Doing it for the ‘gram

Like many people, I segregate the types of things I peruse by social media platform. I connect with friends on Facebook, use Twitter to follow policy wonks, and utilize Instagram as a timeline cleanse, following mostly food personalities and sites. As such, my Insta feed is usually filled with loads of stunning food images. Sometimes these photos spur me into… read more

Bread Ahead Cookbook Giveaway

Enter our US/UK/AU/NZ giveaway to win one of three copies of Bread Ahead: The Expert Home Baker: A Masterclass in Classic Baking by Matthew Jones. Bread Ahead: The Expert Home Baker: A Masterclass in Classic Baking by Matthew Jones: This long-awaited follow up to Jones’ Baking School features over 90 fool-proof, classic baking recipes, with both sweet and savory staples and plenty of… read more

Food news antipasto

One of the first things many people learn to bake is cookies, standing at their mother's or grandmother's side, maybe on a chair or stepstool depending on how little they are. While kids and cookies are a natural match, one young woman has taken her cookie baking to the next level. Tamia Hawkins-Coleman of Florissant, Missouri, now age 15, started… read more

Foods to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year

March 20 marks the beginning of Nowruz, the traditional Persian New Year festival celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, and the Kurdish regions of Iraq, Turkey and Syria, throughout Central Asia, and by members of the diaspora worldwide. Coinciding with the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, Nowruz is a two-week celebration that centers on visiting relatives, picnicking, travelling, and eating traditional… read more

This week: Espécies de São Jorge cookies, EYBD Previews, giveaways and more

Espécies de São Jorge is a regional sweet from the island of São Jorge, an island in the central group of the Azores archipelago and part of Portugal. This "spiced cookie" is ring-shaped and the dough is cut across the top, leaving a beautiful design of the brownish filling. When I first came across this recipe on The Five Marias'… read more

Le Creuset unveils a new bread oven

Normally I might include an article about new kitchenware in the weekly 'antipasto' post, but I am making an exception today. The first reason is that it's about Le Creuset, and the second is to make sure people have a chance to order one before the new items are sold out. I learned about this new product via The Kitchn,… read more

JBF Awards: Chef and Restaurant nominees; Lifetime Achievement; Humanitarian of the Year and Leadership

Today the James Beard Foundation announced its nominees for the 2022 Restaurant and Chef awards. These awards honor culinary talent across the United States, with nominations in each of twelve regions. The winners of the awards in all categories will be announced during a ceremony (and live-tweeted) on June 13, 2022, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The chefs nominated… read more

Gift Guide for Mother’s Day (UK edition)

Mother's Day in the UK is celebrated on March 27th this year. In the UK, Mother's Day is connected to Easter, so like this holiday, the date of Mother's Day changes every year as Easter's date changes. Mother's Day, or Mothering Sunday originated as a religious celebration that takes place on the fourth Sunday of Lent. This year I thought… read more

April 2022 Great Big Cookbook Club Summary

As our members know, each month we offer several cooking options in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club. There are other fun cookbook clubs around the interwebs and we’d like to highlight those for those members who might want to cook or bake something other than our choices.  We want to get this information out to you so you can prepare… read more

Celebrate Pi day with pie!

I usually forget about the "National Pie Day" that occurs in January, but that is okay since the logical choice for the day is Pi day, which is today. What better way to celebrate the mathematical constant that is such an integral part of pies? Everyone can find something that pleases them in the pie family due to its infinite… read more

Food news antipasto

We start off this week with some sad news. Sally Schmitt, one of the founders of the pioneering Napa Valley restaurant the French Laundry, has died at the age of 90. Schmitt was the original chef and owner of the restaurant, which "drew a fervent following for simple, French-inspired food made with local, seasonal ingredients." She had an outsized influence on… read more

Kitchen trends with a nod to the past

How we plan and use our kitchens varies across cultures and across the years. Recently I spied an article on hidden kitchen appliances that described a trend of designers 'hiding' appliances such as microwaves and under-counter refrigerators behind a panel that looks like the rest of the kitchen cabinets. The article asked the question "why didn't we think of this… read more

This week: BUDMO! preorder for Ukraine relief; James Beard Awards weekend; recipes; cookbook previews and giveaways

Rizzoli New York (publisher) and the Rizzoli Bookstore (separate companies, but under the same family umbrella) rolled out this week an effort to help with the refugee situation in Ukraine. They are offering an exclusive pre-sale of BUDMO!: Recipes from a Ukrainian Kitchen by Anna Voloshyna, a Ukrainian-born, California-based chef, blogger, and culinary instructor. (Pub date Sep 6th, 2022). For every… read more

Beyond mere terroir

Dirt plays an important role in the food world because much of what we eat grows in the soil, and foodstuffs ranging from coffee to carrots have aficionados who tout the 'terroir' of the soil coming through in the food's flavor. Little kids even use dirt to make "mud pies" as a form of play, although the children (usually) don't… read more

Forgotten Skills of Cooking – Darina Allen

Enter our worldwide giveaway to win one of three copies of Forgotten Skills of Cooking: 700 Recipes Showing You Why the Time-Honored Ways Are the Best by Darina Allen. The publisher is providing three copies to US members and EYB is providing one copy worldwide. This month, Darina Allen's classic cookbook the Forgotten Skills of Cooking is being reissued so… read more

A new food museum to add to your bucket list

If you needed another reason to place a vacation to Rome on your bucket list, we just learned about a new museum dedicated to cooking that just opened in this storied city. Like a good antipasto platter, it contains a smattering of all the best items, ranging from Renaissance-era ice cream molds to ancient cookbooks to exclusive papal recipes and… read more

The price of coffee

If I ask you the question "how much does a cup of coffee cost?", you can probably rattle off an answer in seconds. Of course the cost varies on whether you are making it at home, buying it at a gas station, or purchasing from an upscale coffee shop. There are a lot of factors that go into the price,… read more

Food news antipasto

Jerry Seinfeld is busy creating a new movie that revolves around food. The film from the famed comedian is tackling a subject that you might not think merits full cinematic treatment: titled Unfrosted, the comedy explores the origin story of Pop Tarts, the sugary breakfast toaster pastry. Delia Smith has had a long and storied food writing and television hosting career.… read more

The last two weeks: Cookbooks that celebrate the cuisine and people of Ukraine #CookForUkraine; EYBD cookbook previews; giveaways and more

Our hearts are with the people of Ukraine during this unfathomable time. Besides donating to great causes (see a few below), in an effort to do something I am pulling out my cookbooks to cook and show my support for this country. In that vein, today I've covered cookbooks devoted to Ukrainian cuisine that bring beauty and inspiration into my… read more

Food delivery is looking up

Evolution in food delivery systems escalated during the pandemic, with people moving in droves to online shopping, curbside pickup, and contactless home delivery. Now an Australian supermarket is aiming even higher when it comes to bringing food to its customers: Coles is set to become the first grocery chain to offer food delivery via drone. The supermarket will roll out… read more

Spice support: sumac

Although sumac is most closely associated with Middle Eastern foods, the plants that produces the tart berries, the Rhus genus of the Anacardiaceae family, grow all over the world. You can learn this fact and more as Eater's Sylvio Martins takes a deep dive into sumac, which he says can be a "secret weapon" in your spice arsenal. The fuzzy red… read more

The Savory Baker – Cookbook Giveaway

Enter our US/CA giveaway to win one of three copies of The Savory Baker: 150 Creative Recipes, from Classic to Modern by America's Test Kitchen Editors. The Savory Baker: 150 Creative Recipes, from Classic to Modern by America’s Test Kitchen explores the savory side of baking with a plethora of flavor possibilities. Different types of flours, puff pastry and crust pointers,… read more

Mardi Gras returns to New Orleans

Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday (aka Mardi Gras) and festivities are in full force in New Orleans after a pause in 2021 due to Covid. Celebrated as the last extravagance before the austere days of Lent, Mardi Gras features indulgent food and drink. Even if you don’t celebrate the religious holiday, the festival is a good excuse to eat classic New… read more

Food news antipasto

Let's start off this week with a timeline cleanse. This one comes to us from Taste of Home, which recently assembled a pairing of classic American desserts with zodiac signs. As a Boston cream pie-loving Aquarius, I concur with the match for my sign (but really, I would have been okay with most of them). Ukranian stuffed cabbage (Golubtsi) from… read more

Cooking shows you should know about: The Julia Child Challenge; Top Chef returns and more

On March 14th, Food Network will air a new competition show entitled The Julia Child Challenge. Photo credit: Melissa Libertelli - Food Network In this new series, eight home cooks compete in culinary challenges to find out who has the fire, skill and passion to win the first-ever primetime competition series dedicated to all things Julia. "The competitors, all Julia… read more
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