kitchenmage

Categories may be wonky...

Pardon the disorganization, I am in the middle of reorganizing categories - because there must be a better way than 67 choices in an alphabetical list. Sadly, Typepad got confused and now there are things with bad labels, no labels, and a headache (me, not the tags). With a bit of luck and a lot of perseverance, I should have this wrapped up by Monday morning. Cross your fingers. In the meantime, there's a search box just to the right of this post that will let you search the site. Thanks for your patience!

Good news for small farms: No NAIS! (updated)

According to the New York Times, NAIS is dead. Well, this version at least.

Faced with stiff resistance from ranchers and farmers, the Obama administration has decided to scrap a national program intended to help authorities quickly identify and track livestock in the event of an animal disease outbreak.

In abandoning the program, called the National Animal Identification System, officials said they would start over in trying to devise a livestock tracing program that could win widespread support from the industry.

Read the full article here: U.S.D.A. Plans to Drop Program to Trace Livestock

I love that they dropped it because of "stiff resistance" - that means we did it! Since they are already talking about a new version, however, this is no time to let it slide. NoNAIS.org is my go-to site for information so stop by there for updates as they get going on NAIS v.2.

Update

We knew that was too good to last, didn't we? Son of NAIS has been announced. Major differences from the original NAIS are:

• Only apply to animals moved in interstate commerce;
• Be administered by the States and Tribal Nations to provide more flexibility;
• Encourage the use of lower-cost technology; and
• Be implemented transparently through federal regulations and the full rulemaking process.

First steps include a forum with states and tribes so if you want a voice, talk to your officials at that level. Don't know who they are? Go to Project Vote Smart and type your zip code in the search box on the top of the left sidebar to get all the relevant information.

Press release: USDA Announces new Framework for Animal Disease Traceability (h/t to podchef for update)

Alternet Has a New Food Section

Among my regular web haunts, Alternet is pretty high on the list. Visiting today, I noticed they have a new food section: Alternet: Special Coverage: Food

A sampling of current articles:

• Habiba Alcindor writes Dollar Stores: The Last, and Not So Healthy Eating Choice, Before the Food Lines.
• Got Milk? A Disturbing Look at the Dairy Industry by Tara Lohan examines the lives of dairy cows and the ties that bind dairy farms to veal and meat production.
• Martha Rosenberg asks, Why Has the FDA Allowed a Drug Marked 'Not Safe for Use in Humans' to Be Fed to Livestock Right Before Slaughter?

If you, like me, are fascinated by the intersection of food, politics and culture, you might want to pop over and take a look at Alternet: Special Coverage: Food.

What's your favorite food news site? Please share with us in the comments.

Food Photo Props: Cleaning Clam Shells

Every food photographer I know is on an eternal quest for good props for their photos. Over the last couple of years, I have collected a lot of dishes; some days it seems the plates multiply when I leave the room...and still I want more. You, too?

Soothing Sunset for a Stressful Week

The interwebs are burning up with chatter about Haiti and each image is more painful to look at than the last. The world, which seems so small in these days of the Internet, is suddenly both huge and tiny: the people in pain are our family, yet they are so distant that all we can do is ache...and write checks. (I recommend Doctors Without Borders via the web , or a $5 donation by texting "DOB" to 90999.)

This is not that. 

This is a momentary break. A brief moment of beauty in a high-stress week.

Breathe.

Seattle Cooks Rock Master Chef Auditions!

Master Chef is coming to the US and Seattle is ready!

Yes, Fox is bringing Gordon Ramsay's UK show, Master Chef, to the states and that means one thing: casting call! Auditions were held yesterday at Sur La Table in Kirkland and lots of people showed up. I am happy to say several Seattle cooks I follow on twitter got callbacks. Here's the list I compiled with a bit of quick sleuthing. Names link to twitter pages:

• Leslie Kelly made the transition "from critic to cook" just under a year ago when the Seattle P-I folded. She writes now at  Whining & Dining where she has tackled geoducks and gone on a moveable feast in New Orleans.
• Scott Heimendinger who celebrates the convergence of geekery and food at Seattle Food Geek  Check out this Gingerbread Eiffel Tower or a video showing how to make homemade olive oil mayonnaise.
• Linda Nicholson, whose blog Salty Seattle was a happy discovery while writing this. Look at this tempting Minted Dungeness Crab Cakes with Lemongrass Kaffir Sake Beurre Blanc or the scarily true-to-era Mad Men Birthday Draper-Style she threw just a few days before Christmas.Evvn more impressive, she does this while wrangling a baby, which is one of those "backwards and in high heels" sort of complicating factors.
• MarcSeattle who pulled off getting a callback even though his dog ate his homework.If you know Marc, you know he would be a colorful addition to the show. He doesn't blog, but if you can take seriously adult language you might check out his twitterstream . (Seriously, you have been warned.)

Round two of auditions for these folks (and others, perhaps) is today and I wish them all the best of luck. (Well, I wish Marc a smidge extra because we once had cubicles close to each other and I have a soft spot in my head heart for him.)

With another dozen or so auditions coming up, you still have time to enter the fray.Here us the complete list of Master Chef audition dates and a casting director discussing what they are looking for. If you just want to keep up with all the Master Chef news, one way to do so is by following the #masterchef tag on twitter.

Good luck to everyone who has yet to try out.

How about it: Have you or someone you know tried out for Master Chef or another reality cooking show? Would you ever? (Not me!)

Wordless Wednesday: Good timing at the grocery store

Local eggs from Two Islands Farms.

How-to Shape Christmas Tree Bread

I really dislike posting a recipe I have only made once. What seems to be a simple bit of culinary magic one day may fizzle on second try. Even well-tested recipes can run into problems when moved from one region of the country to another: the moisture level of flour changes noticeably from a wet climate to a dry one, for example, and altitude screws with baking and boiling, not to mention your alcohol tolerance. (My brother-in-law who works as an EMT a mile up in the mountains tells great stories.)

There are, however, a few writers whose recipes I trust enough to go with a single pass at a recipe when I am short on time and I turned to one of them for the sweet roll dough I used for the tree. Modifications were made, of course: I zested an orange, toasted and ground cardamom, sprinkled in cinnamon, and tipped in a splash of vanilla; milk became buttermilk; sugar was reduced a little bit - there was a LOT of sugar. Ten minutes after I put it in the oven the house was filled with a heady mix of spices and I was regretting not putting an extra 'tasting' loaf in the oven. (After I took photos, I tore into a golden ball of dough; I can report the flavor lived up to its aroma-vertising.)

The crumb, sadly, did not. Dense and chewy, not tender and light. Totally wrong.