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.
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.
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.
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.
It is pointless to always try to resist snacking between meals. Sometimes you’re just hungry. The best plan is
to have healthy snacks available and to try to cut down the fat and or calories on your favorites. At
restaurants, choose a main dish before you order an appetizer. If the portions are large or your dish is very rich, you
may want to skip it entirely. If your main dish is healthy, do not beat yourself up if you decide to have a small cup of
creamy soup or a handful of onion rings. The main thing to remember is that your whole meal should be fairly balanced,
with richer and leaner elements. Portion control fatty and fried foods. At home or at work, fruits and vegetables
make great snacks, along with healthy dips like sweetened or spiced yogurt, hummus or salsa. Balance your
favorite cheesy dip with some veggies, not just chips. You do not have to give up your favorite snacks to stay healthy,
though. To use nachos as an example, you can choose tortilla chips with no trans-fats and eat the nachos with plenty of
fresh salsa. If you know of a reduced fat cheese that you like, use it, but otherwise try to cut back on the cheese or
forgo it entirely every once in a while. When you body is sufficiently hungry, you should listen to it. Ignoring
your body’s signals will cause you to overindulge at your next meal. Just try not to listen when it tells you
that it wants chili cheese fries after you’ve just finished lunch.
I've had a love affair with tapas from long before I ever set foot in Spain (for the record: April
29, 2003. Madrid. Honeymoon. Met or exceeded expectations). I first started noshing on shrimp and romesco sauce,
blue cheese-stuffed olives, and little toasts with jamon serrano when I was still just a budding gourmet in my early
20s. Tapas first entered my life in a party, and I feel that nothing says cocktail food so much as a good
tapas spread.
I can't recommend these salty Spanish bites enough as the menu for your New Year's party (whether
it's for a formally-dressed crowd or just one or two in your jammies with a good bottle of bubbly). They are easy to
make at the last minute ('cause if you're like me you haven't planned, much), they don't require much in the way of
recipes or thought, they're highly-flavored, they're often packed with protein to counteract the effects of your
tipplin' ways. They're pretty, too.
Sparkling wines and champagne are definitely the drinks of choice on New Year's Eve, but if you are dressed to
kill there is no reason your cocktail shouldn't be, too. Adding strawberry puree to a classic Bellini in place of peach
gives this drink a deliciously sweet taste and a beautiful color. For those who would prefer not to have any alcohol,
you can use 7-up, sparkling cider or club soda instead.
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. 
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?
Dungeness Crab
is just coming into prime season. Whether you buy it cooked, raw, or live, 
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.
It is pointless to always try to resist snacking between meals. Sometimes you’re just hungry. The best plan is
to have healthy snacks available and to try to cut down the fat and or calories on your favorites. 
DIY Foods: Making homemade sausage
Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into
Fruit juice: An invitation to diabetes?
