For years now, I've been a huge fan of the fact that there are some foods that just get better over time. I remember that as a kid, my mom's spaghetti sauce was always better the second day (and she always made enough for at least two nights worth of meals). These days, when I make ratatouille (which I've been doing on a near-weekly basis in an attempt to use us all the tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and zucchini from my farm share), I try to do it the day before I plan on serving it, so that it can mellow and get silky during the resting time.
The team at YumSugar has put together a slide show of five dinners that improve with time that could be a new source of cooking inspiration. In these days, where we're all pressed for time, it's great to have a selection of meals in the arsenal that can be prepped during a spare moment and then stashed in the fridge, ready to be eaten at your convenience.
I have always been enchanted by homemade versions of brand name snack cakes. I love it when people make their own Ding Dongs, Twinkies and Hostess Cupcakes. Rachel of Coconut & Limerecently posted about her very own Chocodiles, a chocolate-covered Twinkie confection. I've contemplated buying a cream canoe pan in the past and I think now I must, because cream-filled cakes? Enrobed in chocolate? Sign me up!
These particular Chocodiles are extra special, because Rachael's husband made them for her 29th birthday (which was yesterday. Happy birthday, Rachel!).
My first exposure to Tuna and Macaroni Salad came years ago, while shopping the salad bar as one of those by-the-pound deli places that dot big Northeast cities. You grab a lidded container and load it up with various pre-made salads, gummy sushi rolls and wilted greens, then pay huge sums for your sub-par box of mayonnaise-y goodness. The tuna mac was always appealing upon initial examination, but frequently disappointing when tasted. I think that many others of you have similar stories of disappointment in relationship to this dish - whether you're familiar with the kind out of the salad bar or from childhood potlucks and church suppers.
However, last night, I set out to redeem the noble tuna mac and was far from disappointed. I first started thinking about tuna salad over the weekend, when my mother mentioned that she was making it for dinner on Saturday night. Growing up, she always served tuna salad with a side of mashed potatoes - there was something about the combination of creamy and crunchy that she really liked. These days, she cubes a boiled potato and tosses it into the tuna salad instead, getting that creamy/crunchy action without the effort of a second dish. That got me thinking about adding a starchy element to tuna salad and the pint jar of whole wheat elbows on the kitchen shelf caught my eye and winked.
I have always wished to be one of those people who takes full advantage of the summer growing season. I dream of being someone with rows of dilly beans. I long to be the kind of cook who thinks ahead and freezes 100 cobs worth of corn kernels for the months ahead. I have made several batches of jam this season, and I now have four pounds of blackberries tucked away in my freezer but currently that's the extend of my "preserving."
I don't know exactly when I discovered The Writer's Almanac, Garrison Keillor's daily show that includes a poem and some highlights from that date in literary history, but it is a vital element in my morning routine. My mom listened to it when I was in college, as I remember her hushing me and running over the radio to turn up the volume one morning when I'd just gotten home for summer break after my freshman year. I started subscribing to the daily email version six or seven years ago, and now I read it before I settle down into my work for the day.
This morning, the poem was one written by Marge Piercy and is called In Praise of Joe. It is a lyrical devotion to the morning cup of coffee and contains delicious praise for coffee in all its forms. If you are a coffee lover, you may see yourself in her words. I know I do.
I love you hot I love you iced and in a pinch I will even consume you tepid.
Judging from Mike's results, it looks like this recipe/technique is a true winner. He served his with a side of vanilla ice cream and says that it was very much like an inside out banana split. He's got plans for fancying it up the next time around, using better chocolate and topping it with a sprinkle of toasted nuts. The picture above is the before shot, click here to see the banana after it's been on the grill for a while.
Over the last few months, the intrepid editors over at Consumerist have done an outstanding job of tracking the trend of smaller sizes for the same price. They call it the Grocery Shrink Ray and they've seen it hit everything from coffee, to peanut butter to yogurt (it also strikes non-edible products such as toothpaste and contact lens solution).
One of the debates that occurs around this topic of shrinking package sizes is whether it would be more honest for companies to simply raise the prices on their products instead of charging the same for a smaller amount. In the face of rising costs, Turkey Hill Dairy has decided to succumb to the dreaded shrinking size trend for their ice cream packages, as prices for ice cream's have risen dramatically in recent days. They announced this size reduction with a heart-felt letter penned by company President, Quintin Frey that was posted on their blog.
Looking for a way to make the header of your food blog a little more interesting? Why not use this Value Pack Meat Typeface to give your site a little more meaty goodness? Created by artist Robert Bolesta, each letter was carefully hand-shaped, packed and photographed. I particularly love the details of the font, including the stickers and the fact that each letter includes the price and weight labels.
You know Duff Goldman as the owner of Charm City Cakes and the central character in the Food Network's reality show, Ace of Cakes. I have a friend who has something of a crush on him and often says that she'd like to "put him in her pocket." Well, today is apparently her lucky day, as Charm City Cakes has teamed up with Diamond Select Toys to turn Duff into a very pocket-sized action figure. That's right Charm City Cakes fans, you can now have your very own Duff doll.
In addition to the doll, you can also buy an assortment of accessories, including "two of the shop's signature cakes, a drill-powered mixer, a chainsaw, wooden spoon, spatula, guitar and flame-thrower! Also included is an alternate baseball cap to recreate another Duff Goldman look!"
They're available this fall and would make the perfect holiday gift for the Duff Goldman fan.
I spent some time in a friend's community garden patch yesterday, helping her harvest string beans, several handfuls of basil, some tomatoes and a whole mess of squash. She didn't plant any traditional zucchini this year which means I've had to get my zucchini fix from my farm share and the farmers market. However, there's nothing that says summer to me quite like zucchini and these four freshly picked ones are gorgeous examples of the season's bounty.
Thanks to Ataradrac for adding this pic to the pool!
I grew up in a family that preferred toasted cheese sandwiches over grilled cheese ones. I credit this melted cheese and toast phenomenon to the fact that my mother was always looking for ways to make meals healthier. Butter was typically the first casualty under her command.
However, not knowing that there was a world of buttery, grilled cheese sandwiches out there, my sister and I were perfectly content with the toasted version that our parents provided. These sandwiches were made easier by the fact that we were toaster oven people, making it easy to get an initial toast on the bread before adding a layer of cheese for melting.
There's a new product on the market that could revolutionize the toasted cheese sandwich and make it accessible for everyone, even those who own pop-up toasters. It's called the Toastabag and it is intended to be used for toasting entire sandwiches. I do see some problems with it, though. The most notably the fact that once cheese is melted, it runs to the lowest point. I imagine that if you toasted your sandwich in this gizmo long enough to sufficiently melt the cheese, you'd end up with a puddle of melted cheddar on the bottom of the bag and two greasy pieces of cheese-scented bread. Secondly, you'd never really be able to get a good toast on the bread, as it wouldn't be exposed directly to the heating element. Lastly, unless you've got a wide-slot toaster, wouldn't you be hard-pressed to actually get a full-on sandwich into the toaster slot?
Despite my concerns, I do have to give the Toastabag folks credit for clever thinking. What about the rest of you? Do think this is genius or insanity? Does anyone out there have a Toastabag of their very own?
The first year and a half I lived in Philadelphia, I worked as a staff assistant at a local non-profit. I was at the very bottom of the pecking order and earned a piddling salary to match my lowly position. I became adept at stretching my food budget, especially when it came to my morning meal. Monday through Friday, I would stop at the food cart outside the building and pick up a small coffee with cream and a soft pretzel from the sweet Greek couple who spent all day together in a small, metal box. It cost $.85. On the days when I was feeling flush, I'd get a large coffee for $.15 more. I realize these prices seem like something out of the 1960's, but this was just six years ago.
So you can understand how I'd feel a little aghast upon learning that around the world, the price of a morning cup is up. In some places it's way, way up. The U.S. consulting firm Mercer's recently charged their London office with the task of taking a survey of the price of a cup of coffee worldwide. They discovered that Moscow has the most expensive coffee, with the average price of a cup hovering around $10.19. Things aren't much better in Europe, with the average brew running just under $7 a cup.
I do question the validity of these prices, as the survey finds that a cup of joe will run you about $3.75 in New York City. I've had many a cup of regular coffee in Manhattan and rarely has it cost more than $2.50. These days, my favorite cup comes from local roaster La Colombe and costs a mere $1.50 for an excellent, freshly brewed 12 ounce cup.
How much does a regular cup of coffee run in your neck of the woods?
Cynthia Wahl imports teas
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
