The Double-Down: not quite the end of civilization

I'm not eating that thing, but at only 540 calories it's not as much of a travesty as many fast food sandwiches. So points out acclaimed numbers man Nate Silver at 538.com. Why he's pontificating about food and not political or sports stats - all of which he usually nails - is anybody's guess. Though he develops a chart to show just how bad the Double-Down is in comparison to many popular chicken sandwiches (one DD = 1.00, so if a sandwich is worse nutritionally than the Double-Down, it will have a DD value of over 1.00, and if better then the DD value will be under 1.00). It's worse than many chicken sandwiches, but there are worse ones - check out that Panera Chipotle thing:

I love graphs. Courtesy of Fivethirtyeight.com.

Also note that many hamburgers are worse than the Double-Down!

But even though there are much less unhealthy items on any fast food menu than this thing, it's actually no worse than a Big Mac (also 540 calories), and calorie-wise is quite tame in comparison to some of the stuff at the other places:

• Back to McDonald's, who is not exactly a great choice for healthy eating: their Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese (would that be a Half Pounder?) is 740 calories.
  
• Just a Baconator Single at Wendy's is 610 calories.
  
• "We pride ourselves on clogging your arteries" Burger King, and their Whopper (670 calories), Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich (800 calories) or Triple Whopper (1,160 calories!!!)

And yes, that's before you even consider info about fat, carbohydrates and sodium! But Silver has another metric: Double-Downs per Calorie (DDPC), which shows that you're actually getting more crap per calorie than any other sandwich in his metric:

Also courtesy of Fivethirtyeight.com

Silver explains this second chart this way:

...here, things don't look very good at all for the Double Down, since for all that crap you're taking in, you're only getting about one-quarter of the calories that you need. On this basis, not only is the Double Down worse for you than any of the chicken products (Chick-Fil-A's Chargrilled Chicken Club, at 0.91 DDPCs, is the next-worst), but also all of the burgers as well -- even the Triple Baconator (0.98 DDPCs) and the infamous Thickburger (0.92 DDPCs). In fact, the only thing that beats than the Original Recipe Double Down is the supposedly healthier grilled Double Down (1.19 DDPCs), which is almost 20 percent worse for you than the signature version on a per-calorie basis.

I still won't be eating one, but you can easily find worse. Unless you stop to consider how much crap you're taking in per bite, in which case it starts to look like the end of civilization after all!.

If you break a mercury thermometer in a pot of boiling oil...

Yes, I just had the problem described in the title, as I was readying to fry up some lovely Chincoteague urshters (had to consign them to the pan instead). There are three little balls of shiny silver mercury at the bottom of a very hot metal pot of cooking oil. I tried to find the solution online, but there is no information about this anywhere.

So I am creating that information, based on what the Poison Control Center told me. I mean, this is mercury we're talking about, so it's serious and stuff.

The environmentally safe thing to do is to take it to your local hazardous waste disposal site. Otherwise, remove the mercury and the oil without making contact with your skin - pretend it's still hot - and seal it all up, and dispose of it accordingly.

The metal pot itself should be okay, but if I must dispose of it, it won't be a big loss as I got the pot for about $3 at the Goodwill.

Thai Restaurant

Few restaurants have a more generic-sounding name than Waverly's aptly-named Thai Restaurant. But as I am sure various reviewers have pointed out before, the food is anything but generic. Various friends of mine have gone before and have usually left satisfied.

Eric and I headed to Thai Restaurant on Saturday night for a taste of what he has said was some pretty good and relatively inexpensive Thai food. We arrived after one or two large parties, so we hoped the service would not be terribly slow. The back entrance to the wood-grained dining room gives the illusion of a small and cozy restaurant. Though a little cramped, there is room for several parties. This doesn't really slow down the kitchen, though our waitress was a little on the slow side (no doubt something she'll grow out of as she learns the ropes).


We started with some drinks - Eric got the my tai and I opted for the passable Chang Beer - and followed that up with a few appetizers (these and more on the menu, posted here). Eric ordered the shredded green papaya salad (don't recall the price) and gai sawan ($8).


The salad was tangy and sweet but not my favorite dish, though that's really more because of the papaya in general than the recipe itself. The gai sawan is a fascinating dish, as Eric explained it to me: four chicken wings, but with all the meat and skin pushed up to one end as if to resemble a drumstick. Inside that crispy skin is stuffed a small amount of crab meat. The end result was fattening, scary and delicious, particularly with the sweet and sour sauce that came with it. This is something to order even though you know your waistline will regret it later. But since we shared the gai sawan, two drumstick-wings per person isn't going to do that much damage to me.

Gai sawan, flanking my tom ka gai soup

As I've said before, my measure for how good a Thai restaurant may be is how its tom ka gai ($5) measures up to others I have eaten. Thai Restaurant's tom ka gai is one of the less spicy ones I have eaten, but that is made up for by the richness of its coconut milk broth. In addition, it had edible pieces of lemongrass, which I rarely find used in this soup as anything other than a flavor enhancer. Their tom ka gai is one of the better ones I have eaten lately.


My entrée was the luscious and fiery pad panang curry ($14). A bit different than their standard panang curry, it adds lime leaves to the coconut milk and bell peppers already in it. As many Thai places will do, Thai Restaurant varies the price of this and other entrées based on the meat or lack thereof that you request with it: far more than just beef, chicken, vegetarian and pork (the last being my choice), you can also order it with shrimp, mussels, duck, scallops and squid (price range: $13 to $17). Other entrées, such as their hot and sour dishes, include such diverse additions as tofu and Chinese sausage. Some of those entrées come a little pricier than their typical $12 to $17 stir fries and curries, such as market price fish (upwards of $30 for whole-fried rockfish or flounder, for instance) or their crispy duck, which Eric got (also delicious).

The crispy duck

As for my pork pad panang curry, I needed a fair bit of rice as Thai Restaurant does not joke around with the heat. It was quite rich with coconut milk and panang curry sauce. In fact, the coconut milk seemed to overpower the dish just a little bit, but not enough that I wouldn't recommend it. It was quite rich, as was most of my food, so I had to get a take-home container. Strange as it seems, the curry was actually less fiery the second day around. It was better the second day.

I can see myself going back to Thai Restaurant. It seems like the hip spot that both many locals and JHU, Loyola and Notre Dame students head to regularly. That's not why I would go back - a crowded restaurant usually means you won't get your food for a while, as I have found. I would have to go back for more of the rich Thai food I got this past weekend, specifically that tom ka gai and those evil little drumstick-looking things (that would be the gai sawan).

My seeds are sprouting!

One week after starting them. The ones on the left are Roma tomatoes. Look at them all! Next to them is a scraggly little catnip sprout I just saw today, and then a sweet pepper sprout. My chili peppers aren't sprouting yet.

From Sotto Sopra to Sugarloaf to BEER: events coming up

A few happenings around town that readers have brought to my attention:

• The folks at Sotto Sopra are doing a tax relief $1 Pasta Night on (you guessed it) April 15. More than that, your donations will go to benefit Kennedy Krieger Institute. The press release follows:

(Baltimore, MD-April 4, 2010) Dollar Pasta Night - dine at Sotto Sopra Restaurant at 405 N. Charles Street on tax day, Thursday, April 15th, make a donation (cash, check or credit card) to the Kennedy Krieger Institute that night and for just one dollar ($1) you can order from a selection of nine pastas - it is that simple. Sotto Sopra will be donating 10% of the evening’s proceeds to Kennedy Krieger Institute along with your donations. Reservations are required and will be taken starting at 5 p.m. through to 10 p.m. Call 410.625-

0534 for reservations.

Dollar Pasta Menu

Spaghetti alla Bolognese
Penne with Salmon and Pernod
Rigatoni with Eggplant and Mozzarella
Cappellini al Pomodoro
Fettucine with Mint and Pistachio
Penne Zucchine
Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Spaghetti all'Amatriciana
Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

A limited menu of salads, entrees and desserts will be offered this evening.

www.sottosopra.us

More about Kennedy Krieger

Internationally recognized for improving the lives of children and adolescents with disorders and injuries of the brain, spinal cord, and musculoskeletal system, the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD serves more than 14,000 individuals each year through inpatient and outpatient clinics, home and community services and school-based programs. Kennedy Krieger provides a wide range of services for children with developmental concerns mild to severe, and is home to a team of investigators who are contributing to the understanding of how disorders develop while pioneering new interventions and earlier diagnosis. For more information on Kennedy Krieger Institute, visit www.kennedykrieger.org.

• The following weekend the 32nd spring Sugarloaf Crafts Festival (April 16-18) happens at the Fairgrounds. I had no idea they actually had things of foodie interest but apparently they do! Exhibitors this time around will include exhibitors from as far as Massachusetts and Oklahoma, among others:
  
  
  Berkshire Sweet Gold Maple Farm
  Ron & Franks Gourmet Beverage Mixes
  Bittersweet Herb Farm
  Leonard Mountain Specialty Foods
  Meadowcroft Farms
  Deedee Desserts
  d’marie Gourmet Foods
  The Toffee House
  Terra Verde Farms
  Rising Sun Farms

• And don't forget what's going on at the Fairgrounds this weekend: The Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival! Granted it's a bit pricey but if you've got the cash and the love for beer and Bourbon AND BBQ, this might be the thing for you.
  

The Urban Farming Experiment

I recently rented a plot of land at the urban garden at Clifton Park. It's part of the Baltimore City Farms project, to get people to start growing their own food. I haven't planted anything in years, not since I lived in SoCal (what about that earthquake, huh?) and had a little yard I grew things in. So I am going to start small, first by setting up the plot (in the process now) and then planting in it. A friend who has been growing stuff there for years recommended Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening, now in a new edition! I'm finding it helpful.

I've started some seeds inside, and I'm trying to figure out exactly where to leave them in my apartment. For now I've put the seed starters in my kitchen window. I am growing Romas, chili peppers, bell peppers and catnip indoors. Will try plant carrots, lettuce and onions outdoors.

Candy Overload

Even though I'm well into my 30's, I appreciate that my mother wants to give me the same kinds of fun stuff for Easter that she gave me when I was a wee lad. But I just don't eat this much junk anymore! Ack!

Because It's Still Easter

I thought I'd post some more Easter videos, since today is Easter in both the Eastern and Western calendars (which is kind of an uncommon occurrence).

Paula is making a candy egg that my mother had a recipe for when I was young! I don't remember her making this, but I remember the recipe: mashed potato candy Easter eggs! Please pardon the out-of-sync audio. I just like this recipe so much that I'm dealing with it.



And if that doesn't satisfy you, an e-card "classic" from 2005. Because it's my blog and I'll post what I damn well want to:

Because It's Easter

A Peep-tacular classic from 2008

Road Trip to Rehoboth! (Dogfish Head Update and Apologia)

I haven't gotten around to posting about my recent, very impromptu trip to Rehoboth Beach last weekend (again, glad I could help you out, Eric, and thanks everyone - I had fun). Before last week, I had only once visited this gay mecca of the Mid-Atlantic region. Go figure. Along the way there and back I did get to try some food I rarely get the chance to eat.

Before I go on, however, I have to note that I very sadly did not get the chance to stop at the awesome and fabled Dogfish Head Brewpub (I didn't mean to disappoint you, Brad)! As I noted in a comment below: I had very little time in Rehoboth - just an overnight, and I only had about 1/2 an hour to myself before I had to leave. I couldn't rush a trip to Dogfish! But it will definitely happen next time. And hey, at least I brought a four pack of Midas Touch down with me, so there was some Dogfish Head-ness for me after all.

Sonic Drive-In


There is a Sonic Drive-In in Bridgeville, Delaware! Sure, there are other Sonics in Delmarva, even in the Maryland part of it, but they are on the way to OC and I wasn't going there. For those of you who hanker for Sonic but are just headed straight to Rehoboth, you are in luck because it is right along the way. No fried pickles at this one like the one I stopped at in Hinesville, Georgia, last summer. Bummer. But I did get a bacon cheeseburger with onion rings (only 30 cents more to get onion rings instead of fries) and a medium soda. Total price: around $6.50.


The burger was filling and even had an onion ring sandwiched in between the burger and the bun. It is a bit of a messy burger to eat if you're not careful. Still, I actually found the side order of onion rings more satisfying. Hardly like Burger King's little perfect circles of what I could only call "processed onion food", these are thick rings of onion covered in crispy and a little greasy batter. When those Sonics open up in the Baltimore area soon I will probably go just for that.

Blue Moon Restaurant

...is also a gay bar! That's not a tough thing to find in Rehoboth, mind you. I went with several friends and we closed the place (at 1 AM)! I got me a Guinness for about $5. I was certainly enjoying myself, by the way. You should've heard my rendition of "Poker Face" on the dance floor (yes, it is actually in my range, and I am a damn good singer). They had finger foods out for patrons all night, like little quiches and some sort of breaded cheese.

Louie's Pizza


Eric recommended Louie's (by the Boardwalk) for their subs, which he always stops to get before the drive home. They told me it would take 10 minutes for my Italian super cold cut sub. It only took five. A juicy, meaty six inch sub that is very difficult to eat while driving will cost you about $6.


Eventually I had to resort to just picking up individual cold cuts to eat on their own.

Candy Kitchen

Candy Kitchens are almost like Starbucks in Rehoboth. I didn't shop at this one. At least I don't think I did.

How could I leave the Eastern Shore or the Delmarva Peninsula without a stop at the Candy Kitchen? It wasn't easy, so I stopped. Got a half pound of fudge - a quarter each of vanilla and chocolate for about $5. Candy Kitchen fudge, I have missed you.

And one strange aside...

I won't go into too many details about why I headed down to Rehoboth, since it would take a while to explain anyway, and since there are photos that I really don't want floating around the internet. But all I will say is this: it all had to do with a murder mystery weekend that some of the guys had planned, with more than a few gay men in drag - and they do this every year. I enjoyed it immensely and look forward to the next one.

That said, since this was the first one I had ever been to, I was put through a disturbing culinary rite of passage. Due to its secrecy, I shall not reveal it so as not to piss anyone off. But as awful as it was, and as hopeful as I am to never do that again, it actually wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time. But it was bad.

Other photos -

Facing away from the Boardwalk

Facing the Atlantic Ocean and Dolle's, which I did not get the chance to stop at.

Maryland's flag is so much more bizarre and interesting than Delaware's! Or most state flags for that matter. Is that the county flag on the left?

Fields of pretty flowers

And back over the mighty Chesapeake, a ride that always manages to freak me out.