Organic Stone Fruits Perfect For August...

By Herb Gardener. Summertime, yes, but where temperatures soar the living isn’t easy. Flavors and More organic produce authority Mitch Blumenthal recommends a simple pleasure to beat the August heat—stone fruit. At a recent visit to his home nestled amongst fields of lemongrass, blackberries and Chinese long beans, Mitch and his family served Flora and me a bowl of chilled Rainier cherries to salute a sultry dusk....

Food Buzz: Dried Okra For Snacking...

By Chef Judi Gallagher. Most people prefer not to think of okra outside of a bowl of gumbo. Okra is sticky (some say slimy) with a somewhat bland taste. Well, okra is not just for gumbos anymore. The new trend among foodies involves incorporating dehydrated vegetables such as dried beets and okra. These dried veggies can be used as a garnish with saucy barbecue or stand alone as a crunchy snack. I first tried dehydrated...

Philly Phlavors...

By Marsha Fottler. Visitors by the thousands travel to Philadelphia and famous surrounding communities every year to experience America’s dramatic struggle for independence in the places where it happened more than two centuries ago. But they also come to discover great art, world-class gardens, historic homes, major league baseball and, of course, exceptional regional food. As early as the 1780s Philadelphia was the...

Summertime and the Cooking is Easy...

By Judi Gallagher. I love to cook and eat year-round, that’s no secret. But, since we’re deep in the heat of high summer, I’ve been having fun trying new recipes and paying attention to new summer food trends. My indoor kitchen and big gas cooktop have limited appeal and are on vacation this time of year. We’ve been spending a lot of time eating in my new outdoor kitchen, experimenting with the new grill and enjoying...

Summer Family Fun...

By Marsha Fottler. Barbara Glanz is a motivational/inspirational speaker, consultant and author of 11 books, which, I guess, are classified as self-help for want of a better and more complex descriptive category. Glanz is so popular worldwide that she’ll be included in the next edition of the Guinness Book of World Records because she has spoken to groups on every continent. Yes, it was a brief lecture on Antarctica...

From Undies to Ice: The Tale of a Sorbet Maker...

By Kelley Lavin. That Julia Child was so smart it’s almost eerie. She couldn’t have been more astute when she wrote “In department stores, so much kitchen equipment is bought indiscriminately by people who just come in for men’s underwear.” How could she have predicted that I would go in to buy underwear for my husband yet leave with a sorbet maker? Luckily she never went on to foresee my “great electronic...

Eating On Tapas The World...

By Herb Gardener. Super Bowl? Piffle. In my home, the athletic contest that draws the faithful to the flatscreen and snack trough (and drives Flora to the mall) is the World Cup final. Until a few weeks ago, Spain claimed the top spot in world rankings, and the Furia Roja remains a favorite to win the planet’s greatest sporting event on Sunday, July 11. Preparing and serving Spanish tapas is a winning strategy for satisfying...

Breakfast For Dinner...

By Marsha Fottler. The American breakfast is vastly under appreciated and not enjoyed nearly enough because of the time of day breakfast is usually prepared and served. Who has an hour or more in the morning to truly savor the meal? Recently, Chef Judi and I decided to celebrate the first meal of the day by making it the last. We organized a Breakfast For Dinner party at Judi’s house and invited eight gal pals to show...

WELL BEING: Foodies With Celiac Disease Discover D...

By Marsha Fottler. May is National Celiac Awareness Month, a good time to learn more about this disease and the food revolution it started. There are some two million people in the United States who have celiac sprue and require a life-long gluten-free diet. Until recently dining out was a nightmare for these people since gluten-free meals hardly existed. Cooking at home wasn’t any better. Today because of the sudden...

When Life Hands You A Surprise Pie...

By Chef Judi Gallagher. National Pie Championship 2010 When the American Pie Council called and asked me to be a judge at the 2010 pie competition at Champions Gates in Orlando, Florida I was elated. I love pie; my lifetime culinary goal, in fact, is to discover America’s best apple pie. So far, Mom’s Apple Pie in Sebastopol, California is number one on my list. I obsess about crust. My preference is for a flaky lard...