Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I decided to push my "Seasonal Saturday" post to Sunday so I can combine my love of seasonal ingredients with one of my favorite days.
Every year I make a big brunch for my family as per my mother's request. When a mother says, "I would rather eat your food than any restaurants," you'd better take it seriously.
So I go all out....deviled eggs, shrimp cocktail, eggs benedict with homemade hollandaise sauce, quiche...a real smorgasbord. In fact, I'd better head over there now!
So for this "Seasonal Sunday" post, I decided to focus on the midwest and as I've said before, there are a lot of great resources available online to help you find what is in season in your area. Two of my favorites come from Epicurious.com and the National Resources Defense Council. You simply enter your state and month and voila, you have your ingredients. Epicurious' interactive map not only allows you to find these ingredients but also leads you to further information about the ingredient as well as recipes featuring the item. The NRDC's handy program allows you to choose time of the month (early, mid, late) and also helps you locate farmer's markets in your area.
In early May rhubarb is in season in Michigan. Here are a few insights into rhubarb:

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Guess who's nominated for a Best Food Blog Award?

No! Not me sillies.
That would be a little presumptious of me, no?

However, a few of my favorite food blogs are nominated and I couldn't resist spreading a little love and encouraging others to vote for them.

So anyway, Saveur holds the Best Food Blog Awards each year and there are a lot of categories, like Best Photography, Best Regional Cuisine Blog & Best Original Savory Recipe, to name a few.

From Saveur's website:
In SAVEUR’s ongoing mission to chronicle “a world of authentic cuisine,” we find what we’re looking for more and more in one place: online. We’re thrilled to shine a light on the very best of the best in the second annual SAVEUR Best Food Blog Awards — and we need your help. After going through all your nominations for the best blogs, posts, and photographs on the web, we’ve narrowed the field down to finalists in each category — and it’s time for you to pick a winner! Voting is open from April 26 – May 12. We’ll reveal the winners on May 17. Start voting today!

Head over to Saveur to vote your faves but check out the categories for a few of my favorites:

Smitten Kitchen (http://smittenkitchen.com/)

Traveler’s Lunchbox (http://www.travelerslunchbox.com/)


Alinea at Home (http://alineaathome.com/)

Remember, voting ends on May 12!

P.S. Anyone else checking out the Future of Food Conference live? Prince Charles said some very inspiring things about agriculture.
"The entire food system is at the mercy of the increasing price of oil."
"We must have 'agri-culture', not 'agri-business'."
The current panel is on the future of agriculture, but panels III & IV are beginning at 2:15 and 3:15 and are on Health & Nutrition and the future of International Food, respectively. Check it out!