This blog, for the past seven years and more than 650 entries, has been an extension of the Mail Tribune’s weekly food section. Blogging also has provided coverage of local food news and events that don’t make it in A la Carte, whether for issues of space, timing or newsworthiness. It’s been a platform for [...]
To go with the deviled-egg recipes circulating in food publications and on websites around Easter, egg-salad recipes abound. It’s so predictable you’d think this holiday was the only time anyone hard-boiled eggs. Of course, there are people (my husband being one) put off by what they perceive as the sulfurous smell of hard-boiled eggs. And [...]
It’s been a couple of years since this blog tackled the old lamb-or-ham-for-the-holiday question. I’m confident it’s a common enough quandary as a co-worker cooking her first Easter brunch for family asked my opinion this week. A staunch advocate of lamb, I had to hedge and admit that because she had so many other dishes [...]
Every newspaper story about the genesis of that candy turned pop-culture phenomenon — Peeps — relate that the first marshmallow chicks were piped out by hand. While it’s hard to imagine how that feat was ever accomplished on a commercial scale (even to meet 1950s levels of demand), piping a few marshmallow chicks in the [...]
You don’t have to be kosher or celebrating Passover this week to have reason for trying recipes that could compose a traditional Jewish Seder. Almonds, both ground as meal and slivered and toasted for garnish, are the main ingredient in several flourless, kosher desserts touted by food writers over the past week. Almonds, of course, [...]
Asian greens, touted in Joy magazine’s March Season to Taste column, are among the first items of produce at local farmers markets. Fresh vegetables are scarce, of course, because local farmers are relying on crops hardy enough to either overwinter in the fields or keep in cold storage. At least one farm, however, has less to sell [...]
Today’s Tempo dining review acknowledged that sushi is one of the fastest-growing restaurant genres in the Rogue Valley, likely mirroring a nationwide trend. Diversity in dining options is never a bad thing, but it is too bad that local sushi establishments seem to be going the way of Chinese and Mexican eateries — all offering [...]
It seems like every time a food-travel show features some segment on cheese, I can count on seeing one of Rogue Creamery’s flash across the screen. The Rogue Valley’s hometown cheesemaker has been raking in awards, steadily gaining a foodie following and, after about a decade with David Gremmels and Cary Bryant at the helm, [...]
Overindulgence could be the culprit behind the weeklong lapse in entries to this blog. Regular readers probably recall that I served as a judge for last weekend’s Oregon Chocolate Festival in Ashland. If you haven’t already, check out my Facebook photo album of winners and courses served for the Chocolate Makers Dinner at Ashland Springs Hotel. [...]
In more than 10 years of reviewing restaurants and seven years of editing food pages for the newspaper, I’ve developed a reputation for somewhat unconventional tastes. Rich meats like lamb and goat, bitter vegetables and herbs and most things funky and fermented just hit the right note on my palate. My enthusiasm for commonplace sweet [...]