Culinary Quote: My Nephew Cameron

"How zesty is that on a scale of one to zesty?"

Image: pwatters.com



Culinary Quote: The Army Dude

"It's an experiment in zesty!"

Image: averagebetty

Mushroom Hunting In Sweden

My friends, I only wish I were hunting mushrooms in Sweden.  This photo is courtesy of the Swedish Yogini who is visiting family at the moment.  It's so pretty, I had to share.

Kale Is Cool

Kale is having a moment.  What was once a relic of peasant cooking and Victory gardens is now the darling of foodies everywhere who are finding out what grandma knew: kale is delicious and good for you.

This month's Eating Well magazine had some wonderful green soup recipes by Anna Thomas, the author of Vegitarian Epicure.  I made the Basic Green Soup using kale instead of chard since the soup is designed to work with any combination of greens.

Another change I made was that I added the vegetable broth at the same time as the kale instead of at the end.  Winter greens make a delicious pot liquor that brings a lot of flavor to the party, and I wanted time for it to meld with the vegetable broth.  It just goes to show you: if you want to know about peasant food, ask a peasant.

An Emptiness Within

Not THAT Kind of Shrub

The Foodie recently introduced me to shrubs, which are drinking vinegars.  He says shrubs were developed as a way to take advantage of the health benefits of apple cider vinegar in a more palatable form.  They are created by infusing the vinegar with flavoring such as fruit or vanilla bean, adding some sugar, and then mixing a little of the resulting syrup with club soda or tonic water.

I recently tried a shrub when The Foodie made a batch of rhubarb-raspberry syrup.  The resulting beverage was delicious and surprisingly refreshing.  Now, of course, I'm going to be mixing up shrubs like some kind of ruffled-apron-wearing mad scientist in a lab.  If you want to try them too, you can find recipes here.

P.S. At the Department of Home Economics, I posted a recipe using apple cider vinegar that can help with tummy troubles, along with other information and links about vinegar.