cooking + food
[3.6.10]
Museum of Foreign Groceries
One of my favorite things to do in any strange place is to go to the grocery store and have a look around. Food is a really interesting and direct way into a different culture, especially at the grocery store…[more]
[12.8.09]
Haute Food
I love little kitchen gadgets. Not small appliances (which usually just piss me off because they take up so much space) but little gadgets that make your cooking and food prep life so much easier. Not to mention more stylish…[more]
[9.30.09]
Cupcakes
There’s a great bar in the town that I used to live in that has a dart board in the basement. It’s a really popular place to hang out on the weekends, so there’s always tons of people there, writing all over the walls and ceilings in the chalk that they give you to mark your score. Most of the time these sayings and signatures get written over or erased, except for one. Above one of the dartboards, someone has written “cupcakes on your mother”. For whatever reason, I always thought that was hilarious…[more]
[9.29.09]
Prosciutto Bites with Fig Goat Cheese + Chives
It’s no secret that I love bacon. Prosciutto is a bit more sophisticated version of the breakfast staple, but when baked in the oven it becomes crispy and delicate and is more the essence of bacon than the fatty real thing. I could eat these all day, every day, for the rest of my life. And best of all, they are super simple to make…[more]
[9.22.09]
Polynesian Pulled Pork Sliders
I served these at the Luau party, and they were a hit! It’s easy to prepare ahead of time, and they’re a snap to assemble. They’re really great served with pickled red onions as well…[more]
[9.16.09]
Green Chili Cheeseburgers
The markets here have just started to be flooded with fresh roasted green chilis from Hatch, New Mexico so I was looking for something tasty to make out of all that goodness. Chopping up the various ingredients and mixing them in with the ground beef makes the whole thing a bit easier to eat, instead of losing everything over the sides every time you take a bite…[more]
[9.14.09]
Lunchtime
To talk about the cultural differences in food is really an obvious comparison. However, nowhere is it more evident than in the school lunch. I found this great website that features school lunches from across the world: these are some of my favorite pictures…[more]
[8.28.09]
Warm Summer Corn Salad
At first, I couldn’t decide what I thought of this dish, and while I was thinking about it, I noticed that there was none left. I’m going to take that as a good sign.
I personally believe that fresh produce is the best thing ever, and also that everything is better with bacon. Add a little fresh dill, and that’s how this dish was born…[more]
[8.25.09]
Mushroom Swirls
These mushroom and pastry dough treats are great as an appetizer, but beware, they’re very rich…[more]
[8.23.09]
Low Country Boil
Looking for an event idea for a large group of people? Something outside, that gets people excited, and is lots of fun? You need to have a low country boil!
We like doing this in our family when we get large groups of people together. Everyone gets to pig out and get really messy and since everyone else is in the same boat, there’s no judgment. Plus the food is good too. Here’s the typical menu…[more]
[8.21.09]
Food Jewels
The Jewels of New York are two gorgeous ladies who make even more gorgeous food. They’re dedicated to eating fresh and locally, and finding interesting recipes to fit the bill. A little bit about them:..[more]
[8.16.09]
Savory Lentil Soup
A few years ago, I was in Spain, and a friend of mine made a lentil dish so tasty I still think about it all of the time. Here’s my attempt at re-creating this – you can eat it like soup, or I often times spoon it over brown rice. I think that this is easiest cooked in a crock pot overnight, but you can do it stove-top style as well in less time…[more]
[8.16.09]
Summer Salads
It seems likes summer is rapidly coming to a close, so it’s time to revisit this list of recipes for easy and simple summer salads…[more]
[8.14.09]
Jimmy Buffet Cupcakes
These are just the thing to make you dream of tropical days in the Florida Keys. Rum and key lime juice give them their delicious flavor…[more]
[8.13.09]
Cherry Tart
I used to work in a little German bakery. They made the best cherry tart I’ve ever had. All of the other filling flavors were purchased, but they made the cherry themselves and you could sure tell. Mine isn’t quite the same as theirs, but I took a few tricks I picked up and used them for this delicious filling…[more]
[8.10.09]
Cooking Gourmet
Since bloggers cooking their way through cookbooks seems to be the style nowadays, here’s one that impresses me.
Melissa is attempting to cook her way through the entire Gourmet cook book. Egads. Here’s someone more eloquent than I describing this serious achievement…[more]
[7.23.09]
Summer Orzo Salad
I love simple summer salads that can be eaten cold. There’s something refreshing about not having to cook on a hot summer night. This salad is nice because it’s subtly salty and crunchy…[more]
[7.22.09]
Quick-Pickled Red Onions
The flavor of these is really strong, which can be a curse or a boon, depending on what you pair them with. I think they are great with grilled cheese, or anything that needs a little bite. If you don’t own a mandoline already, now might be time to invest in one…[more]
[7.8.09]
Easy No-Knead Bread Recipe
I originally found this recipe via the lovely Geninne. I know it’s all over the internet but I figured that it would be easier just to share the transcribed version since I’ve only seen the video…[more]
[7.6.09]
Easy Lamb Tagine
OK, so it’s not in a special Moroccan glazed clay pot, and it didn’t slowly simmer for hours, but it’s got a lot of the delicious flavors of North African cuisine and it’s a lot less work. I like to use lamb and a lot of dried fruits, but you can really mix and match what you’ve got. Chicken, dried apples – anything works. In this type of cooking, the more flavor, the better…[more]
[6.26.09]
Farmer’s Market
When I lived in Colorado, I had a Saturday morning routine. I would wake up really early and start hitting the garage sales around 7am. I had a typical path I would follow, and started to learn which people were there every weekend. We made friends. After that I would go to the Farmer’s Market before it got too crowded. If you got there much after 9am it was a zoo (it was not a town of early risers). That was definitely one of my favorite things about where I lived…[more]
[6.24.09]
Food Crush
It’s not enough for me to just love food. I love eating it, I love the idea of it, I love thinking about it, and I love really gorgeous food photography. Which means that fresh365 is pretty much porn for me…[more]
[6.23.09]
Bacon-Wrapped Pork + Pineapple Cherry Reduction
This is a great recipe for summer – mostly prepared on the grill, and it really captures summer’s sweetness (especially during cherry season)…[more]
[6.18.09]
Summer Sweet Mint Tea Recipe
I usually make just straight sweet tea (lots of sugar and tea) and though it’s delicious, I was looking for something a bit more refreshing and a bit less…sugary. This tea is delicious and would satisfy a lot of people, big and small…[more]
[6.10.09]
Spicy Peanut Sauce Recipe
Peanut sauce happens to be one of my favorite foods in the entire world – mostly because it’s good on just about everything. Used as a sauce for satay, or tossed with some whole wheat noodles, it’s got such texture and depth that you could eat it just by yourself…[more]
[5.6.09]
Spicy Chorizo Cornbread Muffins
So it’s been a while since I’ve shared a recipe here! I’ve been working on some things, and I think you’ll really like this recipe. It’s a great appetizer at a party, and reheats really well for lunch. It’s especially tasty with the green chili sauce, but be warned, it’s a little bit spicy…[more]
[4.1.09]
Banana-Pear Bread Recipe
First off, let me say, I love banana bread. I seem to make it a lot, usually because I have tons of overripe bananas lying around, as I’m a very picky eater and there’s about a 2 hour window in which I can actually eat a banana…[more]
[3.6.09]
Explorer’s Club Meat Pie
I always associate meat pies with colonialism and all that that entails. Afternoon tea, the spice trade, meat pies wrapped up in paper at the local corner bakery. Sadly, they’re really hard to find in the US and I think that’s a shame. So I came up with a recipe that tastes like my favorite Aussie Meat Pie, but I think the most fun about this is adding ingredients to fit your tastes. Curry, ketchup, hot sauce…the choices are endless. Same goes for the meat – I think that this would be really delicious with lamb…[more]
[3.4.09]
Stuffed Sweet Chili Peppers
I really love these peppers, and I hope that you will too! I usually try to cook them over a fire (we’re lucky enough to have a fire pit) or a grill but they’ll work well in the oven as well. The ingredients list might seem a little long but don’t get intimidated – it’s easy…[more]
[2.25.09]
The Tomato Bonanza
At the flea market a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a great deal – 20lbs of freshly picked grape tomatoes for $5. I love tomatoes, but I love a deal even more, so I dutifully lugged them home and was presented with an enormous problem – what on earth do you do with 20lbs of grape tomatoes…[more]
