My New Food Obsession

Taralli. If you've not had these, they are a crunchy, unsalted pretzely, savory biscuity southern Italian snack. Last week I bought a bag of these at Long's, not exactly where you expect to find imported Italian food, but that's what I like about the bay area. Even a chain drugstore offers a cornucopia of culinary delights. I tore the bag open right in the parking lot and was immediately hooked. Crunchy and delicately flavored with olive oil, wine and fennel, taralli kick the ass of any pretzel, even a Newman's Own.

Could I recreate this delicious snack? I followed this recipe, using fennel instead of pepper. There were multiple steps involved, but all were simple, requiring neither skill, special equipment nor high falutin' ingredients. I halved the recipe but will definitely make the whole recipe next time as I fully intend to eat most of these 40 rings of bliss tonight.

Last night I watched Catch and Release starring the puffy-lipped, grapefruit-foreheaded Jennifer Garner. I had my doubts about it but Netflix gave it 3.5 stars so I gave it a whirl. It was hideously boring and ridiculous. Jennifer Garner seems like a very nice and earnest girl. She and Ben made an awfully cute baby. She was pretty adorable in 13 Going On 30, and is also chipmunky cute in Neutrogena commercials. But she was awful in Alias, which was just a bad show. And she was no better in this turd of a movie. The biggest insult was that Timothy Olyphant, Seth Bullock in Deadwood, turned up as the love interest. Agh! They cancel Deadwood so you can act in drek like this? Oh, the humanity.

In an unrelated matter, I want mention that my wish to become a mole for the FDA will probably not be realized. Job postings for Consumer Safety Officer are located in Georgia and Maryland, places I am unlikely to ever live. Oh well. As always, I love to peruse the warning letters to see what grody violations the Officers are turning up. This one is pretty gross. In addition to the revolting phrase "rodent urine stain," note use of word"insanitary." I thought this was a mistake but it is in fact a synonym for unsanitary.