Will Allen: Basketball player, farmer, major voice for urban agriculture

An unlikely farmer with an unlikely place to farm—and the effect he’s having on low-income kids, communities and presidents (yes, plural)—is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

A World War I-era song asks the musical question “How ‘Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm? (After They’ve Seen Paree).” When Will Allen left his father’s farm on a college basketball scholarship, he certainly had no intention of ever returning to farming. But after a pro basketball career in the US and in Europe (where he certainly got to see the lights of Paris) and a stint in the corporate world, back to the farm is exactly where he headed.

It was while playing ball in Belgium and driving around the countryside there that Allen began to feel the pull of the farm again. Soon, he was hanging out with Belgian farmers and moving to a house with room for a garden and some chickens. Continue reading “Will Allen: Basketball player, farmer, major voice for urban agriculture” →

Alone together: Christmas dinner for two

A menu of Blue Kitchen favorites for friends spending their first Christmas at home as husband and wife.

Our friends Matt and Leah got married this year. They’re both sweet, funny, caring people. So as a couple, you can just imagine. Of this photo taken in the hotel elevator on their wedding day, Matt says, “Leah looks spectacular.” To which we would add radiant.

Recently, Leah emailed me. It seems she and Matt won’t be going home to Kansas City for the holidays, and she was wondering if I had any ideas about a romantic Christmas dinner for two. Continue reading “Alone together: Christmas dinner for two” →

Holiday shopping for foodie friends made easy

Okay, show of hands. Has anyone out there not heard of Etsy? Etsy calls itself “your place to buy and sell all things handmade or vintage and supplies.” From clothing to candles, toys, soaps, pottery, crochet, jewelry, quilts, woodworking and “everything else,” if someone makes it by hand, you’ll find it here.

Now, a pair of twentysomethings has taken this idea and focused it on food. Foodzie is kind of an Etsy for gourmets. Continue reading “Holiday shopping for foodie friends made easy” →

Old San Francisco speakeasy gets new life as a pop-up restaurant

Remember when restaurants used to boast about how long they’d been in business? Now, it’s all about, well, now. Bricks and mortar permanence has given way to the shock of the culinary new. Food lovers chase food trucks, whose chefs in turn chase the next new trend, unshackled by high rents and overhead. Adventurous home cooks and would-be chefs run secret supper clubs—occasional, nomadic “restaurants” whose locations and menus are announced last minute via emails or text messages to diners. And now, chefs are taking a page from retailers, opening temporary pop-up restaurants. Continue reading “Old San Francisco speakeasy gets new life as a pop-up restaurant” →

Small Bites: Make any room a wine tasting room and Chicago gets a coveted little red book

We have spent some memorable afternoons in winery wine tasting rooms. Okay, and a few blurry ones too. Sampling and comparing wines is a great way to learn about wine. But unless you live in a wine growing region, it can also be expensive when you figure in airfare, hotels and repairs to the rental car.

Now, TastingRoom.com brings wine tastings to you. Through their website, you can order six-packs of sample-sized (50ml) bottles of wine based on a theme—wine-producing regions, hidden gems, specific varietals or even individual wineries. Then you can hold your own wine tasting stumbling distance from your couch. Continue reading “Small Bites: Make any room a wine tasting room and Chicago gets a coveted little red book” →

Small Bites: Tacos with a Korean accent, going mobile to fight Detroit’s food desert and a new book on sustainable farming

For a time in my life, most of my taco consumption happened in the hours after bars in St. Louis had closed for the night. This isn’t a confessional post about substance abuse, but rather a frank assessment of the state of tacos in the Midwest until recently. Taco lovers in California (and indeed, throughout much of the Southwest) have long enjoyed much finer fare, authentic tacos sold from Mexican taco trucks on street corners. But now, really good tacos are popping up across the country, thanks at least in part to Korean tacos. For more about tacos enjoying newfound street cred, check out my latest post on the USA Character Approved Blog.

In Detroit: Bringing fresh food to the people

For many of Detroit’s nearly one million residents, getting to stores that carry fresh, healthy foods is a major challenge. To help people eat healthier in one of the nation’s worst food deserts, two organizations are taking creative approaches to getting the food to the people. Continue reading “Small Bites: Tacos with a Korean accent, going mobile to fight Detroit’s food desert and a new book on sustainable farming” →

Small Bites: An “essential” cookbook, hot sauce, cool candy, food trucks 2.0, farm made croutons

A trio of recent USA Character Approved Blog posts, Vermont-made croutons with a cool back story and our favorite hot sauce now actually comes in four flavors. Who knew?

Thomas Edison once said that, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Not one to miss an opportunity, Amanda Hesser wrote the 932-page, 1,400-recipe New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century while working full time for the Times and giving birth to twins. For the herculean six-year project, Hesser scoured through recipes published in the Times since it began covering food in the 1850s and took suggestions from hundreds of Times readers. She then cooked and updated every recipe that made the cut. To read more of the project and what makes the resulting book essential for your kitchen bookshelf, check out my post on the USA Character Approved Blog.

Delicious Mexican heat in four flavors

At last count, there were approximately a bazillion hot sauces out there. We have maybe a half dozen or so on hand at any given time. But the one that always seems to make it from the cupboard onto the table—or into the ingredient mix—is Cholula. Continue reading “Small Bites: An “essential” cookbook, hot sauce, cool candy, food trucks 2.0, farm made croutons” →

Two new paths to culinary careers

For aspiring chefs, many roads lead to the professional kitchen. In this post, a new cooking school with a grand old name is announced, and a no-nonsense, comprehensive book spells out a whole range of culinary careers and how to get your foot in the door.

Born in 1846, the legendary Auguste Escoffier changed the course of culinary history, modernizing and codifying centuries of French cooking traditions and extending the fame of French cuisine throughout the world. In the early 20th century, he was France’s pre-eminent chef.

Besides changing cooking, Escoffier forever changed the job status of chef, elevating it to an honored profession—not just for himself, but for every chef who followed. And now he’s having an impact on food and the business of cooking again, through his great grandson Michel Escoffier. Continue reading “Two new paths to culinary careers” →

Blog Action Day 2010: Food’s water footprint

Today is Blog Action Day. Thousands of bloggers all over the planet are talking about water, from the perspectives of their individual blogs. I’d like to talk about food’s water footprint, how what we eat affects the water we all need.

The Great Lakes are called that for a reason. Together, they cover 94,000 square miles. In school, they loomed large for me, both in geography and history lessons. I was enthralled by tales of intrepid explorers and voyageurs braving these fresh water oceans in mere canoes. And living in Chicago now on the shores of Lake Michigan, I am wowed by its power and size every single time I see it.

Still, on a trip to Toronto last fall, we were given a startling new perspective on the Great Lakes and on water in general. A large chalk illustration of the five Great Lakes covered an entire wall in a trendy shop Continue reading “Blog Action Day 2010: Food’s water footprint” →

Blog Action Day 2010: The topic is water, the time to get involved is now

This Friday, thousands of bloggers around the world will talk about water from their own perspectives. Water is shaping up to be the next big global issue, encompassing human rights, animal rights, the environment and more. Get involved. Write. Read. Comment. Act.

Water. Most of us take it for granted because we have the luxury of doing so. At least for now. But almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water—that’s about one in eight of us. And as a result, 42,000 of us die every week. Even where water is plentiful, the ways that it is used and misused have consequences for everyone.

On Friday, October 15, Blog Action Day wants to get the whole planet talking and thinking about water. If you write a blog, visit the Blog Action Day website and sign up to write about water from your blog’s perspective. If you have blogger friends, encourage them to get involved. You can also Continue reading “Blog Action Day 2010: The topic is water, the time to get involved is now” →