This is a great TED talk by Ron Finley, who plants vegetable gardens in South Central, Los Angeles, in abandoned lots, traffic medians, and along sidewalk curbs. He sees himself as an artist of the soil, a renegade against fast food, and a visionary to inspire and involve inner city kids in hard work that pays off in a community where “the drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys.”
Posted in Food musings | Tagged food deserts, Gardening, TED talk | Leave a Comment »
The phrase, “eat your vegetables,” has long been used by stern-looking parents desperate to make their offspring eat something besides pasta and chicken fingers. To children everywhere, “vegetables” has meant mushy, bland tasting things that stand in the way of dessert. Unfortunately, many people carry the disdain for leafy, root-y edibles far into adulthood.
Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison may be the cookbook to change all of that.
“Vegetable Literacy,” breaks new ground because it focuses on the relationships between the veggies that grow in your garden. Madison’s theory is that if you understand these relationships, you’ll find new freedom in the kitchen to mix and match flavors in away that allows zucchini, peas, squash, and so much more to harmonize their flavors instead of being tolerated like unwanted guests on your dinner plate.
Posted in Cookbook reviews | Tagged cookbook review, Deborah Madison, recipes, vegetarian cooking | 2 Comments »
When the word came that Nemo was heading our direction blowing 65 m.p.h. winds and bringing at least 2 feet of snow, my friends Nathan and Emily, who live a few blocks away, extended the invitation for homemade chicken pot pie. I was in charge of bringing brownies.
I knew immediately that I wanted to bring The Pastry Chef’s Baking Frosted Brownies, since these are so decadent and delicious I definitely did not want to be left in the house alone with a pan. I have very little self-control around chocolate. Bringing them to a group dinner was the perfect solution!
Posted in Dessert | Tagged chocolate, dessert, Nemo, recipes, Valentine's Day | 4 Comments »
If you are hosting a crowd to watch the game this Sunday, here are a few ideas from my recipe list to consider for your spread. You’ll need some good snacking items to last the game and one dish meals like chili, chowder, or lasagna will make for easy handling in front of the TV. Same goes for dessert, keep it simple and sweet so the focus can stay on the gridiron and not whether you are making a mess!
May the best team win…
Posted in Appetizers | Tagged recipes, Super Bowl appetizers | 1 Comment »
I was a little reluctant to read a book about kitchen tools and gadgets, but Bee Wilson is an engaging writer who somehow delivers both wit and wisdom by rummaging through the history of cooking and eating utensils. My full review is posted on CSMonitor.com, but here’s how it begins:
Today’s home kitchens gleam with sub-zero chrome refrigerators, store ice cream and pastamakers behind cabinet doors, and display at least three kinds of appliances that purée or brew. Yet it is safe to surmise that even the best appointed also has at least one humble wooden spoon.
There is nothing fancy about a wooden spoon – no flashing lights or neon colors. And yet, as kitchen gadget fads come and go, nothing seems to replace the feel of a smooth wooden handle nestled in the palm stirring over a stovetop. Why is that?
Posted in Books about food | Tagged book review, books about food, cookery, culinary history | 2 Comments »
While spices warm up holiday desserts in a delightful way, I love cinnamon accents in savory dishes such as this Mexican corn and bean soup.
Posted in Soup | 2 Comments »
There’s not a lot to say here except that this will be the best chocolate cake you ever bake. Ever. It has stood the test of time, fads, and the convenience of box cake mixes. This chocolate cake recipe first appeared in The Christian Science Monitor in the 1930s or ’40s. It was reintroduced to readers a few years ago in this essay.
Posted in Dessert | 6 Comments »
Matt Armendariz/McNab Publishing, Ltd
There is a lot of talk about the Mayan calendar rolling over to Dec. 21, 2012 and simply coming to end, which has been translated by some as, that’s it, folks. No more time, no more us. I can’t say that I agree, since I’ve already received my 2013 work calendar and everything there seems to be in order just fine. For a more reasoned, scientific explanation, you might want to check out NPR‘s report, “A Guarantee: The world will not end on Friday.”
My first brush with Mayan culture was when I hopped off a cruise ship in Cozumel in 2006 and explored the Chacchoben Mayan ruins. That’s where I found a rather modest exhibit sign next to one of the many-stepped pyramid temples indicating that the Mayan calendar would finish up in six years. It tried to be reassuring that while some people interpreted this to mean the end of time, it could also be seen as a restart. A clean slate for all of us.
I’d like to suggest that you give both theories a rest and instead actually learn something about Mayan culture. A good place to start would be with Flavors of Belize: The cookbook created by Tanya McNab and Shelley Bowen Stonesifer. First of all, the Mayans haven’t vanished. There are by some estimates some 7 million Mayans alive and well living throughout Guatemala, southern Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras. Continue Reading »
Posted in Taza Chocolate Tour, Travel | Tagged chocolate, Mayan calendar, recipes, travel | 2 Comments »
Hot spiced cider with a hint of orange is the perfect way to warm up in between dashing to and fro holiday errands and parties.
Posted in Beverage, Holiday dishes | Tagged beverage, Holiday recipes, hot cider | 5 Comments »
France, it has long been known, has the power to ignite a passion for food.
Julia Child overcame prejudice and disdain for Americans to earn her culinary badge from Paris Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in the 1950s. Her memoir, “My Life in France,” details her love affair with the country and its culinary masterpieces. Food writer Amanda Hesser wooed a grumpy peasant caretaker in a walled kitchen garden at Chateau du Fey in Burgundy, France, and wrote about it in “The Cook and the Gardner.” And even food blogger-turned author Molly Wizenburg of Orangette fame traces her food writing epiphany to the streets of France in “A Homemade Life.”
A street in Paris from “Cowgirl Chef” by Ellise Pierce (Steve Legato/Courtesy of Running Press).
There are countless other Americans who traveled to France and suddenly found a new direction in life centered on food. So revered is French cuisine that its principles are a bedrock in Western culinary schools. In November 2010, French gastronomy was added to UNESCO’s “intangible cultural heritage” world list.
And then there is Ellise Pierce, the Cowgirl Chef, who followed a Frenchman to Paris only to get homesick for Texas. There, in the romantic culinary capital of the world, the former journalist found herself yearning for cornbread, hot chilis, and even – gasp – Milky Way candybars.
Posted in Cookbook reviews, Main dish | Tagged Coobook review, food, French cooking, Paris, recipes | 3 Comments »
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