Up until, oh, about six to eight months ago, I stubbornly refused to eat Vietnamese food. If everyone else in the party felt like Vietnamese, I'd surrender, but not quietly, and would make it clear throughout the whole meal how much I hated what we were eating. I don't like cilantro, I don't like its combination with lime juice (which is completely ignored when eating Mexican food, of course), and I mist certainly did not like fish sauce.
However, after all that "hmph!"-ing, I must shamefully admit now that I am quite addicted to pho. There is something about the steaming hot broth that is so paradoxically refreshing in the summer, and yet so warm and comforting in the fall and winter. Though I am not afraid of beef, I never order pho with any of the sliced rare beef combinations. It might have to do with the fact that the places I've eaten pho are always tiny little dives. But even if we were in the King's castle eating pho, i'd still order the tofu pho because I love it.
It is autumn. The days are shorter, the nights are longer. The air is cooler. The leaves are turning all shades of yellow, orange and red. And do you want to know What We're Eating? A cake from the Tropics! It doesn't make sense, but somewhere on this planet, it is sunshine-y and warm, and a decadent homemade coconut cake filled with layer-upon-layer of luscious whipped cream and fresh pineapple, mangoes and kiwi, then covered with pretty toasted coconut is perfect!
SIV visits the new Simon LA and gives the kitschy cool place now famous for its junk food platter one-and-a-half stars (*1/2). Chiu-Chow via Vietnam can be had at Chaus Kitchen in San Gabriel, where the kitchen is "concentrated on perfecting a few house specialties."
For cooking at home, cookbook Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon, offers recipes for "sophisticated tagines from Morocco, fragrant Turkish kebabs and a dazzling assortment of Lebanese mezes."
..but not a bite to eat. With the beginning of October, the grocery stores in my area seem to be overflowing with pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. However, I'm a bit confused by the numerous pumpkins that are not recommended for eating. The small pumpkins in a large display by the store entrance are marked "for display only, do not eat!" and the pumpkins in the produce section are covered with stickers that read "great for painting!" Am I the only one who heads to the produce department looking for things to eat? So, stubborn as I am, I've become set on turning these decorative objects into food -- and hopefully something more interesting than the pie that everyone seems to be so set on this time of year.
Carrots are available year round, but for some reason, the warm, golden color and the use of a spice like ginger make Carrot Ginger Soup feel like an autumn food. Depending on what type of liquid you use to cook the carrots and whether or not you add cream to the soup at the end, you can make it vegetarian or vegan. I didn't do it purposely, but mine came out vegan.
Sandwich Day has been over and long past, but I couldn't resist this gorgeous panini from food blog Cream Puffs in Venice. Usually, I like the idea of paninis, but find that because they are squashed down in a panini press, don't look quite as fabulously photogenic as thick sandwiches that are piled high with ingredients. Perhaps it's the fact that the photo is an extreme close-up, perhaps it's the angle and lighting, but this panini made with pesto, artichokes, prosciutto and Asiago cheese definitely looks voluptuous enough!
If you bake, then you know the drill when it comes to using butter in a recipe. You simply slice off the number of tablespoons you need using the guide that's printed on the waxy wrapper. However, what if the wrapper on the butter is slightly off? Or worse (or better, depending), what if your sticks of very special fancy butter don't have those handy little guides?
The RSVP Endurance Baker's Butter Slicer allows you to accurately measure and cut butter. The gadget can hold traditional-sized butter sticks, as well as the shorter, wider sticks, and is dishwasher-safe. It's available for $9.50 at Chef's Tools.
Target already offers orgaic option in their SuperTarget stores around the country. Their produce departments are certified organic, and they offer hundreds of national-brand organic products. However, Target plans to add their own products under a private-label, Archer Farms. The line of foods will include pizzas, pastas, frozen dinners and dairy products.
Indian food -- samosas, naan, fragrant basmati rice, and rich, thick curries -- might be soon be replaced as my ethnic "go-to" with the foods of Persia.
I am no stranger to Persian cuisine. A long time ago, in a geeky galaxy far away, I was training for work in Chicago. Bored with TGI Friday's (we were in the suburbs of Chicago), my teammates and I ventured into the city and ended up at Reza's. Now some Persian food purists may turn their noses up to Rezas's, but at the time, I was wholly taken by the new-to-me cuisine: pomegranates and walnuts and strangely shaped meats on sticks. I was rapidly falling head over heels in love with spices and flavors that were familiar, yet different in the way they were combined with each other.
If you've been ignoring all the tips, tricks, news and wagging fingers from your friends and family about eating healthier, maybe this will change your mind about adding dark green leafy vegetables and fiber to your diet. According to health psychologist Lynn Edlen-Nezin and Robert Fried, authors of the book Great Food, Great Sex, the healthier your diet, the better your sex life. Edlen-Nezin says that because the "plumbing is all connected, everything that's good for your heart is good for your sexual health."
So what do they recommend? Everything that's been touted for cardiovascular health is good for sexual health because they contribute in some way to blood-flow through the body: fruits, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, and anti-oxidant rich foods. Just don't expect high performance after dinner of grilled chicken breast on a bed of blackberries, walnuts, and wheatberries. We know there's no such thing as instant magic.
I have fond memories of the classic Club Sandwich. I would sit patiently in the clubhouse doing homework while my Mom played out her tennis game, then share a sandwich with her, quietly pulling it all apart while watching her and her all-white-clad lady friends chatter on about life.
See, that was what I had to do -- pull the sandwich apart because the double-decker is too big to eat like a normal sandwich. Today, I still have the same problem, and wonder why the sandwich was built this way in the first place when it will eventually have to be dismantled into one regular sandwich and one open face sandwich.
The question will remain unanswered, and we certainly can't change a classic. Or can we? Though the Club sandwich is typically made with turkey breast, bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes on toasted white bread with mayo, I recently had a Salmon Club sandwich on grilled sourdough. It was delicious, though I still ended up eating half of it with a fork.
The best way to hard-boil and egg is to...remove the water? 
Susan La Tempa spent the last few weeks on 
..but not a bite to eat. With the beginning of October, the grocery stores in my area seem to be overflowing with pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. However, I'm a bit confused by the numerous pumpkins that are not recommended for eating. The small pumpkins in a large display by the store entrance are marked "for display only, do not eat!" and the pumpkins in the produce section are covered with stickers that read "great for painting!" Am I the only one who heads to the produce department looking for things to eat? So, stubborn as I am, I've become set on turning these decorative objects into food -- and hopefully something more interesting than the pie that everyone seems to be so set on this time of year.
If you bake, then you know the drill when it comes to using butter in a recipe. You simply slice off the number of tablespoons you need using the guide that's printed on the waxy wrapper. However, what if the wrapper on the butter is slightly off? Or worse (or better, depending), what if your sticks of very special fancy butter don't have those handy little guides?
Perhaps they are responding to 
These days, just about every organization has a fundraising event centered around food, but it all started with 
If you've been ignoring all the tips, tricks, news and wagging fingers from your friends and family about eating healthier, maybe this will change your mind about adding dark green leafy vegetables and fiber to your diet. According to health psychologist Lynn Edlen-Nezin and Robert Fried, authors of the book 
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