Recipes
Eight Appetizing Apps
I just read an interesting article in the Washington Post's travel section about traveling with no guidebooks, advance planning or reservations---just a wallet and an iPhone. The author used applications, or apps, to find everything from a parking spot to a hotel room, with only a few minor glitche...
May 20, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
The Best Foods for Backpacking
Today's guest post is by Smithsonian staff writer Abigail Tucker, who knows a thing or two about roughing it. She's camped in the Arctic to interview narwhal scientists, schlepped through a swamp in South Carolina in search of Venus flytraps, and ridden snowmobiles deep into the Western wilderness ...
May 19, 2010 |
By admin
Stinging Nettle Soup
There's a restaurant in northwest D.C. called Blue Ridge (the brainchild of chef Barton Seaver) that I enjoy because it focuses on local, seasonal, sustainably sourced ingredients without coming across as self-righteous. It's the kind of place where waiters wear jeans and serve popcorn in brown pap...
May 04, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Dandelions—From Lawn to Lunch
Depending on your perspective, the little dandelion flowers that dot green lawns with yellow this time of year can be a cheerful sign of warmer days, a pesky weed to be destroyed or, once they've transformed into downy orbs, wish-fulfillment predictors.To others, they represent free lunch. Dandelio...
April 22, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Snacks for Tax Day
It's crunch time, procrastinators—April 15, the deadline for finishing those pesky income tax returns, is upon us! Doesn't that make you hungry? (What? I'm a food blogger. Everything makes me hungry.)Here are foods that seem fitting, or at least fun, to eat on Tax Day:1. Silver Dollar Pancakes. I l...
April 15, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Heirloom Rice, Forbidden and Otherwise
The other day I tried forbidden rice, a black grain that turns a deep violet color when cooked. I picked it up at the natural foods store, enticed by the look of the shiny onyx particles and the provocative name.Other than licorice and blackberries (and the occasional forgotten slice of toast), the...
April 09, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Cherry Blossom Recipes
The spring Cherry Blossom Festival is happening right now in D.C., and the trees will be flowering in parts of Japan throughout the spring. Even if you can't travel to see them, you can still celebrate the season with these recipes:1. The Cherry Blossom cocktail sounds like a classier, grown-up cou...
April 05, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Cooking with Easter Candy
Did you buy too much Easter candy to fit in a basket? Not sure you can stomach eating it all straight? Well, in the foolish spirit of the day, here are some alternatives:1. Melt down a chocolate bunny and whaddaya know, you've got molten chocolate—perfect for fondue. You could also use bits of bunn...
April 01, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Homesick for Passover
Six years ago I moved to the Northeast from Southern California, where I grew up and where my family still lives. There are only two times of year that make me homesick, and sometimes they overlap: the waning days of winter, when it seems like the sleet and snow and dreariness—and lack of good fres...
March 30, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Five Ways to Eat Tahini
Recently, there was a discussion over at Epicurious about the essential ingredients home cooks always have on hand because they use them so frequently. For me, one of those items would be tahini, or sesame-seed paste. As I found during my "week without recipes" challenge a couple of weeks ago, it a...
March 24, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
The Assault on Salt
If a ban proposed by Brooklyn assemblyman Felix Ortiz passes, New York chefs will be banned from using salt in food preparation in all restaurants. The bill states: "No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by custo...
March 15, 2010 |
By Abby Callard
A Week Without Recipes: The Results
Last weekend, I challenged myself to cook without recipes for the rest of the week. I had been feeling bogged down by the amount of time I was spending researching recipes and planning menus and shopping lists. I wanted to test my creativity and ability, and push myself to be more spontaneous. I we...
March 12, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
Colonial Recipes: Sally Lunn Cake
On a visit to Colonial Williamsburg last weekend, I picked up a booklet of recipes sold by the reconstructed village's Raleigh Tavern Bakery. The cover promised A Collection of the Most tasteful and Approved Recipes in Virginia Cookery. Though the language was old-fashioned, the recipes for treats...
March 11, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
In a Pickle
Salty and crunchy cucumber pickles have been a mainstay in American refrigerators for decades. But The Daily Beast recently listed pickling as one of its top trends for 2010. And the trend isn't just for cucumbers—you can pickle just about anything. At the restaurant where I work, we serve pickled ...
March 09, 2010 |
By Abby Callard
Challenge: A Week Without Recipes
Most home cooks consult recipes at least some of the time, whether for inspiration or instruction. Others seem to be able to look at the ingredients in their pantries and conjure a delicious and innovative meal without so much as cracking a cookbook.I fit squarely within the former category. Other ...
March 08, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
The ABC's of Maple Syrup
March can be an ugly month in the northeast, all mud and slush and wind—some compare it to a lion, but I think of it more like cranky old Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace. Like him, it conceals a current of sweetness beneath its bluster.It's hard to predict exact dates for maple sugaring season beca...
March 02, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Five Ways to Eat Coconut
The coconut has long been a staple of cuisine in tropical places. As the trend toward Eastern flavors picks up here in the States, coconut has shown up in many flavor forecast lists for 2010.The coconut is one of the most useful plants in the world. Some cultures use almost every part of the tree f...
March 01, 2010 |
By Abby Callard
Unconventional Ovens
The inventor of the Easy Bake Oven, Ronald Howes, died last week, as you may have heard. The news made me finally pay attention to those little ovens, a toy I neither owned nor noticed with any interest as a child, and I was startled to realize that baking temperatures can be achieved with a simple...
February 25, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Cooking Up a Storm
In case you haven't heard, the DC region got some serious snow this past weekend...some have been referring to it as "Snowpocalypse," "Snomaggedon," or just "SnOMG!"The world didn't end when about 24 inches of snow fell in as many hours, but life did come to a screeching halt for most of us. No wor...
February 08, 2010 |
By Amanda Bensen
Delicious Moments on Film
Movie award season kicked off recently with the Golden Globes, and continued Saturday night with the SAG awards, and Meryl Streep already added another trophy to her case. She won best actress in a musical or comedy for her comedic (and, you might say musical, considering her sing-song voice) portr...
January 25, 2010 |
By Lisa Bramen
