Round-up: Travels, a beautifully unimproved cleanser and food in the news

The kitchen was closed this week while we were on a trip to the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Portland and all gloriously green, mountainous, forested and ocean-viewing points in between. Plenty of great food moments too, including Seattle’s Pike Place Market, shown above, that are sure to inspire future posts here. In the meantime, here’s a quick look at my new post on the USA Character Approved Blog, plus some food stories making the news recently.

Bon Ami Cleanser: Old, unimproved and still just right. Cleaning product makers have been leaping onto the green bandwagon, with mixed results. But Bon Ami has been green since it was just a color. For more than 120 years, it’s been made of a handful of simple, real ingredients. And it’s been cleaning like crazy, while living up to its promise of “hasn’t scratched yet.” Continue reading “Round-up: Travels, a beautifully unimproved cleanser and food in the news” →

A bicycle built for treats and getting hammered in America’s Heartland

Fruity freezer pops sold from a bicycle in LA and silky smooth vodka in Indiana, both made with local ingredients, are the subjects of my latest posts on the USA Character Approved Blog.

These days, it seems everything is getting a gourmet makeover. Burgers, cupcakes, s’mores… One of the biggest hits this year is reimagined Popsicles, the iconic brightly colored and flavored summer treat for countless generations (and a fiercely guarded registered trademark of Unilever, as some hapless artisanal frozen treat makers have discovered). And perhaps no one is remaking them as deliciously or selling them as charmingly as Michelle Sallah and John Cassidy.

Together, they are Popcycle Treats. Sarah makes the inventively flavored freezer pops from seasonal produce and some interesting surprises. Continue reading “A bicycle built for treats and getting hammered in America’s Heartland” →

Five late summer recipes from fellow bloggers

I don’t browse food blogs often enough—it usually just makes me hungry. I did a little browsing just now. Here are some delicious recipes I found.

Melon Mozzarella Salad with Honey, Lime and Mint

This refreshing looking dish from Nicole over at Pinch My Salt not only sounds like the taste of summer, it also has a nice kick of crushed red pepper. Because, as Nicole puts it, “After living in Sicily for four years I now put crushed red pepper in just about everything.” Continue reading “Five late summer recipes from fellow bloggers” →

Colorful news for your kitchen: Green cutting boards and black garlic

Dishwasher-safe cutting boards made from sustainable bamboo and fermented garlic that delivers subtle flavors and a striking appearance are the subjects of my latest posts on the USA Character Approved Blog.

Despite what a certain famous frog says, being green is easy, at least when it comes to cutting boards. TruBamboo has introduced handsome, durable cutting boards made from bamboo, the quintessential green renewable resource. And best of all, they’re dishwasher safe.

I mean, let’s face it—we all want to be greener in our daily lives, but not if it means using green products that require special care or, worse, don’t work well (I’m talking to you, eco-friendly window cleaners). Continue reading “Colorful news for your kitchen: Green cutting boards and black garlic” →

Chicago small bites: Alfresco dining, help wanted for good cause and farm dinner, on a farm

Your outdoor meal at First Slice Pie Café helps provide meals for Chicago’s homeless; Greater Chicago Food Depository needs volunteers to help pack 40,000 family food boxes in 40 days; and City Provisions is hosting a farm dinner field trip.

Last winter, chef Mary Ellen Diaz opened an outpost of her popular Ravenswood restaurant, First Slice Pie Café, in the recently renovated Water Works Visitor Information Center in the historic Pumping Station across from Water Tower Place. Well now, for the summer at least, you can savor homemade pies, pizza made from local, seasonal ingredients, salads and sandwiches al fresco at café-style tables and chairs outside along the Pearson Street side of the Visitor Center.

The reasonably priced food gets Diaz’s three-star gourmet touch, including organic ingredients, and the pies are amazing. Eating there feels good too—a portion of all proceeds from the First Slice Pie Café is donated to the First Slice community kitchen, which provides these same restaurant-quality meals to homeless men, women and children. Continue reading “Chicago small bites: Alfresco dining, help wanted for good cause and farm dinner, on a farm” →

Food notes from all over: Mobile Indian food with a side of fun, Cajun cooking in the Midwest and bar snacks for wine

Fake brothers from a fake country serve up real treats from a DC food truck, a former construction worker cooks up Cajun food surrounded by Illinois cornfields, and a California winery creates bar snacks to pair with its wines.

Gourmet food trucks have been catching on everywhere (well, except here in Chicago, where draconian health regulations continue to thwart most attempts). In the past couple of years, chefs and wannabe chefs have been rehabbing used postal vans, delivery trucks and even old ice cream trucks and creating rolling restaurants that serve up an amazing range of eats in cities across the country. But few do it with the style and charming back story of the Fojol Bros.

Only two of the four Fojol Bros. are actual brothers, and no one is named Fojol. Wearing turbans and patently false mustaches, they peddle a changing menu of delicious, healthy Indian food with no preservatives from their homeland, “Merlindia.” And they let people know of the whereabouts of their “traveling culinary carnival” on Twitter. The Fojol Bros., back story and all, are the subject of my latest piece on cable station USA Network’s USA Character Approved Blog. The blog is in soft launch mode at the moment—I’ll let you know when it goes into full launch (heck, I’ll probably take out a full-page ad somewhere).

At Ron’s Cajun Connection, a lively roadside place about 80 miles southwest of Chicago, every order comes with a side of sass, from chef/owner Ron McFarlain himself. Continue reading “Food notes from all over: Mobile Indian food with a side of fun, Cajun cooking in the Midwest and bar snacks for wine” →

Logan Square Kitchen Pastry Market on Saturday, April events at Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand

Chicago’s Logan Square Kitchen Pastry Market returns with another one-day event of delicious creations by local small-batch pastry artisans, and Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand features a month of events highlighting food grown or produced within 250 miles of Chicago.

Going locavore in Chicago is sweeter than ever these days. In February, we wrote about a pre-Valentine’s Day Pastry Market at Logan Square Kitchen. Well, they’re at it again. This Saturday, April 10, the Logan Square Kitchen Spring Pastry Market will feature a day of pastries, chocolates, caramels, ice cream and more. Most of these treats are not widely available. In fact, many one-of-a-kind items will be created just for this event.

All the vendors featured at this one-day event are local food artisans, most of whom produce their wares in small batches, many producing seasonal items available for only a short time. Continue reading “Logan Square Kitchen Pastry Market on Saturday, April events at Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand” →

Logan Square Kitchen serves up fixes for the Chicago locavore sweet tooth

I‘m often kvetching about the lack of food trucks in Chicago, thanks to draconian local health regulations. Well, last weekend Logan Square Kitchen reminded me of the wealth of delicious locally produced foods—and the wealth of local culinary talent—with a pre-Valentine’s Day Pastry Market.

Logan Square Kitchen is itself an outcome of an increased interest in local, artisanal foods. Created by longtime Logan Square residents Zina and Nick Murray, it houses a shared-use commercial, two-galley kitchen that chefs, pastry chefs and entrepreneurs armed with secret family recipes can rent to produce their creations. Unlike home kitchens, it is up to health department code, so users of the space can legally market their wares.

The front half of Logan Square Kitchen is an event space. And that’s where we found a number of delights last Saturday, all locally produced. Continue reading “Logan Square Kitchen serves up fixes for the Chicago locavore sweet tooth” →

Eat, drink and be healthy in 2010

A quick round-up of ideas for healthy eating and drinking, including fighting diabetes with small changes, more reasons to drink coffee, reasons to drink and not drink wine and an excuse for pregnant women to eat bacon.

‘Food Rules’ from someone who should know

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

Michael Pollan

www.thedailyshow.com

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Health Care Crisis

Michael Pollan has written definitive tomes on food and health—the health of those who eat it, those who produce it and the planet we live on. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals is the best known, weighing in at nearly 500 pages.

His latest book, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, is a lot slimmer, a pocket-sized 112 pages. But in its own way, it’s just as full of useful information. In it, Pollan lays out 64 rules to help us eat smarter, eat healthier. In a piece he wrote for Huffington Post, he tells how the list came about and gives us a small taste of the list. Here are a couple of samples:

#36 Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.

#39 Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.

Pollan recently appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He entertainingly but forcefully makes the point that the way we eat is responsible Continue reading “Eat, drink and be healthy in 2010” →

This isn’t regifting, is it? Five holiday desserts from the Blue Kitchen archives

The holiday entertaining season is upon us. A few weeks ago, I made a Cherry Orange Loaf Cake that’s great to serve your guests or give your host. Here are five more dessert recipes to help make celebrations sweeter.

1. Frangipane Pear and Cherry Cake

Pears and tart cherries team up with almond-based frangipane in Marion’s flavorful Frangipane Pear and Cherry Cake that gets even better the second day. So it’s perfect for making a day ahead or having on hand when guests drop by.

2. Hazelnut Rosemary Jam Cookies

Fresh rosemary adds a subtle, mysterious something extra to my not-too-sweet Continue reading “This isn’t regifting, is it? Five holiday desserts from the Blue Kitchen archives” →