Ohmygodtheymakeaneffingbacondooughnut!
Gourmet doughnuts, doughnuts for your dog, and yes, even bacon in doughnut form. Can I get a hell ya from the crowd?! More food porn after the jump!
Amuse Bouche: Why don’t Australians like chocolate bunnies for Easter?
In Australia, rabbits are a non-native species that were introduced and disrupted several native species and multiplied frequently, essentially becoming a vermin. Aussies chose to celebrate Easter with a chocolate native animal, the bilby.
The Australian version of the Easter bunny: the Easter bilby!
Source: My mate Andrew, a native South Australian with several college degrees.
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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.
Amuse Bouche: What is this year’s Peep death count estimate?
They estimate Americans will consume over 6 million marshmallow peeps this Easter, and many people will try to cook them.
Sources: NPR and The Cooking with Peeps site
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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.
Amuse Bouche: Who invented the Easter Bunny in the U.S.?
The Pennsylvania Dutch are credited with using a rabbit to celebrate Easter. They called it the Oschter Haws or Easter Hare, and it would hand out colored eggs to good children (and rabbit pellets to bad ones).*
*This is not the only group credited with using a rabbit as their symbol of Easter/spring celebrations, just one of them.
Source: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food & Drink in America, page 419.
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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.
~LTG!
Leena Cooks: Meyer Lemon Marshmallows like it was her job
Meyer lemon marshmallows, my homage to spring and awesome stuff.
Last year for Easter and the celebration of all things Spring, I conquered my fear of the great mallow from my pastry chef days and rocked out some passion fruit and toasted coconut marshmallows. This year, I wanted to give homage to my new home by the Bay, and use some Meyer lemons a work friend grew in her back yard. Meyer lemons taste like your average lemon, but they are a tiny bit sweeter. Not orange sweet, and they still retain a bit of that bitter lemon flavor that helps to cut through the sugar-laden mallow.
And I am proud to say that for two years running, no Kitchen Aids were hurt in the making of my marshmallows. Holla!
Gastro Friday Essay: The Pinata Weakness
I firmly believe you can judge the quality of someone’s character by whether or not they share their food with others. Friendships that never worked out for me always had one fact in common–the other person wasn’t a food sharer. In grad school, we learned that those who shared their food with others throughout history were the ones to survive, because when they needed food, they had others willing to share with them. Makes sense, right?
This story is from a time before I adopted that belief, and I believe it tells a quite revealing tale about my true character: that I try to be a good person, but sometimes the glutton within takes over.
Amuse Bouche: SF Mayor takes steps to support urban agriculture
The mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, unveiled a plan last July to improve the way people in the city eat. City departments are auditing unused land that can be turned into urban gardens. He demanded healthy food in all vending machines, asked farmers markets to accept food stamps, and on Tuesday, he broke ground on a new urban garden at a city steam power house.
Source: March 23 2010 SF Chronicle article
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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.
Amuse Bouche: Kosher wine more than just Manischewitz
The Jewish holiday of Passover Seder is celebrated with drinking Kosher wine, and traditionally, a really sweet red wine is served. Great article by Bill Daley explores several California Kosher wines, from white to red, none of them sweet.
Source: March 24, 2010 Chicago Tribune article
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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.
Amuse Bouche: Louisiana rice farmer explores new farming methods
It is not always affordable for a conventional farmer to shift over to organic, so brown rice farmer Kurt Unkel has been experimenting with a combination of methods, part sustainable farming, part biodynamic, not quite organic, and yields a tasty and unique product.
Source: March 24, 2010 NY Times article
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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.
~LTG!
Leena Eats: Upscale Indian Cuisine
The succulent tandoori scallops at Ajanta restaurant in Berkeley, California.
See that in the photo? THAT was not scallop. That was a freaking perfectly cooked revelation from the sea, otherwise known as the tandoori scallop at Ajanta restaurant in Berkeley, California. This is a perfect example of a (sort of) new restaurant trend across the country, upscale Indian cuisine.
Technically speaking, upscale Indian cuisine can go by many names, anything from fusing Indian ingredients and recipes with another country’s cuisine, modernizing traditional Indian recipes, or using Indian ingredients with non-Indian cooking techniques. Examples? So glad you asked…
Amuse Bouche: Gourmet hot dogs are a trend exploding across the country: Hot Doug’s/Chicago, Show Dogs/San Francisco, Crif Dogs/NYC.
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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.
Amuse Bouche: Every year on July 4th, Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island, NY draws 30,000 people from all over the world for their annual hot dog eating contest, making it one of the largest gastronomic tourism ventures in the country.
Source:
http://www.nathansfamous.com/PageFetch/
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Amuse Bouche: Noun. Etymology: French: literally, entertains the mouth. A small, complimentary appetizer served at the beginning of a meal to awaken the taste buds. Leena Eats definition: a quick shot of gastronomic knowledge for the brain.
