This part of the Friends plot is decidedly not my favorite, but I've always loved this episode. Ross is at his Ross-iest and the less than compelling plot point of some of the friends switching significant others does make for some great comic elements. I also just love the idea of going to a Friend's (literally!) place and having a full on Mexican meal with fajitas and margs. It just seems so fun! I've seen this episode more times than I can count, and the line "That is going to HURT tomorrow!" is both delivered perfectly forever burned into my brain. I feel his too-many-margs pain when he wakes up on the couch the next morning, it's just a great fun and new-feeling way to get a majority of the group together in a scene. When my friend Sam suggested we make these veggie chilaquiles, I saw the skillet and Ross holding a hot pan with his bare hands instantly came to mind, so I fudged it a bit because it's a dish that can be either chilaquiles OR fajitas.
Read moreGus Fring's Los Pollos Hermanos Fried Chicken [Better Call Saul/Breaking Bad]
Breaking Bad had people wishing Los Pollos Hermanos was as pervasive as McDonald's, and Gus Fring was an amazing stoic villain. We're getting more of him on Better Call Saul, and there's lots of publicity to go with it (it's even coming to life!). Although that restaurant seemed more like a bone-in chicken type of joint, I was in the mood to eat some tenders. I'm not shy about my dislike for cooking with hot oil, so I dove yet again into oven frying. I found this great easy recipe that's practically fast food (minus marinading time), and they taste just as good as anything you'd get off a restaurant menu.
Read moreLiv's Spicy "Brain" (Shrimp) Flatbread [iZombie]
When iZombie was premiering, I was so excited Rob Thomas was coming out with a new show. I had recently binged Veronica Mars, very late to the game, and his new comic book adaptation sounded like a fun new take on his mid aughts high school detective show. It ended up being as catchy and endearing as its predecessor, with a zombie twist. Our protagonist, Liv, needs to eat brains to survive, and the show does a really fun take on this trope. Each episode dedicates some time to show how Live prepares her brains du jour, always with a clever new "recipe." Before I had the idea for this blog, this is something I wanted to replicate. Even though it's pretty gross when you think too hard about it, I appreciate that the writers/prop team takes the time to and creativity to highlight this trait in our zombie lead. The show returns this week for a new season, and I jazzed up a brain pizza she made in the first season, of course subbing brain for shrimp, the closest food I could come up with to take its place. I also made sure it had some spice because that's a fun palate detail of iZombie's undead. For all the "brain food" we see on the show, someone from the website Cactus Pop documented every dish.
Read moreLet's Potato Chips [so many shows]
TV is funny because it's creating little realities that many times seem to exist in a parallel universe, one that includes food and brands that don't exist in our world. Sure, we're used to really obvious and maybe less obvious product placement at this point, but it's more fun when things are made up, or in this case, a TV industry-wide inside joke. There have been a few different stories (and even a now-defunct blog) about the famous Let's potato chips that pervade TV—spanning networks, genres and decades, and it's fun to compare how the fictional brand is used in different fictional worlds.
Read moreKevin and Sophie's Diner Lava Fries [This Is Us]
This Is Us ends its first heart-wrenching season tomorrow, and it will no doubt be an event that requires comfort food. I knew the second the episode where Kevin [SPOILER] starts to try to get Sophie back that I would need to explore this concept of lava fries, especially ones that have the power to make an ex-wife take a seat instead of walking out in the MORNING. My first thought was that Kevin for sure does not eat fries, but creative license. My first FOOD thought was that they are probably chili fries, but that is pretty played out and the concept of them kind of grosses me out. I thought that they needed a little spice and maybe even a bit of a makeover, so I baked the fries for hot oil-avoidance and explored the best complementing flavors possible. Also I meant to add parmesan cheese before the pics and forgot but just know it is MUCH SUGGESTED.
Read moreRebecca Bunch's Group Hang Nachos [Crazy Ex-Girlfriend]
In the first season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Rebecca was not thrilled when her dinner hang with Josh became a group hang with a delicious looking pile of nachos (and a lot of other food). The show employs food very thoughtfully, and in the song "Group Hang," I had a lot to choose from. Not only do the nachos appear in the scene and get a call out, when I saw the scene, I got an instant craving for a delicious pile of nachos with the works. I engineered my perfect combination of homemade layers for my own Oscar watching group hang, and then fantasized about them until they were ready to go. Let's just say, they disappeared before the ceremony started.
Read more#tbt Rachel's "go long" soft pretzels (and cheesy dip) [Friends]
The Super Bowl is Sunday, which is the best night, not for football, but for food, obviously. Not everyone likes football or commercials that are now released ahead of time, but sports food is universal. The perfect example of this comes from The One With The Football episode of Friends. Rachel gets bored of the intense game of football the group plays to win the Geller Cup and "went really long" to get a soft pretzel instead.
Read more#tbt Bluth Cornballer baked hushpuppies [Arrested Development]
The Bluths are a very enterprising family and one of their ill-fated ventures cam in the form of the Cornballer, a mysterious deep frier-type appliance that burned whoever tried to use it. Use at your own risk aside, I was always curious exactly what cornballs exactly were. We never got a great look, despite the infomercials and its availability in Mexico only. While the Bluths should stick with frozen bananas (and trust me, I'll get there), I took cornballing into my own hands, and I didn't get burned once. That's maybe because I do almost anything I can to avoid frying things so I don't get burned or burn down my apartment.
Read moreOlivia Pope's every meal popcorn [Scandal]
Olivia Pope has a lot things about her life "handled" (or, she did until things went CRAZY a couple seasons ago), but her diet was never one of those things. For someone so in command of insane situations, we pretty much only ever see her eating popcorn with red wine out of her signature Crate & Barrel wine glasses. Even though she's an established woman with more than enough means to at least get delivery, she makes the sad choice to eat several servings of popcorn on her own. But at least she has it together enough to always put it in a chic glass bowl. That way you know this questionable nutritional choice is deliberate.
Read more#tbt Gavin Volure's not-potpourri veggie chips [30 Rock]
If Tina Fey is the female and comedy icon we all aspire to be, then Liz Lemon is the food icon we all recognize in ourselves. 30 Rock's episodes are dense with both jokes and food references, and the fictional food is used perfectly in the show. Liz Lemon falls at about Lorelai Gilmore levels of healthy when it comes to her diet, but that doesn't mean healthy food can't be extracted from moments in the show.
When Liz accompanies Jack to rich, house-arrested businessman Gavin Volure's fancy house, she puts on a dress in place of her usual jeans and flannel, but that doesn't give her appetite a makeover. She reaches for a bowl of dried something at the table instead of engaging Jack in conversation, but it turns out to be potpourri or "these are not chips." Here, I offer the alternative outcome.
Read moreeggos five ways [Stranger Things]
from l to r: pb&j, banana nutella, chicken and waffle, s'more, grilled cheese
I arrived a little late to the Stranger Things party. I knew I couldn’t multi-task while I watched, and I know myself well enough to know I don’t have the self control to watch it an episode at a time. Finally in December, I had a completely free Saturday. I started it immediately when I woke up, and eight hours later was relieved to be rid of the FOMO I had been experiencing for the five months that I hadn’t watched it.
There aren’t a ton of food moments in the show that aren't pre-packaged or semi-homemade. Eleven’s Eggo obsession was intriguing and endearing, so in the absence of a waffle iron, I decided to go semi-homemade myself and turn America’s favorite freezer waffles into the foundation of different kid food, five ways.