Blood.

Ok… what do humans who like vampires eat? New Moon comes out in just over 9 hours, and we’ve been thinking about what foods will enhance the viewing experience.

Standing in line for tickets: You could be in for a long wait, so bring a snack. Apple Sandwiches are fitting on several levels. First, a shiny red apple graced the cover of the first Twilight book. Second, they have bacon. (Vampires are hot right now. Bacon is hot right now- see the connection?) Finally, the two slices of bread represent Bella being sandwiched between the Vampire world and the human one. Or something like that.

Dinner: Bella ate Mushroom ravioli on her first date with Edward, but that’s so cliched. Because the crew travels to Italy in this installment, crimson Beet Risotto is doubly appropriate- just leave out the garlic.  Pork Blood Stew or blood pudding will also work.

Dessert: Red velvet cake is a safe bet. However, milky white Alabaster Pudding with blood-red pomegranate sauce adds a distinct gothic feel to any meal.

Drinks: Vampire’s Kiss cocktail and Bloody Mary’s are both excellent choices, though a Blood Orange Bellini is a classy alternative. For the young adult crowd, try a Blood Orange Granita.

(image by andrew mason)

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For many of us, Thanksgiving is about the day, not just the evening meal.  And though eating is a time consuming affair (in my family we have one meal mid-afternoon and a second later in the evening), there’s always some down time.  Here are five ways to fill it – consider them ice breakers, education tools, or the Thanksgiving equivalent of a treadmill.

1.  Food Lover’s Trivia – With food as your game pieces and 1800 questions about all things food, this game may replace the turkey as the highlight of your Thanksgiving.  It manages to be a challenge to the food-educated without isolating the less food saavy.

2.  Foodie Fight – A somewhat simpler version of Food Lover’s Trivia with a thousand questions about all things foodie – formal service, celebrity chefs, cooking methods, cookbook authors, and ingredients.  There’s room for debate with some of the questions, which can lead to discussion, debate, laughter, and occasionally an actual food fight.

3.  Celebrity Chef!  The Game - Do you have what it takes to land a TV show, run a fabulous restaurant, or sign a book deal?  How’s your chef pop culture knowledge?  Take a break between stuffing and pumpkin pie to find out.

4.  Winerd – Move your cork playing piece across wine label spaces by answering wine trivia questions of all sorts…and by drinking wine.  The blind tasting aspect of the game keeps things interesting in a way other trivia games just can’t compete with.

5.  Eat It! – The perfect way to distract guests from a turkey that’s taking a bit longer than planned.  No questions about grass fed beef here – instead, find out how much you really know about Keebler, Little Debbie, and Cheetos.  What is the oldest Girl Scout cookie, anyway?

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When you think of MSG, greasy Chinese take out might come to mind.  As an artificial flavor enhancer, it seems to make everything in its path taste unnaturally good, but unfortunately, is not necessarily good for you. In fact, artificial monosodium glutamate in large quantities has been linked to health issues such as brain damage and endocrine disorders.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a natural and safe source of MSG?  Look no further.  Mushrooms are not only praised for their rich, meaty flavor, but also have a high content of free amino acids.  One in particular, glutamic acid, is a concentrated natural source of monosodium glutamate.  Go figure.

No wonder mushrooms add such intense flavor to any dish.  For instance, you can start the night off with a Mushroom Pate that will be the new crowning glory of any cracker.  Follow that up with a Mushroom Ravioli using your favorite fungi.  Finally, finish the evening off in style with a scoop of Porcini and Honey Ice Cream.

Greasy Chinese food?  Fuggedaboutit.  Why not give magic mushrooms a try tonight?

Photo by daneen_vol

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The trick-or-treaters are barely gone. Jack o’ lanterns still adorn many a front doorstep. And I’m sure we are not the only household with a bowl full of candy leftover. But when I turned the TV on this morning I was inundated with Christmas commercials! Christmas! Come on! We haven’t even had Thanksgiving yet! Not that I don’t enjoy Christmas – quite the contrary – I belt out carols for a good month and leave my tree up until New Year’s. But, advertisers, you need to just slow things down a little here. Don’t rush the process. We want to enjoy fall. We want to soak it all in and lavish in the holidays the season has to offer – in order of appearance. We’re all so busy all the time, why rush? Let’s just take a deep breathe….

…and start planning that Thanksgiving menu!

If it freaks you out, return to your breathing exercises. But to me, I love nothing more than perusing and bookmarking recipes – dreaming up how my Thanksgiving menu will shape up. Do you do that too?

We’ve put together a collection of great holiday recipes for you in one easy spot. If you’ve got something fabulous to share with the food-loving community we’d love for you to add it to Foodista! Check out our Thanksgiving recipe collection, and enjoy the next few weeks pondering and planning your holiday meal!

Photo by: D’Arcy Norman

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Recently, I posted a blog about non-alcoholic Halloween drinks for kids but as we all know, Halloween is just as much a holiday for adults as it is for kids. Instead of bringing spooky cupcakes or Halloween truffles to your Halloween gathering this weekend, mix up some creepy cocktail concoctions to share with your adult guests.

Dressing up? Bring a special potion that goes with the theme of your costume. For example, if you are going as Don Draper, you should probably bring the ingredients to make an Old Fashioned. Going as a vampire? A Bloody Mary is more than fitting. Want to bring enough for a crew? Here is a list of  Halloween cocktails that are to die for!

More Cocktail Inspiration
Cocktail Culture- Absithe Cocktail
Sloshed!- Hard Pumpkin Cider
Nightschool-Professional bartenders share their secrets
Vintage Cocktails on Facebook

Above photo by TangoPango

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This weekend I had the epitome of a “staycation.” No plans except to sleep in, cook good food and watch the second season of Mad Men with Mark. On Sunday night we decided to open up a great bottle of syrah and slow cook a pork belly with a homemade huckleberry sauce. We had gone to the Sunday farmers market earlier in the morning and purchased a pint of foraged huckleberries from Christina Choi at Foraged and Found Edibles. The berries were plump and glistening, looking like violet caviar, simply perfect for a thick piece of pork belly.

We roasted some golden beets and Ozette potatoes we had purchased from another vendor to add to our pork belly. After searing the pork belly on all sides, I removed it from the heat and set it aside. Next I added 1/4 cup of finely chopped shallots and sauteed them over medium-high heat with a good pinch of salt and pepper. I deglazed with some balsamic vinegar and syrah wine. Next I added 1 cup of wild huckleberries, 1/2 sprig of fresh rosemary, two fresh sage leaves, a fresh oregano sprig, two garlic cloves that were smashed only slightly and a sprinkling of brown sugar.

I brought the pan to a simmer and let the sauce work it’s magic for a couple minutes. Next I added the seared pork belly back to the sauce, covered it and let it cook at 300 F for almost two hours, turning the meat half way through cooking. Once the meat was more than fork-tender, I removed the pan from the oven and onto a plate. I covered the pork in the sauce and sprinkled on another handful of the uncooked huckleberries for color and a nice tang to balance flavors.

The result was rich, juicy and over the top indulgent; absolutely perfect for a weekend all to ourselves.

For the whole recipe for Pork Belly with Wild Huckleberry Sauce go here:

Can’t get enough of pork belly, check out these other recipes:

Cucina Rebecca

Cook it Simply

Wrightfood

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So much bacon, so little time. Why is the world obsessed with this greasy side of pork? Everything from Bacon Maple Bars to Baconnaise, bacon has found its way into our hearts and into a million and one recipes. What do you plan to make with bacon today?

One of my personal favorites, Bacon Vinaigrette, turning a very healthy salad into a flavor explosion!

Meatloaf Cupcakes with Bacon Sprinkles!

Need More Bacon?!
International Bacon Day Blog
Keep on Bacon on, with The Bacon Show, one bacon recipe per day, every day!
Bacon Ice Cream! By David Lebovitz
Maple Bacon Cupcakes, by Vanilla Garlic

Above photo by: Chotda

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Just this last weekend, I catered a party with one of my close chef friends, Kristen Schumacher.  For me, there is nothing more fun than geeking out over cook books while planning a dinner party menu, especially when your co-chef is also a fan of local and seasonal cooking and  not afraid of experimentation. In the summer months, ingredient options seem endless and with a little bit of inspiration, ordinary ingredients can be transformed into delicious dishes.  Given the small size of the group, (nine) and a good budget, we were able to focus on ingredients and take extra care for plating. For the salad course we tossed arugula and finely chiffonade sorrel with a honey citrus vinaigrette and topped each salad with shaved pecorino, chive blossoms and a soft-boiled duck egg sprinkled with black Hawaiian sea salt. Since a soft-boiled duck egg is one of my favorite foods, I couldn’t wait to share this dish with you all.

Here was the rest of the menu:

Appetizers
Dragon Roll  (sushi of unagi, cucumber, seaweed, avocado and toasted sesame seeds)
Herbed Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppadew Peppers
Amuse Bouche
Balsamic Pork Belly Skewers with Caramelized Figs
Salad
Arugula  and Sorrel Salad with Soft Boiled Duck Egg Sprinkled with Black Hawaiian Sea Salt
Shaved Pecorino Cheese,  Chive Blossoms, Honey Citrus Vinaigrette
Intermezzo
Mango sorbet with Kaffir Lime and Mint Simple Syrup topped with Borage Flowers
Main
Marinated Grilled Flank Steak with Basil Chimchurri
Heirloom Tomatoes, herb mash
Dessert
Grilled Pound Cake with Mike and Gene’s Berry Farm Sauce
Grilled stone fruit, local cream freshly whipped

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Today is the 5th day of Julia Child Week at Foodista! There are so many delicious recipes, we really could go on for months! Looking through Julia Child’s recipes and watching her episodes, it’s clear to me that she wanted to take the fear and intimidation out of cooking. Her explanations are clear and well described. She offers excellent substitutions and make-ahead suggestions to help the busy cook. I can imagine hundreds of women watching Julia effortlessly create Caneton a’ l’ Orange or cook live lobsters like it was an every day occurrence and surely thinking to themselves okay, I can handle this, or at least some of it!

Cooking can be incredibly nerve racking and awkward when you are first starting out, but instead of tackling live lobsters or roasting whole ducks right off the bat, Julia has several other recipes that are far less intimidating to start out with. For example, nothing could be more simple than making Julia’s Roquefort cheese balls. Elegant, rich and delicious, especially paired with a nice red wine, it’s a recipe that is perfect for a potluck or a party, and although easy to make, they look and taste like you slaved half your day in the kitchen!

Bon Appetite!

Other inspirational recipes for Roquefort cheese appetizers you may be interested in trying:

A Roquefort cheese roll by Homesick Texan, a leek and Roquefort tart from Too Many Chefs or some Roquefort and wine pairing tips from Rhino Wino with a scrumptious recipe for Roquefort gougeres.

Photo by Kaytethinks

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Family picnics,  Friday night barbecues and last minute invitations to a friend’s potluck doesn’t always require that you bring a dish to share, but more often than not it’s a good idea to bring a little something even if it means a bottle of wine, olives or some good cheese. But, if you like to cook and want to bring a little something to the party that doesn’t take up too much time in the kitchen, here are a few simple ideas that are quick and easy to make and celebrate summer’s freshest ingredients.

Summer tomatoes, garlic, sweet and spicy garden basil and tangy balsamic vinaigrette over toasted baguette slices are heavenly and a snap to make!

Fresh figs stuffed with sweetened ricotta and drizzled in honey is a a great appetizer to bring to a wine pairing party.

And lastly, one of my favorites is peppadew peppers stuffed with herbed goat cheese. The sweet and vinegary peppers mixed with the tangy and creamy goat cheese is a marriage made in heaven. One quick stop to the grocery store and a maximum of 20 minutes pre-party and you’ve got yourself some great potluck or party appetizers.

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