April 2011
7 posts
Simple DIY Cooking Ideas →
“To see food as simply good or bad nutrition also medicalizes it, underplaying...”
– Alice Julier, “The Political Economy of Obesity: The Fat Pay All”
Grilled Vegetable Salad
“Flavour is, among other things, a repository of feeling and memory: just as a smell is said to be the most redolent sense, so the flavour of a certain dish can transport us back instantaneously to the time and place we first experienced it, or experienced it most memorably” - Niki Segnit, The Flavour Thesaurus
Grilled Vegetable Salad is one of those dishes that...
“In Europe, I saw the difference: that farmers grew for chefs, and the every day...”
– Larry Forgione’s observations about the American food system in the 80’s
Scones
I have returned to England permanently. Well, perhaps not permanently, but at least for a while… a long while… and I have decided to come to terms with it. I decided there was no better way to lure my American friends across the pond for a visit than the promise of homemade scones, so I set out to learn. I am sure I have confessed on this blog before that I am not much of a...
Back to Life
The sun came out in London this week. Full blown, squint-inducing, shorts-wearing, ice-cream licking, sit-outside-without-a-cardigan SUN granting us 70° days and long bright evenings. Now, 70° might not sound too exciting for you sun-worshiping Californians, but let me tell you, we (meaning me and the rest of the English population) could not have been more thrilled. There were picnics. There was...
January 2011
2 posts
Too Much Coffee
Starbucks is all over the news again. They have just introduced a new LARGER size in their American locations. The new size known as Trenta is 31 oz and for now is only available for cold drinks. Now, 961 ml of fluid fit into this cup…. more fluid than fits in the adult human stomach. Starbucks claims it was responding to overwhelming demand in the American market for larger iced drinks....
1 tag
Beet Burgers
In keeping with New Year’s health resolutions, the past two weeks for me have been almost meat free. Now, don’t get me wrong- I have no plans to become a vegan or even a vegetarian, but all of us could do with a few less animal products in our daily lives. On Monday I had lunch with my mom at an organic cafe in San Francisco called Plant, where we shared one of the most tasty and...
December 2010
20 posts
1 tag
Greek Mac and Cheese
Last night for dinner I was desperately in the mood for comfort food. I had been feeling kind of blue all day, stressed about the holidays and silly things like visas and returning to England in January, and just wanted to curl up. Plus, we went to see Somewhere on Monday, and I have been digging the idea of homemade Mac and Cheese since the moment Cleo asks the concierge at Chateau Marmont to...
1 tag
Pizza!
When I first began this blog over a year ago I posted a recipe inspired by my favorite pizza from Zinc Cafe. I suggested that the pizza be made using Trader Joe’s Pizza dough for $1.99. Times have changed greatly since I posted the recipe… I have begun baking my own bread, simmering my own chicken stock, and making pasta from scratch… so naturally I now make my own pizza dough!...
“The first printed recipe for guacamole published in English in the United States...”
– Interesting fact from Saveur on a day when I am reminiscing about last summer’s Guac Off!
Weight Watchers Changes their Points System →
Weight Watchers is one of the most popular weight loss regimes in the world. The whole program is successful because of it’s simplicity. Foods are assigned numerical values and weight loss is dependent on sticking to a specific point regiment. In general the mantra is on point nutritionally…. vegetables good, chocolate cake bad… but there have been deviations from that that...
1 tag
Quick Asian Chicken Salad
It is incredibly easy to feel bogged down by food choices in the winter months. Root vegetables are in season and it’s cold outside, making it easy to do roast after roast. Not to mention the abundance of baked goods and “holiday cheer”. This week our bodies were not so subtly telling us they had had too much and it was time for something much lighter for dinner. I scrapped up...
Driven by Flavor: A Conversation with Dan Barber →
I have been trying to upload just the audio, but I can’t figure it out— so here is the link. Check it out! I love listening to Dan Barber speak… it inspires me about the future of the food revolution!
Nate Appleman at Chipotle? →
I don’t normally write about celebrity chefs or restaurant gossip. In general the tabloid-esque aspect of restaurant buzz has no baring on anything that I care about in food, but this is somewhat interesting. Nate Appleman, the award-winning chef who opened San Francisco’s A-16 and then left for a turn at opening a Keith McNally restaurant- Pulino, has now left to work for Chipotle....
Obesity a Greater Threat to National Security than... →
Click to read this super interesting article about obesity versus don’t ask don’t tell in the military. Where do you think we should be focusing our attention?
Sarah Palin Should Stop Grinding Her Sweet Tooth →
This is an incredibly important article about why it is so important that Sarah Palin and the tea partiers need to stop criticizing the Obama administration’s support for healthy child nutrition.
“I think it’s worth mentioning that one of the reasons the Obamas, Mrs. Obama in particular, has taken on healthy eating is that so many Americans are not only overweight, they are...
Juliane Recommends: Updated!
Sorry for leaving you hanging after posting about my new recommendation portion of the site. It is finally up and running and will be updated often! Check it out!
My Kitchen Counter Recommends...
The responsibility of making reservations when traveling has recently been passed down from my mom to me. From the perspective of everyone else on our family vacations, we “have great luck!” when traveling, as we “never have a bad meal”. Only my mom and I really understand that luck has nothing to do with it. We collect recommendations from friends we...
Sesame Street adds new Super Food muppets! →
“The fork is your most powerful tool to change your healthy and the planet; food...”
– Mark Hyman, MD
Why the School Lunch Bill Matters
The New York Times features research from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, sums up in a simple way how this legislation will reform school lunches going forward:
Whereas before lunch may have consisted of a fried chicken patty, white roll, canned green beans, whole milk, and a package of snack cakes (likely from a vending machine), kids can now look forward to lunches that...
November 2010
16 posts
Why Making Dinner is a Good Idea →
This is an incredibly interesting study on calorie consumption, enjoyment, and the effort put into making food. The general argument is that making your own food makes the consumption of the food more pleasurable. Studies show that perhaps we are not over eating because we are gluttons, but instead that people over eat when they aren’t satisfied by what is going into their mouth. Click the...
The Bitten Word's Thanksgiving Compilation
This is pretty cool. The guys over at The Bitten Word blog have compiled what the food magazines are suggesting for Thanksgiving 2010. They have word clouds showing what is popular and then an index of recipes from all over. Check it out for some holiday inspiration!
http://www.thedailymeal.com →
A new website in the food news world… Check it out!
While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes Cheese Sales →
Now… I like my cheese board as much as the next girl, but there is something seriously wrong with this picture.
WatchDid anyone catch this series on PBS? Nourish is hosted by Cameron Diaz and is meant to question where our food is coming from. There is a website… check it out… I’ll be ordering the DVD…
1 tag
Lasagne
A friend and I made lasagne for the first dinner party that we hosted in college. We used her mom’s Oklahoma recipe and made three variations: one meat, one turkey, and one veggie. I don’t remember the recipe exactly, but I do remember that there were three key ingredients no matter the variation: cottage cheese, mozzarella and heaps of parmesan. Now, if I told my Italian friends that...
"The Angry Chef" and Learning to Cook FOR Others
My good friend Claire recently returned to London from a trip to the states and with her brought back the October issue of Saveur for my reading pleasure. If you have never picked up a copy of the magazine, I suggest you do. It is probably the best of the food magazines out there, not for it’s recipes (although those are lovely) but for it’s stories and it’s photos. The art of...
1 tag
Mushroom Risotto
Risotto is one of those basics that once mastered gives you infinite possibility. Like other pasta dishes, you can pretty much chuck in whatever you want, a nice creamy mushroom or pumpkin and sage risotto for the fall, fresh peas and spring vegetables in the early spring, lobster when feeling decadent. The dish is a bit labor intensive, but it is worth the effort. There is...
1 tag
Quick, Before Apples Go Out of Season!
Make Apple Sauce!
My friend Peter is sort of the king of apple sauce. I mean, there might be better, but I haven’t tried it. The secret, according to him, is a nice long, SLOW simmer to give the apples a nice caramelization. Apple sauce is super easy to make and it freezes well if you want to put some away to remind you of fall when it is spring. Plus apple sauce...
October 2010
23 posts
Eat Your Fall Fruits and Veggies!
Fall is my favorite time of year for many reasons. I was always a sucker for back to school season. I love the smell of new notebooks and pens. Plus, it is tights and boots weather. Boyfriend’s grandpa cardigan weather. Cuddle by the fire with a book weather. And then the food! Remember all those songs you learned in elementary school about the bounty of the season? About giving thanks for...
1 tag
Lentils Du Puy
As promised: a recipe for lentils! These lentils du puy are a killer side dish or can be tossed with arugula, goat cheese and roasted butternut squash for a lovely salad.
Ingredients:
1 carrot, diced as finely as possible
2 shallots, diced as finely as possible
Leaves of 2 stems fresh thyme
1 1/4 cups lentils du Puy
1/3 cup red wine
3 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Extra...
It Gets Better
In light of the recent number of suicides of LGBT youth in the US, Dan Savage, a columnist who if you haven’t read, you should, began an internet campaign known as “It Gets Better”. The goal of the campaign is to show young gay and lesbian kids who think they have no way out, that no matter what they think: it gets better. People have jumped onto the bandwagon and now you can...
“According to Indian crop ecologist Vandana Shiva, humans have eaten some 80,000...”
– Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle