Jessica Saia creates the finest in bodega-to-table cuisine with the likes of Fritos and SPAM.

If you live in San Francisco, it’s likely your Facebook and Instagram feeds are constantly updating a steady stream of every la-dee-dah meal your friends are about to eat. (Wait, is that why it’s called a "feed”?) Of course you want to join in so no one starts questioning your gastronomical fanciness, but come on, not all of us can afford to try every hot new restaurant in town! And who can remember what random day the farmers’ markets happen? Are those people even farmers? Where are their overalls? And what the hell is a sunchoke? If it involves beach violence, I'm not even interested.

She puts together gourmet meals from convenience stores as you can see below.  Hilarious.

Seared Spam with Tostitos queso-dip mashed potatoes and canned green beans. Topped with a Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Corn Nut salsa verde.  via

Some ideas for this year's Super Bowl Party.  Whatever the outcome (go Ravens!), it should be a good party.

• Bacon and Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe
• Cheesy Nacho Dip Recipe
• Baked Spinach with Three Cheeses Recipe
• Buffalo Chicken Wing Recipe
• Crab Dip Recipe
• Hot Pizza Dip Recipe
• Creamy Curry Dip Recipe
• Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe
• Fiery Thai Salsa Recipe
• Hot Crab Spread Recipe
• The Original Buffalo Wings Blue Cheese Recipe
• Crunchy Mini Crab Cakes Recipe
• Neptune Lasagne Recipe
• Pizza Roll Ups Recipe
• Stuffed Jalapeño Recipe
• Buffalo Hot Wings Recipe
• BBQ Poppers Recipe
• Cheese Ball Recipe
• Mushroom Neptune Recipe
• Stuffed Jalapenos Recipe
• Jalapeno Puff Recipe
• Seven Layer Dip Recipe
• Nacho Potato Skins Recipe
• Smoky Cheese Ball Recipe
• Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe
• Joe’s Crab Shack Blue Crab Dip Recipe
• Chi Chi’s Seafood Nachos Recipe
• Blue Cheese Garlic Dip Recipe
• 7 Layer Mexican Dip Recipe
• Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe
• Seafood Nacho Dip Recipe
• Spicy Potato Skins Recipe
• Blue Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe

An amazing long read on how the rest of us can learn from big restaurant chains.   Atul Gawande visited the Cheesecake Factory and started to think if what they are doing could be done in other organization.

The company's target last year was at least 97.5-per-cent efficiency: the managers aimed at throwing away no more than 2.5 per cent of the groceries they bought, without running out. This seemed to me an absurd target. Achieving it would require knowing in advance almost exactly how many customers would be coming in and what they were going to want, then insuring that the cooks didn't spill or toss or waste anything. Yet this is precisely what the organization has learned to do. The chain-restaurant industry has produced a field of computer analytics known as "guest forecasting."

"We have forecasting models based on historical data-the trend of the past six weeks and also the trend of the previous year," Gordon told me. "The predictability of the business has become astounding." The company has even learned how to make adjustments for the weather or for scheduled events like playoff games that keep people at home.

A computer program known as Net Chef showed Luz that for this one restaurant food costs accounted for 28.73 per cent of expenses the previous week. It also showed exactly how many chicken breasts were ordered that week ($1,614 worth), the volume sold, the volume on hand, and how much of last week's order had been wasted (three dollars' worth). Chain production requires control, and they'd figured out how to achieve it on a mass scale.

As a doctor, I found such control alien-possibly from a hostile planet. We don't have patient forecasting in my office, push-button waste monitoring, or such stringent, hour-by-hour oversight of the work we do, and we don't want to. I asked Luz if he had ever thought about the contrast when he went to see a doctor. We were standing amid the bustle of the kitchen, and the look on his face shifted before he answered.

"I have," he said. His mother was seventy-eight. She had early Alzheimer's disease, and required a caretaker at home. Getting her adequate medical care was, he said, a constant battle.

Ingredients

• 3 Cups Chicken Stock
• 1/2 Onion -- sliced
• 1/2 Cup Celery -- chopped
• 1 Clove Garlic -- minced
• 1/2 Pound Chicken Livers
• Giblets Reserved From Roasting Chicken
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1/2 Tablespoon Oil
• 1/2 Onion -- chopped
• 1/2 Large Bell Peppers -- chopped
• 1 Celery Stalk -- chopped
• 1 Cup Long-Grain Brown Rice
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• 1/4 Cup Fresh Parsley -- chopped

Directions

1. Bring stock to a boil with onion, celery and garlic. Add giblets and livers, lower heat, and simmer until livers are just done, but still pink inside. Drain, reserving stock. Coarsely chop livers and edible giblets and reserve.
2. Melt butter with oil. Saute onion, celery, and bell pepper for five minutes. Add rice and sauté two minutes more, stirring constantly. Add 2-1/4 cups reserved stock, bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer until rice is almost done, 30-40 minutes. Season with salt, black pepper, and cayenne to taste. Add reserved livers and giblets andvcontinue cooking until rice is done. Garnish with chopped parsley.