Recipes
Kitchen Performance Anxiety
I think I'm suffering from hostophobia, or fear of being an incompetent host (I know, it's not really a word, but maybe it'll make it onto the Schott's Vocabulary blog). My fiancé and I are throwing a housewarming party in a couple of days, and it will be the first time we have been responsible for...
October 02, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Baking a Punctual Cake
Today marks the 6th observance of National Punctuation Day.What does that have to do with food? Well, let me tell you. For the past five years This year, people have celebrated are celebrating the holiday with a baking contest. The challenge: bake in the shape of punctuation. So, in the spirit of t...
September 24, 2009 |
By admin
Five Ways to Eat Apples
Honeycrisp, Gala, Macoun, Gingergold, Cortland, Macintosh... our fridge was full of apples after a recent trip to visit friends on the north shore of Massachusetts. We went to one of my favorite old haunts there, Russell Orchards in Ipswich, where the smell of fresh cider donuts is even stronger th...
September 22, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Making Cooking Safer in the Developing World
A cooking stove called the Chulha just won an INDEX award for "design to improve life." Why? Because according to the World Health Organization, about half of all households worldwide—and 90 percent of rural households—get their cooking and heating fuel from "biomass" sources like coal, wood, charc...
September 21, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Cooking With Middle Eastern Spices
A local friend of mine recently received a bounty of fresh Middle Eastern spices, courtesy of a friend visiting from Qatar."I asked her to bring me a few spices, and she went to the market and asked for a half a kilo of everything!" my friend explained. "Want some?"What a happy coincidence—we had ...
September 15, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Living Without An Oven---Would You?
Hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend!Ours involved moving between apartments, which is never fun, but my husband and I are happy to have more space. There’s just one problem with our new place: It doesn’t have an oven. Not a full-sized one, anyway.Instead, there’s a four-burner range to...
September 08, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Five Ways to Eat Fresh Figs
I hope I didn't freak you out too much last week by pointing out that most figs have bugs in them—tiny wasps that basically dissolve within the fruit as it ripens—because fresh figs are wonderful! They're in season in many places right now, so enjoy them while you can.Due to a vacationing neighbor'...
August 27, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Cooking with the Season
As I explained a few months ago, my husband and I have been participating in a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program for the first time this year.I can't recommend the experience strongly enough; if you have the chance to sign up for one in your area next year, do it! Our half-share worked ...
August 24, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Five Ways to Eat Tomatoes
If you have a garden, a seasonal CSA share, or a generous friend with either of those things—and if your region escaped the blight—then I bet you've got a lot of tomatoes on your hands right now. (Maybe they're even heirloom tomatoes, which some swear are superior, though others disagree.) Here are...
August 17, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
The Chef who Cooked for Julie & Julia
New York City-based food stylist Colin Flynn, 36, was the executive chef for the new movie Julie & Julia. He told Food & Think blogger Amanda Bensen what it was like cooking for Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and the lingering legend of Julia Child
Amanda Bensen: What’s your background, and why ...
August 12, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Getting to Know Julia Child, Finally
I made some new friends at the American History museum last week: a few fellow bloggers and food lovers, as well as a famous professional chef who has written or inspired more than a dozen books. She's technically dead, but you can hardly tell; there's so much life in the words, images and objects ...
August 07, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Food of the Moment: Squash Blossoms
I'm used to being invaded by squash at this time of year, as many of you probably are too—paper sacks full of zucchini left on the front porch by neighbors were a common perk (or hazard) of small-town Vermont summers.This summer, I'm noticing squash all over the place again, but in a less familiar ...
July 30, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
The Best Fish and Chips in Ireland
After a wonderful wedding and vacation, I'm back, and hugely grateful to Lisa and guest bloggers Abigail Tucker and Ashley Luthern for feeding the blog so richly in my absence!Our honeymoon took us to Ireland and northern Wales, destinations which I confess attracted me in part because they aren't ...
July 16, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Piranha Recipes From an Extreme Angler
During 25 years exploring the world’s most remote and treacherous rivers, extreme angler Jeremy Wade—the star of River Monsters, Animal Planet’s hit fishing show—has contracted malaria, survived a plane crash and narrowly escaped drowning. He’s also eaten some pretty funky fish.“I’ve been known to ...
July 06, 2009 |
By admin
Did Cooking Make Us Human?
The 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth has prompted a lot of reflection this year on how our understanding of evolution has progressed since the introduction of his theory. One persistent question has been how, and why, humans came to be so different from our primate ancestors. What is it ...
June 22, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Swiss Chard Pizza
As I mentioned earlier, Mr. FaT and I are buying most of our fruits and veggies through a CSA share program for the first time. A month in, I'm totally hooked, and the produce section at my local supermarket seems almost like a different planet—what are those rock-hard things masquerading as tomato...
June 15, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
A Shocking Ingredient: Sechuan Buttons
Imagine eating Pop Rocks—no, peppercorn-flavored Pop Rocks—along with the fizziest, tartest lemon soda you've ever tasted. At the same time you are chewing some minty gum, and maybe have had a mild shot of Novocaine, producing not only numbness but a rush of salivation. That would come close to des...
June 12, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Upcoming Culinary Lectures and Tastings
The Smithsonian Resident Associates program offers lectures and educational events on a range of topics, but for obvious reasons, I find their culinary arts programs the most interesting.Here's a peek at what's coming up this summer, for those of you who live in the DC area or are planning a visit:...
June 10, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Foodjects: Art on the Table
There's a stylish home goods store in downtown DC called Apartment Zero, the kind of place where I like to window-shop and dream of purposefully chosen domestic decor. (My current stuff is quite eclectic, but not in the stylish sense—more like an unfortunate yard sale.)This week I noticed something...
June 04, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Asparagus Fries
Hi, my name is Amanda, and I'm addicted to asparagus. In all forms, really, but my latest obsession is a little embarrassing, since I like to think of myself as a healthy eater: Asparagus Fries. Or in other words...Fried Asparagus.I blame an old friend for getting me hooked. A few months ago, she t...
May 28, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
