2022, Family, Food, Mysteries, State Fair, Uncategorized

Corn Fed

63 Comments

I remember the first time I saw someone take a picture of their food about 20 years ago.  It was dinner with a client at Swan Court, at the Hyatt in Maui.  It was a lovely evening and we were seated outside along the lagoon when we noticed a young couple sitting close to us taking photos of their plates before tucking in.  The client and I were too polite to laugh out loud, but we did roll our eyes and we talked about it more than once over the next two days. 

Little did we know that we were witnessing the beginning of a worldwide trend.  These days social media is filled with pictures of people’s snacks, meals, drinks…. any edible will do.  For this trend, YA is all in; we can’t ever eat anywhere without the obligatory photo before she begins to eat.  And often I have to move my plate or my glass or my coffee cup so it doesn’t mess up her photo.

State Fair is about the only time I join in the food photo frenzy.  Cheese curds and cookies subtitled “Breakfast of Champions” got texted to several friends.  My pretty Margarita lemonade made the cut as well as the French Toast Bites but most of my comestibles went undocumented.  YA took photos of everything, including her roasted corn in the photo above. 

Considering how common food photos are these days, I was really surprised when a woman standing near YA said in a loud voice “Oh it’s just food.  Eat it already!”  YA just ignored her; as the aggrieved mother, I was mustering up a zinger for this woman but she had already disappeared into the crowd.  I was really stunned by this, first because YA wasn’t obstructing any traffic at all and second because taking pictures of food is so very common these days.  I can only surmise that this poor woman had been driven to distraction by her kids that day at the fair, keeping her from all her first bites of fair food by taking photo after photo!

Tell me one of your favorite corn recipes!

63 thoughts on “Corn Fed”

  1. Oh, that would be my Aunt Pat’s Scalloped Corn – uses 3 cans of creamed/whole kernel corn (I always have to look up which one it’s two of), eggs, and crushed saltine cracker crumbs – an entire tube minus two – who figured out the minus two crackers??

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  3. If the corn is fresh, there’s nothing better than nuked in the husk for a minute or two. Then after the husk and silk is removed, smeared with garlic butter, salt and pepper. For utensils, all that’s needed are just fingers and napkins.

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      1. “Old” baboons might remember my report on the disastrous first American meal I served to my parents when they came for a month-long visit back in 1979. Burned barbecued ribs (at the time I didn’t know that future husband had no clue how to grill anything), and he managed to catch the ribs on fire – repeatedly – and buttered sweet corn on the cob. Needless to say, may parents were not impressed, and their month-long visit was off to a disastrous start. It was all downhill from there.

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        1. When I was in high school my family hosted a foreign exchange student from France named Pierre. The first week he was here we decided to do a typical American barbecue with burgers and corn on the cob. He was horrified and quickly let us know that in France only pigs eat corn on the cob. We did manage to convert him before the year was out.

          Liked by 3 people

        2. My parents’ attitude exactly, but we didn’t manage to convert them. Partly due to the dentures, I’m sure, but also because they came determined to hate EVERYTHING about America.

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        2. So easy, and so good, and it saves both water and time. I used to husk it first, but discovered that leaving it in the husk and not removing the silk until after it has been nuked, eliminates the need for additional moisture.

          Liked by 1 person

        3. Yes, my microwave recipe says 3 minutes, husks still on – takes quite a while to cool down enough to handle, and it’s sometimes hard to squeeze the ear out of the husks – I end up slicing them off, carefully.

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        1. Well, I do 10, which is probably overkill, but it tastes great and fresh and not overcooked. I learned this method from my dad, a great sweet corn lover.

          Liked by 2 people

  5. Turkey chipotle chowder is a favorite here. Husband made another corn chowder the other day with sausage, and it is in the freezer labeled “Spillville Chowder” as he imagines it is what Dvorak ate in the in Spillville IA when he stayed there one summer.

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      2. we should re chrisen the kitchen congress
        and add a library recommendation congress and a tune list including and adding to artists,
        particular tunes
        it’s a group that calls out for it

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  6. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Lynn Rosetto Casper’s Charred Corn Salad (which I think is in the Congress collection) from her Splendid Table website is outstanding. It has all the summer flavors: charred sweet corn, basil, garlic, olive old, tomatoes. The char is a must.

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  7. OT: Send positive, healing thoughts, please. My co-worker/friend’s daughter who had the kidney transplant in 2019, contracted COVID at school. She has a compromised immune system. Today she is headed out for an infusion of anti-viral. After all that young woman has endured, we are all holding our collective breath.

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      2. That is tough, Jacque. I hope your friend’s daughter comes through.
        I also noticed the ominous silence from Clyde. The two of us haven’t communicated much, but I’m very aware of him.

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  9. Favorite corn recipe.
    8.5 lbs crushed corn
    2 lbs crushed malted barley
    6.5 gallons water
    1 package of bread yeast
    Check with local regulations before continuing.

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  10. I quit growing our own sweetcorn a few years ago. Either the weeds took over, or the deer and raccoons got it. Or there was too much and we wasted a lot. (Granted, this was me using the 6 row planter to do it.)
    One year I got ’round up ready’ corn, so it would be sprayed and that helped keep the weeds down. That’s the year we couldn’t keep up with it).

    Last night I picked up 6 ears from the stand just up the road from the college. They have the bi-color and it is SO GOOD. Planning on freezing some this weekend. Been eating it this summer, and wanted to make sure they still had that variety.

    We nuke it too; peel off some of the husk, wrap in wet paper towels, cook 3 minutes on power level 8 for 1 ear. Then, use something to hold it, cut the end off, and if you grip the silks tight, 95% of them will pull off as you squeeze the ear out of the husks. If they don’t pull off right, it hasn’t cooked long enough.

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  12. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for corn on the cob, the only corn dish I know. I love it, I have no idea how it’s cooked, someone else does that.

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  13. OT: had an emotional time last night, having finally found out what was happening about Judith Durham’s funeral. It was yesterday or thereabouts, on Australian time. I would have like to have watched it, but was too late, and had to make do with terrible excerpts on YouTube, with voice overs by professional death-reporting robots, and news reports on Google. I did hear a few moving words from Keith and Bruce of the Seekers, but most of what Athol had to say was cut off by the robot. By 3 am I was tired and extremely weepy, so packed it in. The tears are still very close to the surface, nearly five weeks after the death of Judith, an Australian legend.

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  14. OT 2: Molly very kindly remembered me and invited me to Steve’s memorial on Saturday. I didn’t actually see the invitation for thirteen days, and then messed up as usual. Obviously El Palomar is a long way from Minnesota, and I I can’t make it, but I really would have liked to participate online. Whatever that entails, you won’t be surprised to learn that I don’t have much idea. But I pressed the Not Attending button, with a covering message, presumably the wrong thing to do. Well, must be well past the deadline by now.
    But I had thought it might have been a chance to meet you all online, as well as to drink a toast to Steve ( not in whiskey though).

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  15. I like everybody’s favorite: Cowboy Caviar with corn that has been grill-roasted. I don’t make it for myself too often because I don’t stop eating it until it’s gone. I make it with roasted corn, black beans, ripe tomatoes, cilantro, cumin and lime juice. I don’t follow a recipe although Joann has one that is excellent. It’s in Kitchen Congress, or it used to be.

    I also have a favorite corn bread recipe from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, it’s called Green Chili and Cheese cornbread. I don’t make
    That very often either.

    I think I worked my last ever shift last night. Such mixed feelings about a job I often hated.

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    1. Agree completely!! Especially about the cornbread recipe! Enchanted was the very first vegetarian cookbook I ever owned. (My first cookbook was Joy of Cooking which my mother gave me when I got married.)

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        1. My Grandma gave all her grandchildren two presents:

          Betty Crocker Cookbook
          An ironing board.

          She had 8 children. She must have just known the joy of sex. She said she got pregnant when Grandpa hung his pants on the bedpost.

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        3. I didn’t think of this earlier, but my mother had five children, and wanted to have all of them. But she was married to a sexual predator, who I’m guessing had no idea of giving as well as receiving pleasure, and she did NOT like sex.

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    2. How did that feel, Krista? I didn’t know my last shift was my last, and I don’t even remember what company it was for now, I have a choice of two. (I was temping at the time)

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      1. I haven’t quit yet but there’s really no reason to stay except that for right now they really need my help. I took one of our clients to the ER last night and he was taken by ambulance to Abbott later. He needed a pacemaker implanted. He got there and they evaluated him and we found out that it wouldn’t help him and might even harm him. So he is coming back home tomorrow with only half a heart rhythm. He will be on hospice for the rest of his life. Such a sweet little man and I care too much. I could stick around but I think it’s also a good time to call it quits. They will have hospice nurses to help them and I need to separate. My clients and I aged together. I’m ready for my own life now. Thanks.

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  16. I’ve never been involved in photographing food, I don’t think, but communal meals in this village are a different story. It’s the smaller events, of some particular group, that are a menace. Jordi, the mayor, and a really good mayor who loves his village ( as I may have noted before), will suddenly appear at the head of the table, or tables, and all will be expected to raise their glasses and grin at the camera, with the risk that the picture could appear in the village news bulletin. I really don’t need this, I was photogenic once, but no longer.

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  20. For some reason this incident always stays in memory. When I was perhaps in my early twenties, a young coworker accepted a job in Iowa. At his farewell party, one of the top executives got a little overserved, maybe, and was talking loudly to the departee. He was saying things like, “Look at all these beautiful women we have here! Aren’t they lovely? Do you think they’ll have women like these in Iowa?” The young man smiled wryly, shook his head, and said, “Prob’ly just hogs and corn.”

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  21. i am a corn on the cob lover
    i can eat and enjoy it boiled in water with a bunch of honey in it for 8 minutes
    i like to remove the sold butter and pepper the rewrap the husk on the grill
    i was wondering how they get the fair corn so puffy before the grill it and butter it
    it sure is good
    i’m gonna learn how that’s done

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