Posted in Food and..., tagged beef curry, cinnamon, cucumbers, dinner, food, home, inspiration, Tasmania, Thoughts, Vietnamese food on July 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Things learned while perusing Tasmanian recipes for the Vietnamese beef curry I will not be having for dinner (why must you torture me with your delicious culinary aromas, o neighbor who is also an excellent cook?)
Posted in Food and..., Science!, tagged America's Test Kitchen, awesome, BBQ, Canada Day, clever, cooking, independence day, parties, tips on June 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »
I like to cook. I like science. I extra like it when the two come together. Since Canada Day is coming up on July 1st and Independence Day is on the 4th, I thought I’d bring you this easy (and kinda science-y) way to tell if you have enough propane in your BBQ tank to make it through the festivities.
Thank you, America’s Test Kitchen:)
Posted in Food and..., Science!, tagged bees, chemicals, colony collapse disorder, Einstein, environmental sustainability, food, neonics, pesticides, pollinator health, pollinators, pollution, precautionary principle, science, Thoughts, WIAlaunch on June 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »
A new report is calling for the global banning of two common pesticides, neonicotinoids and fipronil. Why? Bees. Also birds, earthworms, other pollinators and aquatic invertebrates, but let’s focus on bees for a minute.
If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.
― Albert Einstein
Maybe you’re sick of hearing that chemicals are implicated in colony collapse disorder and bee deaths? Maybe your eyes glaze over when someone mentions the importance of bees to the ecosystem? Well, are you sick of eating? Because that’s what this discussion is really about.
One of every three bites of food comes from plants pollinated by honeybees and other pollinators.
The Task Force on Systemic Pesticides is putting out the Worldwide Integrated Assessment of the Impact of Systemic Pesticides on Biodiversity and Ecosystems (yeah, it’s a mouthful, just call it WIA, or on Twitter: #WIAlaunch). It’s the most comprehensive study of neonics ever done, it’s peer reviewed, and it includes industry-sponsored research as well as other source material. The picture it paints is not pretty. From a Treehugger article on the report:
Many of the findings are shocking. The concentrations of chemicals building up in waters exceeds levels approved as safe by pesticide regulations. Many of the species occupying critical links low in our food chains are being exposed via multiple pathways and by cocktails of chemicals acting together.
…
Scientists note that the prophylactic use of pesticides rivals CAFO antibiotic abuse; in both practices, chemicals are dosed into our environment causing real problems in a quest to avoid potential problems.
This Is What Our Grocery Shelves Would Look Like Without Bees
We’d be eating porridge, rice, bread — not much else. Life would be awful.
We’re lucky enough to have a food factory where the most important workers do the job for free, and we’re dousing them with poison. Where’s the sense in that? Humanity is often smart and frequently innovative, particularly when something we care about is threatened. We got over our devil-may-care love affair with DDT when it was shown to have persistent toxicological effects on the environment and, you know, life. We can do this too.
Posted in Food and..., tagged chia, food, inspiration, lunch, recipes, reference on April 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »
I just ran across this healthy recipe finder at The New York Times. It’s a useful resource if you, like me, sometimes have a vague memory of an article with a recipe but no useful landmarks to help find it. After a quick browse here I’m ready for lunch. Even the Beet and Chia Pancakes look good.
On second thought, I’m going with the Beet Salad With Chèvre Frais and Caraway. Too healthy for you? Pair it with a (local, ethical, organic, free range) steak, nothing’s stopping you:)
Posted in Food and..., tagged Domtrappkällaren, food, history, Learning@Dinner, restaurants, Sweden, travel, Uppsala University on April 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Did you know? Not only did there used to be a student jail for curfew breakers and related miscreants in Uppsala, Sweden, but that very same collection of cold stone cells is now the character-filled restaurant Domtrappkällaren. Translation: [Dom=cathedral] + [trapp=steps] + [kalleren=cellar]. For a mind-blowing bit of temporal perspective (for North Americans, at least), the university punishing said miscreants was founded in 1477. (Still left to learn: how are modern-day malfeasants chastised now that the jail has been repurposed? Inquiring minds want to know!)
The restaurant serves a delectable selection of Northern cuisine, including items like Kalix Löjrom roe. That name is a Protected Designation of Origin similar to “Champagne,” and is the only such designation in Sweden. Kalix is in Northern Sweden, and the region’s fish eggs (or Kalixlöjrom) gain their unique flavor from a mix of fresh and salt waters along with a copious dose of minerals. (Apparently, strontium and barium are quite tasty, if you can persuade a fish to prepare it for you.)
I learned none of this first-hand, sadly, but my globe-trotting father enjoyed the heck out of his dinner. Makes me want to get back to Sweden…
Posted in Food and..., Holidays, tagged cake, chocolate, food, nom!, Valentine's Day on February 13, 2014| 1 Comment »
My brain’s a little under-caffeinated today so I thought I’d bring you a recipe. Because chocolate cake, warm, soft, and straight out of the oven? Delicious. Also, I’ll admit to being a little snacky right now:) Enjoy!
Chocolate Cakes with Liquid Centers
The original version of this recipe was made famous by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten who says that this oozing molten chocolate cake happened completely by accident. The idea is fairly common now but it’s a great dessert for, say, Valentine’s Day. It’s quick, impressive, and can be pre-made and baked at the last minute, another big plus. These little cakes are tasty but easy to overcook. If that happens, well, you’ve still got chocolate cake.
115g / ½ cup unsalted butter, plus additional butter to grease molds
113g / 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
50g / ¼ cup sugar
16g / 2 T. flour
cocoa for dusting (or use flour, but cocoa will look better)
1. Microwave the butter and chocolate together on low heat (I use 30% power, stirring every couple of minutes) until the chocolate is melted. In the meantime, beat together the eggs, yolks, and sugar until light and thick.
2. Beat together the melted chocolate and butter. Pour in the egg mixture, then quickly beat in the flour, just until combined.
3. Butter four 4-ounce molds, custard cups, or ramekins, then dust with cocoa and tap out the excess. Divide the batter among the molds. (At this point you can cover and put these in the fridge until you are ready to bake; I’ve done this up to a day in advance.)
4. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Bake the molds on a tray for 7–10 minutes (depending on ramekin size and batter temperature); the center should still be soft, but the sides will be set.
5. Invert each mold onto a plate and let sit for about 10 seconds, then unmold. Serve immediately. Excellent with ice cream and strawberry sauce.
Makes 4 individual cakes.
Posted in Food and..., Likes, tagged baking, bribery, delicious, food, home, Motivation, recipes, yay on January 17, 2014| 2 Comments »
Just in time for the weekend, here is my favorite brownie recipe. It’s quick and delicious. It’s also in metric, because once you get a scale and get used to the routine, the weight method is indeed easier and more consistent. Making fewer dirty dishes is an added bonus. Also, cocoa powder means no waiting around to chop and melt chocolate bricks. I have a double boiler but yeah, no.
Brownies
Posted in Food and..., Science!, tagged books, fascinating, food, learning@lunch, nonfiction, processed food, science on August 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I read with lunch. Sometimes speculative fiction, of course, but often other types of writing as well, including nonfiction. Right now I’m reading Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal by Melanie Warner.
Appropriate lunchtime fare, wouldn’t you say? Allow me to share with you two fascinating excerpts:
You probably don’t think of your lunch as being constructed from powders, but consider the ingredients of a Subway Sweet Onion Teriyaki sandwich. Of the 105 ingredients, 55 are dry, dusty substances that were added to the sandwich for a whole variety of reasons. The chicken contains thirteen…. The teriyaki glaze has twelve…. In the fat-free sweet onion sauce, you get another eight…. And finally, the Italian white bread has twenty two….
— p.11
Yum. And lest you think that a salad at home is necessarily pitfall free:
… using fat-free dressing on a salad can prevent you from absorbing many of the vegetables’ healthy (fat-soluble) phytochemicals.
— p. 18
This has been Learning@Lunch. Enjoy:)
Posted in Food and..., tagged DIY, food, lemons, recipe on October 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »
The Asian grocery down the street can have some amazing deals. This past week it was daikon (aka white radish) for nine whole cents a pound, and lemons, nine for $1. Now, I picked up some daikon because, well, why not?, but I also bought as many bags of lemons as I could carry. I love lemons, their color and acid taste, the way their juice brightens almost any dish, and the fact that they don’t even need to be fresh to be good. In fact, sometimes they are better when they’ve been preserved. On the off-chance that you too have been blessed with citrusy goodness, I include my recipe.
MOROCCAN PRESERVED LEMONS
One of the best chicken dishes I’ve ever tasted involved these savory morsels of salty sour goodness. The Restaurant Marrakech in Fez serves poulet citrone with chicken stewed to the tenderest perfection in a bright yellow potion of salty preserved lemons and olives and onions. I haven’t reconstructed the recipe but I’m working on it.
2 lemons, organic if you’ve got them
½ C (122g) fresh lemon juice
⅓ C (86g) coarse salt
1. Wash the lemons well. Cut them into 8 sections each and place in a glass jar. Add the remaining ingredients, cover tightly and shake to combine.
2. Leave the lemons at room temperature, shaking the jar every day, for 2 weeks. Rinse lemons before using.
Note: from The Dean & DeLuca Cookbook. Recipe scales well, and once ready, lemons will keep in the refrigerator for ~6 months.
/zomg delicious!
Posted in Food and..., Other, tagged food on October 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »
We put the garden to bed this weekend. Finished uprooting the tomatoes, stripping all scarlet runner beans, and thanking the basil for its heroic effort in these Northern climes. In an effort to retain some essence of summer just that much longer, I brought in a few clippings of the apple mint. Prodigious stuff, this plant will take over a garden if you let it, but in a container it is content to produce huge, gorgeous, fuzzy leaves with a distinctive but mild mint flavor. Terrific in spicy peanut noodles, chickpea salad, or smoothies.
Apple mint
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