I've seen my share of Fall corn field art. I've been to the Great Godfrey Corn Maze more than once. They turn a corn field into a different shaped maze each year. While that is certainly impressive, the rice field art featured on Cool Things in Random Places blows me away!
What surprises me most about it is that the parking lot next to the field is not full. I would think people would be lined up to climb up on that roof and get a good look at the art from above.
Cool Things in Random Places has photos of several other spectacular rice fields as well as some pictures showing the process of making the art and what it looks like close up.
Apparently that's how some people do things in Japan. One gift that you can give a new mother is a bag of rice with the new baby's image on it. Oh, and the bag of rice weighs the same amount that the new baby does.
There are some funny gifts out there. As the writer of this InventorSpot post asks: what do you do with the bag? I hope that you're not meant to eat something that represents your new baby. Big yuck factor there.
By now, you've probably stopped reading articles about the food crisis by now. You probably read a few at first, and a few turned to two a week, at best. Now your eyes skim by as journalists continue to cover this problem that's plaguing people around the world. But as long as it doesn't directly affect you (except where prices are concerned), who cares, right?
For a pared-down, concise, but still informative look at what you do (but mostly what you don't) know about the food crisis, check out National Geographic's quiz, What's up with the food crisis?
The quiz discloses the answers to such questions as "does buying U.S.-grown rice deprive struggling economies of income?" and "which two countries are having the greatest effect on the global grain market?"
And if you're not completely depressed by the results to the food crisis quiz, see how much you know about the safety of your produce.
I'm sure we're all aware by now that there's a rice shortage going on. Lots of factors contribute, but the bottom line is that even in the first world there is some rationing going on. But what happens if it gets worse?
The BBC recently posted this article about some possible rice replacements. Quinoa, the native South American grain, was first on the list. I think a lot of people are aware of quinoa by now, but how many people have heard of fufu? That's a west African dish made from cassava, but apparently it's not well known outside of that region's population.
Most of the other grains in the BBC article are familiar, like millet and bulgur. I know there are plenty of other grains out there, and lots of edible plants that we just don't eat. Maybe we should start thinking about that kind of thing, now that we're having shortages of some of our staple foods.
So many of us are lactose intolerant these days, but there are so many milk substitutes that it's difficult to know where to turn! Find out where to go, and how to incorporate these substitutes into your cooking.
If you keep up with the news, you've probably heard about the food shortages and riots in Haiti and Egypt. You've also probably heard about the drought in Australia and the fact that China and India are limiting exports of rice. That's all going to lead to a lot of problems worldwide, as it already has in some places, but have food shortages hit the US?
According to this article in the New York Sun, the answer is yes. Some stores in New York and California are limiting the amount of rice and flour that consumers can take home. Retailers are also complaining about spotty deliveries for rice in California.
We tend to think of food shortages as something very far away, something that doesn't affect us. With the possibility that Americans could be affected by this, will we be able to come up with a solution in time to prevent a real crisis?
The last of the March snow is still on the ground and I was wearing my down coat all day, so The Tasty Island, a Hawaiian food blog, struck me as drool-worthy in two ways - the reviews of yummy Hawaiian food and the amazing palm tree and beach backgrounds in the pictures.
Check it out - coconut shrimp, fried mahimahi, lychee yogurt, takeout Japanese chicken katsu and way more, all rated on blogger Pomai's own Spam musubi rating system (Spam musubi, or spam on rice with seaweed, is an iconic Hawaiian snack) - five Spam musubi means superb, one means average. I'm considering trying to make the sweet, glutinous rice cakes called kakanin with coconut topping, which Pomai describes as the lovechild of a Rice Krispie treat and a mochi (Japanese glutinous rice dessert). I wonder if there are any cheap tickets to Hawaii on Travelocity?
For some reason these bouncing baby bags of rice make Western style birth announcements seem a tad impersonal. Talk about bundles of joy. These dakigokochi,or baby-shaped bags of rice personalized with a picture of their respective newborns, weigh just as much as the infants whose arrival the text announces.
Dakigokochi are far from being an age-old Japanese tradition. They were, ahem, conceived by Naruo Ono and his wife, Yukiko, who own the Yoshimiya rice shop in Kita-Kyushu. The popularity of the pair's wedding favor – a packet of rice, adorned with a picture of the happy couple – inspired them to create the unusual birth announcement. Even though their own son, Sota, is now four months old, the Onos haven't had a chance to send out their own dakigokochi. Guess they've been too busy fulfilling orders for other proud parents.
Last week Bob wrote a post about how cookbook author Peg Bracken had died. I followed up his post with one of my own that included her recipe for Fake Hollendaise. It was only after that post went up that I noticed that a commenter had specifically asked if anyone had Bracken's recipe for Hellzapoppin Cheese Rice. Mary, this one is for you.
Hellzapoppin Cheese Rice
4 cups cooked rice 4 eggs 2 tablespoons minced onion 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 2 teaspoons salt 1 pound grated sharp Cheddar small pinch each of thyme and marjoram 1 package chopped frozen spinach 1 cup milk 4 tablespoons melted butter
The USDA has just approved a plan to grow 3,200 acres of genetically modified rice near Junction City, Kansas for the purposes of making pharmaceuticals. The "Franken-rice," as it is called by those opposed to the plan, will have human proteins in them.
Though the USDA claims that it will be safe because there are no commercial rice farms (i.e. not for human consumption) in Kansas, there is the possibility that the rice may mix with other edible crops.
Before we get into Happy Hour recipes for the celebrations this weekend, I wanted to draw attention to this non-alcoholic Mexican drink that admittedly sounded strange to me until I tried it - now I am hooked.
Though there are drinks under the name Horchata in other cultures, the Mexican version is made from blended rice. It looks (and even tastes) like a milky drink, but there is absolutely no dairy in the recipe. It is rumored that this drink helps to cure hangovers, so you may want to whip up a batch if you plan on indulging at all this weekend.
If you want to try the drink but don't want to go to all the effort of making it yourself, Rice Dream apparently makes a version that is already prepared, though I've never tasted that myself. You can find the full recipe after the jump.
There are certain things for which a recipe seems silly because it's more of a formula with variables rather than a specific set of ingredients and techniques -- a salad, sandwiches, casseroles, and in the case of Asian cuisine, fried rice. Fried rice is just something you throw together, pulling various ingredients from whatever choices you have in the fridge. You start with a base of leftover rice, then go from there. Meat? Pick one from what you have. Vegetables? Use whatever you have. Seasoning? Well, this one is a little tricky, but it always comes down to your personal preference. Jaden of food blog Steamy Kitchen always uses fish sauce, but I simply splash in some soy sauce, butter, and of course, my favorite hot sauce, sriracha.
I've never heard of Chicken Ballotine, but it looks quite good. (Though I don't agree with the line " chicken is often dismissed as dull and ubiquitous, but chefs feel compelled to keep a version on their menu." Chicken is only dull if you make it that way, and not having some chicken dish on a restaurant menu is kind of silly. I mean, "compelled??")
Red beans and rice doesn't sound like a very exciting dish, but the staple of Louisiana cuisine can actually be elegant as well as delicious, as long as you put as much care into making yours as BWJones did with his version of the dish. His recipe calls for rice, red beans, onion and a lot of spices, including sage, thyme, bay leaf, cayenne pepper, garlic, paprika and chipotle. His is topped off with crawfish, seasoned generously with Old Bay (not to be confused with Old Spice), although some would say that sausage (andouille, in particular) or ham sets the standard for the dish. The meat can be left off entirely for a less expensive or vegetarian version of the dish.
This is an easy recipe to master and an extremely versatile one. Not only can you play around with the spices, increasing and decreasing the heat, but it can work both as a side dish and as a main course.
I'm sure we're all aware by now that there's a rice shortage going on. Lots of factors contribute, but the bottom line is that even in the first world there is some rationing going on. But what happens if it gets worse?
If you keep up with the news, you've probably heard about the food shortages and riots in Haiti and Egypt. You've also probably heard about the drought in Australia and the fact that China and India are limiting exports of rice. That's all going to lead to a lot of problems worldwide, as it already has in some places, but have food shortages hit the US?
The last of the March snow is still on the ground and I was wearing my down coat all day, so The Tasty Island, a Hawaiian food blog, struck me as drool-worthy in two ways - the reviews of yummy Hawaiian food and the amazing palm tree and beach backgrounds in the pictures. 
For some reason these bouncing baby bags of rice make Western style birth announcements seem a tad impersonal. Talk about bundles of joy. These 
Before we get into Happy Hour recipes for the celebrations this weekend, I wanted to draw attention to this non-alcoholic Mexican drink that admittedly sounded strange to me until I tried it - now I am hooked. 
Hey, don't use rice...
DIY Foods: Making homemade sausage
Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into
Fruit juice: An invitation to diabetes?
