HALLIE EPHRON: I was in the supermarket the other day, making my way through the frozen food
section when I noticed they were selling bags of pancakes. Frozen pancakes. I can't say why these strike me as more ridiculous than frozen waffles but they do. Maybe because not everyone has a waffle iron but all of us have pans.
Nearby were frozen donuts and frozen scrambled eggs and frozen ham and cheese sandwiches and frozen corn on the cob. None of these makes any sense to me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to frozen foods. Cousin to pancakes, I buy the occasional package of frozen cheese blintzes. Sautee them in butter (put the lid on at the end to be sure
they're warmed through) and serve with a dollop of whole (not light) sour cream and a glop of cherry pie filling. Can't beat it for sheer decadence.Frozen filo dough, just for example, is another frozen godsend if you ever moved to make turnovers or strudel or a yummy spinach and cheese pie. Which I often am.
And frozen veggies are fine by me, too. I grew up on frozen peas, lima beans, and corn. The only fresh vegetables I encountered before going away to college were iceberg lettuce and the occasional green bean. I thought squash was gourmet, and eggplant and brussels sprouts downright exotic.
I confess, in my youth a true guilty pleasure was a frozen TV dinner. Fried chicken and gravy, please, with a section for apple pie with foil over it that you ad to peel back.
So fess up, when you're in the frozen food section, how far do you stray from ice cream and frozen vegetables, and have you found something there that's really worth getting?
Anyone tried the frozen Chinese dumplings or edamame? Because if either of those is good, I'd be tempted.
