"Eat Drink or Die": From the Makers of "Funny or Die"

From the makers of "Funny or Die," comes a video site about eating a drinking: "Eat Drink or Die".

The site features short-form video content from food and wine experts, some with a little humor thrown in for the hell of it.

Plus, there are tons of blogs and channels for vegetarians, chicken, drinks, etc.

Via Threeminds.

$0.99 Gourmet

The NY Times has two very interesting articles about gourmet cooking on the cheap.


Here, the writer spends a week eating only what he can prepare from ingredients found at NYC $0.99 stores.

And here, gourmet seafood chef, Eric Ripert, creates recipes using $0.99 store finds.

Via Buzz Feed.

Local Shopping Made Easy

Today I discovered a wonderful way to find locally grown/produced food. It's as simple as typing in your zip code (or city and state) on the Local Harvest search engine.

The site helps you find sustainably grown food close to you. Plus they have a catalog for anything you can't find in your area.

Via D Home.

Genius S-XL Cake Mold

You can cut the cake as evenly as you like, but someone is always going to want a "small piece."

And now your cake pan will guide you to perfect slices for everyone.

The S-XL Cake Mold, $33.

Via BLTD.

Eeeewwwww: Bread

Just in time for your Halloween party, really, really gross looking bread made by an art student.

I don't know that I want to slurp my PB&J out of a bread-hand, but I have to admit I'm impressed.

Read on Human Bread more over at My Starbucks.

Some Style for your Kitchen

Spice up your walls with a series of 30 Patchwork plates by Marcel Wanders. [BLTD]

Preview MoMA's fall food fashions at the Kitchen.

Get a color and a cut with bicycle handle knives from MKS Design. [This Next]

BBQ at Acar Kent

While we were in Istanbul, the city experienced some of the hottest weather in 30 years. On one of those sweltering nights, some friends invited us to their home for a BBQ.

Turkish cuisine's appeal is in the simplicity of its flavors. They highlight a few key ingredients and let them shine. Meats are simply dressed and grilled. Salads are served dressed with olive oil and Italian parsley or dill. Vegetables are prepared in olive oil or served pureed as appetizers.

Our hosts served a very refreshing, delicious potato salad. This salad was unlike anything I've ever tasted before, a combination of potatoes, cucumber and yogurt. And, they just sent me the recipe:

Summer Potato Salad*:

1 cup of yogurt
1 clove of garlic, finely diced
1 tsp salt

4 Russet potatoes
1 cucumber, grated
Salt to taste

Combine the yogurt. garlic and salt in a small bowl and stir well. Place in the refrigerator.

Boil the potatoes until cooked through. Cool, peel, and mash. I used a food processor and added a little milk. Add the prepared garlic yogurt and grated cucumber and stir until smooth. Add salt to taste. The salad is good right away, but for the best taste, let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours.

SOUNDTRACK:
"Stop Me," a reworking of the Smiths' track by Mark Ronson.



* Thanks to Erman and Burcu for the hopitality and the recipe.

Bye Bye to Bitter Garlic

Raw garlic can have a bitter flavor. Especially if you have the bulb for awhile. This can be an issue when you serve a dish that needs a delicate dose of raw garlic, like hummus or herbed olive oil for dipping.

I read recently that the bitter taste can be prevented by simply taking the green shoot out of the center of the garlic clove before chopping.

To remove the shoot, simply peel the clove and slice it length-wise. Locate and remove the light green shoot from each side of the sliced clove and prepare your dish.

Mmmm: Meyer Lemon Cake from Domino

I think I'll give this cake a try for Mother's Day. You can find the recipe on the Domino site.

DIY: Greek Yogurt

Traditional Greek yogurt is thicker and has more taste than what we're used to here. If you are cooking Mediterranean cuisine, it's always better to use traditional style yogurt. Unfortunately it's hard to come by in most grocery stores.

Fortunately, The Kitchen has some tips for straining the excess water out of regular, plain-old, easy-to-find yogurt. Hooray.

Blogging Bon Appetit's May Issue

ARTICLES:
"Bon Appetit's" May issue is a travel special edition. It covers where to eat in places like France, Spain, Italy, and Austria and some local recipes for each region. Though not listed on the cover, there is a great article and accompanying recipes from Istanbul. I have to divulge, that I am extremely partial to Turkey and wax poetic on the topic whenever I get the chance. My husband is an Istanbul native and my mother-in-law is the most amazing Turkish cook.

Luckily for everyone, May's Turkish recipes are already available on the site. My personal favorite is Mucver, or zucchini patties, pictured above. If you have the chance to go to Istanbul, do not miss out. It's an amazing place. If you can't head to Turkey, I have a few restaurant suggestions:

Dallas:
Sevan (this is not a Turksih restaurant, but serves a very closely related cuisine)
2221 Greenville Ave
Dallas, TX 75206

(214) 821-0601

Cafe Izmir (again, not actually a Turkish restaurant, but it serves many Turkish dishes)
3711 Greenville Ave
Dallas, TX 75206
(214) 826-7788

New York:
Turkish Kitchen
386 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10016
(212) 679-1810

BOOK REVIEWS:
Page 38's book reviews offer two selections that caught my interest. The first is "Off Duty: The World's Greatest Chef's Cook at Home." I have always wondered what famous chefs cook for themselves and their families after a long week at the restaurant. This book offers an answer. Featured chefs include, Thomas Keller, Charlie Trotter and Alan Ducasse. I found some additional details listed under "Good Reads" on Eddybles.

The second is "Harumi's Japanese Cooking," by Harumi Kurihara, the Japanese Martha Stewart. I found some additional information on the book at Trends in Japan. Harumi offers tips on easy Japanese home cooking, including sushi.

PRODUCTS:
Morphe sugar bowl and milk jug
in stainless steel.
$95 for the set.










The Josephine carafe and glass.
$210 for the set.

Lemon Sesame Muffins from The Kitchen

These sounds delicious:

Lemon Sesame Muffins
makes 12 generously-sized muffins

2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 c sugar
1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted (1/2 tsp salt)
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons lemon rind (from about five small lemons; squeeze for juice as well)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 c oil
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla

Lemon Syrup
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon rind

Heat the oven to 375ºF. Prepare a 12-cup muffin pan with liners or by greasing the cups. Mix the dry ingredients and the lemon rind. In a small bowl beat the milk, oil, egg and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and beat with a whisk just until smooth. Pour into the muffin cups and bake about 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick just comes out clean.

While baking, prepare the lemon syrup. Whisk the lemon juice and sugar together in a small saucepan and boil for about five minutes or until reduced and shiny. Remove from heat and stir in the teaspoon of lemon rind.

When the muffins come out of the oven, immediately poke a couple toothpick holes in each muffin and carefully drizzle the hot syrup over them. Let cool for about 20 minutes in the pan to let the syrup absorb.

Slow Cooking Double Time

Slow cooking is now twice as nice with the Hamilton Beach 6-Quart Double Dish Slow Cooker (say that three times fast). This would be great for keeping things warm at a party or for preparing a holiday feast.

$39.99 at Home Depot.

Via Product Dose.

Measurement Conversions

Apartment Therapy's blog, The Kitchen, lists a few tools for making quick and accurate conversions in the kitchen. When I'm in the habit of halving or doubling a recipe, I like to rewrite it on a card with the converted amounts or to simply scratch out and write-over the measurements in my cook book. I found that cooking and calculating are not tasks I can tackle in tandem.

Miffed About Muffins

I didn't have time to bake my own muffins this weekend, so I made a quick trip to the local Whole Foods to pick up a box from their bakery yesterday afternoon. I have to admit, this is mostly my fault for not checking the label, but when I went to unwrap the muffins this morning I noticed each one has 22 grams of fat, 2 grams of which are trans-fat!

I'm a healthy person, but by no means a big dieter. Sure I don't eat a lot of meat and I don't eat fast food, but I have a well-indulged sweet-tooth and an addiction to fine cheese. That said, there is just no way I'm starting my morning off with a BRAN muffin that has 22 grams of fat. How is that even possible? Is there a stick of butter in there?

Whole Foods isn't the only offender (I'm talking to you Starbucks). I have never found a store-bought low-fat muffin that tastes like food, and anything not marked low-fat is somehow more calorie-dense than a piece of chocolate mousse cake.

Where are the good low-fat muffins? They have to exist outside of our private kitchens. If anyone has a tip on where to get decent low-fat muffins (made with real ingredients, not chemicals) in Dallas, please let me know. And if you have great recipes, please share and I will post them.

Red Lentil Soup for a Slushy Day

This is my absolute favorite soup. I first tried it at a beach resort in South Turkey. It was 12 am and my husband and I were starving, and this soup was all the resort kitchen had available at the pool-side bar. We each got a steaming bowl with a hunk of fresh bread. It was delicious.

Red Lentil Soup

1/2 pound dry red lentils
2 tablespoons butter
2 small white onions, chopped
4 cups water
Salt, pepper, and Cayenne pepper, to taste
4 cups plain canned chicken broth
1 cup milk

In a large saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat until just melted. Add chopped onion, salt and pepper. Saute for five minutes, stirring frequently.

Add lentils and 4 cups of water to the pan. Cook uncovered for 20 minutes and then cover and cook an additional 10 minutes, or until lentils are soft. Most of the water will be absorbed by the lentils. Add additional water 1/4 cup at a time, if necessary.

Turn the burner off and allow lentils and onions to cool for about 5 minutes. Transfer to a food processor or good blender and blend until perfectly smooth and set aside. Be sure not to leave any whole lentils or onion pieces in the sauce pan. I have a small food processor, so I blend a few cups at a time and transfer to a large bowl.

Return the empty saucepan to the burner over medium heat. Add 4 cups of broth to the pan and heat for several minutes. Add the lentil puree and Cayenne pepper to the pan and whisk until combined. Start with 1/2 or less of Cayenne. The soup will get spicier as it cooks. Continue to cook over medium heat until heated through, stirring frequently. Do not allow the mixture to boil.

Add milk and cook a few more minutes, until heated through.

Serve the soup with the juice of a lemon wedge squeezed into each bowl and a piece of soft French bread.

The soup will keep in the refrigerator for up to seven days. It tends to separate out, with the bean puree settling to the bottom of the container. Simply stir before heating.

If you live in Dallas, you can find red lentils in the bulk section of Sprouts. I have also seen them with the dried beans in Central Market. If you live in North Dallas, Shine's Mediterranean stocks them with their dried goods.

Arabesque: My Long Delayed Review

I truly enjoyed reading Arabesque. The cookbook covers the cuisines of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon, with an introduction and overview of each country's culinary traditions. While I am most familiar with Turkish cuisine, I noticed distinctive overlaps in both ingredients and even food names, especially between Turkey and Lebanon.

All of the Turkish recipes that I would hope to see were included, except for my favorite lentil soup. I was especially pleased to see a recipe for cigarette borek (filo dough filled with cheese and Italian parsley, rolled into a long, thin tube, and fried). I was also interested to find a recipe for veiled rice with chicken. It's a rice dish baked in a puff-pastry shell and it's delicious. These are both dishes that are hard to prepare and therefor often passed over in Turkish cookbooks.

I haven't delved as deeply into the Lebanese and Moroccan recipes as I would like to. To be honest, I am a terribly slow reader and I started in the Turkish section. From what I have read, the recipes are thorough and easy to follow. In the past, I have run into problems with the preparation instructions of my Turkish cookbooks, likely due to translation issues.

I would recommend this book for an adventurous chef or a food junkie. Even if you don't plan to prepare these recipes, the history of the cuisines and the photos are worth the read.