Sunday, August 30, 2009

French Fry Diary 38: Bottomless Birthday Fries

Just a quick one today, folks, but one with lots of pictures. Last night I celebrated my birthday with friends at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, the home of the infamous "Bottomless Fries."

This isn't really a review, so I'll be brief. We had three servings, one in lieu of cake while being sung "Happy Birthday," of the sometimes hot and tasty, sometimes not, Red Robin steak fries. And they do mean bottomless. They will keep coming.

What made the night, other than good friends, good conversation and good fries, was the magic 8 ball coaster on the table -shown here- that kept prompting us (and by us, I mean me) to get more fries.

Good times. :-)


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Monday, August 17, 2009

The Fry Phone


If you have a serious thing for french fries, then you’ll love this phone. It flips open to reveal a hidden key pad that allows you to dial and talk into the french fries. The red plastic phone comes at an extremely affordable price too. You can pick it up for all of $20 from Urban Outfitters. Honestly, Urban Outfitters has got to be my new favorite store, purely due to having anything from french fry phones on up to extremely well made retro radios.

Buy it here.


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Saturday, August 15, 2009

French Fry Diary 37: Remembering Julia Child

There has been a resurgence in popularity for late great TV chef Julia Child with the release of Julie & Julia, which as far as I’m concerned is terrific, because she was, in a word, terrific.

Lots of old interviews and remembrances have been popping up all over the place. The one I have heard most is how much Julia enjoyed Dan Ackroyd’s impersonation of her on the early “Saturday Night Live.”

The second one I have been hearing has been about her love of French fries. As mentioned previously, she may have even been responsible for the word ‘julienne,’ but this quote caught my interest.

When discussing exotic French foods during an interview held while walking the streets of Paris, Julia pointed to a McDonalds and said, “They have the best French fries!”



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Friday, August 14, 2009

Rockin’ French Fries



A blast from the not-too-distant past with Ronald McDonald and his McDonaldland friends, featuring the Fry Guys, and introducing the ‘Fry Girls.’


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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Half Hour Meals

French Fry Diary 36: National Julienne Fries Day

August 12, 2009 is National Julienne Fries Day. Julienne refers to the cut of most vegetables, but usually potatoes, into a fry-like shape.

The term was brought to the forefront of American pop culture by Ron Popeil’s commercials for the Veg-O-Matic, "It slices! It dices! It makes Julienne fries!" Urban legend indicates the word is derived from Julia Child, apropros with the film Julie & Julia currently in theatres.

To further celebrate the day, here’s a special Julienne recipe from Cookthink:

Baked Sweet Potato Julienned Fries

2 sweet potatoes, light olive oil or canola oil, as needed, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon thyme, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 pinch red pepper, 1 pinch cinnamon, sea salt, champagne vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 450°.

2. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into long thin shoestrings. Toss them into a bowl and drizzle with light olive oil, stirring lightly to coat.

3. Season potatoes with cumin, thyme, black pepper, red pepper and cinnamon.

4. Throw them on a baking sheet. Spread evenly in one layer, if possible.

5. Bake in the upper portion of your oven for about 20 to 30 minutes, until they are tender and sizzling and crispy around the edges.

6. Sprinkle generously with sea salt as soon as you take them out of the oven. Serve with a sprinkle of Champagne vinegar (at the table), if desired.

Happy National Julienne Fries Day!

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Monday, August 10, 2009

Late Night Movie



From 1989, one of the first attempts at creating edible microwave French fries. At least it was a cool commercial, even if the fries didn’t match up for a few years.


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