From the monthly archives:

July 2009

Daring Bakers: Milano & Mallow Cookies

July 27, 2009 Cookies

Since May, I’ve had a poster over my desk at work with COOKIES scrawled in Sharpie at the top, followed by a list of names and check marks. When I needed a favor this spring, my default promise was “I’ll bake you cookies.” At least one person said “I’ll hold you to that.” In July, I made good, embarking on Christmas in July Cookiefest 2009 as part of the July Daring Bakers challenge: Milano cookies and Mallow cookies.

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Six Lessons from the Farm Tour

July 23, 2009 Pittsburgh

Last Saturday, I hopped in the car for PASA’s 3rd annual Buy Fresh Buy Local Farm Tour. The self-guided tour included 20 farms from Punxsutawney to the WV border, though you could never hit them all in a single day. Ben of muhammara fame accompaied me on the trip. We took a south-easterly route, hitting Triple B Farms in Elizabeth, the Morris Organic Farm in Irwin and Jamison Farm in Latrobe. Here’s what we learned.

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Gazpacho is Trendy

July 16, 2009 Soups & Salads

But gazpacho is trendy, and I’ll grudgingly admit, I kind of like to be trendy. I hate it when people fawn over foods that haven’t really grabbed me, because it makes me feel like I’ve missed something. And I’ll also admit that gazpacho is summery and light and healthy and a great way to use up farm-box vegetables. So rather than abstaining based on the fact that no gazpacho would ever match up to the Galley’s, I figured I would make my own, gosh-darn-it. I’ll have enough veggies all summer for a family of 6. I’ll try a bunch!

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Everyday Paris in Pittsburgh

July 11, 2009 Pittsburgh

Paris 66 specializes in crepes, offering both sweet and savory treatments, but these are no street-cart crepes slopped on plates. While Paris 66 has the traditional offerings you might expect, they’ve also added their own touches, yet still managed to keep the whole experience distinctively French.

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Muhamarra

Muhammara (or, on Dip, Ranking and Authenticity)

July 7, 2009 Appetizers & Drinks

My friend Ben makes another muhammara, a Middle Eastern walnut dip, that bears almost no resemblance to this one. It isn’t even the same color. And yet, I’m not interested in which one is the most authenticly Middle Eastern, as my suspicion is that they both are. Besides, they are equally delicious, if in entirely different ways. So who cares?

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