Wings and things...

There are a few variations, but generally it is believed that Teressa Bellissimo, an owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo was faced with fixing something for hungry late arriving parties, and only finding some chicken wings in the pantry, deep fried and sauced them, and thus the ubiquitous “Chicken Wings” were born. They were probably aided in popularity and attention by the Buffalo Bills string of Super Bowl appearances. Anyway, they are now part of our (snack) culture, a must in sports bars, and even giving rise to chain restaurants (the premier of which inserted “wild” in the middle). There are now festivals and competitions, and I believe that Bobby Flay has done a “throw down” with somebody, with the result that they have achieved somewhat a cult status in our society. Recipes abound, arguments about sauces and so forth.  I suppose restaurants love them, since instead of being headed for the stockpot or trash, they are now a menu selection. I would rather imagine there’s a pretty good margin there.

But that’s not why were discussing them. I was listening to the radio the other night and there came on the air a commercial from the McIlhenny folks which announced their new Sauce. It was Buffalo Sauce. Somewhere in there they mentioned that it had “that Buffalo flavor”.... Whoa! What, exactly, does that mean? It tastes like Bison? I wasn’t aware that there was a “Buffalo” flavor. And then I was in a local supermarket the other day, and found myself in the dairy aisle and was idly looking at the chip dips (an admitted weakness of mine). And, alongside the Ranch and French onion, was a tub of “Buffalo Dip”. I have no idea what that would be like.
I suppose it means that like more and more food items especially associated with football and bowls (chili, gumbo, nachos, dips, salsas, etc.) it means that it would take the enamel off your toilet. I won’t go into the rant (you’ve heard it before) on why something like that is perceived good if it is so hot/spicy it will blowyour head off and sear your taste buds to the point of useless. The quality is synonymous with its Scoville rating. Why not just set out a bowl of capsaicin and be done with it..

And since we’re talking somewhat about dips and sauces, here’s just a little sidelight. MFO was in the store the other day and was trying to find our sort of favorite dip: Bacon Horseradish (which I usually punch up a bit for use). Anyway there was none on the shelf but she spied a tub of "Guacamole Dip" and grabbed that. So when we settled down to cocktails we opened it (after noting the word: style (in one point transparent font) between the words "Guacamole" and "Dip". Our first surprise was that peeling off the lid revealed a substance which bore a close resemblance to pond scum. About the same color, and the consistency was slick and greasy. None the less, we scooped out some got the chips and sat down. Our first taste had us looking at each other with a mouthful. It was awful. I can’t describe it well enough but it didn’t seem to bear any resemblance to its namesake. Almost medicinal.  It went straight from the serving bowl to the trash, followed by the rest of the stuff. Next trip we got some “real” Guac from the produce aisle where it resides in those little pouches next to the bottled salad dressings. And don’t jump me for using word “real” I know it’s processed and everything, but it does have a fairly nice flavor reminiscent of Avocado.

More monikers:

And further, since we’re throwing around names of foods, here’s another. MFO brought home a little tub of those small (maybe golf ball size) chocolate covered donuts. Do you know what they are called? “Gems”. I have seen the term used on those little vending machine packages of lined up powdered donuts also. Wonder where that term came from? I am not going to go to Google to solve that riddle.


Road Warrioress

Tomorrow morning MFO will saddle up the MOMSTER and point it back to Wisconsin. Papers to sign, lawyers to see, stuff to document, inventories to create, and effects to dispose of. Her Brother (MFOB) is arriving from Arizona to help with the process, so with all the siblings in one place, I (think realistically) figured I would be more of a distraction than help and so am staying home….. alone.

I suppose neither of us will have much of a reason to

DFD

Footnote: I swear that I am not making this up.. After doing the little thingie about hoisting the Christmas tree in the garage, something kept bugging me. I always second guess myself and it finally dawned on me that the darn thing resembled a Narwahl. Damn, I thought, I should have said that!! (“rare brown nosed river Narwahl” or something). So I was pleased and gratified that an alert reader had the same thought and sent it along as a comment!! What a great readership you are!!