Today is the vernal equinox, or the first official day of spring. A lot of people are happy to see the first day of spring, but it's especially important for the people of Iran, or Persians. For them it's the first day of the celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
Nowruz has many traditions, including lighting fires and banging pots to beat out the unlucky last day of the year, but most importantly they set the table. There is a symbolic setting on the table, with a special cloth called the sofreh-ye haft-sinn (the setting of seven dishes) consisting of seven lucky and symbolic foods each beginning with the Persian letter sinn. The lucky foods include spouts, apples, the fruit of the wild olive, garlic, sumac berries, and vinegar.
There are several traditional dishes served at a Nowruz party. They all have their symbolic meanings about life and rebirth, health and luck among others. One dish is samanu, a wheat sprout pudding representing rebirth. There is also baklava, chickpea cookies and candied almonds to symbolize prosperity.
All of the food mentioned here sounded great. This is the first year I had heard about Nowruz, but I always like finding out about other cultures. I love finding out about food from other cultures, and finding out about Nowruz has really gotten me excited about Persian food. How about you?
About a week and a half ago, I wrote a post about my mother's hunt for a yeasted lemon bread recipe. It was one that a neighbor used to make to ensure a prosperous New Year and while she had gotten the recipe from that neighbor, in the intervening 35 years, it had disappeared. Lucky for us, several of you offered up recipes you thought might be similar to what we were looking for in the comments section. My mom thought that the recipe for Vasilopita (Greek New Year Cake) that Jamie posted seemed pretty darn close to what she remembered and so, a couple of days ago, she whipped up a batch.
From the pictures she sent me, it appears to have turned out very well (unfortunately she had both loaves earmarked as gifts, so she didn't actually taste it). She did alter the recipe slightly, including the add-ins she remembered being in the batches her neighbor would bake and changing the amount of flour that gets added in the beginning. The recipe that resulted from her changes in after the break.
I realize that it is now January 3rd, which might be too late to be writing about all those lucky New Year foods. However, I've really been enjoying reading about all the things that people prepared for themselves to ensure an auspicious New Year and thought I might share a couple that I particularly liked with you all.
The video you see above is from Chris and Michelle, who decided to make pork chops and sauerkraut to commemorate their New Year (an Italian tradition). They also made some delicious-looking mashed potatoes and homemade applesauce (I love it when people make their own applesauce, as it is just so easy and so much better than the stuff that comes out of the jar). The sauerkraut song that they used as background music is also totally infectious.
Over at the Perfect Pantry, Lydia posted a recipe from Arlo, one of her readers, for Boullets, which is a New Year's meatball soup, traditional to Arlo's Cree and Metis roots. It consists of a large pot of meatballs (the size depends entirely on you) in a broth. The post explains that there is no definitive recipe for this dish, that it changes depending on who is making it. It was always made in large quantities for the New Year, so that every visitor who stopped by could be welcomed and fed.
So we're in the final stretch of 2007 and it's time to start thinking about what you're going to eat on New Year's Day to set the tone for the rest of your year. In the South, it is considered good luck to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day because they are thought to symbolize wealth (because they look like little coins when cooked). They also swell when they are cooked, which is another sign of prosperity. Cabbage is also an auspicious item to eat on the new year, as it's leaves can also look like cash.
After the jump is my friend Jacqueline's recipe for a dish she calls Southern Cavier. It's a blend of canned black eyed peas, Rotel tomatoes, peppers, corn and cilantro and it just delicious. It's best eaten with tortilla chips or along side a great piece of corn bread. The first time she brought it to a potluck we all fell on it like we'd never eaten before and later begged for the recipe. It's a tasty way to get these auspicious legumes into your diet.
The Jewish High Holidays started last week. As with most holiday celebrations, a large part of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur (once you're done fasting and atoning) and Succoth is the food. My mother's family is Jewish, but of such a secular nature that there have been times when ham has appeared on the Passover table. I don't have a store of recipes that have been handed down the generations, so I often turn to others when I want to make a holiday appropriate dish.
One recipe I'd like to try and possibly add to my file of Jewish holiday treats was posted by Claire over at Cookthink. It is a delicious looking honey cake that she remembers her (recently departed) grandmother making to represent the sweetness of another new year.
If you resolved to lose weight this year, or at least to cut back on snacking, the easiest way to stay out of the kitchen is by keeping busy. Running errands outside of the house or moving about the office during work hours will keep you from getting bored and will hopefully prevent your thoughts from wandering to food too much. For a little bit of extra motivation, however, you might want to consider a little guilt trip. The Diet Piggy is a small plastic reminder than can be placed in the fridge or pantry and will oink at you, while giving you a dirty look, if you linger in front of the open door looking for munchies.
And yes, the piggy is a bit ridiculous - but we never said that dieting had to be serious. Other things that can help motivate you to resist those cravings include keeping "trigger" foods (primarily high-calorie junk foods) out of the house, stocking the kitchen with low-calorie fruits and vegetables for healthy snacks, and making and effort to cook more slow-cooked meals. Longer cooking times and more involved meals will keep you busier longer - thinking about making food and not just eating it - and will help you to appreciate the time it took to produce the dish so you'll look forward even more to the final product.
What are you using for motivation to stick to your New Year's resolution?
Getting the cork out of a bottle of champagne can be a challenge, especially if you don't have the bubbly stuff enough to actually practice. If the bottle has (accidentally) had a shake or two, the cork could fly out with enough force to break one of your flutes - and what would you use to serve your champagne, then?
Fortunately, Dv. Vino has a very helpful guide to opening champagne on his site, complete with pictures that will give you an idea of what you're aiming for. First, he covers how to "look like an aggressive moron" - in other words, he tells you what to avoid doing - before really telling you how to smoothly pop the cork out like a sommelier (place your hand over the cork as you gently twist, as Jonathan mentioned the other day) and how to use a champagne saber to look really slick at a party.
My own method involves putting a thin dishtowel on top of the bottle. Not only does it help me to keep a grip on the cork as I work it out, but it prevents flyaways and will catch any bubbly that decides to fizz its way out of the bottle.
Christmas is officially over, but the holiday season culminates with New Year's Eve and there is plenty of time for celebrating up to that point. And by celebrating, we mean drinking. Now, we don't have any problems with drinking here at Slashfood and quite like the occasional glass of wine or a cocktail, but we don't advocate drinking and cooking - and neither do fire officials. Many fires each year are started by careless cooks who have had a few too many before deciding to whip up a stir fry or other heat-intensive dish that requires a more than a little bit of attention. Since your reactions can be slowed by alcohol, you might be more easily distracted that usual and a situation might get out of hand before you have a chance to take action.
Keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and try to hold off on the second (or third or fourth) drink until after dinner is served.
As hard as it is to believe, the New Year is almost upon us and with that new year comes a new forecast of product trends from the consumer research group Mintel International. It looks like sustainability isn't going to be as hot an issue as the local food movement would like it to be - not yet, anyway. It will still gain ground with mainstream consumers, but by and large the focus is not yet on production. People are more focused on personal wellness, getting more specific than last year's general interest in "superfoods." Mintel predicts that Amazonian foods - including açaí and other rainforest botanicals that promise over-the-top health benefits - will really hit the mainstream through companies that are known for healthy products, like Odwalla. Other trends that they are forecasting for food processing and sales include an increased targeting of baby boomers and teens; revitalizing interest in traditional, quality (not on-the-go) breakfast foods; more web-based marketing, including more contests and giveaways; and a simplification of marketing slogans and packaging.
This is an interesting alternative to a regular punch bowl for parties. The Cocktail Fountain has a pump in the bottom bowl that forces the liquid - alcoholic or nonalcoholic - up to the top in a continuous stream. Thanks to some holes in the bottom of each upper level, the liquid streams down in a waterfall effect, allowing guests to fill their cups from a spout without fussing with a soup ladle in a standard punch bowl. On top of its serving abilities, the base of the fountain is illuminated, so the unit could actually turn into a beautiful centerpiece if you are serving clear drinks (an illuminated White Russian probably wouldn't have the same effect).
The fountain holds 4.7L of liquid and comes with eight cups, all of which hook conveniently over the edge of the lowest bowl.
Combine it with a chocolate fountain and I suspect that your party will turn into an event that people will be talking about for the months, if not longer.
Most people are already aware that you should not give your dog chocolates - but what about your elephant? Elephants are largely vegetarian and apparently like chocolate quite a lot. That doesn't mean you should let them indulge, though. Raja, who at 45 is the most famous elephant in Sri Lanka, has become very ill after eating too much chocolate and other fattening foods. The chocolates, deep-fried cookies, sweet rice and fermented pineapple slices were fed to him by fans while celebrating the Buddhist New Year.
The monks who care for the elephant found him in great distress, writhing on the ground, the day after the celebration. A vet said that his digestive system could not cope with the fattened and processed foods or "the cookies... literally are soaked in oil." There is now a sign outside his enclosure which reads "Do not feed the elephant."
The Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl! But the Times food staff is evidently behind on their
bowl-worthy recipes. Instead, they just do Super Bowl snacking by the
numbers (*yawn*).
This week, Nicole Tsong and Pamela Sitt sit at the bar of Restaurant Zoe, but they can drive home: they're sipping a Clear
Conscience, made for a pregnant friend of celebrity chef Kathy Casey. It's made with fresh-squeezed tangerine
juice, cucumber slices, lime juice, simple syrup, soda water, and lemon verbena.
Since it is Friday
the 13th, it seems an appropriate day to look at food superstitions. Every culture has many of them, some stretching
back hundreds of years. What are yours? Did you twist an apple stem to determine the first name of the person you were
destined to marry? Were you expected to set the salt shaker down instead of handing it directly to someone? There
are so many food myths and legends, I won't pretend that this is the ultimate list; it is just a
starting point. These are simply 5 famous food superstitions:
Throwing rice at weddings ensures fertility
Throwing spilled salt over your shoulder keeps the devil away
We may have covered most of the "best of 2005" lists, with topics from MMMM to NNNNN, but funny food videos is one we missed. Fortunately, Saute Wednesday didn't miss this important topic in their slightly belated Best of 2005 List. They picked out a Flambe Disaster! clip, which really shows the value of having a fire extinguisher in your kitchen, in addition to being funny. Incidentally, the apartment kitchen in which it takes place looks shockingly like my college apartment. I kept my extinguisher under the sink, guys!
The best clip of the year was definitely from an episode of Saturday Night Live, where they paid tribute to Magnolia Bakery's cupcakes in the most highly esteemed of media: a rap song.
But first, my hunger pangs are sticking like duct tape Let's hit up magnolia and mack on some cupcakes No doubt, that bakery's got all the bomb frosting. I love those cupcakes like McAdams loves Gosling 2 no 6 no 12, bakers dozen! I told you that I'm crazy for these cupcakes, cousin!
Update: The YouTube video (above) was removed, but you can hear the song here.
Dessert is unquestionably the bane of many people’s day. Many desserts are fattening, calorific and simply
unhealthy. Portion sizes are huge and it is difficult to limit yourself to only a part of what you are served –
especially if it all tastes so good. Lower fat desserts, baked goods in particular, have an equally bad reputation, as
many people believe them to be rubbery, dry, dense and flavorless.
There are many desserts that are lower in fat or in calories that still taste great, though it is true that some
baked goods will be changed for the worse without butter or sugar, so don’t just leave them out when you’re
cooking. Sarah, the author of Baking 911 has tons of tips and well-tested
recipes for low fat baking and desserts. Diet-Blog also has a few suggestions for easy
and delicious desserts.
Don’t automatically assume that you can never eat crème brûlée again if you want to have
a healthier lifestyle. You can still indulge sometimes, but make healthier choices with your everyday treats. Sorbets
and gelato are good alternatives to ice cream. Try having low fat milk in your hot chocolate and top it with a
marshmallow, not whipped cream.
If you had the baked brie appetizer and a deep dish pizza for dinner, you should probably skip dessert. But being
healthy doesn’t mean that it dessert is never an option, nor does it mean that you can’t enjoy great
flavors and delicious food.
Today is the vernal equinox, or the first official day of spring. A lot of people are happy to see the first day of spring, but it's especially important for the people of Iran, or Persians. For them it's the first day of the celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. 
If you resolved to lose weight this year, or at least to cut back on snacking, the easiest way to stay out of the kitchen is by keeping busy. Running errands outside of the house or moving about the office during work hours will keep you from getting bored and will hopefully prevent your thoughts from wandering to food too much. For a little bit of extra motivation, however, you might want to consider a little guilt trip. 
Getting the cork out of a bottle of champagne can be a challenge, especially if you don't have the bubbly stuff enough to actually practice. If the bottle has (accidentally) had a shake or two, the cork could fly out with enough force to break one of your flutes - and what would you use to serve your champagne, then?
Christmas is officially over, but the holiday season culminates with New Year's Eve and there is plenty of time for celebrating up to that point. And by celebrating, we mean drinking. Now, we don't have any problems with drinking here at Slashfood and quite like the occasional glass of 
As hard as it is to believe, the New Year is almost upon us and with that new year comes a 
Most people are already aware that you should not 
Dungeness Crab
is just coming into prime season. Whether you buy it cooked, raw, or live, 
Since it is Friday
the 13th, it seems an appropriate day to look at food superstitions. Every culture has many of them, some stretching
back hundreds of years. What are yours? Did you twist an apple stem to determine the first name of the person you were
destined to marry? Were you expected to set the salt shaker down instead of handing it directly to someone? There
are so many food myths and legends, I won't pretend that this is the ultimate list; it is just a
starting point. These are simply 5 famous food superstitions: 
We may have covered most of the "best of 2005" lists, with topics from MMMM to NNNNN, but funny food videos is one we missed. Fortunately, 
Dessert is unquestionably the bane of many people’s day. Many desserts are fattening, calorific and simply
unhealthy. Portion sizes are huge and it is difficult to limit yourself to only a part of what you are served –
especially if it all tastes so good. Lower fat desserts, baked goods in particular, have an equally bad reputation, as
many people believe them to be rubbery, dry, dense and flavorless.
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
