| You Taste Like a Burger
While growing up in Saudi Arabia, I would watch our cook as he prepared complex, gourmet meals. It was not only a distraction in a place without neighborhood parks or television, but also a cultural adventure into his native Filipino culture, as well as romps to Italy, France and home to the U.S. I'd watch, fascinated, as he would remove the meat and bones from a whole chicken's skin, mixing the meat with vegetables and seasoning, and then somehow get it all back into the skin before stitching the floppy bird back together and roasting it. I have never understood how a person could not know how to cook. Friends ask me to teach them a recipe or two, so before dinner parties, I call them into the kitchen. They are inevitably more concerned about what we are drinking, and are often back in the living room within five minutes.
Adventures In Vegetarianism
In her editor's letter in the April issue of Gourmet magazine, Ruth Reichl announces the arrival of a new feature devoted to hearty vegetarian recipes. With more and more restaurants offering a variety of vegetarian and even vegan dishes on their menus, in combination with the growing concern for environmentally-friendly living, the appeal of fresh, locally-grown, seasonal vegetables and legumes is suddenly extremely important in the food world. I recently decided I had better give in to the trend and veg out. Okay, it wasn't a conscious decision - I was on my second date with the boyishly charming Mr. I'minlikewithyou and he invited me to dinner at his favorite vegan place in San Francisco, Millennium. He promised me it was haute vegan cuisine with not even the slightest hint of hippie and an atmosphere that was chic, sophisticated, and elegant; boy was he right.
Safety warning, recall issued for Easter eggs, baskets
Parents purchasing or preparing Easter baskets for their young children should beware of a couple of products, consumer watchdogs warned this week.
Consumers Union has issued a warning about Kinder Surprise Eggs, hollow chocolate eggs that contain small toys. The products, made in Italy by the Ferrero Group, have been banned in this country since 1997 by the Consumer Product Safety Commission but sometimes still make it to store shelves.
The chocolate eggs are sometimes available from gourmet food stores, candy merchants and ethnic importers, according to Consumers Union. Until recently, the eggs were being sold on Amazon.com by a Greek importer through the Web site's Marketplace feature.
The commission also has announced a voluntary recall of about 8,500 Disney plush Easter baskets sold at Wal-Mart stores between February and the end of March because they have beads and ribbons that could pose a choking hazard for young children.
Friends share dinners in all seasons
The word "progressive" can have many meanings, usually related to "progressing, advancing or moving forward, making progress." But how many people in today's busy world connect the concept of "progressive" to a gourmet meal, unless maybe it's moving to new and different restaurants for various parts of one meal? Bernie and Dolores Fiegel of Lewes were both career workers in the Washington, D.C. - Maryland area employed by a company that had defense contracts. They also had three children. They were busy but still, because of their mutual lifelong interests in good food and good wines, they shared, from time to time, gourmet meals with friends. .
10 indicators Food TV has addled brain
On April 10, we published Dave and Mary Liske's 20-question, how-to-know-if-you're-a-foodie quiz, posted on their blog, www.blogsmonroe.com/food. In the same spirit, Cathy Zeller of Oliver T's gourmet shop in Grand Blanc Township developed her list of "signs you may have overdosed on the Food Network," for the store's quarterly newsletter. Conceding that the Food Network has been good for her store, she writes she spent nearly one whole day watching to re-affirm just how bad the overload can get. Here is Zeller's list: Your choice of background noise while cooking is a bad jazz soundtrack that kicks in whenever you begin a "dramatic" (my quote marks) new task like sprinkling sea salt on your short ribs. You are heard talking to your food with phrases like "Oh ya, babe" and "How easy is that?" No one ever answers.
Recent recalls give gourmet pet food a boost
SAN MATEO As Tom Oborne stood before a gleaming glass-encased meat counter at a gourmet grocery store, he told the butcher he's had it with canned dog food. "You can't trust it," Oborne told the butcher during a visit to Draeger's Market in San Mateo last week. Instead, he ordered packets of ground veal, lamb and beef from the butcher for Buddy, his 15-pound, black miniature poodle. That night, Buddy dined on ground lamb sauteed with carrots and rice. "He loved it," Oborne said. He might go back to canned food one day, he said, but not anytime soon. If Amazon.com rankings for book sales are any indication, thousands of other Americans like Oborne have become home chefs for their pets, following the recent deaths of pets from tainted canned food. The book "Real Food for Dogs" on Friday ranked No.
What's Your Dream Dining Experience? Disney's California Food And ...
Dreams of ambrosial feasting and exquisite spirits will be fulfilled during the Year of a Million Dreams at Disneyland Resort when Disney's California Food and Wine Weekends 2007 return, April 27 through May 20. The four extended weekends (Thursdays-Sundays) will present an abundant bill of fare for everyone from fine wine connoisseurs and skilled epicures to lovers of good food and neophytes wanting to experience and learn more about world-renowned flavors of California cuisine. The second annual Disney's California Food and Wine Weekends at Disneyland Resort will feature culinary demonstrations, cooking and wine-tasting seminars and a "Taste of California" Marketplace in Disney's California Adventure park. Each weekend will begin with a Thursday night "kickoff event," a lineup of exclusive Celebrity Chef Dinners showcasing the likes of Donna Scala of Bistro Don Giovanni in Napa Valley (April 26), Robert Curry of Auberge du Soliel in Napa Valley (May 3), Chef Jamie Gwen of KABC radio and KTTV Ch 11 (May 10), and Guy Fieri of Food Network (May 17).
A mother is put to the test at 350 degrees
My mother was a very good mother. Her three children turned out rather nicely, if I do say so myself. We all have good teeth and write prompt thank-you notes and not one of us has spent the night in jail, well, not recently. And the thing was, my mother couldn't bake. I bring this all up because of the cupcakes. I love to cook, but baking is chemistry and, had it not been for my math-major boyfriend, I would have failed chemistry. Unlike cooking, you can't play with a dish once the thing is in the oven, which you can't say about a stew. Plus, it has to look good. .
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