The Great American Menu
I thought this was interesting. What’s your home state and its signature food? Find out here:http://deadspin.com/the-great-american-menu-foods-of-the-states-ranked-an-1349137024/@Jessica
Tag: Food
Padrones in Paradise
Padrones don’t ask for much. They need very little. These small peppers don’t need to be seeded or peeled, stuffed or marinated. They just need a little bacon, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Saute them over high heat and watch …
End of Summer Treats
Behold a sassy jalapeño margarita, padrone peppers with pancetta, and an heirloom tomato salad with figs, arugula and feta. Thanks, Healdsburg Bar and Grill!
What are your favorite foods to eat during Indian summer?
The Ark of Taste
A few months ago, Inside Sonoma published this article on rare local foods. Sonoma County has four of the 200 regional foods recognized on the Slow Food Movement’s “Ark of Taste” list of foods under threat. Photo by Ariane, Inside Sonoma Our specialties include: dry …
Delicious Summer Pasta
It’s true, I eat a lot of pasta. But can you really ever eat too much pasta? The other day, I found myself with a great mix of flavors and textures to make a typical bowl of pasta feel gussied up. This could easily be …
A Box of Young Coconuts
Last weekend I made my first trip to the Asian grocery store in town. It’s time I get away from my Euro-American cooking comfort zone and explore some new terrain. I asked my friend Chuck if she needed me to pick up anything.
“Maybe just a box of young coconuts.”
A box? I looked all over the store, moving in slow motion along the aisles as I scanned every product. Thank goodness almost everything had a picture on the package. So many totally unfamiliar ingredients! I had a time just finding the basics to getting my feet wet, like soy sauce, nori, miso and soba noodles.
I finally went to the counter and asked the clerk. “How many boxes?” she asked. “We’ll bring to your car.”
“Just one.” I had no idea what Chuck would even do with these.
Drink them! If you’re on board with the coconut water craze, this is the source. They do wonders for getting you hydrated and are a cheaper way to go than the fancy water bottles in stores. Chuck’s boyfriend showed me how to hack them open.
Just give them a couple hits with a hatchet, grab a straw and drink!
As to what to do with the rest of the meat inside, I have no idea. Any suggestions? Young coconuts have their own fan page, so that’s my first stop in navigating their mystery.
Procession of Game
“In 1886, we gorged. In 2012, we nibble.” So I read yesterday in an article by Robert Krulwich at NPR on the state of overfished waters in the past century.See White House menus from 1886 titled, “Procession of Game.” SOUP Venison (Hunter style) Game Broth FISH Broiled Trout, …
It’s Our Right to Know!
Busy weekend getting those garden beds started? Well, before you plant all those tomatoes, check out the Label GMO’s site. They even print the reminder on seed packets. Pretty scary to think of how many innocent little seeds are genetically modified! We can change it, …
Lessons Learned from Live Chats
I needed the better part of the weekend to recover from a live chat on Friday discussing the future of food writing. (Okay, so there were some parties, too.) But seriously, for the precious pearls of wisdom gained from seasoned writers dishing out free advice, there was an awful lot to sift through.
My initial response is I needed to do some research on chat guidelines to make sure I wasn’t missing the mark. I found this great article at smallbiztrends.com for a little reassurance that my “virtual whiplash” as one tweeted was not unfounded.
The author Lisa Barone wrote, “If you’re not familiar with them, a Twitter chat is a guided conversation where users interested in a particular topic hop onto the service to chat. The chat is given a hashtag, which makes it easy for anyone looking in to identify the chat and participate. It’s similar to a chat room in that it’s a topic-driven conversation happening in real time; it just happens to be housed on Twitter.”
I couldn’t have found a better way to say that. She also suggests researching the chat topics beforehand, participating, asking questions, and taking advantage of the chat as a networking tool. All great advice!
Not sure if this chat was different, or just very busy from a lot of users. I found the re-tweeting got too heavy and created a lot of distance between answers to questions. In an active chat with an experienced panel, I would prefer to keep the little chit chat down so it is easier to follow.
Favorite things said:
Monica Bhide: parting words: write because you love it. Do it consistently and do it persistently.. The rewards are priceless. 🙂
Dianne Jacob: Writers are sensitive. Rejection can be difficult. The most important thing is to keep at it & believe in yourself.
Adam Roberts (Amateur Gourmet): My take on #futurefoodwriting: you can work your way up through established channels or create your own channel. I suggest the latter.
The Foodie Bugle: If food writers don’t focus on showcasing artisanal food producers they’ll have very little to write about in the future.
Dan Lepard: You are better than today’s writing, or tomorrows. Aim to be clearer, gritter every time.
Live Chat on the Future of Food Writing
If you’re catching this early, tune into the live chat on Twitter for an international discussion of the future of food writing. The handle is #futurefoodwriting with Amanda Hesser of Food52 and countless food bloggers, writers and journalists. Here’s a great link with guidelines for …