Springpad, A New Way to Track Your Favorite Recipes

This has been in the works for a long time, and I’m delighted to announce that my readers now have a new way to organize your favorite recipes from this site and many others. Today is the official launch of springpad, a free service that helps you organize your life, and this site has partnered with springpad, enabling you to easily keep track of the recipes you like.

Here are some highlights of the new springpad for people who love to cook, like you and me: Read more

Ginger Plum Jam

In autumn I find myself drawn to the displays of fresh seasonal plums, adoring their shape and colors. Strawberries are my spring darlings, blueberries are our summer sweet, and plums are my fall favorite, a delight that my boys enjoy as much as I do. I brought home a few bags of plums last week with this ginger plum jam in mind, and I had a hard time protecting them from the boys for a couple days until I could make the jam. Top Gun especially is drawn to their deep color, and I would find him sneaking off with one every so often, and even discovered a plum pit under the living room sofa. He desperately wanted that plum all to himself. Fortunately there were plenty of plums leftover for him and his brothers. Read more

Memories of BlogHer Food 2009

Before I go any further, I need to confess something. I was really bad last weekend.

I schlepped my camera all the way across the continent to the BlogHer Food Conference. Then I didn’t take a single picture. Nada.

There’s just something about actually having time for stimulating conversation with fascinating people that makes me forget I have a camera with me for a purpose, not just a weight to lug around. I kicked myself all the way home. If a blogging goddess exists, she would probably revoke my blogger credentials.

Fortunately at least one person has photographic evidence that I actually attended and had a grand time. Ree made me giggle when she put the camera up to my face then I couldn’t stop! Plus it was 2:00 A.M. East Coast time, I was tired and had no idea which way was up. Good thing I only sipped 1.5 glasses of wine at the Mushroom Channel party earlier.

My favorite memories from the weekend: Read more

Thai Basil Chicken (Kai Kraphao)

This dish is the main reason we grow Thai basil in our herb garden. We’ve grown many kinds of basil over the years and seem to have settled into a routine of Genovese, Lemon (Sweet Dani or similar), and Thai (Sweet Thai or Queen of Siam) basil because they cover the spectrum of our uses. The Sweet Thai variety we grew this year produces plants with purple stems and gorgeous purple flowers. Like most basils, the flowers are also edible and add a punch of anise flavor to Asian dishes. Our basils will last a few more weeks, then it will be time for the final harvest of the season and a marathon session making pesto (basic and sun-dried) and basil ice cubes. Read more

The Rainbow Drive-In

This is a guest post from my husband, Michael, who travels the world and brings home stories of his many culinary adventures.

When traveling to even familiar places it’s nice to know a local. My friend Donn has lived in Hawaii all his life and when I asked him about the Rainbow Drive-In his face broke out in a grin as he chuckled, “It’s not very touristy.” In Honolulu with all the visitors, crowds, and overhype something like this simple drive-in has a certain appeal. Read more

The Daring Cooks Make Vegan Dosas

For the Daring Cooks September challenge, we made vegan dosas adapted from the reFresh cookbook by Ruth Tal. Fresh is a popular chain of vegetarian/vegan restaurants in Toronto, Canada with three published cookbooks teaching how to cook Fresh food at home. Our host Debyi of Healthy Vegan Kitchen chose this fun challenge for us, and I for one am grateful because this is the first time I’ve ever made Indian food and witnessed our two older boys actually eat it. Builder Guy (6) has recently developed a taste for spicy foods—good thing because we like our spices—and Top Gun (5) is finally coming around and trying new things. Monkey Boy is still a picky three-year-old, but he did eat one of the plain dosas. We thought the dosas were delicious and would eat that coconut curry sauce on just about anything. Read more

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