Well I hope everyone had a marvelous Labor Day weekend! I wasn't in the kitchen as much as I thought I was but it was nice!. We went to Test Subject A's Parents for dinner where I made a fabulous pork kabobs. I had forgotten how much grilled food tastes so friggen good! You ask yourself "Manda why don't you get a grill" well I would love to however we can't due to living in an apartment. So If I want to use a grill I have to use the public one. Which isn't so bad however it's very tiny. But maybe I will buy a small bag of charcoal and check it out.

Image from Gone Bananas

So on Saturday, I went to the local Fresh Market which is twice a month at our local outdoors mall.  I wanted to check out any potential competition for my Toffee along with picking up a few items for Test Subject A.  I was surprised No one sells candy or chocolate confections so I was really excited. But even more so when I stumbled on Gone Bananas.  Tom and Regene's mission is to provide the public with a healthy alternative to traditional concession treats. I was amazed when the woman in the concession truck told me that it is Gluten Free, Vegan, Organic, and Raw. And guess what!? Its good too! It actually is good for you and the flavor combinations are amazing.

Just wanted to pass on the Living Social Deal for Tampa Fl. Gobble Green is a food delivery company that delivers Vegan and Gluten Free Foods right to your home. The following is the snippet from the LivingSocial website regarding the deal.

We know you're a socially responsible citizen who's "gone green" for the good of humanity. Your days are chock-full of collecting recyclables, volunteering at the yoga studio, and powering up your electric car. Between all that tree-hugging, though, there's not much time left to cook yourself a healthy meal. Do away with dietary disappointment with today's deal from Gobble Green: seven days of vegan or gluten-free vegan meals for $129 (regularly $265). Gobble Green is a 100%-vegan and 90%-organic food delivery service that helps make veganism hassle-free. With this offer, three gourmet, nutritionally balanced meals -- including dessert -- will be delivered via FedEx right to your door every day. You get top-quality, delicious food with a side of satisfaction for being healthy and animal-friendly. PETA would be proud.

So last night I was attempting to take pictures of my toffee in order to finish up the photos for Tip Top Toffee. I was really happy with this batch as the toffee was a rich and beautiful brown tanish color. So Once it was made and I added the toppings and placed it under the broiler to finish browning the marshmallows. I was watching it carefully but not as careful as I though! I went to check on them and they were on fire! Yes flames were shooting out of my oven and I panicked! I screamed for Test Subject A to come and help me and he took a tea towel and began beating the fire. I immediately told him not to do that as that only feeds the fire and catch the towel on fire.

He runs back into the computer room and Googles "How to stop an oven fire" and proceeds to watch a youtube video on the subject. I meantime have concluded a few things. A, We don't have a fire extinguisher B. Shut the oven off and C. Blow out the remaining bits of the fire.   By the time he comes running back in, I have taken care of the fire.   I looked at him and said "well it looks like we need that food torch"  Just shows you that even the best of cooks has a bad day! 

I found this video very interesting. I myself has a gluten sensitivity. I have found that when I do not eat it, I generally feel better and my stomach doesn't hurt like it does, like the woman indicated. But because I have not found a really good everyday bread that isn't costing me 7  bucks a loaf, I find myself playing the well is it worth the irritation game. Now Against The Grain is my favorite gluten free bread but its not always available and they don't make sandwich bread out of it. But it is the BEST for sub sandwiches and what not. I also just moved and found that the local Nutrition Smart carries Against the Grain (I am so excited about this). If you want a product review of the bread please click here.

I guess I am just picky that way and wont settle for inferior products. I find that most breads are heavy, dry, and have a weird aftertaste that is just off putting. I want to find a sandwich bread that myself and Test Subject A will be able to eat on a regular biases without thinking "Oh wow this is gluten free....."  Viitals makes a gluten free bread that is  close to "Normal" bread as I could find but it is $6.50 a loaf, I cant get it every week. When I bought a loaf, it lasted less than a week due to the Florida humidity. It molded pretty quickly.  I wish I could find a bread that was around $2.50 -$3.00 which is what I spend on a regular loaf of Arnold's bread. But enough of the rant, I must continue my search. Enjoy the day!

Thank you Getty Images.

This weekend I had great ambitions to create some new tasty treats but I fell way short of doing anything spectacular. I Just couldn't bring myself to do anything amazing this weekend like I wanted to. So Instead I played video games, went shopping and looked for my digital camera that I use for this blog. Still enjoyed my ever to short weekend but it lacked in the food department and camera department.

I had gone to the store early last week and I bought a container of figs. I don't know why I had bought them. I have never used them in a recipe or even knew what the tasted like (besides the Fig Newton) but I figured I could come up with something.

I had watched a few minutes of  Secrets of a Restaurant Chef with Anne Burrell and I recalled her stuffing them with cheese and wrapping them in bacon. So I figured it had to be good right? Well I couldn't find the recipe anywhere and that got me thinking "Did she even use figs? Or were they dates" Either way I had figs and they were going to be wrapped in bacon!  I Just hoped they tasted alright.    So Sunday afternoon I tottled into the kitchen and made these stuffed figs pretty fast.  When they were finished, Test Subject A (my boyfriend) ate them up and liked them a lot.  So being the brave test taster I took a bite of the fig. It was pretty good, Not OMG I must have these every week but for what they were they were okay. 

When cooked the fig made the cheese take on a sweet flavor which was nice with the salty bacon. I also found the cheese was very melty and oozed out of the figs. I must say the cheese was the best part. I think if I ever did make these I would skip the figs all together and just wrap cheese in bacon as that was my favorite part.  All in all I didn't go ga-ga over them, but  if you want to try it, here is the recipe below.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

He sure looks happy! I found this video yesterday and thought I would share it. I only wish I could travel around the world and eat new things! I think that's one of the reasons I love living here in the city; I may not be able to travel but I can find all sorts of exotic foods right here in my neighborhood.