Happy Monday! The sun is shining, the trees are blooming, and it's Birthday Week -- aka, Week of Indulgence. Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines indulgence as "the behavior or attitude of people who allow themselves to do what they want or who allow other people to do what they want." That pretty much sums up how I'm … Continue reading Eat Local: Alexander’s Patisserie in Mountain View
Category: Food
Waste-Less Wednesday: Fresh Herbs
Earlier this year, a reader posted a great question to 650Food's Facebook page: I have a "minimizing food waste" question. I bought loads of fresh herbs for holiday cooking. Some I have in a cup of water in the fridge, but others are in their mini plastic clamshell awaiting turning into mush before being dumped … Continue reading Waste-Less Wednesday: Fresh Herbs
Cook Local: DIY Crunchy Peanut Butter
If you were following along with last week's user test of Alice Medrich's Peanut Crunch Brownies, then you might recall that I found myself sans a key ingredient when it came time to make said brownies. Yup, not a spoonful of crunchy, salted natural peanut butter in the house. Crap. While I will happily make … Continue reading Cook Local: DIY Crunchy Peanut Butter
User Testing Gluten-Free Peanut Crunch Brownies
I love cookbooks. Some people collect animal figures, vinyl records, or jewelry. Not me. Nope, I collect cookbooks. Not intentionally. I mean, it didn't start out that way, but after 30 years of acquiring cookbooks, I think it's fair to say that I have a collection. Ever since I was a kid, I've loved the … Continue reading User Testing Gluten-Free Peanut Crunch Brownies
Waste-Less Wednesday: Preserved Lemons
Last December, during one of my it's-the-holidays-so-I'm-indulging excursions to Whole Foods, I spied containers of preserved lemons. Nothin' fancy, just small, whole Eureka lemons, juice, salt, and citric acid in plastic deli containers. I'll admit it was a total impulse buy. Preserved lemons weren't even on my radar, but eh, it was the holidays, after … Continue reading Waste-Less Wednesday: Preserved Lemons
Waste-Less Weekend: Lemonpalooza
Due to technical difficulties, this week's Waste-Less Wednesday post is appearing today. Hey, now you have some waste-less projects for the weekend. Carry on. It's that time of year again: I'm up to my ass in lemons. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a wee bit, but between the Eurekas from my backyard and the Meyers from … Continue reading Waste-Less Weekend: Lemonpalooza
Drink Local: Finding Your Bliss
It's 3pm, and you're looking at a jam-packed few hours between now and dinner time. Maybe you've got back-to-back meetings or are shuttling the kids to and fro -- or a combo of the two. How about a caffeine fix to get you through the rest of the day? If you work or live near … Continue reading Drink Local: Finding Your Bliss
Waste-Less Wednesday: No-Recipe Soup
Why is that food cravings have no sense of timing and just won't respect your schedule? Yesterday I was craving a bowl of fresh, homemade, flavorful soup. Problem? I had about 25 minutes to assemble and consume this fantasy soup before I had to be somewhere. Yikes! There was no way I had the time … Continue reading Waste-Less Wednesday: No-Recipe Soup
Lesson Learned: Making Lamingtons
This is a story of how best-laid plans and good intentions kinda went off the rails. ICYMI, January 26 was Australia Day. Kind of a big deal -- national holiday and all that -- Australia Day is the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet at Port Jackson, aka Sydney Harbor. Lacking a better … Continue reading Lesson Learned: Making Lamingtons
Eat Local: American Pie
Happy Pie Day! (No, not Pi Day -- that's in March, natch.) If you didn't know, January 23 is the official day to indulge in that comforting, flavorful, make-me-feel-like-a-kid-again combination of flaky, tender crust and your favorite filling. Whether you like fruity, creamy, nutty, crunchy, hot, cold, room-temperature, you name it, there's a pie for … Continue reading Eat Local: American Pie