From Harold and Maude to Harry Potter: Making Fictional Foods Real
One blogger's quest to recreate the ginger pie from the movie Harold and Maude got us thinking about other fictional foods
November 19, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Maple Vodka: A Sweeter Spirit
Remember that alphabet of maple treats I posted earlier this year? I have a new "V": maple vodka from Vermont.On a trip home, I discovered Vermont Spirits, a small St. Johnsbury distillery that makes vodka from the fermented sugars of maple sap instead of potatoes or grain, the usual suspects."We'r...
November 18, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Soup for Breakfast
Years ago, during a three-week trip to Turkey (and after recovering from a bout with "sultan's revenge"), I went with some newfound Turkish and German friends to an outdoor café following an evening in the pub. (This was in a Mediterranean resort town that was far less conservative than the places ...
November 17, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Five Colorful Ways to Eat Fresh Cranberries
Fresh cranberries abound at this time of year, and you may even be ambitious enough to slog through a bog to pick your own, as my friend Bryn did in Massachusetts. (It was fun, but next time she'd prefer to try it without a 30-pound toddler on her back, she said.) After baking all afternoon, she st...
November 16, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Inviting Writing: Lefse Lessons With Grandma
Continuing our Inviting Writing theme about "eating at Grandma's house," today's story celebrates another Bestemor. Author Jenny Holm is a freelance writer who grew up in Minnesota, but has been all over the place since, from Russia to D.C. to an organic farm in Vermont. Currently, she's teaching E...
November 15, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Soufflés: The Original Molecular Gastronomy?
Since my wedding earlier this year, I have made it a personal goal to use all of the kitchen tools I received as gifts. Some, like the glass nesting bowls and the microplane zester, got a good workout from the get-go. Others, namely the ramekins and the soufflé dish, have so far languished in the c...
November 12, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Fishing With Grenades and Cooking With C4: A Veteran's Vietnam Food Memories
My uncle Jay is a teddy bear of a man, with a fluffy beard, gentle eyes and a corny joke for every situation. He and my aunt even collect teddy bears. It's always been hard for me to reconcile this cuddly image with the one of him carrying a grenade launcher during the year he spent in the U.S. Arm...
November 10, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Supper Clubs Without Depravity
Ever been to a supper club? If this were London a century ago, your response might have been: "Hey! I'm not that kind of girl!""Supper clubs" back then, you see, were what a Chicago Tribune article from October 20, 1899 defined as "where the pampered sons of fortune meet Bohemians upon a common lev...
November 09, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Murder by Food: Famous Last Meals
One of the most basic expressions of love, preparing and serving food, has throughout history also been a favorite vehicle for the lovelorn, jealous, desperate or just plain mad, to express their homicidal urges instead
November 05, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
A New Ethiopian Food Truck in D.C.
When it rains, it pours: In the past two years, more than a dozen food trucks have sprouted in what was once a culinary desert at L'Enfant Plaza, just south of the National Mall. These mobile vendors roll in at lunch hour on various days, selling everything from Canadian poutine to Korean tacos to ...
November 04, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
The Wild Mushrooms of Fall
I know I am probably in the minority, but I despise mushrooms—at least the little white button ones you get at the supermarket. They rank up there with cilantro on my short list of ingredients I wouldn't want to meet in a dark restaurant, or a well-lit one, for that matter.Raw mushrooms are relativ...
November 03, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Food Fit For the Dead—And the Living
Today is Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday that seeks to honor—or even communicate with—the spirits of the deceased. I've seen posters for Day of the Dead festivals in previous years and felt unsettled by the images of grinning or dancing skeletons. Why celebrate death so br...
November 02, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
A Cultural History of Candy
Samira Kawash writes the blog “Candy Professor” and is working on a book about the cultural and social history of candy in twentieth-century America. She spoke to Smithsonian’s Amanda Bensen about Americans’ tricky relationship with treats Amanda: At this time of year, even people who don’t eat a l...
October 29, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
October 28, 1919: The Day That Launched a Million Speakeasies
It was 91 years ago today that Congress overrode President Woodrow Wilson's veto of the Volstead Act, which spelled out the enforcement of Prohibition. To commemorate the anniversary of the act's passage (or the fact that it no longer applies), the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, D.C. is holdin...
October 28, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Orange Wine: What's Old Is New
Some people prefer red wine. Some swear by white. A few like rosé. Personally, I like 'em all (or at least some kinds of each color). And I just discovered another color to add to my wine palette: orange.So-called orange wine is not made from oranges (although, apparently, some people do make such ...
October 27, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
The Magic of Kale, and Five Ways to Eat It
If Lisa's post about the connection between chocolate and child labor has made you reconsider your Halloween candy-buying habits, here's an alternative for you to feed the trick-or-treaters: kale!Yeah, you're right—that's probably not a good idea unless you want your house egged. But did you know t...
October 26, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Reverse Trick-or-Treating
I know a lot of adults—not me, of course—who buy their favorite Halloween chocolates secretly hoping that trick-or-treater turnout will be light and they can polish off the rest themselves. This is especially true of people who don't have their own children to pilfer from.If a relatively new practi...
October 22, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Five Ways to Eat Kohlrabi
Kohlrabi isn't the coolest kid in its class. It has a weird name, and looks even weirder. I admit I've always ignored it in favor of prettier, more popular vegetables. Why befriend it now?Well, because kohlrabi is nutritious: no fat, lots of fiber and vitamin C, even some protein. It's cheap and in...
October 21, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Swilling the Planters With Bumbo: When Booze Bought Elections
It's one thing for a political candidate to promise a chicken in every pot, as the Republican National Committee—though never Herbert Hoover himself—did during the 1928 presidential campaign. In the salad days of American democracy, the sales pitch was a little more direct: candidates actually plie...
October 20, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Educational Food and Drink Events in D.C.
Every now and then, I just have to stop and marvel at the many culinary-themed lectures, exhibits and tastings going on in the D.C. area. What a great place for a food nerd to live, eh? Here's a sampling of upcoming events:THIS WEEK AND NEXT
October 22 and 29 at 12:30 p.m.Meet curator Cory Bernat a...
October 19, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
