Long before the pink slime debacle, ground beef got a bad wrap. Other than its use for burgers and maybe cottage pie, it ranks pretty low on the beef totem…
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Recipes
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When I bought the Zoku 
last year, the two popsicles I knew I wanted to make were Nutella fudgesicles and orange creamsicles (did you call them 50-50 bars when you were a kid? I did). I figured out the Nutella fudgesicles right quick, but the orange creamsicle eluded me. I kept seeing it exactly as I remembered it -- a cream center with an orange outside. Last summer, I even made Lemon Buttermilk Zoku pops using David Lebovitz's recipe, but never stopped to think, "Hey, why don't you just swap out the lemon for orange?" DUH!!
last year, the two popsicles I knew I wanted to make were Nutella fudgesicles and orange creamsicles (did you call them 50-50 bars when you were a kid? I did). I figured out the Nutella fudgesicles right quick, but the orange creamsicle eluded me. I kept seeing it exactly as I remembered it -- a cream center with an orange outside. Last summer, I even made Lemon Buttermilk Zoku pops using David Lebovitz's recipe, but never stopped to think, "Hey, why don't you just swap out the lemon for orange?" DUH!!24
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My tour of duty in food service included time at both Mrs. Fields and a few years at a bagel shop that originated on Long Island, NY. So like most people, I think I know a thing or two about a good bagel.
You can argue about how they should be prepared pre-bake (boiled NOT steamed). You can argue about flavors (I don't argue, I just don't enjoy cranberry orange or sun-dried tomato). You can argue about who has the best in NYC. (H&H or Columbia Hot Bagel - well, that one's now closed.) You can argue about how to pronounce it. Whatever your position, we've all had the bad bagels -- tough, dense, hockey pucks or spongy grocery store white bread dough, indistinguishable as a bagel except for its shape. These are not those bagels.
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Half Price Books has been an amazing source for cookbooks. Somehow there are always good finds, whether semi-recent releases or books of a certain vintage. I always want to leave bookmarks or post-its sticking out of some books saying, "BUY THIS ONE!!" And while sometimes you know why books end up on the clearance shelf -- 80s microwave cooking, anyone? -- others are a mystery. The El Paso Chile Company's Texas Border Cookbook
-- was one of those mysteries, but the recipe for masa biscuits alone made it a bargain at twice the price.02
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Last week I posted a one-off with a photo of some char siu chicken legs we had in Kauai. I don't know what the secret to char siu is aside from the red food coloring, but I'm determined to crack it. I went to Uwajimaya yesterday to check out the jarred and packet marinades and see what was in those, but the plan was to make the marinade myself. So, while some Chowhounders said there's no way a restaurant uses ketchup and hoisin, an old recipe in the Honolulu Star Bulletin said different.26
I'm in the airport security line. Passengers are taking off their shoes and jackets, putting their laptops and liquids into bins for the x-ray machine. TSA employees are calling out reminders to remove belts and money from pockets. It was a morning flight, so in the bin along with my purse and toiletries, was my breakfast.
"Oh, I'm sorry, those muffins can't go through," says the TSA guy.
I take a beat, trying to figure out what he's talking about. Then I smile, "Oh, because they look too good, right?"