Spicy Holiday Gift for Chip Lovers

If you know of a chip lover, this might be the perfect gift for him or her this holiday season. Ketlle Chips is holding its fourth annual People's Choice campaign with the Fire and Spice party pack. The five-pack sample is $14.95 and offers the flavors Wicked Hot Sauce, Mango Chili, Jalapeno Salsa Fresca, Orange Ginger Wasabi, and Death Valley Chipotle. Your chip-loving gift recipient then simply goes to the website www.kettlechips.com and votes for his or her favorite. The winning flavor will be announced January 12, 2008.

By Michelle Alderson | November 5, 2007 in Food | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wine Cellar Sorbets

By Michelle Alderson | August 29, 2007 in Food | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bread Bags

For those of us who love bread, we know that fresh, warm bread is heavenly. These bread bags from Stelton do the trick and are very versatile - for all loaf sizes.

Stelton Bread Bags  l  $32 from lekkerhome.com

By Michelle Alderson | April 10, 2007 in Baking, Food, Kitchen Gadgets | Permalink | Comments (0)

Eiko Egg Cup

For those who love a soft- or hard-boiled egg, this egg cup from Eiko is a fun and useful tool. Designed to cook, cool, and serve in one handy piece, it'll also make your breakfast table a bit more colorful.

Eiko egg cup  l  $25 for a set of 4 at dedeceplus.com

By Michelle Alderson | March 29, 2007 in Cooking, Food, Kitchen Gadgets | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our Top 5 Favorite Foodie Sites

By Bryce Longton | February 26, 2007 in Food | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pairing Wine with Food: It's OK to Have Fish with Red

When most people start pairing wine with food, two rules are followed: drink red with meat and white with fish. Nowadays there are so many different kinds of reds and white wines to choose from, you can mix it up. Pinot with a seared tuna? Sure. Just make sure the wine isn't overpowered by the food, and vice versa. "But there are limits", as a Chicago Tribune article points out. Find out more about pairing wine with food in the entire article.

By Michelle Alderson | March 9, 2006 in All Things Wine, Cooking, Food | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ina Garten launches the Barefoot Contessa Pantry

Author and Food Network hostess, Ina Garten, has launched the Barefoot Contessa Pantry with specialty food producer, Stonewall Kitchen.  The exuberant chef with the down-to-earth cooking style has recently completed overseeing the development and production of this line of products that includes preserves, baking mixes, savory and dessert sauces and more. Each recipe has been carefully created from Ina’s tried and true favorites from her four cookbooks.

Continue reading "Ina Garten launches the Barefoot Contessa Pantry"

By Robert | March 3, 2006 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, Food | Permalink | Comments (10)
Search Related Tags: cupcakes

Treehugger: Extreme Makeover: The Tea Bag

[via Treehugger] Something as simple as tea can get us excited. Tea Forte had one brilliant idea: let’s revamp the boring old tea bag into something so aesthetically orgasmic you just want to look at it all day. The company’s individually hand-crafted “Silken-Tea-Infusers” are little herbal infusion pyramids of whole-leaf flowers, fresh harvested rough cut herbs, and all natural essential oils. Flavors include Bombai Chai, Forte (something with Jasmine flowers), Green, and Ginger. They are expensive--tins of 15 for $24--but nearly too pretty to use, so sure to last longer.

Link: Tea Forte

By Robert | February 24, 2006 in Food | Permalink | Comments (0)

Food & Wine Classic in Aspen

After ski season is over and the snow melts, foodies and wine lovers from all over will be heading to Aspen for the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. Sponsored by Food & Wine magazine, the three-day event will feature tastings and cooking demonstrations, and will include chefs Mario Batali, Emeril, Bobby Flay, Wolfgang, and more.

The event will be held June 16-18, 2006. Go to www.foodandwine.com for more information.

By Michelle Alderson | February 9, 2006 in All Things Wine, Chef News, Cooking Schools, Education, Food, Food & Wine Country Travel, Gourmet Food Events | Permalink | Comments (0)

Michael Recchiuti Chocolate Tasting at Fog City News February 10

I like this new step in Valentine's Day's evolution.  Forget fluffy packaging, treacly cards and manufactured notions of romance.  The best outcome for our neo-pagan translation of February 14 is an emphasis on fresh chocolates from some of the country's best chocolatiers. 

Fog City News' Adam Smith has been counting down with Friday tastings at his charming San Francisco Financial District news and chocolate hub.  Richard Donnelly wowed visitors with his chipotle and raspberry ganaches.  Michael Mischer's Pistachio and Gianduja fillings pleased tasters.  This Friday Michael Recchiuti will present some of his signature infusions from noon to 2:00.  Don't miss him! 

Fog City's dedication to freshness means that gift boxes will be available a few days before Valentine's Day.

Fog City News
455 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
Tel: (415) 543–7400

By Kyeann Sayer | February 7, 2006 in Chocolate, Food, Food News, Gourmet Food Events | Permalink | Comments (0)

Single Origin Chocolates: The New York Times Weighs In

Yes, chocolate's trendiness has edged into that cocktail hour pontification/irritation zone.  Favored cacao content is bandied about and sources are named with an air of solemnity.  But with so much delicate, step-by-step artistry from bean to praline, how much stock can we put in a palate attuned to single origins?

"To say, here we have single-origin Madagascar or Trinidad, and leave people with the impression that this is what beans from Madagascar or Trinidad taste like, is misleading," Mr. Steinberg [a Scharffen Berger founder]  said.

So many factors affect a piece of chocolate: not only where the beans were grown, but the skill of whoever dried, fermented and roasted them, the amount of cocoa butter that was mixed back into the crushed beans, the two- or three-day process of mixing, heating and cooling (called conching and tempering), and the touch of the chocolatier.

True, true. Read more insightful nibs in Chocolate That Flashes Its Passport, by Kim Severson.

By Kyeann Sayer | February 7, 2006 in Chocolate, Food, Food News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Super Bowl Parties, Pizza, and Jessica Simpson?

Well, wouldn’t you like to have pizza with Jessica Simpson at your Super Bowl Party? You can, if you catch the Pizza Hut “sizzling” commercial that will highlight Ms. Simpson’s fine talents (singing, that is) and Pizza Hut’s Cheesy Bites. The announcement, I’m sure for all foodies out there, made you think; now how can I make pizza at home?

Don’t fret; Epicurious.com has a great site right now with many, many recipes for pizzas, finger foods, chili, buffalo wings, and a lot more to make your Super Bowl party “sizzle.”

Check out the Jessica Simpson and Pizza Hut Breaking News.
For Super Bowl party recipes, go to Epicurious.com.
Catch all the Super Bowl information you’ll need for the big day at superbowl.com.

By Michelle Alderson | January 27, 2006 in Cooking, Food, Parties & Entertaining, Parties & Entertaining | Permalink | Comments (0)

Richard Donnelly Chocolate Tasting at Fog City News January 27

San Franciscans are lucky to have Fog City News and its vast array of international periodicals and impressive selection of the world's best chocolate.  We are doubly lucky that the sponsor of our "What I've Done For Chocolate" contest, Richard Donnelly, will host a tasting there this Friday, January 27 from noon to 2:00. 

Fog City News
455 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
Tel: (415) 543–7400

By Kyeann Sayer | January 24, 2006 in Chocolate, Food | Permalink | Comments (0)

Superbowl Party Ideas on Food Network

Looking for something new to whip up for your Superbowl party next month? Food Network is airing shows dedicated to throwing a great party with delicious food. Included is a three-day pre-game preparation menu that allows you to enjoy the game, rather than spending halftime in the kitchen. Sara's Secrets airs January 29 and Paula's Home Cooking airs January 28 and January 30.

And check out the Food Network website for other great Superbowl food ideas.

By Michelle Alderson | January 20, 2006 in Cooking, Food, Parties & Entertaining | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bon Appetit Celebrates 50th Anniversary

By Michelle Alderson | January 17, 2006 in Contests, Cooking, Food | Permalink | Comments (2)

Center for Culinary Development: 2006 Trends

By Kyeann Sayer | January 16, 2006 in Chocolate, Food, Food News, New Food Trends | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three Hours With Gregory Renard

From Monday's Washington Post, a fun, little, snippet of a day in the life of a Parisian chocolatier:

Platters of bite-size nuggets of chocolate beckon like edible gems: ebony hearts filled with layers of crispy wafer and chocolate ganache, dark chocolate rounds dusted with gold-leaf glitter, almond pistachio logs drenched in milk chocolate crowned with a glazed emerald-green pistachio nut.

Walking into some of Paris's fanciest chocolate shops is akin to entering a bank vault under the suspicious eye of a guard. Stepping into Renard's little store, wedged between a dry cleaner and an underwear shop on rue Saint Dominique near the Eiffel Tower, is like ambling into the family kitchen.

Seductive Gems From the Kitchen Of an Artisan, Molly Moore of the Washington Post

By Kyeann Sayer | January 15, 2006 in Chocolate, Food, Food News | Permalink | Comments (0)

Recchiuti Confections Valentines Box and Chocolate Obsession

 

Give the chocolate devotee in your life a sumptuous Recchiuti box, and the secrets to confection artistry. With three layers of delicious infusions of tea, herbs and flowers, your love will have so many delicious ways to think of you.  Michael Recchiuti's Chocolate Obsession provides step-by-step instructions to the those ambitious enough to take on, say, Force Noire ganache.  It offers page after page of chocolate pornography for the rest of us. 32 Piece Large Valentines Box, $75, Chocolate Obsession, $23.

By Kyeann Sayer | January 15, 2006 in Chef Books, Chocolate, Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Valentine's Day | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "Real Food—To Know it is to Love it"

By Robert | October 18, 2005 in Food | Permalink | Comments (3)

50 Asian Food Lovers' Finds

From Asian food suppliers and grocers, to shops, and new food trends, September's Food and Wine Magazine features their 50 Best Asian Finds in America.

There's great finds like green tea infused cream puffs, Vietnamese sandwiches, wasabi plantlets, to handmade chocolates at Jin Patisserie, tea houses and their favorite soy sauces.

Read 50 Best Asian Food Finds via Food and Wine Magazine.

By Robert | July 29, 2005 in Food | Permalink | Comments (0)
Search Related Tags: food and wine magazine

Find Farmer's Markets in Your Neighborhood

Visit the USDA's Farmer's Market Website to locate farmer's markets in your neighboorhood.  Since 1994, the number of farmer's markets has almost doubled from 1,755 to 3,706 according to the National Directory of Farmers Markets.

Visit the site:   USDA Farmer's Markets

By Robert | July 13, 2005 in Food | Permalink | Comments (0)

Maine Lobster Festival Coming Soon

The Maine Lobster Festival is fast approaching starting on August 4th through the 8th in Rockland, Maine. For more information on this classic festival in its 57th year, visit their website. Learn how the festival has now grown to cooking almost 10 tons of lobster during the festival.

By Robert | July 27, 2004 in Food, Food & Wine Country Travel | Permalink | Comments (3)

Seafood Online: Order Fresh Crab, Live Lobster, and Seafood Delivered Direct to Your Doorstep

Ordering live Maine lobster and fresh crab online for delivery has never been easier. Our two favorites are The Crab Place, and Maine Lobster Direct. Straight from the chilly waters of the North Atlantic, live Maine lobster is delivered overnight direct to your doorstep from Maine Lobster Direct. We love ordering from this family owned business, and their great service. Specialty of the house at The Crab Place is the Maryland blue crab. You can order them live or steamed, plus an assortment of other seafood goodies like crab cakes, clams, and oysters.

The Crab Place | Maine Lobster Direct

By Robert | February 23, 2004 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, Food, Special Delivery | Permalink | Comments (3)

Roasting Chestnuts for the Holidays

Whether you're listening to Bing croon a few "chestnut" tunes or you're wanting to snuggle up in front of the fireplace, roasting chestnuts over an open fire is the perfect pastime. Delmarvelous Chestnuts from Delaware offers two pounds for $14.50 or $30 for five pounds. See their assortment of chestnut gift baskets too!

By Robert | November 12, 2003 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, Food, Holidays, Special Delivery | Permalink | Comments (1)

Capture the Flavors of Shanghai with Chinablue

In recent years, Shanghai has recaptured its pre-war stature of the most cosmopolitan city in the Far East. On the lifestyle front, Chinablue founder, Richard Wong, brings his vision of Shanghainese elegance and sophistication with new culinary food products, home furnishings, and future destination concepts that include retail locations, restaurants, and boutique hotels.

The Chinablue culinary product line was inspired by Richard's memories of growing up in Shanghai and his treasured family's recipes. The flavors of Shanghainese cuisine have been captured in his line of sauces, dressings, glazes, oils, and teas. Enjoy these uniquely Shanghainese blends of soy sauce, sesame oils, scallions and ginger, sherry, and black beans.

Chinablue Shanghai Glazes available online thru Sur La Table.

By Robert | October 25, 2003 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, Cooking, Food | Permalink | Comments (0)

For Sushi Newbies or Old Timers

New to sushi? Or are you a seasoned veteran at all the sushi bars around town? Newbie or pro, we've found a fun and great read for all your Sushi FAQ at the Miyamoto SushiLinks site. You'll also find great questions on their Sushi Question of the Month page.

And finally, invite your friends to have a virtual sushi party!

By Robert | October 22, 2003 in Food | Permalink | Comments (0)

Get Your International Chocolate Fix

Who hasn't bought great chocolates while travelling in Europe? Or received wonderful gifts of chocolate from friends returning from their trips? Well, now you get all your French, Swiss, or Belgian chocolates online from Chocosphere. This internet only chocolate shop offers a grand assortment of all your favorite chocolates from abroad. Get your fix today.

By Robert | October 20, 2003 in A Food & Wine Gift Guide, Food | Permalink | Comments (1)

Maybe It's The Sugar?

C&H Baker's Sugar has been the sugar of choice for professional bakers and chefs for years. Mentioned in many Cook's Illustrated recipes, Baker's Sugar's superfine sugar crystal just might be the one missing ingredient that will make your recipes the super hit of the holidays.

Visit the Baker's Sugar Website. Look for Baker's Sugar at your favorite grocery store, or buy online directly from C&H.

By Robert | October 7, 2003 in Food, Kitchen & Cooking Tips | Permalink | Comments (0)