1G WEST
PB
FN
THURSDAY,
JANUARY 17, 2008
PalmBeachPost.com
FOOD&
Final
W
Beer Guy, Sports Goddess
team up in Port St. Lucie
Join The Beer Guy and Sports Goddess
as they head to Bogies & Stogies in Port
St. Lucie to check out the northernmost
winner of the best sports bar contest:
PalmBeachPost.com/Food
D I N I N G
THROW OUT THE SCALE ...
It’s time for the Girl Scout cookie sale!
The Boy Scouts rally to the cause, telling us just how many badges each variety rates
Oh boy! Right on the heels of
the holiday feast-fest comes the
Girl Scout Cookie sale.
But the Boy Scouts don’t mind
— they cheerfully pledged their
loyalty to the cookies, volunteering without hesitation when we
asked for cookie-testers.
A Bear and a Webelo Cub Scout
from Pack 141, and a Boy Scout
from Troop 141 in West Palm
Beach rallied round the table to
munch and ponder just how many
“badges” each cookie was worth.
Ethan Fogt, 9, Tommy Skelly,
10, and Tyler Fogt, 11, had clear
favorites — but found a couple of
duds in the boxes, too.
We balanced their opinions with those of professional
cookie baker Leah Rosch, of
www.whatacookiebiz.com in Lake
Worth.
Here are their guides to the
cookies offered this year by the
Palm Glades Council Girl Scouts.
— Jan Norris
Meet the
judges!
Tommy Skelly, Webelo
Ethan Fogt, Bear Cub
Staff photos by RAY GRAHAM
Taylor Molina, with Lemonades
Lemonades
(a lemon-iced
vanilla cookie)
Scouts give
it 4 badges;
professional
baker, 3
badges
Bear Cub Ethan Fogt declared
that this one ‘isn’t sweet
enough. But I like the icing
part.’
Rosch says, ‘They taste
commercial — not their best.
The icing’s not great, either.’
Alex Ingebritson
with Caramel deLites
Caramel deLites
(chewy caramel
cookie rolled
in coconut,
striped with
chocolate)
Scouts give
it 4 badges;
professional
baker, 5 badges
Webelo Tommy Skelly likes this
cookie ‘for the chocolate. I’m
not a fan of coconut, and the
chocolate does a good job of
covering it up.’
Rosch likes these. Out off all the
cookies, she came back to them
as her favorite: ‘They did a good
job with them.’
Jenny Bermudez
with Shortbreads
Shortbread
(plain
shortbread
cookie)
Scouts
give it 2
badges;
professional
baker, 2 badges
Tommy Skelly calls it ‘boring’:
‘It lacks sugar.’
Scout Tyler Fogt says his
grandma used to make these
cookies, but ‘they were much
better than these.’ Even milk
wouldn’t help, he said.
Rosch couldn’t taste the
shortbread at all and agreed
it was a ‘boring’ cookie.
Ashley Gideos
with Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Peanut Butter
Sandwich
(peanutbutter icing
between oat
cookie layers)
Tyler Fogt, Boy Scout
Scouts give
it 2 badges;
professional baker, 2 badges
Tyler Fogt had trouble biting into
them. ‘These are a pretty hard
cookie.’
Tommy Skelly agreed: ‘These
definitely need milk. And I can’t
really taste the peanut butter.’
Rosch agreed with the boys.
‘They really are too crunchy, and
they are skimping on the peanut
butter.’
Leah Rosch, baker
MORE COOKIES INSIDE! New flavors and old favorites are critiqued by the judges. See Back Page.
TABLE TALK
Compassion was never so delicious
By JAN NORRIS
Palm Beach Post Food Editor
So many chances are coming
up for dine-arounds, dinners and
food events, you’ll want to get in on
them before they’re sold out.
On Monday night, local chefs
get together at the Harriet Him-
mel Theater in CityPlace for the
Fourth Annual Taste of Compassion,
the Quantum House benefit.
We go to a lot of dine-arounds,
and this is always one of the most
interesting ones. The chefs who
donate their time to this one are
always trying to one-up each other
in a type of friendly rivalry.
A lot of the chefs are those most
people don’t get to dine with, since
they work at private clubs.
This year’s menu doesn’t disappoint. The chefs at the Sailfish Club
See TABLE TALK, 3FN >
Just the flax, please!
Nutrition experts cull truth from all the crop
By STACY FINZ
The San Francisco Chronicle
Note to self: Eat better, exercise more, lose weight.
Scores of Americans made
this pledge for 2008, even as they
nursed their hangovers. With
so many products on the market
promoting wonder ingredients
that will fight heart disease, beat
cholesterol, bust fat and make
you regular, wellness should be
just a supplement away.
Wrong.
“You can’t just sprinkle some
flax on your caramel macchiato
mocha frappuccino vanilla latte
and say, ‘I got my fiber for the
See DIET, 2FN >
Flaxseed, like some types of fish,
contain omega-3 fatty acids, which
can help control blood pressure.
Is it possible to eat dinner in these parts
– tax and tip included – for less than $25?
GOAL: Eat entrees if possible, and avoid fast food.
Yeah, we can hear you scoffing
Where we ate: City Diner, 3400
S. Dixie Highway, West Palm
Beach; (561) 659-6776.
Could we do it: Yes, if we had
stuck to sandwiches or salads. But
we couldn’t resist busting the budget on the comfort food entrees we
ordered one very cold night. Our
total was $30.75 pre-tip.
What we ate: I confess that
part of the reason I rave about
City Diner is because it’s near
my house and open daily for
breakfast and lunch, and dinner
Wednesday through Saturday. But
it’s more than convenient for West
Palm’s south end residents — it’s
good.
During a recent cold spell the
diner’s chicken pot pie warmed
me from the inside out — flaky
crust, creamy gravy, loads of peas
and carrots and big chunks of
chicken — mmm! My husband’s
turkey dinner, didn’t disappoint
either. Both were $12.95
The split pea soup ($3.95) for a
generous small bowl) is flavored
just right with ham and dressed
up with carrots. I nearly licked
the bowl.
The diner is friendly-casual
and decorated with old tin signs,
a working jukebox and homemade
desserts displayed on the counter.
Will we go back? Absolutely. I
ran out of room for apple pie.
— Amy Royster
8G F
FN THE PALM BEACH POST
•
Color/Final
THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2008 F
THROW OUT THE SCALE ...
It’s time for the Girl Scout cookie sale!
The Boy Scouts rally to the cause, telling us just how many badges each variety rates
BY JAN NORRIS, FOOD EDITOR ■ STAFF PHOTOS BY RAY GRAHAM ■ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1FN
THE
WINNER!
Alex Ingebritson with Peanut Butter Patties
Peanut Butter Patties
Ashley Gideos with Thin Mints
Summer Marchsteiner with Thanks-A-Lots
Thin Mints
(chocolate covers creamy peanut
butter layer on a crisp, thin
cookie
(chocolate wafer coated
with mint chocolate
icing)
Scouts and the professional
baker: 5 badges
The clear winner: ‘I like peanut
butter and chocolate together
— it’s a winner,’ said Ethan Fogt.
Tyler Fogt gave it a high 5 on the scale. ‘Not as
good as my grandma’s chocolate-chip cookies:
They would be a definite 6! But very good.’
Tommy Skelly said, ‘It’s the best of the batch.’
Rosch agreed. ‘It’s very creamy, and you can
taste the peanut butter, but I don’t think there’s
as much as last year. I still think they’re cutting
back.’
Thanks-A-Lot
Cinna-Spins
Scouts give
them 3 badges;
professional baker, 3
badges
Scouts rate
these 3 badges;
professional baker,
3 badges
Tyler Fogt and Tommy Skelly said in
unison, ‘Needs more chocolate!’ ‘The
cookie part overpowers the chocolate,’
Tommy said.
Rosch thought they were basically
‘average’: ‘The chocolate is too sweet.’
Ethan Fogt looked at the tiny, nickelsized cookies (they’re packed in five
bags to equal 100 calories each), and
wondered ‘What are they doing with
these?’ He rated them as ‘average’: ‘Just
OK.’
Rosch said: ‘These are really not a kidcookie. They taste like those cinnamon
bears. I guess they’re doing it for the
100 calories.’
(chocolate-coated
shortbread)
Scouts rate these
41 ⁄ 2 badges; the
professional baker agrees.
‘All it is is pure chocolate,’ Tyler Fogt said.
‘What’s not to like?’
Tommy Skelly says, ‘They’re like a
chocolate mint.’
Rosch noted that this year the cookie
part was all chocolate; in some years, the
inside of the cookie was vanilla instead
with the chocolate mint coating. ‘There’s
much less mint icing than last year.’
Taylor Molina with
Cinna-Spins
NEW THIS
YEAR!
(mini cinnamon
sugar cookies)
Our cookie models are Girl Scouts from Troop 150 in Wellington.
HOW THE COOKIES CRUMBLE:
Cookie sale runs today
through Feb. 4.
$3.50:
Cost per box
0 trans fats
in the cookies
Who bakes them? ABC
Bakers, Richmond, Va.
8 varieties: Thin Mints, Caramel deLites, Thanks-A-Lot, CinnaSpins, Shortbread, Lemonades, Peanut Butter Sandwich and
Peanut Butter Patties
Buy one for the troops: The Girl Scouts
will send U.S. soldiers serving overseas
any boxes bought as a donation.
1 new variety: Cinna-Spins,
mini cinnamon-sugar cookies
in 100-calorie packs
Curried away tofu and chickpea sauté
Divas of Dish
Pam Brandon
and Anne-Marie Hodges
9610827
Oh, woe is meat. Tofu, introduced to American divas during
the 1700s by Ben Franklin, has
gotten a bad rap for centuries.
Bean-curdologists have
long known that this humble
block of edible diversity is an
inexpensive meat alternative
teeming with all sorts of good
stuff — such as plant-based
omega-3s, vitamins, minerals,
calcium and, most important,
PMS-defying phytoestrogens
to save both your marriage and
your wine bill. Yet meat lovers
continue to shun tofu.
OK, so maybe it doesn’t
compare to a randy rack of falloff-the-bone baby backs. Rather,
1 tablespoon each: turmeric and
paprika
1 block firm tofu, diced into 1-inch
cubes
14-ounce can chickpeas, drained
1 cup diced tomatoes, canned or
fresh
1
⁄2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons honey
1
⁄4 cup minced fresh cilantro
In skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Sauté onion until golden,
10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add garlic and ginger
and stir-fry 2 minutes, seasoning again with another pinch of salt.
Add all the dry spices and stir-fry until slightly puffed, 2 minutes.
Gently stir in tofu, chickpeas, tomatoes and wine and simmer
uncovered 20 minutes. Add honey and simmer 5 minutes. Check
seasoning and adjust, if necessary. Remove from heat and sprinkle with fresh cilantro.
Diva note: Serve with jasmine rice.
think of tofu as a blank culinary
canvas — a vehicle to express
your innermost dinner desires,
glorious in all cuisines with a
bit of creativity and spice IQ.
And when you dice this low-
Goal for each Scout?
140 boxes
Where to get the cookies: The Girl Scouts will be selling their cookies in front
of a number of stores and drugstores throughout the area Jan. 17-Feb. 4. They
also will be selling in neighborhoods and leaving door tags on individual houses to
contact area Scout troops. For more information, go to www.gspgc.org
Tofu, or not tofu, that is the question
Yield: 6 servings.
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
Coarse salt and cracked black
pepper to taste
4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
or ginger paste
3 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground coriander
The local sales goal? 1 million
boxes (they sold 778,124 last year)
calorie super food into your favorite Chinese, Thai or Indian
recipes, you’ll still curry favor
in your skinny-Minnie jeans.
[email protected]
TRIED AND NEW
We loved CurrySimple
Gourmet Coconut Soup
(tom kha) — $5.99 at
Whole Foods. It comes as a
concentrate, in an aseptic
pouch with a one-year shelf
life. Add it to 12 ounces
of water and heat, adding
sliced chicken or shrimp
and fresh mushrooms, if
you like. All the traditional
Asian ingredients are things
people would want to eat,
including lemongrass, coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves
and lime juice. Based in
Atlanta and made in Thailand, CurrySimple makes
nine sauces, Thai iced tea
concentrate and coconut
soup. See all their products
at currysimple.com
— Victoria Malmer