Are you feeling opinionated on a range of food topics, notably diets? On the website Opposing Views, you have the opportunity to view experts' arguments for and against low-carb diets, caffeine use, biotech foods, and on becoming a vegetarian. Afterwards, you can post your own comments.
There are so many overbearingly opinionated blogs. What a relief to finally find a site where doctors and scientists debate over hot topics. And, rather than totally ignoring what everyone else has to say, it fosters continued discussion with comments. Also, the site provides news headlines dealing with the various questions.
From all the food-related issues that Opposing Views thoroughly covers, I found the topic on caffeine the most interesting. This is no doubt due to my over sensitivity to caffeinated products. Also, increasingly we hear stories in the news stating that coffee can reduce our risks of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and colon cancer. Just this past January, the media stated that doctors confirmed that while coffee helps fight type two diabetes, caffeine makes it worse. Such a contradictory study gives one an even stronger reason to check out this debate on Opposing Views.
The Cupcake Bakeshop was one of the first food blogs I read, back when I was just dipping my toe into the world of online recipes, writing and drool-worthy food photography. I've always been inspired by Cheryl's creative approach to baking and the ways in which she tried to re-imagine familiar tastes so that they translated to a single serving cake.
Last week, after a little over three years, more than 75 original cupcake recipes and the birth of her child, Cheryl is closing the Cupcake Bakeshop. The silver lining in this unfortunate storm cloud is that her recipes are still online and will continue to be available to serve as a inspiration resource to aspiring cupcake bakers everywhere.
As many of you know, the nation's screenwriters are currently on strike. Every time I hear a news report about the strike, I start to wonder how many of those screenwriters are spending their time. They can't all be out on the picket lines and, as I well know, the urge to write is strong. So strong, in fact, that some of the striking screenwriters, led by writer Amy Ephron, have started a food blog!
They have started One of the Table, a blog that is described as being about "Food, Politics and Love." Right now, on their stories page they have essays up by Laraine Newman, Delia Ephron, Holly Goldberg Sloan and Arianna Huffington. I am particularly taken with an essay by Denise Gruska entitled The Only Girl at School with a Liverwurst Sandwich. Not all the authors are striking writers, but many of them are. It's nice to see them channeling their talents into such a neat endeavor. Hopefully it will live on after a contract is negotiated and they return to work.
I can probably count on my fingers how many times I've actually cooked for more people than just myself over the past couple of years. This makes me either really lonely or really picky about who I cook for. Probably the former, since I eat most of my meals alone watching television.*
Jade Walker, who maintains severalcoolblogs, has a food blog called Cooking For 2. The layout is really simple and great, just different recipes each day, and its easy to navigate. She has a recipe up for Mashed Potatoes, which is appropriate. This has quickly become one of my favorite food blogs.
The Perfect Pantry is a great blog, filled with tips for stocking your pantry or kitchen. As webmaster Lydia herself says, there's no such thing as a perfect pantry, but there are certainly things in there you need. And it's The Perfect Pantry's one-year birthday (well, it was yesterday), and Lydia made a Chocolate Outrageous Pie to celebrate. She found the recipe in a notebook filled with old recipes. Full recipe after the jump.
Meatpaper is the self-proclaimed "journal of meat culture," and judging from what's up at their site, they're correct.
The site is filled with several articles on the "arts and ideas about meat," including pieces about the dry-aging room at New York's Master Purveyors, pig slaughter in Italy, why Filipinos eat Spam, and getting over the guilt of eating meat. There are also links to various food blogs.
The site itself says that they "like metaphors more than marinating tips," which I take as an indication that they're going to be talking about the world of food and not recipes and kitchen advice. They're taking subscriptions now, so you might want to check it out.
A hot cup of coffee and a rich, buttery, cinnamon-sugar pastry is a wonderful way to start off a Sunday morning - especially when, because of Daylight Savings Time, we had to "leap forward" a hour last night and are all a touch sleep-deprived. For once, I'm not talking about a cinnamon bun with this sweet pastry, although it is not too far off the mark. Cinnamon Butterflies, also called Cinnamon Ears, are similar to cinnamon buns in that they begin with a buttery dough that is rolled out and wrapped into a cinnamon-sugar-filled spiral. The difference is that the Butterflies are set on their side and pressed in the center so that the ends of the roll are pushed out into "wings" (or ears). The pastry is Scandinavian, and as is traditional with so many recipes from the region, each one is topped with sprinkles of a very large-grain sugar, or lightly crushed sugar cubes, for additional sweetness and crunch. Gattina, from Kitchen Unplugged, made this batch, as you can read the full post for the recipe.
Gratins and scallops are usually made with potatoes, the difference between the two being the fact that gratins are made with cheese, while scallops tend to be made with cream, or a cream sauce, alone, although both are baked until the potatoes are tender and the top of the dish is crisp. Bored with the standard potato-only dish, you can include onions, artichokes or other root vegetables, but if you want to move further away from tradition, anything that will hold up to baking will work. Alanna, from A Veggie Venture made her most recent scallop-type dish with apples, as well as potatoes. Her Scalloped Apples and Potatoes only takes a few minutes to prepare and comes out of the oven as a creamy, crowd-pleasing side dish - especially if that crowd doesn't mind a hint of sweetness in with their savory dishes.
I imagine that this cream filled donut - a prime example of food porn that was posted by Robyn, the Girl Who Ate Everything - has stopped a lot of people dead in their tracks, both those who came across it in person and those who are viewing it online. It is truly an impressive sight, with a cream:donut ratio of at least 3:1. It is a more impressive sight if you actually like cream-filled donuts. Judging by the offerings at the average donut shop, it appears as though filled donuts are substantially less popular than their cream, custard or jelly-filled counterparts and that, even when people enjoy the filled donuts, they seem to opt for the unfilled as more of a daily donut, saving the filled version for a special treat.
That said, if you're chowing down on a donut for breakfast on a regular basis, you're probably not all that worried about the difference between a special indulgence and a regular one. And either way, you'd definitely think twice before passing this one by!
A french fry is much easier to eat than a lobster, and for many other foods it is simply a fact that some are easier to eat than others. Some, like the aforementioned lobster, are simply difficult to get into. Others are difficult to maneuver into your mouth gracefully (giant burritos, salads with huge lettuce leaves ) and still others are messy to the point where many diners simply avoid them (ribs) unless they have a very high comfort level with their dining partners.
Chow took on the task of identifying some of these foods are offering readers some tips on how to eat them without the food getting the upper hand. Their suggestions include angling tacos over a plate and pinching the edges of the tortilla together to prevent/direct drips, aiming to eat sushi in two neat bites, spear peas with a fork instead of scooping them and deboning a fish using a banana leaf (or a fork).
I would also suggest a few more food-fighting tips to get your through dinner. First, keep a napkin handy to deal with messes and try to eat sloppy foods either very slowly or very fast to minimize the chances of contact with clothing. When possible, cut your food into bite-sized pieces, even if you think that the piece on your plate will probably fit into your mouth. Finally, try to get you dinner companion to order the same type of food that you did, so that in the event you get messy or eat awkwardly, you won't be the only one.
Cold (and wet, depending on where you live) winter weather tends to make us crave hot, hearty foods, but that doesn't do anything to diminish the appeal of something light for dessert after a heavy meal. In fact, a bright cirtus dessert can serve as a reminder that spring is still on the way - and the Lemon Cream Tartlets from Helene at Tartelette are very spring-like, indeed. The recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan's newest book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, and it is rumored to be one of the best lemon tartlet recipes out there, with an intense lemon flavor and silky smooth texture. The texture is due to the fact that an entire cup of butter is used to make the filling for only a handful of tarts, making it anything but light in fat and calories. One bite should make you be enough to forget the nutritional stats and just let you enjoy the heavenly flavor of the tart.
I always keep an eye out for new and limited edition candies when I'm at the store. The candy companies love putting them out and, frankly, most of us know what the originals taste like. It's interesting to compare old and new to see what works and what doesn't. But even I will admit that things are getting a little out of hand when you can venture into what was once the candy aisle and see that not only has it been replaced entirely with different kinds of limitededitionHershey'sKisses, but that it has been expanded to cover four aisles, making room for all the other new varieties of old candies.
How far can manufacturers and retailers go with this trend? Cotton and Sand , getting more than a little annoyed with the overload of not-so-special releases, came up with some as-yet-unrealized (thankfully!) candy bar concepts that poke fun at the overwhelming selection candy consumers now face. Kit Kat Malt Liquor sounds like the best of the bunch, but I think I'll pass on Vegetable Skittles, Seafood Gumbo Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers Bacon Bars.
Seafood is usually a fairly photogenic genre of meat as far as food porn goes. Sushi can be absolutely beautiful and cooked fish, with the possible exception of the bland-looking poached fish, can look tempting, as well. Shrimp, on the other hand, are not usually the most appetizing of sea creatures, which is what makes this photo of Ginger Chili Shrimp from Hooked on Heat all the more amazing. These tasty fried shrimp are first marinated in a mixture of turmeric, chili powder and lime juice before hitting the oil for a quick fry. The remaining oil is then used as a base for a spicy sauce made with ginger, onions, chili flakes, tomato paste and soy sauce, which is tossed with the shrimps to give them the nicely browned look that you see above. This dish could easily be served as an appetizer with margaritas at a cocktail party or enjoyed as part of a light dinner when you're in the mood for some spice and seafood.
Last year, we rounded up eight great pancake recipes for a Fat Tuesday celebration, but even though eight new pancake recipes are enough to get you through several breakfasts without getting bored, there are always going to be more recipes out there to try. So, without further ado, here are eight delicious new pancake recipes to try:
Nosheteria's Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes (pictured) are light and tender, with the bright flavor of lemon backed up with a little crunch from poppyseeds. They're a great alternative to lemon poppyseed muffins.
Keeping the seasonal citrus, but moving in a slightly different direction, we have Lemon and Ricotta Pancakes, which are delicate and just melt in your mouth when eaten.
Oatmeal pancakes are hearty, but perfectly satisfying on a cold winter morning - although with a fresh berry topping like the one Elise used, they will satisfy in summer, as well.
A giant Baked Apple Pancake can be served as breakfast or as dessert, but due to its size and addictive taste, it is best to save lots of room for it.
A little bit of zest and spice can take a plain, buttermilk pancake to a whole new level, as they did in these Orange and Cinnamon Buttermilk Pancakes. Use any spices you like (ginger would be nice)!
For those of you who are health-conscious when it comes to breakfast, you might want to try making a batch of No-Flour, No-Sugar Crepes to start your day.
Pork-lovers will probably get a kick out of having their favorite breakfast side inside their pancakes, rather than next to them, so Bacon Pancakes should be particularly appealing to them
Nutella is often spread on top of pancakes or used as a filling for dessert crepes, but mixing it into the batter for Nutella Pancakes eliminates that pesky extra step before consumption. Opt for chocolate sauce as a topping if you like your pancakes for dessert, otherwise stick to maple syrup.
Are you feeling opinionated on a range of food topics, notably diets? On the website Opposing Views, you have the opportunity to view experts' arguments for and against low-carb diets, caffeine use, biotech foods, and on becoming a vegetarian. Afterwards, you can post your own comments.
I can probably count on my fingers how many times I've actually cooked for more people than just myself over the past couple of years. This makes me either really lonely or really picky about who I cook for. Probably the former, since I eat most of my meals alone watching television.*
Some 
The Perfect Pantry
A french fry is much easier to eat than a lobster, and for many other foods it is simply a fact that some are easier to eat than others. Some, like the aforementioned lobster, are simply difficult to get into. Others are difficult to maneuver into your mouth gracefully (giant burritos, salads with huge lettuce leaves ) and still others are messy to the point where many diners simply avoid them (ribs) unless they have a very high comfort level with their dining partners. 
Last year, we rounded up 
10 More Dirty Restaurant Tricks
5 Things You Didn't Know About Turducken
10 Catchiest Food Jingles We Love to Hate
