In this, my 100th post, I would like to sincerely thank all of you loyal eaters/readers (reaters?) for helping Food vs. Face take off. If you'll recall from the very first post, I only started this blog out of obligation because I'd gotten a camera with a food setting. For a blog that was only born in January, I think clocking well over 1,000 hits per week is something to crow about.

You all could be spending your webbernet time looking at p0rn, logging on to Facebook making fun of Orca-sized exes, cruising Craigslist for your old Earth Science teacher who has a thing for watersports, or warming your heart with the many LOLcat pictures to be had - but instead, you keep coming back to this old place and letting me fill your head with bad ideas and your arteries with disease.

Thanks to everyone who has linked to me, especially DaytonMostMetro. Big ups to ManBQue for teaming up with me, even though I don't have the proper equipment to be in their treehouse. Thanks to everyone who lets me know they're reading and anxiously await each update, and bless their hearts, even recognize me in public. I assumed when I started this page that only my mother and Mr. FvF would be reading (one of them silently judging me about the swearing), but my sitemeter tells me otherwise. Thanks to ALL of my family and friends for being encouraging, but most of all, my dear Mr. FvF, who patiently waits for me to take pictures of the food every night while it's getting cold.

For now, I'll leave you with the best nugget of wisdom I can impart:

Normally, I'm pretty good at exercising restraint. Then there are some nights where I'm craving something - say, French toast. If, on one of those nights, I happen to be watching tv and someone actually mentions French toast, I consider that a divine intervention that means I need to have some. Immediately.

Now, I could go two blocks and get French toast at Bob Evans, and pay over $5 plus tip. Or, considering I have milk and eggs getting ready to expire, I could go out and pick up some decent bread and make as much as I want for under $2.

If you don't already know how to make it, I feel kind of sorry for you and assume you were deprived as a child. But, I'll tell you anyway, because you just can't go through life carrying your belonging around in a handkerchief tied to a stick and not knowing what goes into French toast.

1 Cup milk or cream
2 eggs
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
lots of cinnamon
1 tbsp of Amaretto, if you happen to have it lying around
1 tsp sugar


Mix all of your ingredients up. Don't worry - the cinnamon will naturally rise to the top every time. This why I say LOTS of cinnamon. Each time you dunk both sides of a piece of bread in, all of the noticeable cinnamon will be soaked up by that one piece. So, just keep adding as you go. You can also sprinkle more cinnamon on as you're frying them up. Toss them into a buttered pan over medium heat, careful not to crowd the pan. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, or until they're lightly browned and a crust of formed. Lather'em up with butter, powdered sugar, syrup, and in some cases - peanut butter.



If you bought "normal" sized bread, especially pre-sliced, you can wait until they cool and freeze these puppies until you want more. Then, just pop them in your toaster on dark/high and enjoy them again!

Sunday meals are a thing of decadence and gluttony in my family, and this didn't change once I built my own little nest. There's none of that popcorn for dinner or eat-whatever's-around mess. It's a big to do - even if you go out for a meal on a Sunday, it has to measure up. Yesterday we celebrated our anniversary, yet again, with food. I picked up some great looking pepperoni and whole wheat pizza dough at Trader Joe's (more to come on that tip later) and already had the rest of the set-up. Here's what you'll need for making two strombolis the size of your arm, or four reasonably-sized portions.

Pizza Dough*
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 pkg pepperoni, about a cup
2-3 Italian sausage links, cooked and cut into coins
1/2 C fresh baby spinach
2 cloves minced garlic
olive oil
red pepper flakes

*Trader Joe's pizza dough is a hell of a deal for 99 cents per bag, and it freezes well, too.

Preheat the oven to 350 and get all of your fillings ready to go before you start with the dough. Also, make sure you let the dough sit at room temp for about 20 minutes first. This makes it a lot easier to work with.
Once it's closer to room temp, flour either a cutting board or a clean counter top very well. Stretch the dough first with your hands by using a method I call the steering wheel, where you work the dough with both hands on a circular motion like you're making a sharp turn. You don't have to literally stretch it, it will just start to stretch itself. Once you have it thinned out a bit, use a floured rolling pin and roll it out on the cutting board to get it as thin as you'd like. Once you're there, cut it into as many rectangles as you'll need for the size you're making.

I found it's best to start with smaller ingredients, then go bigger towards the top. So, first put down a little olive oil, red pepper flakes and garlic, then pile on the spinach, pepperoni, Italian sausage and cheese - all close to one side. Take the blank side of dough and fold it over the stuffing, making a seam on the other side. If you're not convinced it won't fall apart, press the edges with a fork like you would a turnover or pocket pie to seal it. Cut a 1" slit in the top of the dough about every 2" so it doesn't essplode in the oven. Brush the top with a little olive oil (or egg wash, if you're going more for looks than flavor) and season it with some garlic powder and rosemary. If you've got cornmeal on hand, you can also dust the bottom of the stromboli with that to add texture - a lot of pizza joints do that.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until the crust doesn't give when you tap it. I felt it was missing something, so I made some herbed garlic butter to drizzle over the tops before serving.
Needless to say, this was the kind of meal that reassured Mr. FvF that he's marrying up.

I almost shat last week when I read an article regarding how baffling it is that the average American family receiving food stamps gets around $70 per week for a family of four. According to MSNBC, that's a very paltry amount. According to yours truly, it's perfectly reasonable, at least living in a mid-sized market like the Dayton-Cincinnati area. Granted, I'm only feeding myself and one other person, but we spend that amount about every two weeks - and we eat well.
On our last bi-weekly grocery excursion, I spent $20 at the butcher and $50 at the market. This produces about 10 meals, about half yielding leftovers, and items for lunch. While I certainly don't frown on coupon clipping, that's not the only way to save a buck. The trick, sometimes, is taking stuff you always have on hand and combining it with a cut of meat that's on a crazy special at your local butcher. This past week, my butcher had country ribs for a song - $1.69 per pound. I picked up a few pounds and decided to wing it.

Everyone knows currant flavors go great with pork - cherries, pomegranates, any dark berry, really. If root beer and Coca-Cola can be used in pork and poultry recipes, why not the black cherry soda I found a hell of a deal on?

Head on over to Man-B-Que for photos and the recipe!

Okay, they may not technically be imports, but they're imported to Ohio! We stopped by Belmont Party Supply to pick up some drank and I decided since we're having ribs tonight, we should have beer, too. I'm not a big beer drinker myself, but sometimes I like to experiment. I know, I know - you're supposed to do all of that in college, but I dropped out, so cut me some slack.

Tonight I'll be sampling Sea Dog Raspberry Wheat Ale, Wheach (wheat peach ale, go figure), Samuel Smith's Organic Hard Cider, and Mr. FvF will be having a go at Lagunitas Brewing Co Belgian Triple Ale, graced with two different Frank Zappa album covers, as well as Shiner Bock Bohemian Black Lager.

Now you wanna know about those black cherry cola ribs I'm cooking up, right? Well, check back in tomorrow when I once again team up with Man-B-Que and blow your effing mind.

Mr. FvF and I went to Christopher's today to celebrate our anniversary since we had our first date there. More importantly, we had big hongries and hadn't eaten a meal there since December. I had no idea the place so was packed on an early Saturday afternoon. We didn't wait long for a table, though. We ordered the mozzarella wedges as an appetizer, Mr. FvF ordered the Manhattan with roast beef (aka Kentucky Hot Brown or Hot Shot, depending on your geographical vernacular) because he wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and I stuck with my old stand-by, the chicken salad-stuffed tomato plate.

I'll cut them a little slack on service since they were busy, but it was probably some of the worst I've ever had there. Granted, it was still better than some places, but I expect more out of them. Just very rushed and not terribly friendly. No one told us about the specials, and our server slipped in and delivered our drinks without asking if we had any questions. No "how are you two today?" or any of the usual pleasantries. Luckily, the food was amazing, as always.


The Mister looooved his Manhattan. I tried a bite and may still contest that the Hot Shots at Tank's are better, this this was pretty delicious. My stuffed tomato plate was super tasty and refreshing - I always hate eating really heavy food when it's as humid as it was this morning. It also took me twice as long to clean my plate compared to Mr. FvF. But, we've determined that most of his life from here on out will be spent waiting on me to do something, whether it's pick out my clothes, change them five times, decide on a lipstick, or finish my food. The mozz wedges were tops, too. Somehow much better than your standard mozzarella stick appetizers. The breading held up better, and they're served with Christopher's house-made marinara, which is good enough to bathe in.

Now that I've been making BFMFDMF on the regular, Mr. FvF asks for it every week. Considering it's an easy, cheap meal - I surely don't mind. I normally do eggs, potatoes, biscuits, breakfast meat, and sometimes gravy. I almost always make scrambled eggs, but I figured tonight I'd switch it up (Flip Mode is the greatest!) and use my ramekins to make mini egg souffles. No more difficult (actually, a bit easier) than scrambled eggs.

4 eggs
1/2 C milk or cream
1 tsp calt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 dash of cayenne
1/4 C ham, diced
1/4 C shredded sharp cheddar

Butter or spray the ramekins and preheat your oven to 350. Line the bottom of them evenly with the chopped ham and cheese. Mix together your eggs, milk and seasonings and pour them into the ramekins. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the center is no longer jiggly.