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 Chocolate & Zucchini
Clotilde Dusoulier
  
Laguiole Pocket Knife
And just like every child deserves cool gear to start a fresh school year, I have acquired a new little helper: please meet my Laguiole (pronounced 'lah-yoll') pocket knife. Eleven centimeters when folded, twenty when it stands at full height, it has a rosewood handle, a Swedish stainless steel blade, and a hand-forged, hand-etched spring adorned with the signature bee (some say it is a fly; I say feh). It is sharp, it is beautiful, and I haven't been this knife-proud since my father bought me a tiny opinel when I was eight.
Washington Post
Food & Dining
Better Meals From Humble Ingredients
For years, though, there was a problem. Many of the donated food items were unhealthful to begin with, and clients prepared them in ways that made them even worse. At the organization's medical clinic, the cause-and-effect relationship between poverty and obesity - as well as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease - became evident. So Bread for the City eliminated trans fats from the food bags and replaced red meat with fish, pork and poultry. That's where Chef on Call came in.
Passionate Cook
Johanna Wagner
Buttermilk & Apricot Crumble Cake
Unfortunately, the word "self-catering" tends to send keen cooks like myself into spasms, only "camping" can get a stronger adverse reaction. Why? Most self-catering accommodations offer little more equipment than you could actually carry with you on a seven-day hike in the mountains - apart from mix-and-match crockery that invariably looks like a veritable graveyard of wedding presents almost a century old, you will invariably find a thin-based and wobbly pot that is barely big enough to cook pasta for one, blunt knives with so many dents you could think it's serrated and a non-stick frying pan with as little coating as a B-list porn star.
Vinography
Alder Yarrow
Redefining Wine Geek
But that may all have to change now that there is a wine drinking game for the Nintendo DS. Of course, it's in Japanese; is only available in Japan; and is really for wine beginners. But no matter. The convergence of wine and video games may be too much for my weak will to resist. Once a geek, always a geek. Though hopefully with slightly better taste these days.
Simply Recipes
Elise Bauer
Chai Ice Cream Recipe
According to historian Lizzie Collingham in her terrific Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors, the English popularized tea drinking in India in the early 1900s as a way to expand the market for the tea they were growing there. To the great distress of the British marketers of the time, the locals insisted on adding way more sugar and milk than would be considered proper by English standards and, adding insult to injury, spicing it up a bit with cardamom, pepper, cinnamon. All I can say is Thank Goodness. Spicy, milky, sweet chai is one of my favorite ways to drink black tea.
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Splendid Table
American Public Media
Donuts
Food historian John T. Edge joins us this week with a dissertation on the little ring of dough that became a patriot, a movie star, and stirred up some good old American ingenuity. The recipe for Zingerman's Roadhouse Donuts is from John's new book, Donuts: An American Passion.
Cooks Illustrated
Current Issue
In This Issue
La Tartine Gourmande
Béatrice Peltre
A Visit to Carmel Valley
On the night of our arrival, dinner resembled almost a banquet. The air was crisp and clear, but we did not mind. There, we were served deliciously fresh, local food: barbecued whole sea bass freshly caught in the morning, beef tartar, a wide selection of grilled summer vegetables, mixed salads, chicken served with couscous, lamb chops cooked to perfection and to finish, fresh berries and chocolate truffles. I do not know how we managed to eat all this food, or how we could possibly leave the table feeling light, but we did. And still the following morning, we managed to wake up early. "Is it sunny like this every day?"
The Pour
Eric Asimov - New York Times
Judging the Judging
While I have been critical of blind tastings, it may well be that they remain the best way to taste large numbers of wines. The absolute best way to evaluate wine, over time with a meal, is not always practical. So I'm not saying eliminate all blind tastings. I am saying take them with a grain of salt. Do not award them an authority they don't possess. Let's stay humble about wine. Let's be comfortably ambivalent rather than so sure of ourselves.
David Lebovitz
David Lebovitz
Why Think, When I Can Link?
What the heck is couverture?
I'm afraid that even I don't know what's couverture anymore! It used to be anything with a higher-than-normal cocoa butter content, but now I can't tell and no one seems to know.
Traveler's Lunchbox
Melissa Kronenthal
Bits and Bites
I must be living under a rock, because I had no idea that the consensus for many people is that the term foodie is as passé as cucumber foam, implying culinary elitism and a slavish devotion to trends. It's not exactly clear to me which term is poised to take its place - chowhound? epicure? food freak? - but whether you agree with it or not, it would seem that self-designation as a foodie is now verging on a political statement. ...but as linguists are so fond of saying (okay, maybe they're not, but they should be), the only guarantees in life are death, taxes and semantic shift. Nevertheless, it kind of puts me in a quandary. "You can call me whatever you want, just don't call me late for dinner."
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Cooking with Amy
Amy Sherman
Favorite Things: Route 29 Napa
While I was a little confused at first as to why the brand name is Route 29 Napa and the company is located in Minneapolis, I like their candy nonetheless. ...chocolate covered potato chips. It's that sweet salty combo I crave. It may not be as trendy as chocolate covered bacon, but it works. I find that both of these candies are rich and satisfying enough that I don't go overboard eating them, but maybe that's just a sign of my amazing self control.
Orangette
Molly Wizenberg
The Last Hurrah, II
Alright, world. Today I have just three words for you, and I hope you'll remember them, because it's important. They are brown, and buttered, and corn. They're what you'll be having for dinner tonight, if you know what's good for you. It's nobody's diet fare, sure, but corn season is almost over, and do you really think, come mid-winter, that you'll regret having spent these last moments of summer in a sea of caramelly butter? I don't think so. It's a real lip-licker of a last hurrah.
New York Times
Dining and Wine
Lunch With Alice Waters, Food Revolutionary
Unlike the others, the new book reads more like an organic "Joy of Cooking," designed to instruct novices on how to make a perfect vinaigrette but also intended to be as essential to experienced cooks as the final Harry Potter installment was to 12-year-olds. Although she is enthusiastically mocked in some circles for the impossible goals she articulates in a wispy cadence, chefs who once sniffed that her methods were more about shopping than cooking now agree that the heart of great food is selecting the best ingredients. Because true, radical change - a country full of people who eat food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it and good for the earth - is simply not coming fast enough.
Tea & Cookies
Tea Austin
Good-bye to the Garden
But mostly I'm pleased with what I have built, small and amateur though it may be. I don't think of myself as a gardener yet, but there's a tremendous sense of satisfaction at carving something out of brush and woodchips, of creating a little world that hadn't been there before. So much of our work these days - or perhaps just my work - doesn't ever result in a tangible product. It's a great feeling to be able to point to something and say, I made that. It's serious stuff when they talk about "putting down roots." I'm not looking forward to the transplant process.
101 Cookbooks
Heidi Swanson
Red Rice Salad Recipe
Robin Asbell's New Whole Grains Cookbook is brimming with beautifully photographed rice, quinoa, buckwheat, and millet preparations - this red rice salad made for a hearty and satisfying lunch last week. The full title hints at a few of the components at play - Indonesian Red Rice Salad with Boiled Eggs and Macadamias. The end result, a rice salad that is riveting to look at, with a wonderfully complex array of flavors and textures to enjoy. I encourage you to give it a go, but be forewarned, this is one of those recipes where you get to bone up on your knife skills.
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