Five fresh reasons to check out my blogrolls

The Internet is filled with great information and just plain cool stuff. Here are five recent posts I found in my own back yard. Well, in the blogs and resources in my sidebars to the right. Take a look at these and explore others. Then share something cool you’ve found recently in the comments below.

1. Asparagus tips from Food Blogga

Susan over at San Diego-based Food Blogga writes that asparagus season in Southern California, which began in late February, is almost at an end. Excuse me a moment, Susan, while I call the wambulance. Just kidding, my friend, but since my neighborhood farmers market here in Chicago won’t even start until June, I have to admit to suffering from bouts of Southern California farmers market envy when I read you or Toni over at Daily Bread Journal.

What you’ll find in her May 10 Food Blogga post on asparagus—besides gorgeous photos like the one above and five delicious sounding recipes of her own and more by other bloggers—is boatloads of information on this wonderful, versatile vegetable. How to select it [including her views on the thin versus thick asparagus debate], how to store it, trim it and cook it—and why you should.

2. Closet Cooking does scallops with miso and maple syrup

The three ingredients in the name of the dish were all it took to rope me in. Scallops are always a great start—delicious, impressive and wonderfully easy to cook. The Japanese culinary mainstay miso [as Epicurious calls it] is infinitely versatile and beautifully subtle. And maple syrup adds a natural sweetness to balance the miso’s saltiness—along with a nice little dose of WTF?

Kevin’s Toronto-based Closet Cooking is full of quick, doable recipes like this that reflect his wide ranging tastes and curiosity. So go for the Maple and Miso Scallops, but stick around for more.

3. Maple-Asian Fusion Pork Ribs from The Hungry Mouse

If I am a dyed-in-the-wool meatatarian, Jessie at The Hungry Mouse and her husband are the pope and archbishop, respectively. The stuff they do with meat is flat out amazing. They have a butcher who knows them by name. And Jessie does a Rib of the Week post. Sticking with the maple theme for a moment, here’s a recipe she posted in January.

Usually, she cooks the ribs for these posts, but her husband [The Angry Chef] cooked these Asian-inspired ribs. Here’s how she describes them: “For these ribs, traditional flavors of New England and the Orient blend together, then get a Cajun kick in the pants. They were fall-off-the-bone tender, and coated in a fire-y mahogany crust. The meat itself was moist, slightly sweet, and scented with sesame and maple. If you have a dog, the smell of these cooking just might make him insane.” And once again, Pavlov has been proven right.

4. Potatoes with Aioli Dressing from The Perfect Pantry

Canola oil is my go-to when I want a slightly higher smoke point or more neutral flavor than olive oil. Lydia over at The Perfect Pantry fills us in on why it’s such a great choice. For instance, “In addition to being the lowest in saturated fat, canola oil is high in monounsaturated [“good”] fat, as well as omega-3 and linoleic acids.” She also tells us where it originated [spoiler alert: Canada] and even links to Snopes.com to debunk some of the misinformation surrounding this very healthy oil.

And if all that weren’t enough, she makes a wonderfully garlicky aioli that can be used with lots of vegetables, drizzled on fish—or used to finish the beautiful warm Potatoes with Aioli Dressing you see above.

5. Dr. Vino: “Why don’t we get drunk and sue?”

For this last entry, I’m going to wander from my Food Blogs list over to the Wine and Drink: Blogs and Resources section. According to author and wine blogger Tyler Colman [aka Dr. Vino—yes, he is a real doctor], wine giant E & J Gallo is almost as prolific at creating lawsuits as they are producing wine.

In his post Gallo’s humor [or lack thereof], he outlines the company’s rich litigious history, from Ernest and Julio successfully suing their own brother Joseph to their latest legal escapades—suing a pasta company whose use of the name Gallo actually predates the winemakers by 59 years! Why don’t they just sue all Spanish-speaking countries for using their name for the word rooster while they’re at it?

Besides this bit of “Gallo’s humor,” you’ll find a wealth of information on wine on Dr. Vino’s wine blog—reviews of individual wines, pairing wine with foods, wine news and much more—all engagingly, thoughtfully written.

Okay, your turn. What food or wine-related stories or blog posts have caught your eye recently? Besides your own, of course. Tell us about it in the comments below.