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Martha Stewart's next Big Idea
2008-02-02 20:08:00
I have just been over at Martha Stewart's site telling her what I think her next big project should be. The list is varied, including a lifestyle magazine for pet owners, which would have "pet crafts" (My cat won't hold still while I decoupage her.), Martha stores (Seriously, doesn't she have them?), and a merchandise line targeting a younger demographic (rolls eyes - isn't everything already?). My choice? A magazine for people with food allergies. At the moment, this is running even with the pets. I'll make you a deal. You vote for the food allergies magazine and I'll draw you a pattern for the ring-bearer pillow for your dog, if that's really what you want at your wedding. Martha wants your opinion. too. Stop by The Martha Blog and check out the list of contenders for the next Big Idea .

Are you supposed to waterboard cows?
2008-01-31 21:52:00
There is a lot of buzz on the 'net today about the video that the Humane Society took inside Hallmark Meat Packing, where workers are shown abusing downer cows as a means of getting their sick carcasses to the slaughter line. The video is sad, disgusting, and when you consider that this company is a major supplier for school lunches, downright scary. (link: Video of animal abuse at Hallmark Meat packing - be warned it is graphic)Downer cows are excluded from the food supply for a very good reason: they just might have Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) commonly known as, mad cow disease. There's also that pesky problem of contamination (e. coli, salmonella) from rolling around in the feces and other muck while they are being poked and prodded (by a forklift and high-powered water hoses in their noses, in this case) to slaughter. Makes it a bit clearer why we keep seeing e. coli in the burger, now doesn't it? As Rick Weiss discusses in his Washington Post article Video Reveal...
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Wandering the web...bacon, booze and other tasty tidbits
2008-01-24 22:42:00
For a number of reasons - mostly sloth, indecision, not wanting to brave the tundra outside my door, er, I mean research - I have been wandering around the web a bit today and there is some amusing stuff out there. Things I want to eat, things I want to drink, things I want...so I thought I'd share a few. Before we start, we should pour ourselves a drink. Something interesting. Something  local. Something that includes at least one basic food group. How about Bacon Vodka?  McAuliflower of Brownie Points  has been doing a little meandering of her own lately, but I think she still lives close enough to be local and I am quite sure she will back me up on bacon being its own food group so I am covered, right? More tidbits after the jump...If the drink is inadequate to satisfy your bacon craving, check out this Bacon Cheese Baconburger topped with something that could become one of my favorite things: Walla Walla Sweet Onion Mustard with Smokey Bacon. Because nothing sa...
More About: Booze , Wandering , Tidbits

Cooking classes in Skamokawa
2008-01-23 04:49:00
photo: Kathleen Morgain Would you like to learn to bake bread like those gorgeous loaves in the picture? If so, you are in luck. Kitty and Don Speranza, a pair of talented and passionate cooks who own The Inn at Crippen Creek Farm in Skamokawa, WA, are now offering cooking classes to the community as well as their overnight guests. Before moving out to eventinierTown, Don and Kitty owned and operated Mangiamo! Catering and Italian Eatery in Portland, Oregon. Their bread is such a huge hit at the Two Island Farm Market on Puget Island in Cathlamet, WA during the summer months that they started a bread subscription service to keep their customers happy in the off-season. (Ahem, their bread is so good that I buy their focaccia all summer long instead of making my own.)Classes vary from a 2-3 hour course to an immersion weekend for 2 or 3 couples with accommodations at the Inn.  Current topics include Artisan Bread Baking, Italian Country Cooking , Pizza and Calzone, and Quic...

Berry Marshmallows with Chocolate recipe
2008-01-19 08:01:00
The first week of January is the time of year for lofty goals and noble aspirations and the food world is no exception. Food-related resolutions seem to fall into two categories: Proscriptive and prescriptive. There are far more of the former and they mostly take the form of "I will change my diet by not eating sugar, fat, HFCS, bread, chocolate, and so on." There are, to be fair, some positive "I will eat..." resolutions out there (mine is to grow some vegetables along with the herbs in my garden) but most of them are framed in the negative. What a way to start the year, with a list of things you are going to deny yourself! Far more fun are the prescriptive resolutions. I particularly like "I will make ____ for the first time." and the ones that start "I will learn to..." If I was forced to make New Year's resolutions - and thankfully, I am not - I would fall into this camp so I have a soft spot for them.One resolution I have seen several times this week is "I wil...
More About: Recipe , Berry , Chocolate

Plastic knife pot roast (with recipe)
2008-01-16 07:13:00
Tonight I bring you the tale of the plastic knife and the pot roast, in which we will attempt to answer the question: Will the little red plastic knife be able to cut up vegetables for a pot roast or will it have to call on the reinforcement knife lurking in the background? The bright red beauty is a Zyliss salad knife - theory being that if you cut your salad with plastic/nylon instead of metal the lettuce won't oxidize and turn icky brown. I tear lettuce for salad by hand so that purpose was of little interest to me, but I have been looking for kid-safe tools and wondered if it would work to cut veggies but not fingers.  Setting my expectations at some reasonable level, I decided that I would try something soft to start with. Handing the knife and a tomato to someoneElse, I watched, ready to admit defeat when the knife mangled the tomato. Except it didn't.  When can kids do that? Michelle Stern of What's Cooking posted Can They Do It? ...
More About: Recipe , Plastic , Knife , Roast

Menu for Hope: We have a winner!
2008-01-11 19:32:00
The oh-so-busy Pim has posted the list of Menu for Hope prize winners over at Chez Pim. More important than any individual winner, though, is the total. We collectively raised over $90,000. That's about a 50% increase over last year's total. Pretty darned good for a bunch of cheese sandwich freaks fans. I am really excited to be able to start on my very, special 'cookies for Carolyn Comiskey' - Hey, I even got an alliterative winner! Do you suppose she'll like chocolate? Coconut? Creamy fillings? We will all have to wait and see what creative confection Carolyn inspires but in the meantime, go see if you won anything.
More About: Winner

food thermodynamics: place your bets
2007-07-09 01:23:00
QuestionHow long will it take to thaw a 40 pound turkey in a small refrigerator that is set to 36-38F? Additional data points It is one of those dorm/hotel room sized refrigerators and the turkey occupies ~80% of it. We took out all the shelving and there is a little freezer section. It is in my garage, which is warm, probably upper 70s, in the daytime and cools down to ~mid-60s at night. It's been about 36 hours so far and I can press down on the breast maybe 1/2 inch before hitting stuff that is solidly frozen. Maybe. (Did I mention this sucker is HUGE?) There's bragging rights, if not much else, at stake here. I'll post a guess later - I think we've got a few days to contemplate this question before it gets much closer to thawed. Then I have to figure out what to do with it...
More About: Food , Place , Bets , Lace , Thermodynamics

Pesto Rolls
2007-06-21 04:07:00
Over at A Year in Bread, one of my other playgrounds, I just posted my recipe for the current round of "summer breads": Pesto Rolls. Made like a savory cinnamon roll, but with baguette-ish dough, pesto and Parmesan, these are great for summer picnics where slicing and buttering is a hassle but plain bread is boring. I absolutely adore these things and start making them every summer as soon as I can get my hands on basil. Read the rest and get the recipe here. I also put up a flickr set of action photos taken while making them...and clutching a camera remote in my teeth. (yes, really)

totally OT (but funny)
2007-06-19 13:01:00
One of the other places I write is a place called Gather.com where my column, the kitchenMage's Apprentice is published twice a month. Gather is carving itself a niche somewhere between social networking and blogging with a smidge of "rewards" style revenue sharing* thrown in. (you get points for stuff and points eventually equate to gift cards or cash) It's an interesting mix of folks and the topics cover a lot of territory. I have been doing a bit of non-food writing there lately (I was silly enough to write an "Ask the feminist" open question piece. Oh my!) and it has been a lot of fun. A couple of days ago, I wrote this rant about plastic surgery that has gone too far called "How Do you tell a friend..." and it's currently featured on the home page! (Okay, so I excite easily, but it's the first thing like this I've written for publication in a while and I'm happy.) Should you decide that Gather looks like an interesting place and want to join, I'd be mighty gra...
More About: Funny , Ally

question for my non-US readers
2007-06-15 05:53:00
How do you measure ingredients for recipes? I have been trying to include all of the useful variations on measurements in my recipes lately but there are so many options! Did you know that there are US, Canada, and metric "cups"? How is that even supposed to work? I can't recall ever seeing "cup (Canada)" in a recipe and I used to live right next to the place. Maybe it's because there is only a smidge of difference (about a third of an ounce vs Europe which adds over an ounce and a half!) but still. (and is it a "Canada cup" or a "Canadian cup"? like the geese are Canada geese, not Canadian geese - although some of them may live there...at least in the summer.) ...but i digress... Back to measurements. Having the Internet literally at my fingertips, I thought I would go look at a mass market site like the BBC to see how the Brits do it and discovered that they have only weights. US as well as metric, but still, only weights. Hmmm. Does everyone in Europe have...
More About: Question , Readers

Tools: Hooked on my spatula
2007-06-13 22:54:00
Maybe I excite too easily, but I just noticed the coolest thing: my spatula has a hook to keep it from sliding into the bowl! I am sure they have made these for years and I've been too busy cooking to notice, but wow, what a difference this makes. The bowl the handle is leaning of the edge of in the picture is HUGE and I am always fishing spoons out of the half-made bread dough they slide down into. Ugh! But no more! I discovered this wonderful little hooker (that'll get me google hits) and now my gooey troubles are over. Want one? Run over to Amazon and snag your very own spatula of wonder. Next thing: can someone tell me how many years ago they started making the little tipout things on the front of the sink cabinets? You know, the ones you are supposed to store sponges and stuff in. I figured out they existed a couple of years ago and the first tow people I mentioned it to looked at me like I had been offplanet for decades. Have they always been there? I feel so oblivi...
More About: Tools , Hook

Melamine, US manufacturers get into the act
2007-05-31 04:56:00
Ahem. For any of you who thought that the problem was limited to not-so-well-patrolled imported foodstuff, check this out.The FDA alerted feed manufacturers that ingredients containing melamine and related compounds were found in products made by Tembec BTLSR Inc. of Toledo, Ohio, and used by Uniscope Inc. of Johnstown, Colo. Tembec makes two products, AquaBond and Aqua-Tec II, which it distributes for Uniscope. The products are used in fish feed. Uniscope also makes a product for livestock feed called Xtra-Bond, and it uses ingredients produced by Tembec. The FDA advised feed manufacturers and others not to use the products and to contact the two manufacturers.source It is probably a good thing that I have a pair of looming deadlines, otherwise I might say something I would regret in the outloud voice. And we wouldn't want that.
More About: Manufacturers , Melamine , Manu , The A , Manufacturer

wcb: Farmgirl's virtualCat is just beau'ful!
2007-05-27 11:53:00
I am fortunate to have a valiant protector in Mr Bowtie 'ssouri, who is also Farmgirl's virtualCat - which is fortunate for her because he is one MOUTHY thing. She says it's because he's hungry, while someoneElse says it's because he is ready to be marinated in lemon and pepper for dinner. 'ssouri says nothing - which is a rare thing indeed. Today he spent some time out in the sun with me, protecting me from the wily grass. Do you think if I fed him herbs instead he'd taste better? Weekend Cat Blogging is at the House of the (Mostly) Black Cats this week - click here to bring on the cute.
More About: Beau , Virt

cookie lavender!
2007-05-22 12:47:00
"Is this cookie lavender?" Sarah looked up from her herb snipping with a big grin. "I hope it's cookie lavender!" Most people probably associate lavender with soap or maybe perfume, but not cookies! Who has ever heard of lavender cookies? Well, let's start with the obvious: yes, they smell like lavender! (and butter, if that helps) The scent is either intoxicating or...well, off-putting might be an appropriate term. I have taken these to several parties and I love the reactions. Some people smell them and immediately get the lavender scent. I can tell because the response is usually a skrinched nose accompanied by a moment while a polite way of ask if they contain...umm, err, soap is sought. (Seriously, I can see the wheels whir. The thought goes: "These smell like soap! OMG! I can't say that? But she knows how to cook! How could she...but she must have tasted one...but...SOAP!" So far, I haven't laughed, but it is getting harder.) Others simpl...
More About: Cook , Ender , Vender , Cookie

Three little lambs
2007-05-13 12:38:00
It's spring and I would be here, except that there are things like this out there! Saw these guys on the way to the CSA and farm market. I love the spray paint - there are a couple hundred sheep and they are sprayed several different colors, makes for a weird looking field!
More About: Three , Litt

Chocolate dipped candied citrus peel
2007-05-02 07:11:00
Some friends of mine made these recently, using oranges, grapefruit and limes. Of these, the lime was the surprise favorite of the evening, resulting in some amusing jockeying for proxiity to the last plate of treats. While I haven't made these myself, I would guess that you can easily double the amount of peel without increasing the amount of other ingredients. More than that and I would increase the amount of water in which the peel is boiled and make more syrup. Chocolat e -dipped Candied Citrus Peel Candied Citrus Peelfruit (pick one) ~ oranges 6 | grapefruit 4-5 | lemons 12 | limes 18water 12 cups (divided in thirds)water 1 1/2 cups sugar 4 1/2 cupssugar 1/2 cup Peel fruit in long strips using a paring knife. Remove any white pith from the peel and cut peel into 1/2 x 2 inch pieces. Put 4 cups of water in a heavy saucepan and bring it to a boil. Add the peel, let it boil again. Cover and reduce heat to low for 20 minutes. Drain. Repeat two more t...
More About: Died , Late

Wahkiakum County’s 3rd Annual Ag Summit
2007-04-28 17:30:00
Join local food enthusiasts and farmers on Saturday, May 5th to network and hear from agricultural and marketing experts, and learn to tap into expanding markets for organic and locally produced foods. The event begins at 9:30 a.m. with keynote speaker Tim Crosby of 21 Acre Farm in Woodinville, Washington.  Crosby was recently featured in the Capital Press emphasizing the value of eating locally produced foods to food security and the economy. "When food is fresh, local and tied to farmers who are benefiting their communities, everyone comes out ahead," he explained.   Morning sessions will also include Gary Burkhalter, a Rosburg dairy farmer, speaking on his family farm’s transition to organic and selling through the Organic Valley cooperative. A representative from the WSDA Organic program will speak in the afternoon on organic certification.  Afternoon sessions also include Mary Embleton, executive director of Cascade Harvest Coalition and ...
More About: Summit , Count , Annual

revisiting Gastroblogia
2007-04-28 05:39:00
In honor of International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, albeit a bit belatedly, I extend this bit of linky love to Miz D. of Belly-Timber who reminded me of this marvelously funny bit of writing: Mighty Cheese Warriors: An Historical Perspective For anyone who was around during the Pete Wells cheese sandwich absurdity, here's a chance to revisit one of the sweetest pieces of writing to come out of that affair. Newcomers might want to read Kalyn's backgrounder (the link in this paragraph) before going on to Mighty Cheese Warriors. I'd also like to welcome Miz D. back, she's been MIA for a bit while relocating and resettling and I've missed her and Chopper Dave's antics. She's one of my favorite pixel-stained technopeasant wretches.
More About: Visi , Visit , Astro , Logi

pizza is a gateway bread...
2007-04-25 12:40:00
Many people, even accomplished cooks, approach yeasted bread with more than a bit of trepidation. While the vision of a beautifully risen loaf of bread with a glossy, caramelized crust lures many a would-be baker, the reality all too often remains sadly out of reach. I think the fact that there are so few ingredients-flour, water, yeast, and salt are essential, all else is embellishment-is intimidating. It seems to put so much responsibility on the baker. Daunting. Depending on how you go about learning to bake bread, the process can be daunting. Brea d baking has its own terminology (some in French), techniques that look simple can be anything but, and who knew there were so many kinds of flour? It is little wonder that many people don't even know where to start. If only they had someone to tell them...                                          &n...
More About: Pizza , Gateway

I promise you an herb garden...
2007-04-18 05:49:00
Once upon a time, the kitchenMage had the herb garden of her dreams. Wisteria draped the entrance arbor, opening onto a herringbone path interplanted with thyme and moss and edged with lavender and a plethora of mints. Herb s, both common and rare, filled this garden and new finds were constantly finding their way there. Rare thymes and more mints than she could name filled the beds, and the air, with intoxicating scents. A few choice trees also lived there: the prized sweet bay, a pink dogwood bent near horizontal from its attempts to survive its old home, and the maples (no two the same) that defined the border. Oh, I'm sorry! I was daydreaming there for a minute. While I would love to have that herb garden again (and it is worth a look, although I apologize for the old, not so great photos) the sad fact is that I don't. Worse, I won't have anything like it for a few more years to come. A few summers from now, I expect to once again walk through a garden like that, although no...
More About: Garden , Promise , Arden , Garde