Posts from the ‘Weekend links’ Category

Weekend Links, Feb. 17

Sunday morning coffee. 

Before I forget, I have two tickets to MadTown Shakedown to give away! If you’re in Madison and available Monday, February 24, and you like cocktails, it should be a really fun event. More info about it here and here. If you’re interested, leave a comment here or on the Bowen Appétit Facebook page with a cocktail you’ve been enjoying recently, and I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday!

Not sure why I’ve never tried this when I make oats, and I’ll be doing it today when I make overnight oats for the week. (Never done that before either – so many oat-related firsts!)

I care approximately not at all that Valentine’s Day is past us; this list of floral cocktails will be good any time. Hoping to try the Water Lily this week.

More on the crazy world of olive oil production and marketing, which makes me trust California oil more than ever. (Thanks, Val!)

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes: Rachel Cole’s “5 essentials for a passionate, well-fed life.” I’m not generally one to subscribe to life coach/mentor-type email services, but she has some great things to say about the relationships women have with food, cooking, home life, and health.

If you’re in the mood to catch up on what’s happening with the Farm Bill (who isn’t?) or have been looking for an understandable summary, go here and here.

The Full-Fat Paradox. I’m still a little scared of using exclusively full-fat yogurt and whole milk, but we’ve been inching our way there for years. (Yeah Wisconsin.)

Meal plan – Brett has an exam this week, so we’re trying to keep things relatively quick and easy.

• Turnip-bacon gratin (vestiges of our winter CSA) with pork sirloin chop
• Macaroni and cheese with kale and bacon
• Leek and pork Chinese dumplings (Valentine’s Day present)
• Testing coq au vin for a class I’m teaching next week
• Whole wheat sandwich bread with spent grains from brewing beer (Peter Reinhart recipe)
• Breakfasts: Leftover buckwheat waffles (recipe coming soon), overnight steel cut oats
• Desserts: Leftover almost-flourless chocolate cake from Valentine’s Day, Girl Scout cookies

Weekend Links, Feb. 10

Winter plants, where the sun is.

We love you like XO Valentine’s Day menu. (You know how much I love a good hip-hop food pun.)

I will always prefer a real paper card, but if you’re in the market for some excellent food-related electronic Valentine’s Day cards, you’re welcome.

All right, no more about Valentine’s Day. Big news: Walmart has signed onto the Fair Food Program, initiated by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

Molly Wizenberg’s second book is coming out in three months. 75% of my excitement is to read it, the other 25% is thinking about what the weather will be like by then. (Okay, more like 50%.)

A handy guide to German beer, which unfortunately came to me a day after I struggled to explain to someone how German beer is more than just pilsners.

I am looking forward to making this sometime this week, even though the writers of that post seemed a little skeptical. Perhaps this grenadine will make the difference.

A short and interesting piece about the evolution of coffee roasters in the United States.

Purple Kale always has a lot of great writing about … strategic cooking, let’s say, and this post on the “wastefulness of meal planning” reminded me that I should point out that even though I’m now starting to post a meal plan for the week, this isn’t anything particularly new for us. And more importantly, we see it as much more of a general plan that helps us go grocery shopping and make sure we do any night-before tasks like salting chicken or soaking beans, not as a written-in-stone schedule. We always leave a blank day or two to leave room for dealing with leftovers and scraps (the point made in Purple Kale’s post) or to leave space for impromptu dinners out or plans with friends.

That said, here’s this week’s meal plan:

• Roasted acorn squash stuffed with lentils and mushrooms
• Pollo alla Veracruzana (Rick Bayless recipe) in the slow cooker
• Recipe testing french onion soup for a class I’m teaching later this month
• Valentine’s Day: homemade sushi, chocolate souffles
• Breakfasts: leek-bacon frittata, granola
• Lunches: leftovers, eating out, and salads with chicken, greens, kale, dried fruit, and a spicy creamy dressing
• Dessert: ricotta-orange cake (said this one last week, but didn’t have a chance to make it), cinnamon-pear pie

I am Pasta Fierce? Seriously.

Weekend Links, Feb. 3

Fruit bowl yesterday morning.

We’re diverging from our normal bourbon and rye choices to find something new and delicious, and this list of good budget ryes is super helpful.

I find the ever-evolving news on a new Farm Bill is consistently overwhelming, but I do know for sure that this is bad.

And in other frustrating food policy news, newly released documents show that the FDA figured out years ago that antibiotics in meat are harmful to humans.

What it’s like to be a cook for an Antarctic research station.

A handy reminder of what types of onions to use for what types of preparations.

I’m always trying to wrap my mind around what type of olive oil to buy, and this hits some of the points that make me concerned. (And it’s pretty cute.) (Thanks, Lori, for sending me this!)

This “20 things I learned from traveling around the world” looks pretty similar to what mine would be, if I ever wrote one. (Most of which boil down to: 1. You and your country/culture/experience/life are not the center of the universe, and 2. travel is likely the hardest thing you’ll ever do, but it’s not that hard to make it happen. Really.)

Ugh. Just ugh. Just. Ugh. 

Meal plan this week:

• Wild rice pilaf with roasted sweet potatoes and sage, topped with poached eggs
• Thawed bolognese and pasta
• Gratin of white beans, rigatoni, pesto, and ricotta. (Which reminds me that I really need to update my ricotta post to reflect the way I’m making it these days.)
• Tater tot hotdish from scratch (aside from the tater tots) to match with Fargo movie night on Thursday
• Breakfasts: granola, not sure what else
• Lunches: wild rice soup, leftovers, going out
• Desserts: peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies (recipe hopefully posted this week), ricotta-orange cake (testing a new recipe that I’m pretty excited about)
• We also bought a few grapefruits at the store today and I’m pretty excited about making salty dogs.

Weekend Links, Jan. 27

Front porch view.

Feeling a bit candle-lit-at-both-ends at the moment, which is ironic considering Polar Vortex #2 is headed our way. Haven’t been reading much this week, but here are a few things to note:

Beans, beans, beans! I talk all about cooking with dried beans over at The Kitchen Gallery’s blog.

And here’s where I realize that all of the other links I want to post this week are related to booze. Welp, winter …

This (which we tried on Friday and was absolutely beautiful and very good) has us wondering what would happen if we shook other favorite cocktails with a whole egg … stay tuned for our findings!

A few “weird” drinking traditions from around the world.

Apparently I’m not the only one who sometimes stares at a tap system and wonders how it all works under the counter.

This reminded me how long it’s been since I’ve had a salty dog, one of my favorite drinks. Guess that’s what happens when you don’t live in a place with local winter citrus …

I’ll be teaching and can’t attend, unfortunately, but this Madison cocktail shakedown looks amazing. (Again, full disclosure: I work for REAP, which will be receiving donations from the event.)

This week’s meal plan Between a few busy weeknights, teaching a class on Thursday, and going out of town for a conference, there isn’t much to plan. We’re mostly trying to eat through all the leftovers in the freezer (or should I say “freezer,” since much of it is actually frozen in a cooler on our back porch).

• Roasted sweet potatoes and quinoa
• Defrosted venison bourguignon, meatballs in tomato sauce, braised red cabbage
• Lunches: leftovers, going out
• Breakfasts: defrosted banana chocolate chip bread, bread with honey and butter, yogurt with defrosted applesauce

Weekend Links, Jan. 21

Kitchen window, snowy Monday afternoon. 

First things first – yesterday I posted an update on the famous Motley vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe. Since it was an update it won’t go out to email subscribers, but you’ll see it front and center right after this very post. I’m currently trying to decide whether I share the batch or keep it all for myself …

What does “natural” mean on food labels? (Spoiler: Not much.)

Clips from what appears to be a hilarious Japanese TV show in which people have to choose-by-biting which everyday items are made of candy and which aren’t.

The global food crisis explained in 18 graphics.

As part of an all together fascinating project called “Artist Residency in Motherhood,” a Pittsburgh conceptual artist asks mothers around the world to document their days.

And as part of my blossoming (heh heh) obsession with all things rose-flavored, these days I’m drinking this black tea with rose petals, from Oregon-based Townshend’s tea. Many thanks to my mother-in-law for this Christmas gift, and to Laurel for first introducing me to it last summer.

Madison folks, here are two awesome events to look forward to: Slow Food Madison’s First Annual Zymology Fest, and REAP’s 7th Annual Burgers & Brew. (Full disclosure, I volunteer with or work for both of those groups.)

Brett goes back to school today and I’m headed into a work push that will last for a couple of months, and between time constraints and trying to use up our remaining few winter CSA boxes, we’re trying to at least sketch out our meals for the week. As we do it, I’ll be sharing in our Weekend Links post.

• Smoked chicken thighs (peanut butter/curry slop), winter slaw, pinto beans
• Poached chicken thighs (poached instead of grilled because we’ll make a bit of stock with them), leftover pipián verde, pinto beans, corn tortillas
• Parsnip gratin with poached eggs and toast
• Brats and homemade sauerkraut
• Breakfasts: Granola and yogurt, toast from the whole wheat sandwich bread I made last week and froze, coffee shop purchases
• Lunches: leftovers or eating out
• Desserts: vegan chocolate chip cookies, whole wheat apple-cinnamon hand pies

I was also hoping to get some clam chowder in this week, but since we’ve been trying to go out more (both to try new places in Madison and to get out of the house during the winter), we don’t want to plan too much. That’ll have to wait until next week …