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January 2006

January 30, 2006

blenders of the gods...

The current Utne magazine has a recipe for Xocoatl from a group of folks at Chocosuisse. According to the article, Chocosuisse researched the Aztec chocolate drink and are attempting to recreate it with this recipe.

They offer an interesting sounding concoction of chocolate, crushed almonds, milk, honey, lemon juice, rum, arrack (a cocount palm liqueur which I've obviously been missing out on), allspice and ginger. (What? No cinnamon? No chiles? No vanilla?)

They go on to describe a method of making the drink that involves melting the chocolate wih the almonds and milk, then chilling it in the refrigerator. Did the Aztecs really drink their chocolate cold often enough that it is the authentic way? Wikipedia indicates that it was served at all temperatures, so maybe I am being a purist, but I am thinking hot chocolate. Maybe it's the endless rain.

The final step in the process includes this: "...place in a blender or shaker..."

But, but, but... (she sputters)

What about a delightful carved wooden molinllo? Yes, I know this is totally inauthentic, being invented by the Europeans who came over and "found" a continent that was not lost, being full of lovely people as it was. But it's pretty well associated with chocolate from south of the US border over the few hundred years it's been around and they said a blender! A blender!

January 26, 2006

Just what every drinker needs.

I am sure you've seen thing that make you wonder, if this is the answer, what in the world was the question. Perhaps this is the answer to balancing drink and plate at cocktail parties while occasionally having a free hand. Perhaps it doesn't look quite so ridiculous after a few shots. One can hope.

January 20, 2006

Cookbook for Doctors Without Borders

Kathy at What Do I Know? and Ginger of The Hackenblog are creating a book to benefit Doctors Without Borders, which is a most worthy organization. They are looking for recipes, short essays, some artwork, poetry, and so on. (note to writers: I even read the legal stuff and it's fine, you retain copyright, etc) I've offered my Fish Tail Soup recipe as a sort of cross between humor and cooking. Check out the idea and see if you've got something to contribute to this great project.

January 18, 2006

One of these things is not like the other

Imagine, if you will, a kitchen. It's a typical kitchen, perhaps like yours, the mess from the half-made peanut butter cookies spills onto the counter near the remnants of some snacks: fragments of chips, a smidge of hummus, the usual. Tea has just been poured and you're looking forward to putting up your feet for a minute before you tackle the mess.

Continue reading "One of these things is not like the other" »

January 17, 2006

International food blogging made easy

When you ask a food blogger — or a reader (food blogee? that so needs an accent mark!) — what they like best about blogs they will often launch into an involved rhapsodic dissertation on all the other food blogs. And they're totally right, there are many amazing food blogs out there. There's one for every taste: bakers, breadBakers, cakeBakers,    carnivores, vegans, celiacs, vicarous world travelers, chocoholics, dessert-lovers, bacontarians, breakfast-lovers, sandwich eaters, cheese devotees, farmers, caterers, adventurers, heck there's even one for when you totally lose it and go nuts!
 

And those are all in English!

Continue reading "International food blogging made easy" »

what does your blog look good in?

This month's Does My Blog Look Good In This? (often known as dmblgit) is being hosted by Andrew over at Spittoon Extra.

Danishrollingpin

My pickings for December were a bit thin, but I managed to come up with one action shot of my friend Jessica rolling out some danish pastry dough.

Entries so far are here, as is info for those of you who want to enter a picture.

January 15, 2006

Black Lentil and Pork Stew



Smbayhail
Day 26. No, day 27. I could be writing the flood journal companion to Mrs D's flu journal. The rains came. And they stayed. Seattle  has a over a foot...so far. Down here in evenTinierTown, we're easily at double or triple that — we got a foot in 3-4 days a week or so ago. Not much blog-worthy food happening here, it's too dark to take pictures, so I keep putting certain dishes on hold for a sunny day.

As if.

Case in point: Just as the sun was starting it's slide behind the Willapa Hills ridgeline to the west, the clouds broke enough that it was visible. I doubt I've actually seen the sun on any of those 26...no, 27 days. I scurried to grab my camera and scurried back. Took maybe 90 seconds. Two minutes max. Hurried and scurried. To take this picture of the bay tree. See those white blotches? Hail. Yep, hail.

All of which puts me in the mood for comfort food. Some of which would be hard to come by around here right now — one side effect of all this rain is flooded roads and landslides so it's been a while since I went to a grocery store. Luckily, some of my comfort foods leans heavily towards warm, spicy, earthy soups and stews paired with homemade bread.      

Continue reading "Black Lentil and Pork Stew" »

January 11, 2006

is "adorable kittens" a niche?

I was looking through some blog stats the other day and noticing a lot of traffic to two images recently, all of it through Google searches. Well, I just googled and it seems that two of my weekend cat blogging pictures are currently at #9 and 10 on a google search for "adorable kittens"...ummm, so can I claim this as my niche du jour?

I am only glad River isn't human so I don't have to deal with an actual ego...or demands for royalties.

What if it tastes really bad and you're on TV?

If I ran a television channel that was all about food, I think that when someone wanted to cook a specific dish on one of my shows, I'd expect them to test it first. You know, work out the kinks off camera, make sure it doesn't have technical problems with the studio environment, that kind of thing. I'd also hire editors, who went over the tape and made sure that nothing unseemly made it to the air. Wouldn't you?

Well, someone should call Giada's people, especially if you're a video editor looking for work. Because, this should never make it to your TV. Really.

Ch...ch...ch...changes

Maybe it's New Year's Resolutions, maybe it's in response to a recent LA Times article that slagged pretty much all non-niche food-bloggers, maybe it's mid-winter doldrums, or the start of a calendar year for business. Whatever the reason, this month is bringing all sorts of changes in the online food community.

Continue reading "Ch...ch...ch...changes" »

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