A few weeks ago my friend Sam decided she could no longer take care of her yogurt cultures and kombucha colony. So she offered them to me. When I went to her apartment, she was bent over a pad of stationery writing down step-by-step care instructions for each group of live microorganisms, which were bundled away in tight-lidded plastic containers next to sheets of cheesecloth and other paraphernalia on her counter. After a few demonstrations of these steps, Sam packed … Read More
This post goes out to Jennifer of one of my latest favorite food blogs, Slices of Me. Jennifer asked me point-blank in an email just how I manage not eating out, every day. Of particular interest was how I maintained a social life when I couldn’t eat out with friends. So, just a few random habits I’ve picked up from winging it in this neck of the food world: 1. Buy fresh veggies often, and many different types. I go … Read More
the Ugliest Gourmet winning dish (albeit with parsley), Aubergines in Spicy Honey Sauce Food is everything about the holidays to me, and I’m thankful this Thanksgiving for having a family who understands that. This year’s feast in New Jersey was a smaller production than previous years but you wouldn’t have known it from the type of emphasis placed on every aspect of the meal.
You know that change is in the air when The New York Times‘ restaurant critic claims that the latest bauble of legendary restaurant family Cipriani’s gourmet empire “exists to affirm its patrons’ ability to throw away money” on the same day that eating-out bible New York Magazine‘s hourly restaurant blog covers a home cooking contest using only bodega ingredients. If you catch my long-winded drift, that waft I smell might be something along the lines of, oh… not eating out. … Read More
Also on the topic of food shopping, I couldn’t help but share this brilliant project devised by public radio’s The Brian Lehrer Show (is anything they do not brilliant?). Introduced this month, the “crowdsourcing” project forgoes statistical evidence and cuts right to the vox populi in discerning the costs of basic supermarket items in the New York City. This is a land of diversity in many ways. But prices for a single quart of milk? You’re talking differences of dollars. … Read More
The UK has been making impressive headway in isolating what makes us eat what. Namely, it’s our genes. “More often than not, our genetic make-up influences our dietary patterns.” So said Tim Spector, a Professor at London’s Kings College, in this BBC News article about a study he led that suggested identical twins shared the same eating preferences. Among these preferences, coffee and garlic turned out to be strong indicators of the genetic link. (But who doesn’t like garlic or … Read More
needs more peas, according to Bittman It seems (belatedly) that I am not the only one with pasta on the mind. Mark Bittman’s recent article in the Times offered hoards of recipes for pasta lore that I can’t wait to try out sometime soon. But he also touched on a point that I found interesting, and struck at a deeply embedded piece of cultural wisdom that I had never thought to question before: The ratio of grains to delicacies.
I enjoy tea a lot. All kinds of tea. I haven’t taken this passion to the next level of home DIY experimentation, drying out leaves and whatnot, but lately it’s crossed my mind. Typically at around this time of the year, I return to the comfort of tea. Having a propensity toward being cold all the time, I like having hot drinks to sip on much as a fish likes to have things to fill its gills with. As temperatures … Read More
In this month’s Harper’s Magazine, Mark Schapiro explores the tremendous oversight of 62,000 chemicals in manufactured consumer goods that the U.S. has never tested for safety. His research finds in the blood of a 19-year-old Italian woman, “brominated flame retardants, which are potential liver, thyroid, and neurological toxins that are used to coat many electronics; the pesticides DDT and lindane… perfluorinated chemicals, known carcinogens that are used as stain- and water-repellents on clothing, furniture, and nonstick cookware; and artificial musk … Read More
a fuzz-free steamed fuzzy melon stuffed with turkey appetizer — works well with zucchini, too A few months ago, I posted a recipe for a Thai-inspired stir-fry of shrimp ‘n okra and received among other comments, this one, from Matt: “Where can I actually get thai basil? When I go to Chinatown, I usually don’t find anything remotely resembling basil. As a matter of fact, I hardly recognize most greens when I’m shopping in Chinatown” This blogging platform doesn’t seem … Read More