I look at this picture, and I swear I start to smell the charcoal burning and the chicken charring. It gets me excited for a season of outdoor festivals, street fairs and the occasional grilling session in my cousin's backyard. You can see other images from this event here. Thanks, Ohad, for adding your image to the Slashfood Flickr pool.
Here at Slashfood, we are so lucky that La Tartine Gourmande, one of the best cook/food photographers on the web, frequently uploads her pictures to the Slashfood Flickr pool. Her images are always of gorgeous food that is made even more appealing by the settings and dishes she photographs it with. I try not to feature too many of her photos, mostly because she makes the rest of us look bad, but today I couldn't resist this image of a Roasted Tomato, Red Onion and Arugula Tart. This particular image is actually a couple of years old, but as we're heading into the summer tomato season once again, I thought it was the perfect thing to whet your appetite for the cooking to come. You can find the recipe here.
I have something of a weakness for cute food. I love things like tiny-BLT sandwiches, little quiches and mini-cupcakes. These small quail egg and cherry tomato mushrooms have been catching my eye in the Slashfood Flickr pool for the last couple of days and last night they finally pushed my cute-o-meter into overdrive.
According to Pille, the Estonian food blogger who made and photographed them, they are fairly common in her country, having appeared in a children's cookbook in the eighties. They are new to me, but I think they would make a fun addition to a brunch spread, especially since they offer a fun variation of the deviled egg.
I have a love/hate relationship with my kitchen, my stove in particular. My apartment used to belong to my grandparents and so just about everything in the kitchen has been there since 1966 when they moved in. They never cooked much to begin with and in the last ten years of their lives, they ate out exclusively.
I put the counter top you see to the right in last summer, when the old one started to crumble into pieces and the building replaced the dishwasher last fall when the old one lost the ability to clean anything. However, the stove is untouched and it makes my cooking life frustrating on a regular basis. I have five burner settings, which makes any nuance in heat difficult. And do you see the way the oven overhangs the stove? Well, that makes those two rear burners nearly impossible to use when there's stuff on the front, because it's hard to reach without burning yourself. And the underside of the oven is always dirty because it on the front line, catching all the bubbles and splatters from the stove top.
On the plus side, my oven bakes perfectly, heating evenly and always exactly on temperature (not bad for four+ decades) and I never worry about messy projects, because my kitchen is very far from pristine.
Now Slashfoodies, it's your turn. Tell me what you love and what you hate about your kitchen. Take pictures and upload them to our Slashfood Flickr group, so we can all get a peek into the most used room in your house.
Of all the nuts out there, cashews are my very favorite (almonds and pecans do battle for the number two spot). This photo of a mound of cashews, waiting to become part of a Butterscotch Cashew Bar, caught my eye and sent me straight to the kitchen for a handful of cashews. Thanks to Jennifer for adding her picture to our Flickr pool.
There's nothing in life quite like a good sandwich. I described my ideal sandwich in this post, but really, I'm a sucker for any sandwich that contains sprouts. Today's featured image comes from Flickr user and regular Slashfood commentor KittBo. On her blog she lists the contents of the sandwich, "Toasted no-knead bread with cream cheese on one side, hummus on the other, and tomatoes, cucumbers, alfalfa sprouts and watercress in the middle."
Hopefully by now you've heard of Flickr, the popular online photo-sharing website. If you ever look at the photo credits for images on Slashfood, chances are you'll see a lot of them come from Flickr. If you are familiar with Flickr, then you might know they've recently added a video sharing option, and some people are not happy about that.
I really don't understand it, but according to Wired plenty of Flickr users are joining groups like "No Video On Flickr". Some other users, though, have a different opinion. A group has popped up to mock the anti video sharing crowd, and this group demands that Flickr give everyone a donut! The "We Demand Free Donuts" group proclaimed that if they got 20,000 members Flickr would have to give in to pressure. Well, Flickr gave in, even though the group only has about 2,500 members so far. If you happen to be in San Francisco today you can go to the meet up and get a free donut.
You guys ask and I answer. You didn't want veggies anymore, so I came up with red velvet cake balls. You didn't mind that, but then you wanted something meaty. I looked around and came up with this succulent, juicy shot of barbecued pork. The thing I love about this image is that it's a scene that is ready for you to step into and start eating. It comes from Flickr user Pig-gy, a username that makes me think that she knows a little something about cooking pork.
This next Sunday is Easter and no holiday basket is complete without a Cadbury Creme Egg or two rounding out the assortment of jelly beans, malted eggs and gummy treats. With so many formerly seasonal foods and candies now available year round, there is something special and appealing about a treat, no matter how sickeningly sweet, that is only available for a few weeks a year. My sister and I used to be allowed to have only one of these a year and we would make them last for days, nibbling at the chocolate and lapping at the fondant before sealing them up in plastic containers to save for the following day's snack time.
This picture comes to us from Flickr user Fuzuoko and is a delicious representation of the classic Easter candy. Makes me want to run out to the drugstore for one right now!
The LA Timesran a piece yesterday on blogs becoming a new tool in many chefs' arsenals, and how they're entering a blogosphere that used to be reserved for us commonfolk. The difference, according to the author? Primarily, style and choice of content: commonfolk tend to "natter about what they fed their boyfriends last night, and fuzzily photograph their latest batch of heart-shaped cookies" while REAL chefs tell the stories behind the food, taking more time to detail the food's inspiration and its history.
I beg to differ. I'm biased, yes, but I think our Slashfood Flickr group is a perfect example of primarily amateur photographers and chefs taking outstanding photos of food, ones just as good as any in a cookbook. And I think people read food blogs to take in the "nattering" about day-to-day life and how it fits in with what fix and eat. And chef's blogs can be personal, too - they don't all fit neatly into one (bread) box, as this author seems to imply.
The article details several chef blogs that have been making waves, and how the chefs are using their platforms to make a statement. For some chefs, like Alison Barshak, a blog is a way to show off and advertise your new restaurant under the guise of giving viewers a tutorial on opening up an eatery. For others, like Michael Laiskonis, blogs are a chance to describe eloquently, albeit verbosely, how they got the inspiration and found the ingredients for their extravagant meals.
Today's image caught my eye as as a thumbnail. There was something about the shallow depth of focus and the scalloped top that made me realize that I had to click and find out exactly what I was looking at. As the page loaded, I idly wondered if it was some sort of sheet cake with a browned meringue frosting, before discovering that it was a pan of banana pudding (although now I'm craving something with a meringue frosting). Brought to us by Flickr user Winnie, she comments at the bottom of the pic that she didn't actually get to taste any of the pudding before it was whisked off to a potluck, but that the pan came back empty, so it must have been good.
And, as always, I can't help but end this post with a reminder that We Want You to head over the Flickr page an join us over on the Slashfood page. We want to see the details of your travels throughout the world of food and eating that's out there.
I do believe that the pomegranate is one of the more beautiful fruits out there and this picture, taken by Flickr user SamarthPal, is perfect representation of what makes it so lovely. Those jewel tones and glossy, faceted sides along with the hot, outdoor light are so fresh and appealing.
If you've been on the fence, now is the time to head over to the Slashfood Flickr group, join us and add your pictures. All the cool kids are doing it!
My friend E is a baker and whenever we have a food blogger potluck here in Philly, she makes the most amazing desserts. People still talk about her Coconut Toffee Almond Crunch cookies and I have a friend who faithfully recreates them for every party he is invited to or throws. Oh, and her Elvis Cake continues to be thing of legend around these parts. So you'll understand why I was thrilled to discover this morning that E had added a bunch of her food pics to the Slashfood Flickr pool.
This image of an Oatmeal Cream Pie called out to me, especially since I knew that I was sure to be able to find the recipe on her blog. I don't have a whole lot of baking time this weekend, but I think I may need to shoehorn these into the schedule sometime soon.
Don't forget to head over to the Slashfood Flickr group and upload your images. It's also a good place to look for inspiration, as there are now nearly 500 people adding new pictures and recipes on a daily basis.
I remember at the very beginning of the book, Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, there is a scene in which the main character is making a soup and has arranged the ingredients so that complimentary colors are placed next to each other. Today's featured image, by Flickr user Jamailac, reminds me of that scene, especially since the light makes it all look luminescent and fresh.
If you compulsively take pictures of your dinner ingredients (there's no shame in that), then head over to the Slashfood Flickr group and upload them, so we can all gaze at your tasty ingredients.
Have you ever stashed a Coke in the freezer, hoping to chill it quickly, then forgotten all about it, only to have it explode all over your frozen peas?
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The LA Times ran a piece yesterday on blogs becoming a new tool in many chefs' arsenals, and how they're entering a blogosphere that used to be reserved for us commonfolk. The difference, according to the author? Primarily, style and choice of content: commonfolk tend to "natter about what they fed their boyfriends last night, and fuzzily photograph their latest batch of heart-shaped cookies" while REAL chefs tell the stories behind the food, taking more time to detail the food's inspiration and its history.
A fraking amazing Battlestar Galactica cake
Iced Tea 101
Pierogies + cheese + onions + kraut = Parmageddon!
