Summer Desserts: Cornmeal Biscuit Peach Cobbler

One of my all time favorite summer songs is DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince's SummerTime. It's a head-bobbin', windows rolled down song that takes you right back to the summer of 1991, but is still a jam 20 years later. You know the one: Summa, summa, summa-time. Time to sit back and unwind... Here it is... the groove slightly transformed just a bit of a break from the norm just a little somethin' to break the monotony of all that hardcore dance that has gotten to be a little bit out of control it's cool to dance but what about the groove that soothes that moves romance give me a soft subtle mix and if ain't broke then don't try to fix it...

ByMichelleJuly 5, 20121Comment

Travel

Eat Local: Hanalei Farmers Market on Kauai

On Kauai, the farmers market in Hanalei is serious business. It opens at 9:30 on Saturday morning next to the soccer fields and a few minutes before 9:30 a.m., there are already 20-30 people waiting to be let in. There's no leisurely browsing here, once the rope goes up, shoppers beeline for their favorite vendors. On this late February morning, there are gorgeous strawberry papayas, mangoes, rambutans, avocados, salad greens, cilantro and parsley, ginger and more. And for someone who's been eating a lot of chard and citrus, it looks like heaven.

ByMichelleMarch 4, 20120Comments

Baking Fruit Recipes

Airplanes and Apple Pecan Muffins

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?"

ByMichelleFebruary 26, 20122Comments

Fruit Travel

In Season: Get Your Dekopon On with Sumo Citrus

If you ever want to know the backstory on a fruit, David Karp is your man. Last year, he wrote about the arrival of the dekopon, a Japanese variety of mandarin, just entering the market in California and I was all over my local stores in Washington trying to see if they'd carry them. No such luck. So when Karp heralded the arrival of this year's dekopons, marketed as "Sumo Citrus," in last week's LA Times food section and it coincided with a trip down south to visit a friend, I knew we had to find a Whole Foods in her neighborhood.

ByMichelleFebruary 14, 20123Comments

Recipes Salads Side Dishes

Cooking from the Pantry: Celery Apple Salad

Sometimes a salad is born of necessity, like when I ordered pizza on Tuesday night and then peeked in the fridge for a salad to go along with...and nothing really looked like a salad, including those two bunches of celery in the crisper. Celery rarely has a starring role. It's part of an ensemble on a crudite platter, it's a chaser (afterthought?) to buffalo wings, it's passed over on the salad bar for grated carrot, or jicama. Even when it does star, as in cream of celery soup, it's probably just going to end up in a casserole. But, last night, it was time to let celery be a star.

ByMichelleJanuary 11, 20120Comments