The aroma wafting from a kitchen where bread has been set to bake is one that we all remember, probably from a long time ago at a grandmother’s house.  Today the aroma is more likely coming from a quick bread, and most likely from a packaged mix.  Yet still it has the ability to transform your kitchen into an aromatic delight.  The aromas created by a baking bread are the result of a number of processes, everything from the fermentation of the yeast, the development of the dough, and adding in the ingredients that build in flavor.  With a bit of basic bread-baking knowledge, you too can easily create fine home-baked breads.

 

 Recipes included:  Banana Quick Bread, Buttermilk Cluster, Cheddar Pimiento Bread.

Most believe that a marinade aids in tenderizing a cut of meat.  Most will be sad to learn that this is not true.  What a marinade is useful for is flavor.

 

I have long been fascinated by the varieties of coffees, the endless blends, and the descriptive narratives on the different kinds of coffee.  Unfortunately, I’m a cream 'n sugar kind of girl, so I suspect much of that pure rich flavor is lost on me.  Nevertheless, a recent article in Restaurant Hospitality magazine caught my attention, not because it finally explained the different types of coffee tastes, but because it offered an easy guide to pairing coffee with different types of meals and flavors.  This easy pairing guide is worth printing and keeping on hand as a reference.  It will turn your next meal with coffee service, into a taster’s delight.

The dead of winter is one of the hardest times of year for us in the mid-state, at least when it comes to food.  All notions of local and sustainable tend to fly out the window, and we’re held hostage to whatever our local markets and grocers can offer.  Of course we see all sorts of fruits – none of which will be in season (at least in North American) for several months.  Still we call it "fresh" and in our eagerness to relive that sweet, succulent, and juicy memory from last summer we always forget that -- in winter -- the taste is far from the sweet we remember.  That doesn't mean the taste we long for has to elude us.  The primary taste we call sweet is in everything, sometimes we just need to coax it out a bit.  

 

When it comes to the thought of freezing, our minds may be on the weather but there’s something far colder in our midst.  In every home there's a pocket of sub-freezing temperatures lurking right your midst.  It revolutionized the way we buy and store food.  It’s your freezer and it can be your best friend or your worst night mare.

When Friday’s are mostly about fish, it’s a great time to try your hand at one of the easiest methods of cooking, frying.  Stove-top frying – especially fish in a delicious and flavorful, beer batter – takes no more time than the whole frozen-from-a-box thing, but the taste is beyond compare.  Here's a simple beer batter that comes together quickly, and is versatile.

 

While the Chinese New Year celebration is underway, so too are the Olympic Games in Vancouver – Vancouver being home to one of the largest Chinatown’s in North America.  Culinary coincidence?  Perhaps.  But it certainly gives us reason to rethink Chinese cuisine and take a closer look at its umami-rich ingredients that have found their way into our mainstream cooking. 

 

 Recipes included:  Coconut Sticky Rice with Mangoes, and Savory Chinese Sticky Rice.

Add these 2 websites to your favorites list.  eBrandAid.com and Labelwatch.com are on a mission to help sort of the good from the bad, and the truth from the puffery, on food labels. 

 

 

Labelwatch.com has a database of over 30,000 products, which means you are in the driver’s seat.  You look up ingredient labels or you can search for an odd sounding ingredient to get more information on exactly what it is and what it’s doing in your food (pyridoxine hydrochloride, (a beneficial B vitamin found in some breakfast cereals), for example).

 

 

eBrandAid.com focuses more on marketing strategies and tricks to convey a product as healthy, when it may not be so.  This site names names, so you can check brands. 

 

Best of all, both sites offer recipes and other helpful nutritional and health information.  Especially at this time of year, when comfort food and prepackaged goods reign supreme in our homes, it’s a good idea to be armed with the information that will keep you healthy and fit for the warmer months, just ahead!

When it comes to really enjoying food, nothing is as fun as eating with your fingers.  And, while fried chicken may come to mind, this Valentine’s Day weekend may call for something a bit more elegant – but easy, just the same.  That’s where Cornish hens, poussin, or Rock Cornish hens come in.  These little birds are perfect finger food being just the right size to pick apart.

 

Recipe included for a delicious Maple-Vinegar Glaze to crisp up the skin and add a nice aromatic burst of flavor. 

Loving food is never a bad thing, unless (of course) it’s taken to the extreme.  When it comes to the eating experience there are a few things you can do to transform it into something other than an act of necessity.  Of course, eating is a necessity.  But the act of eating is (or at least should be) a multi-sensory and extremely pleasurable experience.  For Valentine’s Day, when the focus is love, it’s a great time to really learn to love food.  Combine the right ingredients and intentions, and food might just become your next object d’amour. 

 

Recipes included:  Chocolate Spiced Cake with Cherry Almond Topping and
Strawberry Tart with Sweet Mascarpone Filling and a Sauternes Glaze