These warm days washed clean by spring rain have us raring to go in the morning. Sort of. We only hit the snooze button once. Okay, we could use a little help. Some protein - an omelette! But make it worth our time, because we could have had an extra nine minutes of sleep.

• The Blue Star has been a trademark Roslindale storefront for decades, and it's no wonder why. We are most impressed by their German (ham, leek, and cheese) omelette, served with home fries and toast. Bonus: the best espresso in the Square.

• Visit any friend in JP, and they will take you to Sorella's. Why? Because they know. They know that Sorella's only uses fruits and vegetables that are in season, that it feels like your artsy aunt's kitchen (complete with breakfast nook!), and that, in addition to the impressive selection of pancakes, they will put anything you want in an omelette. Our favorite? The Philly, which is stuffed with (surprise!) cream cheese. We like to ask for avocado, too.

• Then, of course, there's the old breakfast standby in Inman Square, the S&S Restaurant. There's a reason it's been around since 1919. We would highly recommend the heart-healthy garden omelette, made with Egg Beaters, dill havarti, broccoli, spinach, onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

S&S [Official Site]

[Photo: Gourmet Trading]

We're equal opportunity gluttons around these parts. We love all the different kinds of meat that come from that magical creature, our friend the pig. We must admit, however, to a preference for those meats that come from the pig's belly. Pork belly is wonderfully fatty and flavorful and it brings us both bacon and its Italian cousin, pancetta. Pancetta usually features more spices than does bacon and is not generally smoked, but rest assured: it is just as delicious as bacon. Below, four of the Hub's best pancetta-glorifying dishes.

•Basta Pasta is lauded for its great deals on pasta dishes, but the pizza isn't too shabby either! Try the pie topped with pancetta, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, and mozzarella. It's a lot of flavors all at once, but it works.
•dante gets decadent with its lobster PLT and, oh yeah, that does stand for pancetta, lettuce (or, in this case, arugula), and tomato. It's slathered with a roasted chille aioli, if you like that sort of thing.
•Joe V's pancetta pizza comes loaded with sliced tomato and basil in addition to the pork. It sounds simple, but given the excellent ingredients, the flavors shine.
•Salvatore's goes all out with their Pasta Abruzzazie, which seems almost like a modified pasta amatriciana. Pancetta is sauteed with hot peppers, cherry tomato, and fresh garlic before being tossed with pecorino romano and mafaldine pasta. Warning: it's incredibly addictive.

Basta Pasta [Official Site]
dante [Official Site]
Joe V's [Official Site]
Salvatore's [Official Site]

[Photo: Wikipedia]

Blogston Proper is your thrice-weekly roundup of Hub-related food writing from all over the Internet. We read the blogs so you don't have to. But you should anyway, just to be nice.

•On-campus cafes! [HubArts]
•Veganism! [Divine Comedy of Errors]
•Massive spreads of food! [The Dish]

[Photo: Flickr: GregPC]

Some people shy away from eating rabbit because the thought of bunnies being killed for food is too much for their delicate constitutions to handle. We are not some people. Rabbit is delicious and even if we were going to base our decisions on what meat to eat on which animals are the least cute, we find piglets to be way more adorable and god knows we've never turned down bacon. The beauty of rabbit is that the possibilities for its preparation are near endless. Below, five of the Hub's best rabbit dishes.

•Anise kicks up the heat with its rabbit in black bean sauce. It's served cold, but packs quite a punch of heat, spice-wise.
•At Cafeteria Tropical, diners can choose between rabbit guisado (stew) and parrilla (grilled). There are no wrong answers here.
•Mamma Maria, which is an infinitely better restaurant than its cheesy name implies, offers delectable papardelle topped with roasted rabbit and fresh rosemary. It's an absolutely perfect dish for a cold winter's night.
•At The Publick House, rabbit hops into the appetizers section with a simple dish of grilled fresh rabbit sausage, served with sauteed pea tendrils, dried cherry and a reduction of De Ranke Kriek, a Belgian cherry lambic. As usual, beer only makes it better.
•Sage serves its justly famous spinach and ricotta polpette with a braised rabbit ragu. Ricotta and rabbit are not combined nearly often enough, but when they are, the results are spectacularly hearty.

Anise [Official Site]
Cafeteria Tropical [MenuPages]
Mamma Maria [Official Site]
The Publick House [MenuPages]
Sage [Official Site]

As long-time readers know, we have a weakness for anything fried, which is why when we heard that deep-fried Pepsi had come into existence, we could scarcely contain our excitement. "But wait!" you say. "How can they deep-fry a liquid? Watch and learn, dear reader. Watch. And. Learn.

Deep Fried Pepsi [Supersized Meals]
Indy Mojo: Deep Fried Pepsi [YouTube: zacklegend]

Via the good folks at the Cambridge Chronicle, we bring you footage of this past weekend's bacon-eating contest at Atwood's Tavern. It is truly, truly excellent.

Achin' For Bacon: Cambridge Bar Hosts Annual Bacon-Eating Contest [Cambridge Chronicle]
Bacon-Eating Contest in Cambridge, Mass [YouTube: cambchron]
Atwood's Tavern [MenuPages]
Atwood's Tavern [Official Site]

Lately, we just can't get enough of the delicate flavor of skate. When cooked well, it's moist and delicious and pairs gorgeously with both citrus-y and rich, butter-based sauces. Skate never tastes heavy, but it's always satisfying. It is, in short, a near-perfect fish. Skate is a fixture on fine dining menus. Below, five of Boston's best skate dishes.

•At Beacon Hill Bistro, skate is sauteed and served with spinach, acorn squash, hazelnut brown butter, and a red wine glaze. There is very little in this world that could not be improved by hazelnut brown butter but the dish is strong enough that it would be great even without it.
•Eastern Standard serves their crispy skate with fennel puree and blood orange for a really exciting combination of flavors and a gorgeous presentation.
•Mare gets seriously luxe with its dish of truffle-crusted skate, served with a wild arugula and citrus salad with watermelon vinaigrette. Oh, it went there.
•At Rendezvous, the skate is skillet-roasted and accompanied by celery root, sage, Meyer lemon, and the popular hazelnut brown butter. It's ubiquitous because it's just that good.
•Pork is a fantastic accompaniment to skate, so it's no surprise that the skate at Via Matta comes with a side of braised greens and pancetta. It's also topped with salmoriglio sauce, which is similar to chimichurri. Delightful!

Beacon Hill Bistro [Official Site]
Eastern Standard [Official Site]
Mare [Official Site]
Rendezvous [Official Site]
Via Matta [Official Site]

[Photo: Stephen Cooks]

We're seriously obsessed with these Cookin' with Coolio videos from My Damn Channel. In this installment, Coolio prepares some steamed spinach tasty enough to win over a self-proclaimed spinach-hating kindergartener (although we'd argue that kids will eat anything that's in a fun shape). Unlike previous installments of Cookin' With Coolio, this one is totally safe for work.

Cookin' With Coolio: Spinach Even Your Kids Will Eat [My Damn Channel]

We've been sort of obsessed in our love/hate relationship with new raw food restaurant Grezzo, but until now, the only pictures we've seen have been those on its official website. We're very excited then to have stumbled upon the below shot of the restaurant's ravioli filled with "nut cheese." Dare we say they look really good? We're particularly smitten with the topping of edible flowers.

Grezzo [MenuPages]
Grezzo [Official Site]

[Photo: Flickr: alison.jane]

The sea-urchin linguine with breadcrumbs and scallions pictured below is from La Morra. Somehow, it didn't quite make the cut for our sea urchin roundup, but looking at this picture, we're pretty sure that was a misstep on our part. We should probably go try it, though. Just for, you know, research purposes. God, our job is hard.

La Morra [MenuPages]
La Morra [Official Site]

[Photo: Flickr: winyang]

The below video depicts what is either a truly stunning feat of human achievement or a disgusting example of gluttony. We're going to go with "a little from column A, a little from column B." Behold as local blogger Andy visits the Fenway McDonald's and eats an entire Big Mac. In one bite.

Big Mac Challenge: Complete [Andy Eats]
Andy Eats: a Big Mac in ONE BITE [YouTube: igreczed]

Even though we've definitely hit the point in winter when we're counting down the minutes until ramps reappear, signaling the beginning of the growing season, we're not immune to the charms of wintry vegetables. Case in point? Leeks. We adore this pleasantly punchy cousin of the onion and in the depths of winter, want to eat it as much as humanly possible. To assist you in your quest for leek-age (haha), we've compiled a list of five of the Hub's best leek dishes.

•Aujourd 'hui combines two of our obsessions with their dish of sea scallops served with truffled potato puree, melted leeks, and lobster sauce. It's a perfect treat for a chilly night.
•At Petsi Pies, leeks are paired with bacon and Swiss cheese and served in a deliciously gooey tart.
•Leeks vinaigrette is, of course, the quintessential leek dish. Petit Robert Bistro makes an excellent version, topped with grilled duck magret. It's pretty much all you could want from a lunch: tart and rich at the same time, not to mention hearty as all get out.
•At The Squealing Pig, braised leeks top a pizza, along with fried sage leaves, goat cheese, and puree of toasted squash. It doesn't look like much, but it tastes absolutely delicious.
•Stella makes comfort food decadent with their basil roasted chicken, served with potato leek ragout (a nice play on the standard potato leek soup) and crispy pancetta. Assembling a fork so you can taste each at the same time is one of the Boston dining scene's great pleasures.

Aujourd 'hui [Official Site]
Petsi Pies [Official Site]
Petit Robert Bistro [Official Site]
The Squealing Pig [MenuPages]
Stella [Official Site]

[Photo: Flickr: shaggyblog]

The fascinating thing about sea urchins is that it's hard to think of an animal that is so highly prized as a culinary delicacy, yet has such a small edible portion of its body. Sea urchins are not tiny creatures, but the only part we eat is the roe*. Sea urchin tastes incredibly rich and complex: the very definition of umami. Sea urchin dishes across the country are generally pretty pricy and Boston is no exception. The following four dishes may not be cheap, but they sure are tasty.

•Clio wins our award for "Most Decadent Use of Sea Urchin" for their sea urchin and lobster cassoulet, which comes with parsnips, crispy shallots, and candied lemon. We can't think of much we'd rather eat on a cold winter's night.
•At Neptune Oyster, the sea urchin is served raw and accompanied by fried chickpeas, grilled eggplant, cucumber, mint, and a vinaigrette, for an absolutely insane flavor profile.
•O Ya serves their sea urchin as sashimi alongside shima aji (yellowjack). It's topped with a ceviche vinaigrette and some cilantro, ssupertasters beware!
•The Japanese name for sea urchin is, of course, uni, so it's not surprising that Uni has an excellent sea urchin dish on its menu. The roe is served with ginger gelee and purple rice. Delicious and pretty!

*: This is, in fact, a misnomer: while the edible part of the sea urchin is commonly referred to as the roe, it's actually the animal's gonads on which we chow down.

Clio [Official Site]
Neptune Oyster [Official Site]
O Ya [MenuPages]
Uni [MenuPages]

[Photo: Wikipedia]

With all due respect to the bar and restaurant parties that we mentioned yesterday, our favorite way to celebrate Oscar night has always been to have a party of our own. Oscar parties are more fun than dinner parties, since you can make up drinking games (we personally will be doing a shot every time someone gets cut off by the orchestra) and less stress than non-event-based parties, because everyone leaves by midnight. While you obviously want to prepare a feast for you guests, the Oscars are not a great time for a sit-down dinner. We prefer to lay out some bread, cheese, and cold cuts, a few finger food appetizers, and some desserts that can be eaten standing up. Below, a few suggestions:

Appetizers: The key to a successful Oscar party is to serve foods that can be prepared a day in advance so you can spend the day of the party making your home and yourself look gorgeous. We love these bagel chips with ricotta, chive puree, and prosciutto, although we actually prefer them with goat cheese taking the ricotta's place. They take minutes to prepare and can easily be wrapped and stored in the fridge until its time to eat. A friend of ours recently brought pissaladiere to a party and we can't get its savory taste out of our mind. We recommend making twice as much as you think you'll need. Trust us when we tell you that it will all get eaten.

Desserts: There is little we love more in this word than a nice whoopie pie and while the name would have been more Oscar-clever a few years ago, the pies are still delicious. Keep with the handheld theme by making black and white ice cream sandwiches: ice cream! Between two cookies! DIPPED IN WHITE CHOCOLATE! Truly, the mind boggles.

Bagel Chips with Ricotta, Chive Puree, and Prosciutto [Food & Wine]
Pissaladiere [Epicurious]
Whoopie Pies [Epicurious]
Black and White Ice Cream Sandwiches [Epicurious]

Today's Globe featured a really fascinating article about the current state of bay scallop fishery in Nantucket (summary: it's been declining, but this year, it's great!). It's definitely worthwhile reading, but the major takeaway for us was wanting to eat scallops right now. Below, five of our scallop-crazed city's best dishes featuring the delectable mollusk.

•Truth be told, most of the seafood-based restaurants in Chinatown make excellent scallop dishes. Our vote for the best, however, comes from the inimitable Peach Farm. Their sizzling scallops with black pepper are exactly as spicy as the name implies, so you'd better get a Tsingtao with which to wash it down.
•Franklin Cafe makes a play on oysters Rockefeller with their scallop version with spinach, lemon, and watercress. Given the natural creaminess of scallops, it's even more decadent than the original. Nice.
•The brand new Vee Vee focuses on seafood, so it's only natural that they should pay tribute to the scallop. Their shrimp and scallop fritters are served with chipotle aioli.
•In addition to scallops, we're thoroughly obsessed with leeks right now, so Lineage's dish of day boat scallops with leeks and sweet shrimp with a blood-orange reduction sounds pretty great.
•Let's face it: no one does spicy like East Coast Grill & Raw Bar. Their seared extra-large shrimp and New Bedford scallops are served with deliciously piquant sides of ginger-garlic noodles and sesame-chile spinach.

Peach Farm Restaurant [MenuPages]
Franklin Cafe [Official Site]
Vee Vee [Official Site]
Lineage [MenuPages]
East Coast Grill & Raw Bar [Official Site]

[Photo: bbally]

Sometimes we get a little obsessed with watching instructional cooking videos on YouTube (don't judge!). While poking around recently, we came upon this gem, which teaches users how to fry Cheerios. Yeah, you read that right.

Is it so wrong that this actually sounds sort of good? We hope not.

Fried Cheerios [YouTube: LukalsntLuka]

It's no secret that Brussels sprouts get a bad rap. They, along with broccoli, are one of those veggies you're not really supposed to like. We spent decades hating on Brussels sprouts, only to re-try them for the first time in probably fifteen years a few months ago. It turns out that Brussels sprouts are delightful! They have a delicate, nutty taste that comes out beautifully when the crucifers are cooked with sweet ingredients like balsamic vinegar. We've been on something of a Brussels sprout bender recenltly. Here are three of the area's best sprout packed dishes.

•At Via Matta, the Brussels sprouts are caramelized and served in a side dish with almonds and balsamic vinegar. You could do much worse than ordering that and another side dish (we recommend the roasted cauliflower with butter, parmesan, and parsley) as your dinner.
•Hamersley's Bistro knows that bacon always makes it better. Their Brussels sprout side comes roasted with bacon and walnuts, making it similar to this recipe, with which we are obsessed.
•Sorellina also goes the bacon route with their sprout side. Brussels sprouts are combined with smoky bacon and caramelized onions for a decadent, yet healthy, treat.
•B Side serves up one of the Hub's most delectable Brussels sprout dishes: a Niman Ranch pork loin is grilled and served with garlic-braised sprouts and a warm German potato salad with roasted red onion relish. It's an international feast!

Via Matta [Official Site]
Hamersley's Bistro [Official Site]
Sorellina [Official Site]
B Side [Official Site]

[Photo: Wikipedia]

We adore ginger, both for its taste and its medicinal properties. Whether you're stuffed up or nauseated, ginger will have you feeling better near-instantly. We love ginger in all its forms: crystallized, for snacking, grated into hot water for a sort of tea, and most of all, at restaurants. Below, four of Boston's best ginger dishes.

•Ginger is, of course, a somewhat ubiquitous ingredient in Chinese cuisine. Our favorite ginger-focused dish has always been ginger and scallion lo mein and, for our money, it can be found in its best incarnation at Chau Chow City. The noodles are just thin enough, the scallion is fresh, and the ginger is absolutely perfect, especially when you're a little under the weather.
•Ginger's kick pairs especially well with rich ingredients, a fact that Beacon Hill Bistro takes beautiful advantage of with their ginger and lemon cured Moulard duck. The tart lemon and spicy ginger cut the richness of the duck . Honey-glazed carrots and kohlrabi complete the dish for a delicious meal.
•At East Coast Grill & Raw Bar, ginger finds its way into tuna-sausage dumplings to excellent effect. The combination may sound a little odd, but the end result is delightful, with no weird textural issues. It's listed as an appetizer, but you might be tempted to order a second helping for your main course.
•At Prezza, ginger finds its way into creme brulee. It's a nice surprise for what can be a boring dish, and the molasses crinkles it comes with are even nicer.

Chau Chow City [MenuPages]
Beacon Hill Bistro [Official Site]
East Coast Grill & Raw Bar [Official Site]
Prezza [Official Site]

Even though the pace has slowed down a teeny tiny amount, we're still inordinately excited about the 2008 presidential primary season. Seeing as our great state voted over a week ago, we're assuming you already made your choice and, if for some unfathomable reason you haven't, there are plenty of great sites that will help you make an informed decision about who to support, based on a substantive analysis of issue positions. We, however, are not here for issue positions. We're here for baked goods. Below, a rundown of some candidate-inspired baked goods. Mmmm....political! In alphabetical order, we have...

Hillary Clinton: Admittedly, the below cake doesn't say have Senator Clinton's name on it, but the caption does say "Hillary in 2008!" It also notes that she does not advocate the burning of even imaginary flags.

Mike Huckabee: No baked goods for Governor Huckabee on Flickr...maybe because of his famous diet?

John McCain: Maybe Republicans just aren't that into baking. The closest thing we could find to a McCain baked good on Flickr was the below photo of the Senator and President Bush getting ready to chow down on some cake on August 29, 2005. It's not like there was anything else going on that day.

Barack Obama: Not only did someone bake the gorgeous cake below for a house party for the Senator from Illinois, but the campaign's official Flickr account has a picture of his birthday cake!

Hillary in 2008!* [Flickr: haikugirl]
White House - 2005-08-29 - 0002 [Flickr: smiteme]
Obama Cake [Flickr: nonprophet]
A Cake for Senator Obama's 46th Birthday [Flickr: Barack Obama]

Sure, it's nice to go out for Valentine's Day, but it can also be perfectly lovely to stay in and make a nice meal. So go ahead: set the table, light some candles, put on your romantic playlist. This is, basically, the dinner we made for our boyfriend last year. It's probably our most successful meal ever, despite the total lack of vegetables (okay, radical honesty: when we made this meal, we served it with canned peas because we love them. Don't judge.).

Appetizer: Stop by South End Formaggio and pick up a nice round of goat cheese. Serve it with crackers and maybe an interesting flavored honey (we're fond of this rosemary variety).

Main: Filet mignon is one of the easiest cuts of steak to cook and it always feels luxurious. The Merlot sauce only intensifies the flavors and is excellent for sopping up with a nice piece of bread. Since we're making risotto for the side, we'd probably omit the roast potatoes.

Side: This lemon risotto just might be one of our very favorite recipes ever. The lemon magically makes the dense risotto feel light. We use sage instead of parsley because we can't resist the lemon-sage combination.

Dessert: This chocolate truffle tart is one of those amazing dishes that seems like it must take a disgusting amount of effort, but actually comes together incredibly easily, especially if you cheat and use a pre-made pie crust like we do. It is so good that your loved one will be reduced to murmuring nonsense syllables while looking at you lovingly. And really, isn't that all you want tonight?

South End Formaggio [Official Site]
Pan-Seared Filet Mignon with Roasted Potatoes and Merlot Sauce [Epicurious]
Lemon Risotto [Epicurious]
Chocolate Truffle Tart [Epicurious]

Following in the esteemed footsteps of Christopher Walken, 90s rap superstar Coolio has gone and gotten his own cooking show. In the frankly amazing first installment, he schools us on the finer points of making Caprese salad. It turns out that Coolio is a stickler for presentation. Who knew?

Warning: In all likelihood, the below video is safe for neither work nor children.

Cookin' With Coolio #1: Caprese Salad [My Damn Channel]

Oysters are the food of love, so what better time to indulge in their briny goodness than Valentine's Day? We're always petrified to make any sort of raw seafood dish in our home, but thankfully, Legal Sea Foods is here to teach us how to shuck them ourselves. Turns out it's easy as pie! Easier, actually. Our pie crusts always fall apart.

Legal Sea Foods [MenuPages]
Legal Sea Foods [Official Site]
How to Shuck an Oyster [YouTube: chatni02]

We adored Mark Bittman's piece on sun-dried tomatoes in last Wednesday's New York Times Dining section. Bittman correctly points out that when sun-dried tomatoes were introduced in the United States in the late 1970s, they almost immediately became a foodie sensation. We occasionally make a eggplant, goat cheese, and sun-dried tomato terrine from the Dean and DeLuca Cookbook, which we always think of as the ultimate in 1980s yuppie fare. Here's the thing about sun-dried tomatoes, though: they're actually really delicious. They have a bright, citrus-y tang, but they're also wonderfully chewy. We like to snack on them while watching TV almost as much as we enjoy eating them in a delicious (if hyper-salty) sandwich of prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and olive oil on focaccia. Boston has plenty of great dishes showcasing sun-dried tomatoes. Below, three of the best.

•Sun-dried tomatoes are consistently great in dips (Bittman includes a killer hummus recipe with his article) and our favorite dip in the area comes from Finale . The sun-dried tomatoes are combined with pesto and sweet mascarpone cheese and served with bread and a balsamic reduction. Yum!
•The Beacon Hill pizza at The Upper Crust is topped with a blend of sun-dried tomatoes and lots of eggplant. It's intensely flavorful and will fill you up thoroughly while keeping you reasonably healthy (since you did, after all, forgo one of the heavy meat versions).
•At Cafe Kiraz , sun-dried tomatoes make their way into a tasty wrap, where they're combined with eggplant, fresh mozzarella, and roasted red pepper. Hey, it's a cliche combination because it's irresistibly delicious, okay?

Catching Up, Finally, With a Worthy Trend [New York Times]
Finale [Official Site]
The Upper Crust [Official Site]
Cafe Kiraz [Official Site]

Originally posted on May 3, 2007. One doesn't hear so much about La Verdad anymore.

The chips and guacamole at La Verdad are stirring up a fair bit on controversy over on Chowhound. Are the chips cut too thick? Is the guacamole refreshingly delicious as is or does it need a chile kick? Opinions are divided but one thing seems to be constant among both the Chowhounders and patrons we've witnessed: people are impressed by the cheese sprinkled atop the dish. Well, impressed and possibly a little bit baffled. Our own dining companion thought it was parmesan and was very confused. What is this puzzlingly tasty cheese?

The mystery cheese is none other than queso Cotija, a Mexican semi-hard cow's milk cheese with a flavor somewhere between feta and parmesan. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the cheese comes from the town of Cotija de la Paz in the Mexican state of Michoacan, along the Pacific coastline. Queso Cotija is quite granular, which makes it ideal for grating. Its super-salty flavor makes it an ideal accompaniment to dishes in need of a little kick. If you're keen to buy some for home use, try looking at La Internacional Foods in Somerville.

La Internacional Foods, 318 Somerville Ave, Somerville, (617) 776-8855

La Verdad [MenuPages]
La Verdad: 3 out of 4 is pretty damn good [Chowhound]
Cotija Cheese [Wikipedia]
Cotija Puts The Accent On Mexican Foods [San Francisco Chronicle]
Cotija Cheese [Official Site]

As you read this, we are (hopefully) on a plane to Florida, where we'll be visiting our grandpa until Monday. We don't want to be mean or anything, but:

Yeah, thunderstorms, but look at those temperatures! We're terribly excited. The internet connection is not so great where we're staying, so we'll be posting some reruns from now until Monday morning when we will return relaxed, rejuvenated, and full of Florida orange juice.

We literally cannot stop thinking about the Pickle Sickle we reported on yesterday. Our curiosity is bountiful, so we tracked down the below video of the company's founder discussing his bizarre product. Apparently, one can buy a cherry-flavored pickle pop. Truly, the mind boggles.

Pickle Sickle [Official Site]
Pickle Sickles [YouTube: ArtFennellReports]

Super Mega Tuesday is finally here and we couldn't be more excited. More than twenty states will cast their votes for both parties' presidential nominees. It seems not unlikely that the Republican contest could be effectively over by night's end and the outcome of today's races will certainly bring the Obama-Clinton matchup one giant step closer to its end. No matter what candidate you support, it's a very exciting day and what better way to enjoy it than a big themed dinner? Since it's election day, we've gone with a red, white, and blue meal.

Appetizer: We're awfully fond of tomato soup in winter, since it's wonderfully hearty and rib-sticking. We especially like this Giada De Laurentiis version, since it incorporates both starchy cannellini beans and the lightening influence of lemon. Pair it with a glass of Hitachino Red Rice Ale.

Main Course: We've had a version of this macaroni and cheese with prosciutto and taleggio at Panino'teca in New York once and we've been craving it ever since. The richness can be almost over the top, so cut it with a bottle of Blue Moon.

Dessert: It's a damn shame that blueberries aren't in season right now, as blueberry pie is undisputedly the king of blue desserts, but we certainly see no reason that you couldn't dye the frosting of these delicious vanilla cupcakes a nice robin's egg blue. At this point, we recommend throwing caution to the winds, and preparing a cocktail with blue curacao. Perhaps a Prince of Wales?

[Photo: Boston Mamas]

What is it that makes mango salsa so perfect? It must be the combination, since it's so much more delicious than either mango or salsa by itself. We would like to meet the inventor of mango salsa, and we would like to shake his or her hand. And then we would like to go to Uncle Pete's in Revere, where the below sample was purchased, and we would like to order some of our own.

Uncle Pete's [Official Site]

[Photo: Flickr: Brownie21487]

Yesterday, we discussed some options if you're interested in going out and about for the Super Bowl. If you're a homebody like us, however, perhaps you'd rather stay in and host a Super Bowl party in the comfort of your own home. For some reason, Super Bowl food is governed by certain inalienable laws: it needs to be mostly savory (a little dessert is fine, but you can't go overboard!), spicy is generally better than not, and even for snobs like us, comfort food is the order of the day. (Our one concession to food snobbery at a Super Bowl party is putting out nice hard salami instead of pepperoni.) Below, some modest suggestions for a possible menu. Go Pats!

•We generally don't necessarily trust Paula Deen, who we once watched make a salad that involved both mayonnaise and marshmallows, but we think she's probably a reliable source on an occasion like the Super Bowl. These hogs in a sleeping bag are basically pigs in a blanket, except they're even more awesome because they feature kielbasas instead of hot dogs. Amazing.
•Buffalo wings are great and all, but it's the Super Bowl, you know? Up the ante with Jamaican jerk chicken wings, hot enough for the biggest spice aficionado. Make sure to have plenty of beer on hand to wash it down with.
•You know what's awesome? Nachos. You know what else? Mac and cheese. Are the two good together? Who knows! We'd sure be willing to try it out, though.
•Although a Super Bowl feast should be mostly savory, one would be remiss not to include any sweet stuff. These triple-chocolate fudge brownies are damn near perfect. We'd advise turning them into brownie sundaes.

Hogs in a Sleeping Bag [Food Network]
Jamaican Jerk Chicken Wings [Epicurious]
Nacho Macaroni & Cheese [Epicurious]
Triple-Chocolate Fudge Brownies [Epicurious]

Since we singled out some of our least favorite food-related commercials earlier this week, we thought it would be only fair to show you one food-related commercial we love. It's even electorally-related! The below ad aired during the 2000 general election series. It still makes us laugh. A lot.

Snickers - Voting Booth Commerical [YouTube: edgesmash]

Hey, remember that vegan dinner at Chez Henri? Well, it looks like it was awesome. The picture below is of the evening's entree, "tofu au poivre", which looks like a very clever play on steak, with one piece of tofu resembling steak au poivre and the other looking like a piece of feta in the now-ubiquitous feta and watermelon steak combination. If vegan food always looked this great we'd...well, we wouldn't give up meat, but we just might eat it less often.

Chez Henri [MenuPages]
Chez Henri [Official Site]

[Photo: Flickr: eprescott]

Today, Florida is holding its presidential primary. Well, sort of. While both parties are holding primaries, only the Republican one actually counts, delegate-wise. Furthermore, since Florida has early balloting, many of the votes have already been cast. Whatever! We're still excited to see how things shake out. Will Obama continue his momentum? (Not tonight, because older Americans love Hillary!) Will Giuliani's campaign finally take off? (No, because he has a terrible strategy!) As we did for Michigan and Nevada before their primaries, we'd like to do a rundown of some Floridian-inspired food. When we hear the word "Florida", we automatically think "orange", so we've created an orange-based meal for you to enjoy while you watch CNN tonight. Note: we totally won't judge you if you flip back and forth between the results and American Idol.

Salad: We are notoriously terrible at motivating ourself to eat a salad, so any salad that wants to make its way into our tummy needs to have a lot of interest. We adore the flavor profile of this arugula and mint salad with oil-cured black olives, oranges, and ricotta salata. Each bite contains the perfect balance of salty and sweet.

Entree: Linguine with clams is a standard and yummy dish in this part of the country, but after a while, it can get to be the slightest bit dull. Spice things up with a recipe that adds a tomato-fennel sauce with more than a hint of orange. The best part? The whole thing comes together rather quickly.

Dessert: All we're interested in these days are cupcakes. These sunken chocolate-orange cupcakes sound like an absolutely perfect blend of a cupcake and a flourless chocolate cake: two of our very favorite things.

Arugula and Mint Salad with Oil-Cured Black Olives, Oranges, and Ricotta Salata [Epicurious]
Linguine and Clams with Tomato-Fennel Salsa [Epicurious]
Sunken Chocolate-Orange Cupcakes [Epicurious]

[Photo: OrlandoFun]

We're loving Cookus Interruptus, the video site from organic cookbook author Cynthia Lair, even though we're pretty sure it's targeted at non-meat-eaters. Cynthia is pretty charming and the whole enterprise has a good sense of humor. In the segment below, Cynthia teaches us how to cook quinoa, and we learn (several years too late) that it's totally not pronounced "kwin-oh-a." Oops.

Cookus Interruptus [Official Site]

1) Make your way to The Butcher Shop.

2) Order the cassoulet, pictured below.

3) Feel warm and happy.

The Butcher Shop [MenuPages]
The Butcher Shop [Official Site]

[Photo: Flickr: synaethesia]

Slashfood recently alerted us to the best video of dancing food that we've seen in quite some time, one that's made even more awesome by the fact that it was created in the 1950s for the legendary Ernie Kovacs Show. The effect is very much like a live action "Be Our Guest." Watch and enjoy...especially the part where the sardines dance.

Ernie Kovacs' 'Kitchen Symphony' [Slashfood]
Ernie Kovacs - Kitchen Symphony [YouTube: laflizard]

You know how we feel about bees. The epidemic of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is incredibly troubling to anyone who enjoys fruits and vegetables. Now, three filmmakers are attempting to make a documentary about the situation. The trailer, below, is really interesting stuff and the visuals are gorgeous. Check it out and, if you like what you see, consider donating to help get the full film made.

Vanishing Of The Bees Documentary [BoingBoing]
The Vanishing of the Bees [Official Site]
The Vanishing of the Bees [YouTube: hipfuel]

Some of our favorite food blogs have been posting vintage food commercials, so we thought we'd get in on the act. This 80s commercial for Pop-Tarts (wherein the audience learns that Pop-Tarts can inspire you to have a dance/slumber party, ogle girls, and play an awesome guitar solo in front of the giant TV screen at the foot of your bed) made a huge impact on our impressionable young mind when it aired. To this very day, when it looks like we're just staring off into space, we're actually reliving the awesomeness of this very commercial. It's just that great.

Drive-In Movie Ads: Potato Chips (1960s) [Serious Eats]
'Pizza! Pizza, Pizza, Pizza! Everybody Loves Pizza' [Slice]
Kellogg's Pop-Tarts 80's commercial [YouTube: mattpendergast]

The Nevada Democratic Caucus is tomorrow. As a giant political nerd, we're pretty excited for what's being touted as a tiebreaker (current polls show Obama with a 2% lead over Clinton) and as an eater, we'd love to pay some sort of gustatory tribute to the state. Therein lies a bit of a challenge. It turns out that Nevada (unlike our own state) doesn't really have any state foods. Wikipedia was similarly no help and we don't actually know anyone from Nevada. We sat and thought long and hard about what we think of when we think of Nevadan food and one dining experience sprung to our head: buffets. Here are three of the Hub's best.

•Midwest Grill gets our vote for the Hub's best churrascaria. $10.95 at lunch or $23.95 for dinner gets you all the meat you can eat, along with hot, cold, and vegetarian buffets.
•For an extra kick of Americana, attend a buffet on board the Spirit of Boston cruise ship. Lunch cruises cost $40 and dinners go for $72-85 and include high-end treats like roasted prime rib and chocolate Marquis cake.
•To our mind, the ne plus ultra of Boston-area buffets is the all-you-can-eat brunch at Henrietta's Table, served every Sunday from 12pm-3pm. $39 may seem steep for brunch, but when you look at the menu, which includes a made-to-order omelet station and a selection of cheeses, pates, and terrines, it suddenly seems quite reasonable.

Obama Takes Narrow Lead Over Clinton in Nevada [Boston Globe]
Midwest Grill [MenuPages]
Spirit of Boston [Official Site]
Henrietta's Table [Official Site]

We realize that we're definitely not the target demographic for the Cabot cheese ad below, but we have to agree with Consumerist: it totally squicks us out.

Disturbing Cheese Ad with Luis Guzmán And His Fellow "Cheddar Hunks" [Consumerist]
Cabot Cheese Cheddar Hunks Spot - "TESTIMONIAL" [YouTube: CabotCheese]

Our roommate is obsessed with How It's Made, the Discovery Channel show that shows viewers...well, how different things are made. We've never gotten much into it (we're weirded out by the oddly porn-y music and the announcer's hypnotically calm voice), but thanks to this video we found on Serious Eats, we have realized that the show is awesome, like a grown-up version of the factory tours on Mr. Rogers. The video shows how (pre-cooked) bacon is made. While there are plenty of better ways to make bacon (we turn to MP: South Florida's Carolina who is something of an expert), it's still a pretty entertaining clip.

How It's Made [Discovery Channel]
How It's Made - Bacon [Serious Eats]
How It's Made - BACON [YouTube: tfamorim]
Pork Belly: Our Favorite Part of the Pig [MP: South Florida]

Want to know our dirtiest secret (or at least the dirtiest secret we're going to put on a website)? We weren't actually born in Boston. We were born (gasp!) in the Midwest. To be more precise, we were born in the suburbs of Detroit where we lived until we were about two years old. We don't remember anything from the days before we were a Bostonian, but both our parents grew up in Michigan and our grandparents still live there and you know what? It's sort of nice there, albeit somehow even colder than it is in Boston. Today, of course, Michigan will be holding its presidential primary. In tribute, we thought we'd try to track down one of the state's native foods: the Coney Island hot dog.

The Coney Island dog is somewhat misleadingly named as it is a treat rarely available outside of Michigan. According to Wikipedia, the Coney Island dog is so named because hot dogs were invented in Coney Island. Fair enough, but that doesn't explain why Michiganders have given the name to a type of dog that is definitely not available in Brooklyn. The Coney Island dog is a beef hot dog topped with chili, diced yellow onion, and plain yellow mustard. It is extraordinarily messy to eat, inarguably gluttonous, and rather delicious.

In Michigan, it's hard to drive a mile without passing several restaurants with Coney Island in the name, but the dogs are extremely difficult to find on the East Coast. The closest approximation of a Coney Island dog we've found in the Boston area is from Spike's Junkyard Dogs: order a Sinatra dog and ask for it to be topped with onions, mustard, and their chili. If you'd rather try to cook yours at home, we recommend using this recipe rather than the inferior Sandra Lee version. Go ahead! Rock out with a Coney Island dog while you watch tonight's election results on CNN. Your tummy will thank us tonight (although maybe not tomorrow morning).

Coney Island Hot Dog [Wikipedia]
Spike's Junkyard Dogs [MenuPages]
Spike's Junkyard Dogs [Official Site]