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10 Favorite Cakes & Pies for the Holidays
Great baking ideas for Thanksgiving and Christmas
Epicurious.com presents its top 10 favorite cake and pie recipes from their recipe database. Some are just perfect for your Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas parties. If you have your own favorite, submit your own dessert recipe to their monthly contest for different prizes each month.
Favorite cakes and pie recipes | via epicurious.com
October 31, 2005 in Baking, Christmas, Thanksgiving | Permalink | Comments (0)
Natural Kitchen Cleaning Kit from Caldrea
Caldrea cleaning products are natural, pleasant smelling, also effective way to clean your kitchen. Lift your senses with these cleaning solutions that are blended with mint and ylang ylang oils, with a touch of citrus from oranges, lemons, and bergamot. Keeps hands soft too.
Caldrea 3-pc. Kitchen Cleaning Set, Citrus Mint Ylang Ylang | $29 at Cooking.com
October 31, 2005 in Kitchen Essentials | Permalink | Comments (0)
Decant your wines easily with the Wine Funnel
Need a quick and effective way to decant your wine? The Wine Funnel aerates your wine into e into eight separate streams helping smooth out its tannic flavor and improve the taste. European design also includes a stainless steel filter to catch bits of cork and sediment.
Wine Funnel | $20 at UncommonGoods.com
October 29, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, All Things Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Toss and Chop - easy salad preparation
Quickly prepare salads using Silvermark's Toss & Chop cutlery gadget that's designed to cut and process food right in your bowl. Preparation is faster and simpler, and there's less clean up afterwards. Made of stainless steel with Zytel nylon soft grip.
Silvermark Toss & Chop | $19 at ChefsResource.com
October 28, 2005 in Kitchen Gadgets | Permalink | Comments (0)
Mangoes & Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent
In Mangoes & Curry Leaves, discover exotic tastes from the vast region of the Indian Subcontinent that extends from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and down to Sri Lanka.
"The authors are regular travelers to the region, and the text often reads like a letter from a more than usually adventurous friend - a friend who know a lot about food." - From Time Magazine
Coming this fall: An hour-long documentary by award-winning director Jacques Menard. Shot from Colombo to Kandy, Mumbai to Gujarat, in urban markets and rural communities, it follows the authors as they researched, photographed, and wrote this book. For this companion volume to the award-winning Hot Sour Salty Sweet, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid travel west from Southeast Asia to that vast landmass the colonial British called the Indian Subcontinent.
Mangoes & Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent | $27 (40% off) at ecookbooks.com
October 27, 2005 in Cookbooks | Permalink | Comments (0)
Contemporary Bar Cabinet makes stylish statement
With understated elegance, this bar cabinet has it all--stemware storage, space for cocktail glasses and tall bottles, storage drawer for accessories, and a stainless steel protected pull-down door. Designer Ricard Vila has even provided discreet lighting inside the oak veneered cabinet.
Otto Bar Cabinet | $2498 at Design Within Reach
October 27, 2005 in Parties & Entertaining | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Joy of Slow Cooked Scrambled Eggs
The Los Angeles Times Food Section featured an article about the often neglected joy of slowly cooking your scrambled eggs. Indeed, scrambled eggs has always been seen as a quickie meal, so we really forget that eggs become a completely different meal when cooked slowly. Like eggs served at your favorite expensive brunch restaurant.
"If you slow things down a bit, you can turn scrambled eggs into something spectacular: Cooked very slowly, and stirred constantly, scrambled eggs can be a dish that's creamy, rich and luxurious enough to serve as a first course at an elegant dinner.
Try it once, and you may never do the quick scramble again. Try it twice, and you'll never fret again about a brunch menu."
Lower the flame, slow down the scramble and transform eggs into pure bliss | via LA Times
Technorati Tags: Food and Drink
October 26, 2005 in Cooking | Permalink | Comments (0)
New York Bagels & Lox Gift Basket
Missing New York City? Give yourself or close New York loved one a gift basket of New York bagels and lox.
Zabars puts it all together the right way with their NYC Essentials Gift Basket. You'll get an assortment of fresh-baked New York bagels, Zabar's Nova lox, plain and scallion cream cheese, Zabar's chocolate babka & rugelach, almond biscuits, Perugina Baci chocolate bar, and a pound of Zabar's ground coffee. It's a gift basket any New Yorker or NY foodie would love.
NYC Essentials Gift Basket | $179 Next Day Air from Zabars.com
October 26, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide | Permalink | Comments (1)
Scan and Cook with Beyond Smart Microwave
Scan the barcode on your food package, and the Beyond Smart Microwave Oven makes it even easier to prepare dinner. The barcode sets the oven timing and power to the correct microwave settings and zap! - you're ready to eat. Comes with over 4,000 UPC codes, and can be updated through the Beyond Information Network adapter.
I know it will save me the countless times of fishing the box out of the trash to reread the cooking instructions.
Beyond Smart Microwave Oven Official Website
Purchase Beyond Smart Microwave | $165.99 at eSalton.com
October 25, 2005 in Kitchen Gadgets | Permalink | Comments (0)
A Retro Wine Rack - The Wine Knot
The Wine Knot is designed by New York based design firm called Mint. Made of birch and walnut plywood, the Wine Knot is a different take on the standard boxy wine rack designs out there.
Wine Knot Wine Rack | $100 at GreenerGrassDesign.com
October 25, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, All Things Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Halloween Party Ideas
Epicurious.com features Halloween party ideas for both kids and adults on their website this month. For kids, there's cookie and cupcake recipes, and for adults, you'll find ideas for martinis, hors d'oevres, and party decorations.
Halloween Parties & Entertaining | via Epicurious.com
October 24, 2005 in Halloween, Parties & Entertaining | Permalink | Comments (0)
Visit New Food Blog Site - 360eats.com
Last week, Daily Olive was notified that we were joining 25 other food blog sites at the new 360eats.com website, a food blog aggregator. When you visit the site, you'll see excerpts of all recent posts from many popular food blog sites.
Visit 360eats.com regularly - it's good for you.
October 23, 2005 in Food News | Permalink | Comments (1)
Serve a Better Tasting Heritage Turkey
Daily Olive readers -- Save 10% off your Heritage Turkey from Heritage Farms USA
Heritage Foods USA is beginning to take orders for their naturally raised heritage turkeys. Order a Bourbon Red or American Bronze turkey, and enjoy a more flavorful heritage turkey over the common commercially raised turkeys. The turkey's flavor comes from natural breeding, slower growth, and longer life before slaughter.
Learn more about Heritage Turkeys:
- Making a Comeback: Heritage Breeds | via LocalHarvest.com
- The Hunt for a Truly Grand Turkey, One that Nature Built | NY Times via SlowfoodUSA.org
Technorati Tags: Food and Drink
October 22, 2005 in Thanksgiving | Permalink | Comments (0)
Ferran Adria Introduces New Tableware and Chef Gear
Ferran Adria, of Spain's El Bulli, has collaborated with Spanish designer Armand Basi, to create a line of tableware, chef gear and t-shirts called "Couture for the Table". There are no firm dates for the line's distribution in the US yet.
El Bulli "Wear" Story at Snack Blog | via thefoodsection.com
Related: Special Offer "El Bulli Cookbook" at ecookbooks.com
October 21, 2005 in Chef News | Permalink | Comments (1)
Cheese Graters by America's Test Kitchen
These cheese graters were selected by America's Test Kitchen as tested in October 2005 Cook's Illustrated.
- Box Grater - by Cuisipro 6-Sided Stainless Steel Grater | $25 at Cooking.com
- Rasp Grater - by Microplane 12-in. Microplane Zester | $10 at Cooking.com
- Rotary Grater - by Pedrini Rotary Cheese Grater
| $15 at Amazon.com
October 21, 2005 in Kitchen Essentials | Permalink | Comments (0)
Mario Batali Panini Grill
Make panini at home with this stove top cast-iron panini grill and press from Mario Batali.
Mario Batali Panini Grill | $79 at Sur la Table
October 20, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide | Permalink | Comments (0)
Free Subscription to Gourmet or Bon Appetit Magazine
Order $50 or more from eCookbooks.com, and you'll get a free one year subscription to either Gourmet Magazine or Bon Appetit.
Visit eCookbooks.com to shop over 11,000 cookbook titles.
October 19, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, Cookbooks | Permalink | Comments (0)
Braun Multiquick Hand Blender
Once we added a hand blender to our kitchen, we wondered how we ever got by without it. This Braun Multiquick Hand Blender saves lots of cleaning time from using a food processor or counter top blender. Puree, whip cream, crush ice, and make smoothies. Blending right in your glass, pot, or bowl saves on using extra utensils. A do-it-all kitchen tool.
Braun Multiquick Hand Blender | $35 at Cooking.com
Braun Professional Multiquick Hand Blender
October 19, 2005 in Kitchen Essentials | Permalink | Comments (2)
Real Food—To Know it is to Love it
Daily Olive welcomes Sherri Brooks Vinton, author of Real Food Revival, as a periodic guest author writing about the practices of real food living.
I love food. It’s not just that I love to eat, which I do, but I am genuinely infatuated with food. I want to find the most delicious food available. I want to know how it got that way, where it comes from, how it was grown or raised, and who did the growing. It is this fascination that has led me directly to the real food movement. In a society that interests itself a great deal with the maker of our jeans, are yours Levi’s or Wranglers?, or the provenance of our cars, nothing like a sporty little import, we’ve become woefully unattached from the origins of our food. It wasn’t always this way.
What Happened?
As recently as sixty years ago, our food was grown regionally, on human-sized farms and was, by and large, organic. But the advances in mechanization and chemical applications developed in World War II changed the face of American agriculture. Chemical companies such as Dow and Monsanto now dominate the food supply through vertically integrated corporations that control every facet of food production from seed to table.
Small, family operated farms, once the backbone of our food chain, are being pushed out of business at a rate of 330 per week. The result is an increasingly consolidated food system of anonymous producers churning out foods that have no sense of place or time.
Quantity not Quality
Such a system operates on principles of quantity not quality. If you find yourself grousing about the mealy items on offer in the produce department you aren’t just imagining a dip in flavor. The distances that these items now travel, on average about 2000 miles from field to fork, deteriorate quality and limit selections to varieties that can withstand the rough ride.
Mad Cow? It’s not the natural progression of agriculture. It’s the result of bloating cattle with the cheapest feed ingredients available including animal protein from their own kind, a variation of cannibalism which leads to the disease. GMOs? They aren’t designed to feed the world. The two most popular Genetically Modified Organisms are corn and soy crops, the surplus crops that fuel the snack and fast food industry.
Real Food, a Delicious Choice
Alarming? I think so. But here’s the silver lining. There’s a real food movement going on. And it’s not just for foodies or gourmands. It’s for eaters, eaters, producers, chefs and market owners everywhere who want delicious, clean, trustworthy food.
This real food movement follows the straightforward principles of sustainability. Natural resources such as water, air and land fertility are respected. Animals are raised responsibly and humanely. Seasonal and regional food production, and eating what is grown and raised around you when it becomes available, is center to the sustainability manifesto. And flavor rules supreme.
Follow these tips and you’ll not only enjoy tastier food, you’ll know how it got that way.
- Buy local and seasonal produce to enjoy food that is picked ripe and grown for flavor, not built for travel. And if you can find local and organic, all the better. A spin through the local farmers’ market guarantees that you will not only be getting the most delicious food available, you’ll also be supporting area growers who aren’t relying on distribution overhead to sell their products. You can find a listing of markets in your area at http://www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/map.htm. Or consider joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), a sort of subscription program at an area farm. Visit http://www.csacenter.org for more information to find a CSA near you.
- Use a pocket fish guide to select items that are plentiful, responsibly caught and untainted with toxic residues. You can find them online at http://www.montereybayaquarium.com or http://www.seafoodchoices.com.
- Seek out regional dairy products, farmstead and artisanal cheeses pack tremendous flavor, support local farmers, and keep farms in the landscape. Increasingly, you can find regional cheese in the supermarket. You might also consider supporting your neighborhood cheese shop or the cheesemaker at your local farmers’ market.
- Avoid feedlot beef. Factory farming methods such as using feed that contains animal proteins are responsible for the spread of mad cow disease. The systematic administration of sub-therapeutic antibiotics is believed to lead to antibiotic resistance. Opt for meat from pastured animals, often labeled grass-finished or 100% grass fed, to promote humane ranching practices and avoid exposure to illnesses such as mad cow disease. You can find sources for such meat at http://www.eatwild.com. Or, if you are shopping at the supermarket look or meat labeled organic or 100% vegetarian feed to reduce your exposure to the disease.
- Look for fair trade products, particularly coffee, tea and chocolate, that allow growers in distant lands to earn a living.
- Avoid GMOs. Though not thoroughly tested, Genetically Modified Organisms, which cross the DNA of two different species, are not required by law to be labeled but chances are you are eating them everyday. Corn and soy are the two biggest GMO crops. Although GMOs can be present in any corn or soy product, we encounter them most frequently in processed food in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Vegetable Oil (frequently partially hydrogenated vegetable oil). To avoid GMOs, opt for snacks, such as sodas, fruit juices, packaged cakes, cookies and crackers that do not contain these ingredients.
Not everyone is able or willing to adopt all of these real food strategies, but anyone can do something. Start small. Jump in. Get to know where your food comes and your life will be all the more delicious for it.
Technorati Tags: Food and Drink
Sherri Brooks Vinton is an author of The Real Food Revival: Aisle by Aisle, Morsel by Morsel and a leader of the NYC Chapter of Slow Food. You can subscribe to her monthly newsletter, “Sustainable Solutions” at sherribrooksvinton.com.
October 18, 2005 in Food | Permalink | Comments (3)
Stackable Dinnerware by Jonathan Adler
Mix and match these simply designed melamine dinnerware pieces by Jonathan Adler.
Jonathan Adler Dinnerware | $4 and up at Velocity Art & Design
October 18, 2005 in Kitchen Essentials | Permalink | Comments (0)
6 Tips for Hosting a Sake Tasting Party
Join the growing trend of throwing a sake tasting party. Beau Timken, owner of True Sake, shares his advice on hosting a sake tasting party.
I often get asked what is the best way to entertain with sake and how can we hold a sake tasting that is both fun and educational? The answer is simple really. Just get some sake and get some mouths.
Seriously having a sake shindig is quite like having a wine tasting except people may have less confidence in their sake understanding. But the bottom line is that it is all about people and their likes and dislikes. So the best way to approach a sake tasting adventure is to think about making almost everybody happy. (Some folks will never be happy – so screw them.)
Herewith are some scenarios and methods for having a sake gathering that will leave its mark and make you look like a hero.
Think Big
A tasting should be 4 or more sakes. Most palates crap out after about 6 sakes, so it is important to have a considerable offering that will appeal to most people. What you are looking for when picking the sakes is variety. Don't get 6 sakes that speak to people who like dry sake. Get a smattering of all sorts of sake offerings. Super dry, super sweet, really acidic, really low acidic, old-style sakes, modern method sakes, crisp, clean, HUGE, chewy, thin, thick, bitter, astringent, from different prefectures etc. Also try to cover the category bases, i.e. Junmai (70%) Ginjo (60%) and Dai Ginjo (50%) as well as sub categories like the three big "Un's" – Unpasteurized (Nama), Unfiltered (Nigori), and Undiluted (Genshu).
The Vessel
A tasting can also shatter the old misconception that you must drink out of little o'choko's (the small ceramic cups for hot sake). Try a variety of glassware - wine glasses, shot glasses, even that set of Pottery Barn sake cups. Try it for yourself. Get some cedar masu (wooden squares) and taste how the flavor of cedar can overwhelm a sake or bring out a new flavor. Try plastic. And go really crazy, as I often do and try drinking sake out of huge glass containers like glass vases for flowers. You will notice all sorts of weird results. If you want to repeat using the glasses make sure to have distilled water as a washer between sakes. Our tap water will change the flavor of anything! And remember to taste Nigori's last, as they tend to muck up the glasses.
Go Blind
Tastings can also be incredibly creative. Do a blind tasting where the bottles are covered. Number each sake and then have a chart on the wall with the numbers. Get some stickers at Walgreens – the kind that come in a pack of three colored dots, red, blue, and yellow – number the stickers one, two and three, and have your guests place their three choices – 1st, 2nd , 3rd corresponding with the sakes numbered on the wall chart. Please tell people not to be influenced by other people's choices and then reveal the sakes. You can also pick teams and pour the same sake for two teammates and make them find their sake amongst the other sakes. Line the bottles up in the middle of a table. Have two glasses on each side of the bottle filled with the sake from that bottle. Then pour sake into two other glasses for the teammates and repeat for other couples until all the sakes are represented by "seekers". The teammates line up on opposite sides of the table and taste the sakes until they have identified what is in their glasses. They then converse and write down their mutual decision until all "seekers" have selected.
Go Technical
Do your homework! Read up and create a sake tasting that speaks to the nitty gritty of sake understanding. Think in terms of educating your guests. Select sakes that speak to the subtleties of the sake world - pick sakes with the exact same acidity levels, SMV's, prefectures, yeasts, rice varietals, or methods of making. Get precise. Get technical.
Burnin' Down The House
Have a tasting based on temperatures of sake. Pick several sakes and try them at several temperatures. Cold, room, lightly warmed, and hot. You will be amazed how fluid this type of tasting becomes, as the experimenting becomes half the fun.
Fill Those Tummies
Do not forget to get some munchies to help people stay afloat. Think in terms of salty and savory snacks, bulky foods, and items that sop up the fuel at the end of the evening.
Reprinted from September’s True Sake newsletter written by Beau Timken, owner of True Sake: America’s first sake store located in San Francisco, CA. Beau is a professional sake taster and sake sommelier. Visit his website True Sake.com to learn more, and shop for the widest selection of sakes in the U.S.
Technorati Tag: Food and Drink
October 17, 2005 in All Things Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Homemade Pumpkin Creme Marshmallows from Pete's Gourmet
Pete's Gourmet Marshmallows, called by Bon Appetit "a modern miracle", adds a seasonal twist to their marshmallows. Give a box of pumpkin creme marshmallows covered with white and dark chocolate this Halloween.
Pumpkin Creme Marshmallows | $19 at Pete's Gourmet
October 17, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, Chocolate, Halloween | Permalink | Comments (0)
Winesceptre Keeps Wine at Ideal Drinking Temperatures
Winesceptre is a new product that will keep your open wines chilled at the right drinking temperature. Adopted for use by French sommeliers, using Winesceptre will keep wines at a steadier ideal serving temperature than placing the bottle in an ice bucket (too cold), or sitting at room temperature (too warm).
Made of high grade stainless steel - the same as used in wine tanks, a chilled Winesceptre is inserted into a pre-chilled bottle of wine to keep the wine at a perfect serving temperature over an extended period of time. The design also allows you to continue pouring wine without removing Winesceptre from the bottle.
Order directly from Winesceptre.com.
Technorati Tag: wine
October 16, 2005 in All Things Wine | Permalink | Comments (1)
Clip-n-Seal: Seal Potato Chip Bags with Ease
Tired of stale potato chips and snacks? Just Clip-n-Seal it and you're on your way to a fresh bag.
Purchase direct: Clip-n-Seal Website
October 15, 2005 in Kitchen Gadgets | Permalink | Comments (1)
Rosendahl WineTube Wine Rack
The WineTube Wine Rack is an elegant and modern solution to wine storage. With the rack holding the neck of the bottle, you can easily view the wine labels at a glance.
Rosendahl WineTube Wine Rack | $79 at Tabletools.com
October 14, 2005 in All Things Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Contemporary Asian Kitchen Design on Donald Trump's Apprentice
The Japanese industrial kitchen built on the loft set of Donald Trump's Apprentice is from Greentea Design. Inspired by Japanese design lines combined with the functionality of efficient kitchen design, the Mizuyu Kitchen Cabinet line can be customized into many different layouts. Customer service agents are available to discuss your kitchen design needs online or telephone.
Contemporary Japanese Kitchen Design | Greentea Design
October 13, 2005 in Kitchen Design | Permalink | Comments (0)
Champagne Housewarming Toolbox Gift
This perfect housewarming gift includes an issue of Dwell Magazine and set of basic tools including a hammer, screwdriver, flashlight, extension cord, and tape measure. Oh yes, of course, there's also a bottle of champagne, gourmet cookies, chocolate and more--all in a classic red toolbox. A Lemonade Housewarming Toolbox is also available.
Champagne Housewarming Toolbox | $120 at elsewares.com
October 13, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide | Permalink | Comments (0)
Culinary Institute of America's Book of Soups
CIA's classic Book of Soups is now available in paperback.
The Culinary Institute of America's BOOK OF SOUPS helps everyone from the beginner to the accomplished cook master the fundamentals of soup making. Simple, clear instructions and more than 50 step-by-step photographs explain the easy-to-master techniques that the pros use for preparing broths, purees, bisques, hearty vegetable soups, cream soups, cold soups, and dessert soups. Each soup recipe provided is sure to satisfy the appetite, no matter what the season or occasion. Learn about choosing the right equipment, the most flavorful ingredients, and tips for quick soup meals on busy nights. Additionally, the BOOK OF SOUPS provides recipes and suggestions for sides and garnishes to accompany soups, including Foccacia, Olive Bread, Buttermilk Biscuits, Sage Dumplings, Pesto, and Vegetable Chips.
CIA's Book of Soups | $12.56 (30% off) at ecookbooks.com
October 13, 2005 in Cookbooks | Permalink | Comments (0)
Preserve Memories with a Dinner Party Journal
Use Pamela Barsky's Dinner Party Journal to keep track of what you served, who were your guests, and any interesting or controversial conversations that happened. Over the years, you'll have a great record of all your dinner parties. A Wine Journal and Restaurant Journal are also available.
Dinner Party Journal | $28 at PamelaBarsky.com
October 12, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, Parties & Entertaining | Permalink | Comments (1)
UK Tea, Food, and Gifts Are Popular
Seems like Americans have been buying many British tea and food products online to send to their friends either in the UK or back in the US. If you're American, and visit BritishMailOrder.com, you're part of the 30% of that site's traffic according to CEO Stan Googe.
Whether you're and ex-pat or have some fond memories of a recent trip there, get your fix for HP Sauce, Colmans, Weetabix, PG Tips, Typhoo, Bisto Gravy Granules, OXO Cubes, Branston Pickle and Marmite from online retailers found at BritishMailOrder.com.
October 12, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide | Permalink | Comments (0)
Top 10 New Ingredients
The top 10 ingredients found in today's newest dishes from around the country are featured on Bon Appetit's website this month along with 10 new recipes. The ingredients that found their way onto the list include pea tendrils, Kurobuta pork, pomegranate, baby beets, Meyer lemon, Wagyu beef, heirloom potatoes, organic chicken, black cod, and burrata cheese.
Read the complete article with recipes: What's Hot: Top 10 Ingredients via epicurious.com
October 11, 2005 in New Food Trends | Permalink | Comments (0)
Jeni's Fresh Ice Cream from Ohio
Enjoy this local Ohio ice cream maker's creations with fresh ice creams shipped right to your door. Jeni's Fresh Ice Cream offers many unique flavors -- most of them local to Ohio. Enjoy some current seasonal favorites like Sweet Corn and Blueberries, Pumpkin 5-Spice, and Ohio Black Walnut. Plus these flavors catch our eye - Salty Caramel, Cocoa Zinfandel, Kentucky Bourbon and Buttered Pecans, and Apricot Sorbet. Or order their Chocoluxe package of 6 chocolate flavors (pictured above).
Owner Jeni Britton was just named to Food and Wine Magazines' 2005 Tastemaker Awards winner.
Order online direct from Jeni's Fresh Ice Cream.
October 10, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide | Permalink | Comments (0)
Kershaw Shun Kitchen Shears
A good pair of kitchen shears helps with a multitude of kitchen tasks. This is Kershaw-KAI's version, manufactured in Seki City, Japan's cutlery production and historic samurai sword-making center.
Kershaw Shun Classic Kitchen Shears | $32 at Cooking.com
October 10, 2005 in Kitchen Essentials | Permalink | Comments (0)
Ita - Brazilian Agate Serving Plates
Polished agate "slices" from Brazil make perfect serving plates for your next party.
Also available in smaller coaster size pieces.
Brazilian Agate Plates | $65 at Les Cadeaux Gourmets
October 9, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide | Permalink | Comments (0)
A Cool LCD TV for Your Kitchen by Hannspree
Yes, this posting is not food or wine related, but we think this Hannspree TV would look pretty nifty in our kitchen.
Official Website: Hannspree
Hannspree LCD TV
October 8, 2005 in Kitchen Design | Permalink | Comments (0)
Download Amazing Free Cookbook - Autumn Omakase
Autumn Omakase is a new "electronic" cookbook from Tatsu Nishino of Nishino. This book is beautifully photographed and presents detailed step-by-step instructions on how to prepare nine recipes by Tatsu Nishino. What's more--Autumn Omakase is free to download!
The nine recipes fall in line with the publisher's, tastingmenu.com, philosophy of that smaller portions of great food bring more enjoyment than larger entrees. Why do you think it's often the case that appetizers are more memorable than our entrees? is what tastingmenu.com is all about.
Download Autumn Omakase, A Tasting Menu from Tatsu Nishino of Nishino for free.
October 7, 2005 in Cookbooks | Permalink | Comments (0)
What to Look for in a Kitchen Scale
We've been in the market for a kitchen scale, and weren't really sure what features to look for. As with all things, great design and great functionality are sometimes hard to find in one item. Since we don't have much familiarity with using a kitchen scale, we went searching for information online. The best we found was kitchen scale test and review from Cooking for Engineers' website.
"A kitchen scale is an essential tool in every kitchen. Most American kitchens have a set of measuring cups, but don't have a kitchen scale. Even though kitchen scales aren't that common to the American kitchen, Amazon.com still has over 200 scales for sale ranging from $7 to over $300. Is this a gadget that only perfectionist chefs and constant bakers need? No, give a good scale a try and you'll find that it's a better and faster way to cook."
Read complete review: CookingforEngineers.com Kitchen Scales
Shop: Amazon's selection of kitchen scales
October 7, 2005 in Kitchen Essentials | Permalink | Comments (0)
Egg & Muffin Toaster
We're not too sure what to think of the Back to Basics Egg & Muffin Toaster. It screams "Runaway Gift for Christmas 2005", but it can easily become a white elephant gift too. See it in action in the toaster video demonstration.
Any Daily Olive readers out there who own one? Share your opinions with us.
Egg & Muffin Toaster
October 6, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, Kitchen Gadgets | Permalink | Comments (1)
Elegant Olive Oil and Honey Jars
These beautifully shaped jars by Sili use either a silicone brush or dipper to dispense oil or honey. The stainless steel cover has a silicone seal to keep the contents protected.
Sili Honey Dipper & Sili Olive Oil Jar | $28 each at Chiasso.com
October 5, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, Kitchen Gadgets | Permalink | Comments (0)
Type 301 Chroma Knives by F.A. Porsche
The Type 301 Knife from Chroma Cutlery
The handle of the Type 301 by F.A. Porsche is constructed of 18/10 stainless steel, and made of high quality Japanese 301 steel. Each knife blade is carefully sharpened by the hand of a master. A metal "pearl" clearly demarcates the end of the handle for better control when cutting.
Chroma Type 301 Knife Block Set available thru Amazon.com
8-piece knife block set includes the Chef Knife, the Santuko, the Small Chef, the Carving Knife, the Bread Knife, the Boning Knife, and the Paring Knife with a Beechwood Duo Block.
Chroma Type 301 Knife Block Set available thru Amazon.com
October 5, 2005 in Kitchen Gadgets | Permalink | Comments (4)
Taste Test Your Wine with a Clef du Vin
Using a Clef du Vin, or "wine key", helps simulate the passage of time on a bottle of a wine. Dipped in a glass of wine one second for every year of aging desired, the metal alloy speeds the oxidation process changing the wine's taste, in effect mimicking the effect of cellaring. Wine collectors will use the Clef du Vin to predict how well a bottle may age helping them decide which wines are worth keeping and when their ideal drinking age will be.
Clef du Vin Pocket Wine Tasting Tool | $99 at WineEnthusiast.com
Perfect Christmas Gift for a wine lover--Clef du Vin Wine Tasting Tool built into a classic Chateau Laguiole Corkscrew
October 4, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, All Things Wine | Permalink | Comments (0)
Serve a Pumpkin Shaped Cake for Your Halloween Party
Serve your Halloween party guests this special pumpkin cake from Dean & Deluca--a layered cake with spice butter and chocolate fudge shaped like a pumpkin!
Pumpkin Cake by Dean & Deluca
October 3, 2005 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, Halloween | Permalink | Comments (0)
Top 10 Chicken Recipes
Visit Chefs.com to view their recent Top 10 Chicken recipes list. There are some good standards there like Mediterranean Baked Chicken, Jerk Chicken, and Waldorf Chicken Salad. Just wish they had photos of each dish.
October 2, 2005 in Cooking | Permalink | Comments (0)
Modern Dinnerware and Tabletop Accessories Online
eTabletop.com is our favorite online source for beautiful dinnerware and tabletop collection. They offer modern and contemporary dinnerware collections from Rosenthal, Christian Tortu, George Jensen, Royal Copenhagen, and more.
Owner Christina Norsig also features her own design line, Modern Elements, for those who appreciate a clean modern look for their tables. eTabletop website also offers a registry feature.
Website: eTabletop.com
October 2, 2005 in Parties & Entertaining | Permalink | Comments (0)
Superheated Steam Oven Cooks Healthier
Cooking at 550 degrees F, Sharp's AX Superheated Steam Oven claims that it's way of cooking helps push fat out of meat and keeps it juicy. Daily Olive recently saw this demonstrated at a kitchen store where they cooked a whole chicken that was moist and tender, and amazingly, had crispy skin! We're not sure how that all worked, but steam ovens are another choice over microwave and convection ovens.
More info: Sharp AX Steam Oven Website
October 1, 2005 in Kitchen Gadgets | Permalink | Comments (0)
