... Wherein we learn that Peeps sometimes are created and not just born ... and sometimes they're ready for their closeup. Do you hear that Mr. DeMille?
In secular food news, while it may be Miller time all the time in Milwaukee, the home of the Brewers still makes room for beers like Goose Island. It's also baseball season and we wonder, will you be buying a $9 brewski at the stadium?
The Hungry Bride solicited advice on what pots and pans to choose for her new home. Hungry editors, meanwhile, who have been singing "Gimme That Fish" for days now, went off on annoying food advertisements.
Do you have true grits? How bout trying this shrimp-and-grits recipe in honor of the National Grits Festival. Or do you hanker for the 1970s and Aunt Evie's chicken stroganoff recipe?
Can't get enough "Top Chef"? Wait till June when Neil Patrick Harris -- yes that Neil Patrick -- and some "Lost" writers join celeb chefs like Hubert Keller and Wylie Dufresne for "Top Chef Masters."
Oh, and we tried and failed to beat a volcano. A bacon-filled volcano.
Wyatt McSpadden, author of the recently published "Texas BBQ," leads readers on a tour of the seedy under (pork) belly of Austin's barbecue joints.
Viva cheap eats! Taco Journalism's Armando Rayo shows a reporter how to negotiate Austin's extensive taco truck demimonde, exploring the good, the bad and the incredibly delicious.
Andrea Abel considers the many variations of the classic matzo ball soup, with tips on how to personalize a Passover favorite.
Addie Broyles explores the history of Easter eggs and gives tips for natural dyeing.
Charleston Chef Kevin Johnson talks about his favorite methods for going whole hog with snout-to-tail-to-trotter pig preparation.
Passover starts at sundown tomorrow and we've got you covered over at AOL Food. Check out our Matzo Ball 101 (the secret ingredient, as we reveal, is schmaltz -- more than a sentimental moment, it's literally chicken fat!) and oodles of other recipes including a delectable-lookin' Merlot-drenched beef brisket with prunes. So take a gander before you hustle out the door to do your shopping tonight.
Got a knockout Passover recipe? Share it in the comments!
New wines that have "such excellent value even Harrison Ford would be excited": Casa Lapostolle 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, Cleebourg Prestige 2006 Pinot Gris, Walter Clappis The Hedonist 2005 Shiraz, Sportoletti Assisi 2006 Rosse, Stringy Brae 2006 Shiraz
Saturday afternoon, Scott and I picked up my great-aunt Belle and drove out to my cousin's house for my family's Seder dinner. It was Scott's first Seder and Belle's 90th, so she gave him a quick rundown of what expect on the way out there. The Seder dinner was moderately traditional, starting out with a shortened Haggadah gefilte fish and matzo ball soup (the addition of fresh dill made the matzo balls particularly delicious) and then ending with roasted lamb, string beans and matzo kugel.
It was the first time that Scott tasted gefilte fish, and when the verdict was that it wasn't too bad at all. Our gefilte fish was nice looking, but not quite as lovely as the stuff you see above. Thanks for the picture, C(h)ristine!
Passover starts Saturday night, the holiday during which Jews give up all leavened products for a period of 7 or 8 days. Instead, we eat matzo. Stacks and stacks of matzo. However, until I saw this picture, I never really thought about how beautiful such a basic food item could be. Thanks Ohad*, for the lovely image!
Since flour, yeast and baking powder are all outlawed during Passover, making palatable desserts can be something of a challenge. Check out these three recipes from cookbook author Aliza Green that will make the end of your Seder as tasty as the beginning.
Yesterday, I asked you guys for some help with a savory matzo kugel (thanks to all who commented and pointed me in the direction of recipes, I do appreciate the help). I want to return the favor by offering one of my very favorite Passover recipes, for charoset. Charoset appears on the Passover menu in order to represent the mortar that the Jews used to build structures during their enslavement.
However dark and unappealing the inspirational source, the resulting dish is delicious. It is a combination of chopped apples, almonds, walnuts, honey, spices and a little wine (or grape juice). You can make a little or a lot, and the leftovers are wonderful with some greek yogurt for breakfast or over a bed of baby greens for lunch. Check out my recipe after the jump, but know that you can adapt it to your own tastes (tossing a handful of raisins in is never a bad idea).
Whatever dessert you end up having for Passover, please avoid those macaroons in the can. At the Passover Seder, we traditionally ask 4 questions. I propose adding a 5th question: Why on all other nights do we eat baked goods that come in bags, boxes, or direct from the oven and on this night we eat baked goods from a can?
Even moving past canned macaroons, I'm not typically a big fan of Passover desserts. These kosher for Passover chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting, however, are so tasty that I could eat them year round. One of my friends even told me it was the best cupcake she had ever had!
They are extremely rich - almost like fudge - so if you have mini cupcake wrappers, you might consider using those instead of normal-sized ones. You could also make the cupcake recipe in cake format.
Passover, the holiday that lasts for a week and requires that observant Jews give up any leavened bread/grain product for the duration, starts this Saturday. My extended family isn't particularly observant, so while we're having a Seder dinner (the traditional Passover meal that includes a lengthy service called the Haggadah) we're cutting the Haggadah section of the meal down to a manageable five minutes.
The one place where we aren't breaking from tradition is that the actual meal will be Kosher, with no leavened dishes on the table. For the first time ever, I've been assigned a dish to bring (I guess my cousins figure that since I'm nearly 29, I can handle it). They asked me to bring a savory matzo kugel (pudding). I've made noodles kugels and sweet matzo kugels in the past, but I've never made exactly the thing that I've been asked to create.
So Slashfood readers, I need your help. Point me in the direction of your favorite savory matzo kugel recipes! If you have a family recipe that you are willing to share, pop it into the comments section. My family and I thank you!
Pollsters are now looking at how consumer behavior, including eating, affects voter choice. Dr. Pepper is for Republicans, Sprite is for Democrats. Clinton supporters snack on Fig Newtons, McCain fans on stuffed-crust pizza. While some results are weird, others are predictable - Whole Foods is a dead giveaway of liberal orientation.
Cookbook author Susie Fishbein is providing observant Jews with gourmet Passover recipes, including turmeric, tomato and spinach matzoh balls.
**#!*@! souffle! *$*#*!* emulsification! Chefs like to curse in the kitchen. Really.
Eric Asimov talks kosher wine - you don't have to be Jewish to like them.
The Minimalist does Hangtown Fry - eggs, bacon and...oysters.
Cakes masquerading as muffins make breakfast less guilty. Includes a recipe for spicy ginger muffins with currants and toasted pecans.
Food, or lack thereof, in Holocaust concentrations camps is still a taboo subject for survivors, writes Jewish cooking maven Joan Nathan.
Cindy McCain shares her favorite family recipes. Except they were ripped off from the Food Network. A rogue intern is apparently to blame.
This year's Boston Marathon falls in the middle of the Jewish holiday of Passover, where observant Jews remember their ancestor's flight from enslavement in Egypt by not eating leavened foods. "Leavened" food products include bread, pasta, cookies, etc. - runners' favorite carb-loading meals. Can you really run 26.2 miles fueled with nothing but matzoh?
MSNBC has an interesting story about observant Jewish runners and their personal decisions about whether or not to keep kosher during the marathon. One Boston-area rabbi, who describes running as a "spiritual quest," plans to fuel up on potatoes and matzoh. Another runner plans to Passover rules with dry oatmeal on the morning of the race,
Dry oatmeal? I'd rather have matzoh brei, a childhood Passover specialty of eggy fried matzoh, which can be served savory with cheese and veggies, or sweet (my favorite) with maple syrup.
For those of you out there who are beginning to think about getting your kitchens and pantries ready for Passover, be forewarned that you're going to have fewer Manischewitz products to choose from than you have in past years. The company has been in the process of putting a new oven in their one and only baking facility in Newark, NJ and, unfortunately, there were some engineering delays that made them miss the Passover baking window.
The company officials debated whether to stop producing some products altogether for the time being or just make less of them. The decided to temporarily stop production on a few of the less popular matzo products, including Passover Thin Tea Matzo, Yolk Free Egg Matzo, White Grape Matzo, Concord Grape Matzo, Spelt Matzo (unfortunate for observant Jews with wheat allergies) and the beloved cracker-sized Tam Tams.
So, for the Pesach-observant Slashfood readers, you might want to scour the shelves for any boxes of Tam Tams. Because when they're gone, there won't be anymore out there until the end of April.
This year's Boston Marathon falls in the middle of the Jewish holiday of Passover, where observant Jews remember their ancestor's flight from enslavement in Egypt by not eating leavened foods. "Leavened" food products include bread, pasta, cookies, etc. - runners' favorite carb-loading meals. Can you really run 26.2 miles fueled with nothing but matzoh? 
For those of you out there who are beginning to think about getting your kitchens and pantries ready for Passover, be forewarned that you're going to have fewer Manischewitz products to choose from than you have in past years. The company has been in the process of putting a new oven in their one and only baking facility in Newark, NJ and, unfortunately, there were some engineering delays that made them miss the Passover baking window. 
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