is a huge part of our modern lives. We can get them anywhere from diners to fancy restaurants. Hamburgers now come in everything kind of meat from bison and ostrich to the vegetarian quorn and tofu.

Cooking hamburgers can let you be creative. Add pizza sauce for a pizza burger or some onion soup to make it very tasty. You don't have to stick American or cheddar on the top ; instead go with Swiss or pepper jack slices for more of a kick. Ketchup is always a good moistener but barbecue sauce on any burger gives it zing and renders it much more flavorful . As for the bun nothing beat a regular sesame seed one that's been lightly toasted. Another good base are onion rolls that have bits of sauteed onion baked in the bread


Have your hamburgers your way. This is a food that's not only fun to eat but also fun to whip up . Add the usual or come up with something entirely new. That's what's so great about them. Make your hamburger your heaven!