Discovery Monday

11 March 2013 Links
Thumbnail image for Discovery Monday

A few recent discoveries, as well as some mail-order food finds in case you’re in need of a pick-me-up in these last days of winter… Parents of kids with severe allergies will want to read Sunday’s encouraging New York Times Magazine piece on Dr Kari Nadeau, a Stanford doctor on a mission to change the [...]

Read the full article →

Kung pao (gong bao) shrimp

1 March 2013 Asian
Thumbnail image for Kung pao (gong bao) shrimp

I love my mom. After a week away from the house, she does not for one second contemplate toast for dinner. She washes rice for the rice cooker, throws some frozen shrimp in a bowl of cold water, scavenges bits of onion, carrot and cabbage from the near-empty refrigerator. After a fragrant stir fry with [...]

Read the full article →

Ritzy chicken fingers

20 February 2013 Chicken/poultry
Thumbnail image for Ritzy chicken fingers

There’s no avoiding snack food with four kids in the house (I don’t want to be the strict health-nut mom whose kids go to college and eat Froot Loops three times a day), but snack foods never crossed into my cooking until my friend Jenny got my kids hooked on her chicken strips rolled in [...]

Read the full article →

Remembering bread

15 February 2013 Diet
Thumbnail image for Remembering bread

I have a beef with Starbucks, and it’s not about coffee – I’m a tea drinker – it’s about bread. My favorite bread, an old-school, Poilane-like whole wheat levain called pain Pascal at Trader Joe’s, has disappeared, and it turns out Starbucks is responsible for taking away one of the few breads I feel entirely [...]

Read the full article →

Chinese steamed sponge cake (ji dan gao)

8 February 2013 Asian
Thumbnail image for Chinese steamed sponge cake (ji dan gao)

Nobody goes to a Chinese restaurant for dessert. Dairy products such as cream and butter, so essential to pastry, were uncommon in China until recent years. Even today, ovens are not typically found in Chinese kitchens. Traditional Chinese treats are made on the stovetop – fried goodies such as sweet, chewy sesame seed balls made [...]

Read the full article →

Ham and cabbage soup

31 January 2013 Food
Thumbnail image for Ham and cabbage soup

I hear what you’re thinking: First she dishes out health advice (bleh), followed by salad (lady, it’s cold out, give me some real food!), and now soup? With cabbage? Enough already! But truly, this soup is no punishment – it’s honest comfort food for dreary days. Technicolor summer calls for bright, gorgeous food. But the [...]

Read the full article →

Northstar Café salad

23 January 2013 Food
Thumbnail image for Northstar Café salad

All restaurants have salads, but very few have good ones. Maybe it’s the low expectations: plenty of people would send back a disappointing appetizer, or main dish, or dessert, but no one sends back a salad for being limp, overdressed, or uninteresting. With so much creative talent in restaurant kitchens, too little of it makes [...]

Read the full article →

Healthy new year

14 January 2013 Brain food
Thumbnail image for Healthy new year

Good news for food lovers from 2012: starving yourself will not make you live longer. All those calorie-restrictive diets that increased life expectancy of lab rats by 30 to 40 percent? It turns out the concept doesn’t extend to primates. I’m sure some people (the intentionally-starving ones) might have found this news disappointing. But to [...]

Read the full article →

Vincenzo’s

4 January 2013 Columbus, OH
Thumbnail image for Vincenzo’s

Columbus, Ohio is a surprisingly great town for food. Ohio is one of the most diverse states in the Midwest, and the Ohio State University, third largest university in enrollment in the country, draws students and faculty from around the world. This is a city that appreciates and supports its food culture, from a lively [...]

Read the full article →

Mango Bellini

31 December 2012 Beverages
Thumbnail image for Mango Bellini

It’s funny that I’ve featured several beverages here recently, when normally I’m a very boring water drinker. I love the idea of cocktails, but usually I’m so busy with food I can’t fuss with drinks. My friend Lisa – who is never boring – inspired me when she came over with ingredients not just for [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →