Dining and Opining

UPDATE 10/18/12: Visit my new blog post for more details on how to make a Sriracha costume, and for a downloadable black-and-white image of the Sriracha label.  --- Happy Halloween! Our Halloween weekend has been filled with all kinds of adventures, some of which you'll hear more about later this week, but to celebrate the day itself, I wanted to share the costumes we came up with: Sriracha and Chili Garlic Sauce! These two are the workhorses of our condiment shelf, bringing heat and bright pepper flavor to pretty much everything we eat around here. Sriracha has gotten a lot of love around the web ( nytimes.com , oatmeal.com ) in the last few years, but we've been loving it for a long time now, at least since college when our old buddy RC introduced Justin to the wonders of the green-capped sauce (8 years?). So, what better tribute to that long-lasting love than a Halloween costume? I got the idea from some browsing over at Pinterest , and then scoured the web ...

Our second Global Meal of the semester took us to Brazil (at least culinarily) to eat and learn about Afro-Caribbean cuisine. Our special guest Scott Barton , a chef and food scholar, flew in from New York City for the event. We were so happy to have him here to share his experience and insight on the way that foods shape culture. All the beautiful photos below were taken by Kat Cameron. See more of her work at akatwithacamera.tumblr.com. Pao de queijo: Salada de Feijao Fradinho: Moqueca de Peixe: Doce da Abobora:

Ever since I attended a presentation last year about the sustainable and ethical Kallari chocolate , I've been trying to think even more about my chocolate consumption (although I've certainly eaten my [un]fair share of Hershey's and Mars and all the rest, simply because it's so omnipresent).  photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/sykosam/432097056/sizes/m/in/photostream/ But this Halloween season has brought a wave of articles about chocolate candy that make clear just how detrimental our annual tradition of burying kids in candy can be, not only for these kids' dental and bodily health, but for the health of kids who are making this chocolate, whether in cacao plantations or factories. Here are just a few of those articles that are worth checking out: Child Slaves Made Your Halloween Candy. Stop Buying It , from Good Halloween candy is a human rights nightmare , from Grist Hershey Exchange Student Warnings Were Ignored , from the New York Times t...

In addition to the Food Day that took place on Monday , this week is also World Go Vegan Week (check out the link for all kinds of great resources). And at least in Madison, many local restaurants are helping to celebrate by offering special vegan items or discounts. Here's a selection: Bunky's Cafe   Will be offering all pizzas with vegan Daiya cheese. Mention World Go Vegan Week (WGVW) to get a free serving of vegan baklava! Glass Nickel Pizza : Will have two special vegan pizzas ( Thai Pie with peanut sauce, Daiya vegan cheese, tofu, broccoli, red peppers, onion, and cilantro topped with bean sprouts and chopped peanuts. And Vegan Deligh t with BBQ sauce, Daiya vegan cheese, broccoli, corn, garlic, pineapple and red onion). You can also substitute vegan cheese on any of their regular pizzas. Green Owl Cafe : Will be offering $1 off their delicious vegan desserts when you order a sandwich or entree order, if you mention WGVW Ian's Pizza: ...

There are days when having someone else prepare a meal for you feels like the kindest gift that can be bestowed. I recently had one of those days. And JH came through in a big way, serving up a meal perfectly catered to my desires. A rich, warm, creamy potato-leek soup, with potatoes and leeks from our CSA box (recipe below):   A beautiful salad of tomatoes from our garden, CSA greens, Farmer John's Asiago and our favorite tofu croutons (maybe I'll share a method/recipe for those soon!):   And hearty sourdough bread from Batch Bakehouse :  I ate not only with the pleasures of taste and texture, but also with the pleasures of feeling loved, understood, and cared for, simply and deliciously. --- Simple Potato Leek Soup based on Mark Bittman's recipe from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian 2 T oil (or butter) 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed 3 leeks, washed well and sliced thinly salt and pepper 1 quart vegetable stock  He...

Today, it turns out, is Food Day! I didn't even know there was such a thing before a few days ago, but now I do, and it's totally the kind of thing I can get behind. The goals of Food Day, run by the Center for Science in the Public Interest , as stated at foodday.org : Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods  Support sustainable farms & limit subsidies to big agribusiness  Expand access to food and alleviate hunger  Protect the environment & animals by reforming factory farms  Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids  Support fair conditions for food and farm workers  Pretty rad, right? There are events happening all over the country. Look yours up here: http://foodday.org/participate/events/ In Madison, there are: Food Day Celebration at Goodman Community Center  Food Day Reception and Celebration at Whole Foods Opportunity to voice your opinion about food at the MMSD Board of Education ...

To my string of Jewish holiday food posts ( Passover , Yom Kippur ), I now get to add Sukkot! Although Sukkot is a lesser holiday in many observant Jews' books, I've always thought it was pretty great, just because you get to build a little fort, and eat outside with your friends and family for a week. (that is a very non-technical description; see the real rules here ). This year, our friends SB and JB organized a little vegetarian Sukkot potluck, but the cold weather kept us indoors.  Not one to let the altered setting keep us from having the sukkah (aka "little fort") ambiance, SB created a beautiful indoor space, complete with decorations and "fruit" hanging from the ceiling: And, it turns out, we weren't just cheating, but were officially exempt from eating outside in the sukkah, because of the cold weather. I learned this useful information from the wonderful little facts SB had pasted all around the room to help the mostly non-Jewish guest...