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” →

Food blogging and simple gifts

Every year around this time, I like to share a little something about gifts. Last year, it was the humble gift of an orange that meant so much to my grandmother growing up on a farm in Illinois. Two years ago, it was the amazing gift of the poetry of e.e. cummings, first shared with me in grade school, a beautiful poem about a tiny Christmas tree. And the year before that, when Blue Kitchen was not quite two months old, it was about our non-traditional tradition of Christmas Eve dinner in Chinatown and a joke about gifts that transcended language barriers.

This year, I’ve been thinking about the gifts this blog has given me.

Gift one. I fell hard for publishing as a teenager. I got my first taste on my high school newspaper. Then I started an underground literary magazine with some friends, The Grub Street Journal. Continue reading “Food blogging and simple gifts” →

Six blogs, websites, etcetera about food, health, etcetera worth checking out

We’re always on the lookout for new or new-to-us food-related blogs, websites and resources. Here are a half dozen that have recently caught our eye. They range from helpful to health-oriented to hip to hmmmm. Found a new site recently? Share it in the comments below.

1. Still Tasty: Edible or not?

I don’t know about you, but our fridge is usually chock full of leftovers, ingredients waiting their turn to become meals and partial containers of all manner of foodstuffs. So one of the most frequently asked questions in our kitchen is “Think this is still okay?” Well, now there’s a site that answers those questions without looking like a warning on a cigarette pack.

Still Tasty delivers loads of useful food safety information in a stylish, friendly site. You can search foods and beverages by name or browse by category. You’ll also find tips on expiration dates, safely thawing frozen foods, getting the most flavor and shelflife from fresh fruit and more. Bookmark this site now. Thank me later. [Speaking of which, thanks to Thrillist New York for bringing Still Tasty to my attention.]

2. The Daily Plate: Eat right, live strong

As frequent headlines and countless blogs remind us, obesity is a daily struggle for far too many of us. Underlining the fact that this is not just an aesthetic issue but a serious health concern, The Daily Plate has teamed up with Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG.COM to provide guidance and encouragement Continue reading “Six blogs, websites, etcetera about food, health, etcetera worth checking out” →