From Scratch

The mere thought of “practicing” for a diet sounds crazy, but when I decided to try this diet I knew I’d need a practice day or two to try to sort it out. All we have to go by, until someone writes the inevitable book and gets rich, is the study methodology - 1,240 calories per […]

There’s an old saying: Eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch and a pauper at dinner. New research finds that can be a good way to lose weight and keep it off.
A small study divided 96 obese women into two groups. Those who had big breakfasts, with lots of carbs and proteins, […]

Cereal giant Kellogg has instituted de facto price hikes for five popular cereals by making the boxes smaller without changing their prices. The new boxes began shipping this month.
A spokeswoman says the boxes were reduced by an average of 2.4 ounces for 14 items sold under the Apple Jacks, Cocoa Krispies, Corn Pops, Froot Loops […]

I’m normal! At the very least, I’m not alone. Certain things in recipes make me put them down or turn the page, never to make them. They’re my recipe deal breakers and I hope you’ll share yours.
A week and a half ago Kim Severson wrote about this in The New York Times, a fun piece […]

NBC News confirms reports that Tim Russert has died. He was 58.
He collapsed and apparently suffered a heart attack at NBC News in Washington, where he was the bureau chief and long-time host of Meet the Press. The network hasn’t made available further details. [Update: NBC now says he collapsed and “was striken.”]
Just today, he spoke […]

The federal Centers for Disease Control says an outbreak of salmonella, reported yesterday, has spread from Texas and New Mexico to 14 other states and authorities are trying to pin down the source of the raw tomatoes believed to be the cause. Texas now reports 56 cases of salmonella food poisoning and New Mexico 55. 
The […]

Whole Foods Market has halted sales of Roma and large, round field-grown tomatoes without attached vines or stems at all of its more than 270 stores after an outbreak of salmonella linked to raw tomatoes. In addition, stores are no longer using tomatoes in sandwiches and salads.
The voluntary recall follows a warning from the Texas Health Department […]

I tried a recipe from last week’s Washington Post for a fast version of pork vindaloo – I’m posting it separately and the link is below. This mild paste was an alternative to jarred curry paste and I’m glad I tried it. It gave the dish a restaurant quality and would be wonderful with other […]

We have a long holiday weekend coming up in the US for Memorial Day and it’s the unofficial start of grilling season with millions of cookouts planned. But they’re going to cost more this year. My country, like many others, is enduring higher food prices and the government says it’s going to get worse.
Last year food […]

Since I do practice what I advocate — cuisine d’opportunité – I have another, but very different, raspberry recipe on the heels of raspberry fool. I found gorgeous berries at a great price a few days ago and bought several containers; the savings with this raspberry vinaigrette recipe alone pays for them all.
I don’t know what bothers […]

It’s not enough that millions of American freezers are stocked with tubs of that chemical cocktail called Cool Whip. Now, Kraft is about to introduce a less taxing variety at next week’s Food Marketing Institute show in Las Vegas.
As Emily Bryson York wrote in Ad Age, Kraft is only responding to its consumers:
Consumers didn’t want […]

Cinco de Mayo is tomorrow but there’s plenty of time to make this classic. It only takes about five minutes, even less if you start with a can of tomatoes which, sometimes, is unavoidable.
Some people use the terms pico de gallo and salsa interchangeably but they are different. Salsa, the most popular condiment in America, […]

I am not a fluffy person but I don’t take myself very seriously either, so when my friend Juan tagged me for this fun meme, I was happy to play along. This is more about me than you ever wanted to know.
5 things found in your bag:
wallet
lipstick
a little mirror for the lipstick
gas coupon to save 10¢ […]

Ming Tsai, the renowned chef-owner of Blue Ginger in Wellesley, Massachussetts, was the guest judge on Top Chef 4 last night. As is Bravo’s custom, it offered him a blog spot and instead of writing a post, it’s a Q & A in bloggy form and is well worth reading. His views about food and […]

Photo removed because an ill-bred, cheap boor chose to hotlink and use my bandwidth. Internet no-no #1. Cheap isn’t even an issue! This pig is with blogspot, which is free, and so is his bandwidth and storage space.
You couldn’t pay me to eat a hot dog but if I ate them, there’s no way I’d pay […]