BK, what are you thinking? Introducing food porn to your menu is not a good idea. Why are you making the "Enormous Omelet Sandwich", with 730 calories and 47 grams of fat.

The CNN article has a great quote from Sherri Daye Scott, editor at fast-food magazine QSR: "The critics will still label it food porn, but the average male fast-food customer does not have a problem with this."

Four months after Hardee's Monster Thickburger, and now an "Enormous Omelet Sandwich" (E.O.S.?) from BK. Is McDonalds next*? Will food porn become a new food genre? And most importantly, is the E.O.S. any good?

*Where was the industry outrage over the McGriddle?

I made this pasta recipe tonight, and it's really quick and good. It's from Marcella Hazan, who is the Italian cookbook author. Because there aren't very many ingredients, it's important to make them good quality. Organic cream tastes better; organic lemons might not taste better, but since you're using the peel I really recommend it, and by all means use the best cheese you can afford (real parmigiano-reggiano is great, but you can substitute Italian grana padano or pecorino romano).

Fettucine with lemon

4 Tb butter
1 C heavy cream
Grated peel of 4 lemons
2 Tb freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 lb dried fettuccine or linguine
1/2 C grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional for the table

1. Put the butter and cream into your largest skillet and turn heat to high. When the cream begins to boil, add the lemon juice and stir thoroughly. Add the grated lemon peel. Continue stirring while you reduce the cream mixture to half of its original volume. (Do not reduce it completely because the pasta will be tossed with it later and will absorb it all.) Turn off the heat.

2. Drop the pasta into a big pot of boiling, salted water. When cooked just to al dente, drain and transfer to the pan with the lemon sauce. Turn on the heat to medium and toss the pasta thoroughly in the sauce for 15 to 20 seconds.

3. Transfer all the pasta and sauce to a warm serving bowl. Add the grated cheese, toss to mix, and serve at once with additional grated cheese for the side

Random notes:

If you're grating this much lemon zest, you'll get really annoyed if you use the old-school stand up grater. The new microplane zesters are so much better and easier to use. You'll like it.

Sometimes pasta dries out after a while at the table. You can take care of this by saving a cup or so of the pasta water before you drain it. Add it back in small amounts if your pasta dries out.

I love to get mail. Every day I check to see if I got any "good" mail. Most days the answer is no, I just got the electric bills and some stupid coupons for the rug doctor and also a yuppie homewares catalog I didn't want, but every two months the answer is YES, I got my new Cook's Illustrated magazine!! This magazine is just the greatest: they test every recipe exhaustively to make sure it is the best and easiest version, and they test ingredients and equipment as well. They are top-notch food scientists, and their research goal is to make delicious food. You can see their nerdy-but-awesome TV show America's Test Kitchen on OPB on Saturday afternoons at 1:30.

Anyway, they just launched a new magazine, and sent current Cook's subscribers a free trial copy. It is called Cook's Country. It's "not about fancy cooking or expensive restaurants or foods with names you can't pronounce; this is honest country fare." Now, since I DO like all those things, the fanciness and the restaurants and the mystery ingredients, you might think I'm not in their target market. You're right, and in fact no one who reads Digest really is.

But somehow, it's still appealing. I mean, the food just plain sounds like food you can eat. Potato casseroles, apple cakes, and ranch-style chili may not be gourmet, but I bet when done right--and that's the point, these guys will do it right--it sounds like tasty food I'd like to eat. The same goes for peanut butter brownies, cheesy mashed potatoes, and jalapeno cornbread.

Most of their recipes seem like simple, filling comfort food, the kind you'd want after a hard day, or when your relatives visit from out of town. Sure, if I'm in the mood for, say, a fancy French cheese plate, or homemade pasta with lemon-cream sauce, or Japanese braised spinach stems in sake, or any number of ethnic or complicated or impressive things, I already have plenty of cookbooks to help me out. But maybe it's just because my mom's mom is a genuine Iowa farm girl, and I grew up eating her food as interpreted by my vegetable-loving California mom, but sometimes you just want a pot roast with some tasty green beans on the side and brownies for dessert. And if that's what I'm after, Cook's Country can get me there.

Some of it doesn't float my boat. They are going for a real country community feel, including pictures of Mattituck, New York's local strawberry festival, a cute watermelon pig Susy DePeyster of Sandgate, Vermont made, and a reader from our own fair city of Portland holding a big chocolate cake she baked. Likewise, I don't really give a shit about that embarassing time you accidentally made purple gravy for your new husband, or your fond family memories of Grandma Lawson's homemade bread and butter.

And plenty of the food ideas aren't going to be that useful to me either. I could do without the cookie decoration tips, and I'm not likely to make any of their kid-friendly ice cream concoctions (though next time my six-year-old friend Hailey visits, I might grab this magazine for ideas). Likewise, I'm not interested in counting calories or buying convenience food, so I won't be using their recipe for low-fat pudding or their tip on top-rated Italian dressings. And, like their parent magazine, these guys are emphatically NOT vegetarian-friendly; they love their bacon, fried chicken, slow-cooked hunks-o-beef, and more.

I guess it's a testament to the excellence of the Cook's team that even I, the kind of person that "real" country folks sneer at for being a latte-drinking, gay-loving, Volvo-driving, tree-hugging, God-hating lefty, like this magazine. At the end of the day, the Cook's team helps you make delicious food, and that's something that we all can get behind.

But don't take my word for it. Try out their S'mores brownie recipe and let me know: are they good enough to unite our great nation?

Welcome to the very-first video-review for Digest and my very-first review-review for Digest! I'm both honored and excited to be a contributing writer here and I hope to bring you only awesome content. I'm going to focus my reviews on vegan and vegan-friendly food, including candy... I grew up in a convenience store. I used to sleep on a cot in the soda stocking room. Anyway, welcome my first contribution!

Monsoon Thai is a, well, Thai restaurant located at 4236 N. Mississippi Ave. and can be reached by phone at 503-280-7087. This review features a cameo by my old friend Bobby Birdman whom is visiting Portland to work on his new album and sleep on my hardwood floor. If you don't already own it, make sure you pick up a copy of his States Rights Records debut, "Heart Caves."

Video-Review "Monsoon Thai" (11.5 MB MPEG-4 Video)

Note: The vomiting is entirely made-up for comedic effect. Please don't let this influence your dining at Monsoon Thai. Our meal was AMAZING!