Expand your grill repertoire by incorporating grilled items into tasty summer soups.
Slashfood 8 (Ate): Summer Pudding
I've never considered myself a pudding person, as I'm not generally a fan of very soft or mushy foods. Bread pudding is wonderful, but pudding puddings always remind me of baby food or having my wisdom teeth. Recently, though, I've seen some very classy puddings pop up in the food blogosphere. Nothing gooey about them, they look sophisticated and absolutely delightful. Check some out:Creamy and Cold Banana Pudding from Bakerella
Effortless Banana Pudding from Su Good Sweets
Steamed Lemon Pudding via Oh Joy
Real Butterscotch Pudding from Jumbo Empanadas
Banana Pudding Smackdown (reviews) from Mac & Cheese
Steamed Blueberry Puddings from Morsels and Musings
Banana Pudding Ice Cream from Joy the Baker
Rich Risotto Rice Pudding from Sticky, Chewy, Messy Gooey, via Hostess with the Mostess
Cheese cake, not cheesecake, for your wedding
I'm not married, so I spend a lot of time thinking about my wedding cake-to-be. I often thumb through Martha's book on wedding cakes on the floor of Barnes & Noble, and I can't pass a window full of them without gazing longingly. They're just so beautiful.In all of this fantasizing, it's never occurred to me to think about having a cake made out of something other than cake. Like, for example, cheese. But apparently cheese cakes are becoming trendy in countries like New Zealand -- layers and layers of gorgeous, decorated cheese. Has anyone ever actually witnessed or tasted one of these? Would you consider having one?
Free slurpees today
Today, 7.11.08, 7-Eleven locations will celebrate the company's 81st birthday by handing out free slurpees! When I was in high school, I served as Editor-at-Large for my school's super intense newspaper, The Black & White. We'd publish about every two weeks, and spend every Tuesday and Wednesday of those weeks holed up in our cozy office until 10 p.m., when we'd pack up the school's computers (I'm not sure if our adviser knew that we did this) and take them to our houses to continue working for the rest of the night.
On the way home, we'd stop by 7-Eleven for late-night snacks. My one friend would always fill up a double-gulp of Code Red, and the rest of us would stock up on Slurpees and Swedish Fish. I can't drink one without remembering how cool we thought we were, zipping around in our parents cars at 10 p.m. on a school night, sipping slurpees.
In honor of the memory I'm going to swing by a 7-Eleven today for a Coke-flavored one. What flavor will you be getting?
Wash your hands before you go live
Healthy officials say celebrity chefs often fail to maintain basic hygiene standards, according to an article by BBC news.Interestingly, however, the article only cites one health official, but it states that the issue was brought up at a medical conference in Edinburgh. Crimes by the celebrity chefs include not washing lettuce and using the same utensils for raw meat and cooked foods. Guilty shows include BBC's Ready Steady Cook and Celebrity MasterChef, which I've actually never seen.
I'm not sure whether the problem, if it exists, happens here in the U.S. as well, as I have never thought about the issue while watching food TV. I guess I always presume that ingredients are pre-washed, or that the washing is edited out of programs like Top Chef and Iron Chef America. Your thoughts?
Slashfood Ate (8): Feeling blueberry
On the Fourth, I went with my parents and my boyfriend to pick blueberries, and we came home with 20 lbs. of them. Apparently, we're not the only ones with blueberries on the brain, since the food blogs have been teeming lately with lovely blueberry delights (even this one, see?). Here are a few of my favorites posts -- those that are in the running for using up the remaining 8 lbs. of blueberries in my refrigerator:blueberry gelato from Coconut & Lime
blueberry frozen yogurt from Jumbo Empanadas
creamy lemon and blueberry bars from Cookie Madness
blueberry and pineapple clafoutis from Tartelette
blueberry bran muffins from Cook Quick Easy Recipes
Something Blueberry -- a blog dedicated to the fruit
berry almond crumble from Simply Recipes
avocado and blueberry fruit salad from A Weight Lifted
Ideas for my pounds of blueberries? Please share.
TNFNS: So I was wrong. Alright.
I'm going to have to be completely honest and admit that I didn't catch the entire episode of The Next Food Network Star last night because I arrived home late from my grandfather's 90th birthday party (at a sushi restaurant, which I think speaks to his amazing condition). That means that you guys have to fill me in on any amazing details from the beginning of the show, if you have any to share.And while you think about that, I'll move on to the recap, because what I did see was pretty surprising.
Try ice for long-term cooling
Buying ice each day for a road trip or camping journey can be such a pain. Consider (safely) using dry ice as an alternative.
How to eat like a geek
Geeks have a lot of street cred these days. It's their moment, you could say. They own cool grown-up toys and wear hot glasses and everyone wants to befriend them or marry them or something. And now, geeks even have their own culinary genre: geek food.According to Urban Dictionary, geek food is considered high-calorie, often caffeinated, easy-to-make food that works with the lifestyles of techies and the like (check out this geek food pyramid). For those looking to try out some geek recipes, this Geek Food Podcast (which is sadly no longer posting) teaches everything from Donkey Kong bars to Wookies (the perfect snack for watching Star Wars). Geek food is by no means limited to sweets and snacks, though, or even to American dishes. This article on Geek Delicacies reports that sushi and various forms of take-out are absolutely within the genre.
Additionally self-proclaimed geek boyfriend informs me that pizza is another classic geek food, and that in the book Microserfs (about computer programmers), a character only eats flat foods like pizza and cheese for weeks, as these are the only foods that his friends can slip beneath his door while he works. Okay geeks, I know you are out there. It's your turn: What do you eat?
Slashfood Ate (8): It's cool to eat grilled pizza
And to blog about it. And to share it with your friends. Don't believe me? Check out these recent items from around the interweb. As I said: All the cool kids are doing it.Grilled pizza...
With caramelized fennel and olives from 101 Cookbooks
Margarita from Mario Batali on the Food Network. It's also in his new book, Mario Batali: Italian Grill
With minimal toppings from the Washington Post and toppings of your choice from the Boston Globe
Tips from Serious Eats
With bacon, brie, garlic and arugula from House Spouse, a blog I recently discovered
Without sauce (White) from Andrea's Recipes, another blog I recently discovered
With herbed mascarpone, asparagus, and smoked salmon from Napa Style
The Book: Grilled Pizza and Piadinas by Craig Priebe
You're cool too? Share your grilled pizza recipe with us!
TNFNS: You have 2 seconds to reinvent the wheel. Go!
You guys are right: The problem with The Next Food Network Star is that it challenges the contestants with tasks that I can't imagine them having to face if they actually win. I watched last night with a friend who had never seen before, and he was pretty much laughing out loud. That said, I still kind of really like it. Agree? Disagree? Read on.Continue reading TNFNS: You have 2 seconds to reinvent the wheel. Go!
Tip of the Day: To refrigerate or not to refrigerate
Do you stick all of your produce into the refrigerator the second you walk through the door? If yes, it may be time to rethink that.
Continue reading Tip of the Day: To refrigerate or not to refrigerate
TNFNS: Let's be nice, now
Last week I wrote my first post about The Next Food Network Star, having never seen it before. Thanks to those of you who gave me a heads up about show details and juice from past seasons. My plan is to just enjoy the show for what it is, and to try not to harp on the contestants too much. I'll admit that I'm easily entertained (I do sometimes watch old Sesame Street videos on YouTube), but I find the show pretty funny, and it's not like I have better things to do than watch TV and write about it. So join me in celebrating the absurdity of it all -- it could be fun.Slashfood 8 (Ate): We're jammin'
It seems like every other post on my favorite food blogs these days involves some sort of jam -- fruit, spice, anything! Here's a round-up of some particularly fetching jam finds on the blog circuit:Tomato Jam from Habeas Brulee, who serves it with hearty dishes.
Oatmeal Cookie Rasberry Jam Bars from Cookie Madness. Jam is in the cookie, so it counts.
Strawberry Freezer Jam from Apronista, a newly discovered blog that it just gorgeous.
Strawberry Bay Leaf Jam from Mac and Cheese. Phenomenal strawberry photos.
Rhubarb Jam from Sugarlaws. Catch this while rhubarb's in season.
Spicy Fig Orange Microwave Jam from Simply Recipes. A post from last year, but how could I exclude?
Blackberry Jam Cake from Salt and Chocolate. Jam AND cake.
Mixed Berry Jam from Epicurious. Sometimes it's too hard to pick just one berry.
Have a favorite jam recipe? Send it over.
Slashfood Talks: Michael Anthony
Life is (naturally) sweet for Gramercy Tavern Executive Chef Michael Anthony. Not only is he recently married, but his restaurant was bestowed the 2008 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant, and he just returned from the Union Square farmer's market in NYC with fresh sugar snap peas for dinner. Does it get any better than this? Read on.Congratulations on winning the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant. How has life slash the restaurant changed since winning the award this year?
Hold on – I'm actually trying to get through the door here. I just finished shopping at the farmers market.
No worries. Take your time.
The restaurant has had an unbelievable sense of electricity since the Beard Awards. It was nice to see friends and familiar faces from around the country at the awards. They made us feel that there are a lot of people in the industry pulling for the restaurant. People have come to the restaurant to congratulate us in person. The support was felt by a very widespread audience in the industry and around the city.
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
