Tis the season...to think about edible gifts! In fact, I feel like that's all I've been thinking about lately. In early November, I did a presentation on edible gift ideas at the local suburban library and demonstrated how to make Salted Caramel Sauce and Rum Vanilla Extract, both recipes from my book, Food Swap: Specialty Recipes for Bartering, ...
Food Swap in Seattle and Portland
The next stop on the Food Swap book tour is the Pacific Northwest! I am incredibly excited to return to Seattle, one of my favorite cities, and visit Portland, Oregon for the first time. I know: can you believe I've never been to Portland? Such an amazing food town, right? I honestly can't wait. I'm especially looking forward to the Pacific ...
Food Swap in Philly and NYC
I'm back home from a wonderful week in California, which I spent promoting Food Swap, seeing friends, eating fabulous food (Tartine, Mourad, Wise Sons deli among others), checking out the new San Francisco MoMA, and attending my third International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC). (Did you happen to catch my appearance on "Good Day Sacramento" on ...
Food Swap in California
I'm in California this week doing a whole series of events to promote my book Food Swap. How lucky am I? On Sunday, I joined the SF Swappers, the San Francisco food swap group that I profile in my book, for their July swap. I bought some of my garam masala spice mix to trade, the recipe for which is in Food Swap, because it was an easy item to ...
Food Swap in Orlando
I'm going back out on the road tomorrow to do two book events in Orlando, Florida! On Saturday morning, at 10 am, I will be participating in a mini food swap and signing copies of Food Swap at Bookmark It, Orlando's premier independent bookstore. Bookmark It is located in the East End Market, a neighborhood market and cultural food hub inspired ...
Strawberry Rhubarb Lattice Pie
It was pie as procrastination -- there is no doubt. Faced with a long list of overdue tasks and a full inbox, I chose instead to stop time and bake a strawberry rhubarb pie with a picture-perfect lattice top. The farmers market strawberries were on their last legs and the stalks of rhubarb were only getting stalkier. Email can wait. Produce ...
Food Swap Events and Ancho Chile Pecans
As some of you know, my first book, Food Swap: Specialty Recipes for Bartering, Sharing and Giving was published this month. I am incredibly proud and excited to introduce this labor of love to the world. Food Swap is a joy to look at: full of beautiful photographs and charming design elements. I think the recipes are pretty terrific too. But don't ...
January 2016 Chicago Food Swap Recap
Between my two-week vacation and my early January move, I was not prepared for the first Chicago Food Swap event of 2016. In fact, I had been quite lax about promoting the swap and, as a result, it looked like we were going to have quite a low turnout. But then, a whole bunch of last-minute registrations came in, and a few people even showed ...
December Chicago Food Swap
The Chicago Food Swap celebrated its fourth anniversary on December 6 with an outstanding swap. There were new faces, old friends, delicious food and prizes. Yes, prizes! To mark the occasion, we had two culinary-themed door prizes at the December swap: the new KitchenAid Precision Press French press, which I gather is the gift for the at-home ...
Chocolate Bark with Dried Apricots, Golden Raisins and Pumpkin Seeds
Today's recipe post is sponsored by Sun-Maid in conjunction with my work as part of Kitchen-PLAY's #TeamFreshSummit. As always, all opinions are entirely my own. While at PMA Fresh Summit in Atlanta, I had the opportunity to visit the Sun-Maid booth and learn more about this 100-year-old, farmer-owned cooperative. Is there a more iconic ...
October Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap met this past weekend on a beautiful fall Sunday at the Peterson Garden Project's Community Cooking School. The group was made up almost entirely of veteran swappers, with only one or two new faces in the crowd. Having almost all experienced swappers in attendance certainly makes my job easier! The offerings were especially ...
Ancho Chile Smoked Salt Caramels for IFBC
On Friday, I will leave for Seattle and one of my favorite weekends of the year: the International Food Bloggers Conference. I am so excited to spend time with my fellow food bloggers in one of this country's best food towns. Among the activities and sessions that I am most looking forward to are a pre-conference excursion to the Sur La Table ...
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Chocolate zucchini cake may sound weird, but it is delicious and fun way to eat your vegetables! It is so zucchini season, is it not? Whether you are a gardener overrun with the stuff or a savvy farmers' market shopper buying 6 zucchini for $4, these green squash are everywhere. In fact, I'm going to be on WGN's Midday News Lunch Break ...
August 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap had its August event on a perfect summer Saturday. A large group of returning swappers and some new faces joined together to trade and swap a diverse array of homemade and homegrown treats from backyard herbs and vegetables to South Asian curry and rice dishes to New York’s iconic black-and-white cookies. The offerings were so ...
Moroccan Fava Bean Dip
I buy ingredients on impulse. Buy first, investigate later; that's my motto. I never pick something up in the store, turn it over in my hands and then put it down with a "but what would I do with it?" If it interests me, I buy it. I will figure out what to do with it later. Why else do I have this collection of cookbooks that long ago outgrew my ...
July 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap met on July 18 for a warm midsummer swap that ended with a bang. Naturally, I am referring to the thunderstorm that hit just as everyone was leaving the swap. I don't know about everyone else, but I got drenched on the short walk to my car. Luckily, my swap items were all protected. Another reason to package your items ...
April 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap's April event had a very special guest: food preservation expert Cathy Barrow of the blog Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Kitchen. Cathy is touring the country promoting her new, award-winning cookbook Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry and stopped by the Chicago Food Swap to sign some books and, yes, swap with us. Cathy had sent ahead ...
September Chicago Food Swap Recap
Sunday marked the return of the Chicago Food Swap after a two-month break. The September swap was the first event in the Chicago Food Swap's new, permanent home, the Fearless Food Kitchen in the Broadway Armory field house. This roomy, light-filled teaching kitchen, operated by the community gardening nonprofit Peterson Garden Project, makes a ...
July Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap returned to Wicker Park, and the funky confines of co-working loft Free Range Office, for its July swap. It was a small but lively gathering peopled mostly by returning swappers with a few new faces scattered here and there. Located on the second floor of a converted glove factory, Free Range Office is filled with light and ...
June Chicago Food Swap Recap
For a foodie event, there is hardly a more prestigious location than Sur La Table, the beloved kitchenwares emporium. So when Ali Banks, the resident chef at Chicago's swanky Sur La Table store on Michigan Avenue, reached out to me about hosting a food swap in her kitchen, I was falling over myself to say yes. While Michigan Avenue is inevitably ...
May Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap had its May event this past Sunday, May 18, at Green Home Experts, a "green" lifestyle boutique in Oak Park. This was the third time that owner Maria Moran opened her store's doors to the Chicago Food Swap and, just as before, it was a perfect location for a swap. On a sunny spring afternoon, Maria's garden center was a ...
Recap of the April Chicago Food Swap
This past weekend the Chicago Food Swap returned to The Chopping Block, the spacious and beautiful cooking school located in the iconic Merchandise Mart, for its April swap. And it was an outstanding afternoon of sampling, swapping and shopping. As I said in my opening remarks to the group, when we are at The Chopping Block, it is like the ...