黯然失色

Author Notes: Worry not, fellow addicts: The cinnamon and tahini in this recipe are not here to mess with the already-perfect flavor and aroma of coffee. Instead, they add a super subtle level of spice and nuttiness that only turns the java up to eleven. Knock this out right now, and pull it from the fridge tomorrow after work once it's reached peak frostiness. (less) - Kendra Vaculin

Makes 2 individual servings

1/4 cup ground coffee
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, plus extra for serving
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons tahini
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
whipped cream, for serving

In a small pot, whisk the ground coffee and cinnamon into the milk. Set over medium heat and bring just to a simmer. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

In a separate, medium-sized pot, whisk together condensed milk and tahini. Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the coffee mixture into the pot; discard the leftover coffee glop. Add cornstarch and whisk until totally incorporated.

Place pot over medium heat and continue whisking slowly until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before dividing between two mini ramekins or little jars or whatever your heart desires.

Cover the ramekins with plastic wrap, placing the plastic wrap against the surface of the pudding so it doesn't form a skin. Let chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving, or until completely cold. Top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon!

There's a basic truth when it comes to Americans living abroad: When November rolls around, they're going to find a way to celebrate Thanksgiving, no matter where they live. But when I co-hosted one of these gatherings a few years ago in Paris, I discovered something surprising: French flavors and techniques actually work brilliantly well with the classic dishes of this all-American feast service apartments.

It makes sense when you think about it: Thanksgiving is the one day of the year that most of us allow ourselves to enjoy lots of butter, and what's more French than that? And while you won't find any marshmallows on this menu, using classic French techniques like glazing vegetables, making a compound butter, and flambéing with cognac will make Thanksgiving favorites even better. Can't miss the cranberry sauce? Pas de problème. Just add it to the menu.

START ON THE LIGHT SIDE

The French would never serve cheese at the beginning of the meal, like many Americans do—it's much too filling. Instead, serve up a gorgeous platter of lightly pickled vegetables, along with an easy, make-ahead dipping sauce that won't over-fill anyone's belly before the big feast.

Get the recipe: Crudites Vegetables with Remoulade Sauce

MAKE A CREAMY SOUP IN A FLASH

Kick off the meal with an elegant—but effortless—soup course Next Generation Firewall. This velvety chestnut soup (known in France as a velouté) takes little effort to put together and can be made days ahead of time, making crunch time on Turkey Day just a little bit smoother.

Get the recipe: Chestnut Soup with Bacon and Chives

ADD LUXURY TO YOUR TURKEY

Truffles are usually a big splurge. But store-bought truffle butter won't break the bank, and adds a distinctly French note of luxury to your bird. Likewise, adding a splash of Cognac to the sauce—sorry, gravy—gives it another layer of refined flavor.

Get the recipe: Roasted Turkey with Black-Truffle Butter and Cognac Gravy

MAKE A SAVORY BREAD PUDDING INSTEAD OF STUFFING

Plenty of people already bake their stuffing outside the bird (and call it dressing). So why not go the whole nine yards (or meters) with a savory pain perdu? This French version of bread pudding uses the same basic elements as stuffing, but with a bit more eggs and chicken broth for more richness in every bite.

Get the recipe: Mushroom, Leek, and Brioche Stuffing

HOW TO DRESS UP YOUR VEGETABLES

Add an unexpected flavor to your green beans, like tarragon. Just a few sprigs of this distinctive fresh herb will infuse your side dish with a certain "je ne sais quoi". A French flavor that may be hard for guests to identify but also hard not to like. Hazelnuts add another layer of subtle French flavor.

Get the recipe: Green Beans with Shallots, Hazelnuts, and Tarragon

SKIP THE SUGARY-SWEET SIDES

Instead of dousing sweet potatoes in brown-sugar syrup and covering them with marshmallows, bake sweet winter vegetables like pumpkin and winter squash into a cheesy book hotel hong kong, oniony gratin. You'll be thankful for a seasonal side that won't make your teeth hurt.

Get the recipe: Pumpkin-Gruyere Gratin with Thyme

WHEN IN DOUBT, SERVE CHOCOLATE

Are seven different pies really necessary at the end of such a big meal? Instead of going for the usual groaning board of sweets, why not just make one amazing dessert, and call it a day? There is only one choice that will satisfy all, and that is chocolate. Even the pumpkin pie lovers won't complain when presented with this elegant and indulgent tart, layered with rich creamy caramel and silky chocolate ganache.

Get the recipe: Salted Chocolate Caramel Tart

Salzburg has made two great contributions to the sum of human happiness: Mozart's music and desserts. You can spend an entire trip to Salzburg visiting places where Mozart lived and performed. And between those visits,  you must have a slice of cake. Or several. Preferably chocolate Loop app android.  In fact, the ideal visit to Salzburg should start and end with a slice of cake! There are so many great desserts to try, that it is possible that you will exhaust the list of Mozart sites before you run out of different pastries.

During my recent visit to Salzburg, I had so many cakes that I felt like I was floating through the city on a cloud of whipped cream! And, oh the desserts I had! You can set their names to music and sing :  Sachertorte, Linzertorte, Dobostorte, Esterhazy..... Leave all thoughts of diet and healthy eating at home, for you must also try the  Salzburger Nockerl, Kaiser Schmarrn and Apfelstrudel - desserts that are specialties of the region -  slice upon slice of pure sugary heaven.

And for the grand finale you can combine Mozart and chocolate in the form of Mozart  Kugeln: little round chocolates with a pistachio marzipan center.

There is lots of chocolate and cream in my recipe for chocolate cardamom lava cakes too. It brings back memories of all the decadent chocolates and cakes that we had in Salzburg. The subtle haunting aroma of cardamom that infuses every bite reminds me of all the delicious desserts my mother makes in India. Don't skimp on the cream, it helps cut through the richness of the chocolate and balances out the flavours smartone.

Chocolate Cardamom Lava Cakes

If you find it difficult to get the cakes out of their liners, serve them as is, without upturning them. Top with some whipped cream. It will melt slightly and blend into the chocolate lava as you eat the cake. It's all good.

?4 squares Baker's premium dark chocolate

?1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

?1 cup sugar

?2 eggs

?2 egg yolks

?2 tsp ground cardamom, divided

?6 tbsp all purpose flour

?1 cup whipped cream

Preheat oven to 425F. Line a muffin tray with 8 paper liners. Spray insides lightly.

Melt chocolate and butter together in microwave, 1 min. Stir until smooth. Add sugar, mix well. Add eggs, mix in until combined. Add 1 tsp ground cardamom and flour, fold in until completely blended.

Pour batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 13-14 min until sides of cakes are set but centers are still a bit wobbly. Let rest 2 min.

Meanwhile Private Cloud, combine whipped cream with remaining ground cardamom.

Upturn cakes onto dessert plates and carefully peel away paper liners. Serve with a dollop of cardamom whipped cream.

This is the second part of a two-part series on how to get the most of your supermarket-shopping experience. Part One discussed how supermarkets try to get you to spend more time and money than you originally wanted. This part will lead you step by step through a supermarket trip, and give you tips on how to buy (or not buy) food the right way.

Read Part I here

Supermarkets are overwhelming and intimidating. You’re in a rush and you pop into a supermarket for some basics, and you end up spending $200 (and made some bad shopping decisions along the way). But we’ve all got to eat. How do you win at shopping at the supermarket? What sort of shopping decisions would make us healthier, wealthier, and wiser? We asked five experts who could help us break down a typical shopping trip: Bon Appétit senior food editor Dawn Perry; environmental psychologist and author of What Women Want: The Science of Female Shopping Paco Underhill; architect and supermarket designer Kevin Kelley, of the firm Shook Kelley; the director of the graduate nutrition program at the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University, Sharon Akabas; and efficiency expert Gwynnae Byrd. They’ve agreed to help us lead you through the basics of getting the most out of your supermarket shopping, section by section, from the parking lot to checkout.

But first, don’t forget your coupons! And you made a shopping list for the week, right? Because, as supermarket designer Kelley says: “If you go in there without a game plan, you’re at their mercy!”

“The guy who goes in shopping for one meal at a time?” Akabas adds. “That’s the guy buying all the candy bars.”

Note: Don’t be the guy buying all the candy bars. Be the guy (or gal) who grocery shops smart, like this:

Produce

“In general, look for firm, perky, heavy-for-its-size vegetables,” Perry says. “This doesn’t mean buy the biggest squash you see—the bigger the thing the more likely it is to be mostly water and fibrous flavorless matter. Avoid bruised or damaged produce unless you’re making applesauce or something. Pick through those avocados, bananas, and plums—there are perfect ones hiding, though they’re probably not at the bottom. And consider the structural integrity of those piles before you pull one fruit out. (We’ve all sent the lemons tumbling, right? No? Just me? Oh.)”

If you’re trying to eat healthier, think in terms of deeper colors, Akabas suggests: “Leafy greens, kale, mustard greens, and collards are better than an iceberg lettuce.”

Remember the most important thing about shopping for produce: You’re just wasting money and not making yourself any healthier if you buy a veggie that you’re not going to eat—you’re just ensuring that you’re that much less likely to buy vegetables next time.

Indeed, in the produce section, the average shopper’s biggest problem is waste. Those rows of hearty greens, bright-red rhubarb, and juicy-looking fruits look great under the theatrical lighting of the produce section, but people often don’t give them a second look once they get them home. “One of the ironies of the American produce consumer is that 20 to 30 percent of the produce that we buy never gets consumed,” psychologist Underhill says. “One of the key aspects of better shopping is buying what you’re actually going to end up eating.”

To that point, it’s sometimes better to buy frozen than fresh—but more on that over by the freezers.

Bakery/Deli

The manned counters at the supermarket are where brushing up on your people skills really pays off. “Talk to people! Ask questions! Make friends and get special treatment!” Perry says. “This is how the world works. The people behind all of those counters work hard and very likely know more about meat/fish/cake/astronomy than you do. I had a teacher in culinary school whose father quit being an astrophysicist to sell produce (so he would have ‘more time to read’). You never know.”

At the deli, don’t be shy about asking to try something out: “Ask for samples!” Perry says.

To save time, don’t be embarrassed to let the supermarket bakery help you out. “Most supermarkets are finishing parbaked loaves in house so you still have a good chance of getting a ‘freshy’ without a trip downtown to the artisan bakery,” Perry says.

And you may be tempted to stock up on meats, but getting greedy often leads to waste. “Think about how many sammies you’ll be making that week and for how many—two to four ounces is a nice ballpark amount of cold cuts per sandwich,” Perry says. “My mom will buy deli chicken in bulk when it’s on sale (you heard me, chicken not turkey) and freeze it for later. Great for when The War comes, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Just buy what you’ll use in the next four or five days, ’cause after that it starts to get slimy and weird.”

Butcher/Seafood

Just like at the deli or bakery, there’s usually a dedicated butcher or fishmonger behind the counter to answer your questions and get you cuts or seafood that aren’t prepackaged and already on the shelves. And just like at the deli or bakery, you can only benefit by making this guy or gal your friend.

If your major concern is price and efficiency, though, then Byrd recommends you follow her lead and think about buying in bulk—if you have the freezer space for it, of course. “I’ll go to places like Costco and get a big thing of chicken breasts, bring it home, and immediately separate it out into two breasts at a time in Ziploc bags,” she says. “Then I’ll have things at the ready when I need them, saving money and time.”

(She makes sure she dates each baggie with the date in Sharpie, of course, to ensure her meat isn’t sitting in the back of the freezer for five months.)

And when it comes to fish, don’t turn your nose up at the frozen stuff, Perry says. “Where are you from? Near the sea, or other body of clean-ish water that produces things like crab, shrimp, or trout? If so, buy fresh local seafood,” she says. “Otherwise I advise to buy frozen. In the middle of the country so much is shipped frozen and defrosted you’ll have better luck doing that at home just before you’re ready to use it (most seafood defrosts fast under cold running water) than buying the stuff that who knows when it was pulled from the freezer.”

Dairy/Cheese

Remember what Paco Underhill told us? The dairy section in most supermarkets is in the back lefthand corner—farthest from the entrance—because almost everyone has to get something dairy-related when they go grocery shopping.

With that in mind, remember that the store and food manufacturers know this as well, and that they’ve probably studded the area with products that are meant to suck you in, but aren’t necessarily a wise choice for your diet or pocketbook—do you really think you’re going to save that much time by paying a premium for mediocre pre-made pudding?

When she goes to the cheese section, Perry goes straight to whatever’s being showcased. “That center cheese display is where you’ll find the good stuff—fresh mozzarella, other cheeses of the world, and cheese balls,” she says.

Canned/Dry Goods

Canned and dry goods have their place in any kitchen, and offer an easy and affordable way to keep staples at the ready at all times. “Beans, tomatoes, coconut milk are all great to have on hand,” Perry says. “Great organic cans sell for 99 cents and make for meals in a flash. Just avoid the dented and bulging ones—why risk it?”

The important thing is to try to limit your canned- and dry-goods purchases to when you really need them, and to know what your family will actually eat. “Stock up once a month,” Perry says. “You know your family—are you potatoes or rice? Brown or white? Dried beans are delicious, nutritious, and cheap as hell. Keep a couple one-pound bags on hand for big winter pots that will feed you cheaply for a week.”

And don’t turn up your nose at the generic labels, either: “I prefer to buy organic, but if it looks wack and the generic looks great, or the price is exorbitant, then I’ll go generic or other,” Perry says. “I have no problem buying generic if it meets my above criteria. Sometimes the Kroger brand really is the most delicious and almost always the best value, but this requires some research. You may have to conduct your own taste test—or we can do it—to find your favorites.”

Frozen

Frozen foods get a bad rap, but you’d be surprised how many experts embrace them. Not only do they help you keep costs down (remember Byrd’s bulk chicken) and, ironically, fresher (remember Perry’s far-from-the-ocean frozen fish), they’re often actually healthier than the fresh stuff. “In general, frozen is fine,” Akabas says. “In fact, some of the labile frozen vegetables are healthier than fresh—broccoli, green beans, Brussels sprouts—and people can save time.”

That said, there are some frozen goods that really are a waste of your time and money when you can make them better at home with little effort, Perry says. “Do not buy the frozen pie crust!” Perry says. “But I’m not opposed to having an organic frozen pizza in the freezer for real (drunk) emergencies.”

Junk Food

The soda and junk-food aisles are the Balkans of the supermarket—they’re not a terribly productive region, yet everyone seems to be fighting dirty over the space. “The center of the store is troubled,” Underhill says. “One of the things that we measure is the rate at which someone walks in the door compared to the rate at which someone walks down an aisle. From our database, we know that less than 10 percent of the people who walk in the door actually walk down the carbonated-beverage aisle, for example.”

Not surprisingly, the more conscientious the person who buys for a family is, the less likely he or she is to buy soda pop, cookies, or crackers. And men are far more likely to buy carbonated beverages than women, who are more likely to avoid that aisle altogether.

(By the way, experts who study supermarket-shopper behavior seem to agree that, on the whole, men are kind of idiots—far more likely to be distracted by flashy bells and whistles and walk home with a completely unnecessary corkscrew than women, whom supermarket designer Kelley called “shrewd” and thoughtful in comparison. “Women have an instinct,” he says. “They want to go down the beverage aisle too, but they know it’ll make their kids’ teeth fall out.”)

Of course, your relationship to certain supermarket aisles changes dramatically when you have kids, who have built-in sweet tooths. Akabas doesn’t sugarcoat the experience: “Going to the supermarket with kids is deadly.”

And, as we discussed last time, food manufacturers, supermarkets, and marketers are not friends to a parent’s nerves, making sure that their brightly colored sugar bombs are strategically placed so that rugrats are inexorably drawn to them. You can try to avoid those aisles as long as you can, but sooner than you think, your wee one will be making a beeline for cartoon characters peddling corn syrup, and there’s not much you can do to avoid it. So at some point you’ll have to address it head on. “Think of it as an opportunity for a teachable moment for your family,” Akabas says. “But, of course, you’d rather do it on those shopping trips where you’ll be the least rushed.”

Check Out

The checkout lane is either the best or worst part of the supermarket experience. You’re almost free! And yet you’re never more a prisoner. And that’s why this is where the barrage of marketing for the things you really don’t need gets really intense: Polar-fresh minty gum! The latest details on that reality star’s crash wedding diet! Your last chance for a full day’s worth of salt and fat in one neon-orange dose!

“The most profitable section of the store tends to be checkout,” Underhill says. “And the person who in general does the most shopping at checkout is the third person in line.”

That’s the guy or gal who isn’t paying for groceries, or placing items on the conveyer belt, but who has nothing to do but wait and consider adding just one or two more items to his or her bill. And that includes magazines (even Bon Appétit!), which are among the supermarket’s biggest profit makers. “The margin on magazines tends to be very large,” Underhill says. “Of course, the typical magazine is handled by ten people before it ends up being purchased, which almost suggests the magazines should be sanitized.”

So remember: The checkout aisle is where you’re at your weakest, and where it’s most important for you to stick to your plan. Sure, it’s only a buck to toss that sack of generic milk-chocolate turtles onto your pile, but if you’re making impulse purchases like that every time you go to the market, it adds up.

As for whether the old-fashioned checkout line or the self-checkout is more efficient, Underhill says that—at least for now—it’s not really about how much time you save, but the sense that you’re being active. “Going through self-checkout may actually take the same amount of time as if you stood in line, but you have the perception of being moved through faster because you’re actually doing something,” he says.

And for lots of people, that’s worth something.

Things to Digest

Introducing a little variety into their meals is often one of the biggest challenges a family faces. And the tens of thousands of products on offer at your average supermarket ironically make it even harder, not easier.

“Most consumers shop on autopilot. They’re not engaged. They come in a grocery store saying, ‘What I really want is variety,’” Kelley says. “And they leave with damn near the exact same thing as the last time. The store is just too overwhelming for the average person.”

“If you go into the supermarket and get the things you actually wanted to for the first time, you’re already doing better,” Akabas says. “If you keep at it and make it every third time you shop, then you’re being more mindful and starting to be more in charge of what you buy. You’ll be doing it more consistently, coming in with a plan, knowing how the lighting, the smells, and the placement work to get you to buy things you didn’t intend to buy, and that as soon as you go in people are trying to separate you from your money. You’re finally the one at the wheel of the car.”

Sometimes I get in a baking slump. Despite my best of intentions, my list of recipe ideas or saved recipes to try just don’t sound appealing. Anyone else have this problem? When I get that way, I try to focus on baking with my favorite flavors. My current slump had me turning to my favorite flavor combination – chocolate and peanut butter.

And, we’re talking chocolate and peanut butter in a big way Maggie Beauty.

You see, these cookies may be small but they pack a lot of flavor. Both peanuts and chocolate are present in three ways each. There’s peanut butter, honey roasted peanuts, peanut butter cups, semisweet chocolate, and milk chocolate. Oh, yeah.

You’ll get crunch from the peanuts Maggie Beauty, extra peanut flavor with the peanut butter in the dough, two kinds of chocolate chips, plus peanut butter cups. Be sure to go mini for the peanut butter cups. I used Reese’s unwrapped minis, but I might have preferred the smaller size of Trader Joe’s mini peanut butter cups if I’d had any on-hand.

The recipe makes a big batch of cookies, so be sure you have some friends handy who’ll be willing to take some of these off your hands. Otherwise, you may be in big trouble if left alone with all this deliciousness maggie beauty.

Do you have a grand aunt?  A grand ole dame of a grand aunt?  I do.  And let me tell you, they are the best ever.  Mine ran away to Spain in her youth where she spent many years doing what I probably will never fully know.  She played flawless bridge, if the many trophies on her shelf speak true, and even flew to Monaco for a tournament, many moons ago, where she saw (ladies, hang on to your panties) Omar Sharif.  She also made the best apple pie and pineapple upside down cake ever.  She was a great cook and baker, and I still go to her for cooking and baking advice.  Without her help I could have never made this.  She can also mix a mean cocktail, learning at a young age under her mother’s exacting tutelage (note to self: teach little C to make my gin tonics).  She loves to have wine and listen to live music, every Wednesday afternoon, at one of our more refined hotel lobbies, where the orchestra plays her favorites when they see her there.

She loves her crepes Suzette extra boozy to the point that at one of her favorite restaurants they have taken to calling hers “crepes a la R”…which simply means crepes Suzette with an extra generous glug of Grand Marnier.

This breakfast is the result of one Saturday morning’s craving for crepes Suzette, my laziness to actually whip up crepe batter, and my reluctance to let food go to waste.

French Toast “Suzette”

    2-3 slices of day old bread (or older, I won’t tell), each sliced in half
    1 egg
    1/4 cup milk
    A couple of pats of butter for frying
    1 1/2 tablespoon butter for the sauce
    4-5 tablespoons of marmalade
    Grand Marnier (optional if serving to children)
    Optional: fresh orange juice to thin

- Whisk together the egg and milk until homogenous.
- Heat a pat of butter in a non-stick skillet.  While the butter is melting soak your bread slices on both sides in the milk-egg mixture.
- When the butter’s foam subsides, lay the soaked bread slices in the pan.  Fry until golden brown, flip to the other side, and repeat.  Do the same with the rest of the bread.
- Wipe down the skillet and return to the heat with 1 1/2 tablespoons butter.  Once the butter melts and the foam subsides, add the marmalade.  Stir until incorporated.  If you’d like your sauce a little thinner add some orange juice (I like mine thick and luxurious so I left that out).  Add a glug or two of Grand Marnier, if using, and cook on high heat until it bubbles up and most of the alcohol is cooked off (just 1-2 minutes).  You can also opt to flambé this if you have the chutzpah.  I'm still getting up the nerve.
- Serve the French toast immediately, with the hot sauce poured over.

I love love love this version of French toast…almost as much as I love crepes Suzette (one of my favorite ways to have crepes).  And believe me, I am no stranger to French toast – the perfect combination of deliciousness and frugality.  If you are looking for a new way to enjoy French toast, or are too deliciously lazy on one sunny Saturday morning to make crepes, or simply looking for a way to use up the remaining few slices of bread or the last of a bottle of marmalade…this is the absolute and unequivocal ticket.

Here’s more ways to use up your marmalade remnants if, like C, French toast is just not your thing.

Sometimes, when we look at our grandparents and grand aunts and uncles, it’s hard for us to see beyond the person who has been, for most of our lives at least, someone we consider our “elder”.  But there is a whole other life there; one of passion and daring and grand adventure that belongs to a time leagues more glamorous than ours.  All we have to do is ask about it.  My grant aunt R may be living at a slower pace nowadays but she is living to the hilt…with every extra swig of Grand Marnier that douses her crepes!  Cheers and happy breakfasts to you all!

Ingredients

    1/4 cup all purpose flour
    2 pounds 1 1/2-inch pieces beef stew meat
    7 tablespoons butter
    1/4 cup brandy
    2 cups Burgundy or other dry red wine
    2 cups canned beef broth
    6 fresh thyme sprigs
    4 large garlic cloves Fine Wine, chopped
    3 bay leaves
    1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

    1 large onion, cut into 12 wedges
    4 carrots, peeled, cut into 2-inch lengths
    4 celery stalks, cut into 2-inch lengths
    1 1/2 pounds red-skinned potatoes, peeled, quartered
    1/2 pound mushrooms

    Generous pinch of ground nutmeg

Preparation

Place flour in large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add beef to flour and toss to coat. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy Dutch oven over high heat. Working in batches, add beef to pot and sauté until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes per batch. Return all meat to pot. Add brandy; boil until almost evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add wine, broth, thyme, garlic, bay leaves and oregano. Cover; simmer until beef is almost tender, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat Pegboard Displays. Add onion; sauté until brown, about 6 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to large bowl Melt 1 tablespoon butter in same skillet. Add carrots and celery; sauté until golden, about 6 minutes. Using slotted spoon transfer to bowl with onions. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in same skillet. Add potatoes; sauté until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to bowl with other vegetables. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in same skillet. Add mushrooms; sauté until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to bowl.

Add vegetables to pot with beef. Add nutmeg. Cover pot; simmer 45 minutes. Uncover pot and boil liquid until thickened to sauce consistency, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper Voting System.

yield
Makes 4 to 6 servings
This simple vegetarian pasta is perfect for a summertime picnic handmade jewelry.
Ingredients

    1 tablespoon peanut oil
    2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
    2 garlic cloves, minced
    3 tablespoons Asian sesame oil
    2 tablespoons soy sauce
    2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
    1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
    1 tablespoon (or more) hot chili oil*
    1 1/2 teaspoons salt
    1 pound fresh Chinese egg noodles or fresh angel hair pasta
    12 green onions (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced
    1/2 cup coarsely chopped roasted peanuts
    1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh Thai basil leaves

    *Available in the Asian foods section of many supermarkets and at Asian markets.

Preparation

Heat peanut oil in small skillet over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic; sauté 1 minute cloud backup. Transfer to large bowl. Add next 6 ingredients; whisk to blend.

Place noodles in sieve over sink. Separate noodles with fingers and shake to remove excess starch. Cook in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, stirring occasionally. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool. Drain thoroughly and transfer to bowl with sauce. Add sliced green onions and toss to coat noodles. Let stand at room temperature until noodles have absorbed dressing, tossing occasionally, about 1 hour. Stir in peanuts and Thai basil; toss again. Season to taste with salt and pepper Hong Kong PolyU MBA. Serve at room temperature.

Del Popolo might look like a pizza truck, but according to the proprietors, it's a mobile pizzeria. At a reported $180,000 to build the thing, I think they can call it whatever they like. It's a refurbished shipping container with an actual pizza oven inside plus minimal prep space for a couple of cooks.

The menu is short and sweet, just two pizzas in one size. There's the classic Margherita, the pizza by which all pizzas should be judged, and when I was there a white pizza with mozzarella, ricotta, basil and garlic.
Will people stand in line to buy a pizza? On the streets of San Francisco? Oh yes, they will!


This is the set up. A mini kitchen and pizza oven and a window where orders are taken and pizza "delivered."
They offer some wacky sodas including Cheerwine, Manhattan Special and Empire. But being parked across the street from a supermarket, there was no shortage of choices.



So how was the pizza? Excellent. There was a nice char on the crust, but not too much. I'd call it a Neapolitan style crust, airy and chewy. The sauce and cheese were flavorful and in good balance. The sauce was very fresh  tasting and they didn't skimp on the basil. I'd order this pizza again.

The white pizza was a little more substantial with generous dollops of fresh sweet ricotta and plenty of garlic. Not in the least greasy, it was rich from the cheese and yet somehow light at the same time. Recommended.

Where to find it? It's not on the namesake square in Rome, so you'll have to check Twitter to find out...

It's easy to get so caught up in the idea of eating seasonally that we forget that there are certain things that aren't necessarily seasonal glass teapot set, for example vegetables grown in hothouses or greenhouses like Belgian endive, cucumbers and mushrooms, also preserved produce--jams, pickles, chutney, frozen and canned foods. Which brings me to canned tomatoes, which are a great choice for recipes since fresh tomatoes are in season for a fairly short period of time.

While I wouldn't use a canned tomato on a sandwich, they are a must for most tomato based sauces. Lately I've come to appreciate canned fire roasted tomatoes for their lovely smoky flavor. They are great in stew or chili and a sneaky shortcut when making this zippy soup. A nice option in this shoulder season when somedays still feel like Winter baby bed, it's something you can make from pantry staples--a few aromatics, cans of tomatoes and broth. Having tried many brands of fire roasted tomatoes, I like Hunt's best and while I prefer homemade, Swanson's is the only canned chicken broth I use.

Another little trick in this soup is the addition of cream cheese. I don't typically keep heavy cream on hand so I am always looking for other ingredients to add creaminess to recipes amway. In this case a tiny bit of cream cheese adds a lot of richness. But in all honesty this soup is really wonderful even without it.