It’s that time of year and the Willow Weavers of the annual Willow Gathering were again in town for a week and I was able to witness their beautiful creations-in-progress while feeding them throughout the classes. I am always amazed at the sculptures that can be constructed using leaves and sticks—a skill that these artists are helping to pass along as well as evolve.     These adorable beaver awls were carved and made by the teacher

  I’ve been perusing recipes lately, books on the shelf and the random pieces of paper with notes scribbled on them that are stuffed in the books or in my folders labeled “Recipes”. I’ve had this piece of paper for a while, I have no idea who gave it to me or where it’s from but it looked intriguing. Nearly everything with chocolate could be called intriguing, yes? I searched online to find a source for this delectability—it’s very possibly from

  What would we do without Deborah Madison? I don’t actually have that many cookbooks…well okay it’s a couple of shelves, but considering I’m in the food business I don’t have that many. But I do have Deborah’s cookbooks, and I do use them.   In My Kitchen is her latest with new and old recipes and giving more narrative about how her recipes have changed over the years.  Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone sits firmly in the Top Two List of

  My Darling Lemon Thyme by Emma Galloway of New Zealand is one of my favorite food blogs. Emma worked as a pastry chef for a while and it really shows in her amazing creativity with gluten free desserts. This cake is based on one of her recipes she created for Taste Magazine in New Zealand and it sounded like a perfectly seasonal tea-time treat. Check out more rhubarb recipes from Taste Magazine’s Food to Love.     It’s been

  Yesterday a friend said to me, “It seems okay that spring is a crazy busy time, there is so much beauty and life coming up all around that it makes it bearable”.  I would have to agree. Bustling is the word that comes to mind, all the project planning during winter is ramping up into the physical manifestations of those preparations and you just have to ride the wave and try not to fall off.   That’s when pink blossoms,

  Cute and colorful crepes to use as wraps or tacos, these hold together well and give great flavor to a wrap. As the heat of summer approaches these are something to keep in mind for light dinners, like tacos filled with fresh bounty from the garden or farmers market. Bánh Xèo is the name for the real deal Vietnamese Pancake, these are an altered version that are more crepe-like but still a handy little treat. They are best eaten

  Looking out my window at the mid-April snow drifts it seems hard to believe that within a few weeks we might be seeing local radishes here in the upper midwest. Thank goodness for hoop houses and determined farmers! We seem to be in a perpetual time loop stuck in late February, but for me without the fun parts of being in a location with ski trails.   Radishes and vinegar together—this is not for the faint of heart! Actually I

  Tapioca ranks right up there in the Cute and Curious Food category. People may have vague memories (good or bad) of tapioca pudding, but if you’re in the Special Diet camp you probably are quite familiar with tapioca being in the ingredient list of gluten free products.   Tapioca pearls are made from the cassava root, a tropical plant native to Brazil but is widely used throughout the world. Its sticky quality works well for thickening sauces and is a common ingredient in

  How many times have we eaten from street food carts or food trucks, utterly wowed, then spent numerous attempts to re-enact the scrumptious experience? Usually it involves frying and serving with a greasy dip, and is never quite the same as the edible encounters on the boulevard. At a business anniversary party in Minneapolis a few years ago we munched fried cauliflower with a curry dip from a food truck they had hired for the event. We couldn’t stop talking about it and

  Making hominy gets to the core of slow food cooking.  It’s a process that takes forethought and time, and though the concept is understandable the Complexities of Simplicity emerge.  Simple is not necessarily simple.   Pre-Columbian cultures began the practice of ‘nixtamalization’ in Mesoamerica.  It involes soaking the kernels of maize in alkaline wood ash to release protein, calcium, niacin and other micro-nutients, and removes fungal-mycotoxins from stored corn.  They then rinsed and slow-cooked the soaked corn in clay pots and