Section » Cooking
The pie’s the limit! Get baking for Pi Day, March 14
Back in my (much) younger days, I used to enjoy math class. I especially got a kick out of geometry and the formulas used to calculate area, perimeter or circumference, and volume. My mother and I used to have fun with one formula in particular: "What's the formula for the area of a circle?" she would ask. "Pi r squared," I'd say. "I always thought
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Souped-up meals to warm up snow days
Every time I've looked out the window this week, I've felt a childlike glee at the sight of all the snow piled up. A whopping 18" dropped in 24 hours last weekend, a few more inches covered that earlier this week, and more is in the forecast. I really sympathize with the folks further south (south!)
Food as performance sport
Iron stomachs: True/Slant Matthew Greenberg takes on the Food Network again, exploring — with the help of media experts — "why
Apple days are here again
As the weather turns colder here in northeast Ohio, harvests are tapering off and farmers markets are dwindling, both on the farmer side and the shopper side. We're approaching that time of year when the only local produce you can expect to find for months consists of potatoes, onions, cabbage, and squash. For
Preserving the seasons through fermentation
The new culture of culturing: One of the hot topics in the Bay Area food community is fermentation — using friendly bacteria to turn fruits and vegetables into sauerkraut, kimchi and other piquant preserves. Tara Duggan gives an extensive overview of this new culture, one that is spawning home-picklers,
Sardinistas! Love the little fish with the big impact
Falling hard for pilchards: Jane Black gives some attention to the sardine, a much maligned fish these days. Sardines are a relatively good choice for many reasons — they are high in Omega 3's, low in mercury and PCBs, they reproduce relatively quickly, and the California sardine fishery is currently
Processed food companies: Food safety is the consumer’s job
Perhaps the only time we'll agree with Michael Osterholm: Mega food companies like ConAgra, whose frozen chicken pot pies sickened over 15,000 people two years ago, are giving up the ghost and admitting they have no idea where many of their ingredients come from nor how they've been handled. Sound like
Freeze! Avoid food waste and save time with these savvy tips
Cold shouldering: Here at cash-strapped Ethicurean headquarters, we've been mining our freezer for meals for the past few weeks. James Beard awardwinner Mark Bittman tells how to use the big old appliance more efficiently, to freeze raw ingredients you have too much of — or whose life you simply wish
Make or buy: Pantry staples from scratch
She forgot pancakes: Jennifer Reese tests her intuition and runs a cost-benefit analysis on how much she'd save by making from scratch six everyday foods. (Slate Magazine) We're surprised the cream cheese was a failure, frankly, and must test
Happy Easter! Celebrate spring with an apple-and-onion tart
Easter is a big deal where I grew up in the Midwest, at least in the circles my family traveled in. Sunday church service, where we sang "The Old Rugged Cross," Easter dresses and hats, pastel ties, egg hunts, and plastic grass were all part of the revelry. Perhaps the most memorable part of all of it
After Michelle Obama: a Q&A with Scott Schenkelberg of Miriam’s Kitchen
Mrs. Obama on the line at Miriam's Kitchen; photo courtesy of Choice Photography. Last week, Michelle Obama made news by serving a meal at Miriam’s Kitchen, a DC social service agency. Miriam’s
Review: Real Food For Healthy Kids cookbook
I talk a lot of smack about sustainable food. About the unexpected pleasures of farmer’s markets, about voting with one’s fork, about "local economies" this and "food miles" that. But here’s my dirty little secret: it wasn’t that long ago that I fed my daughter a steady diet of chicken nuggets,
Learning to share: “Dinner at Your Door,” by Alex Davis, Diana Ellis, and Andy Remeis
Not quite two years ago, as our local meat CSA was in the works, I gathered with a few people to discuss “The Omnivore's Dilemma,” the
Loafing in a cold climate
Winter weather has provided us with a never-ending topic of conversation lately: the storms pummeling the upper Midwest, the guesses as to how much those storms might repeat themselves here in northern Ohio, how
Political celebrations past and present
On election night in 1992* — the year that Bill Clinton won his first term and Barbara Boxer was first elected to the Senate — I made the flag-adorned chocolate truffles pictured above as part of a celebratory
