Archive for the ‘Food + Recipes’ Category
Glad Midsommar!
Today is the celebration of Swedish midsummer, my personal favorite holiday of the year.
Recipe: Flourless Hazelnut and Chocolate Coffee Cookies
Last week I played around with hazelnuts, cocoa powder and coffee. The result was… addictive. The recipe is now over on Sprudge, so hop on over and bake away. Because who doesn’t like cooking with coffee??
For the Love of Brewing Coffee Outdoors
I drink coffee outside whenever I can. If there’s sun and a terrace, you can bet that I will be on it. But even better than just drinking coffee outdoors? Brewing coffee outdoors.
Wild City: Les Jardins du Ruisseau, Paris
All wildness is finer than tameness.
-John Muir
In an urban jungle I have been craving wild respite.
Trees.
Flowers.
Earth.
Growth.
Recipe: Almond Apricot Cookies
I was reading an article on Runner’s World about how the one failure of most runners when it comes to their diet is not getting enough “real food.” Yes, you read that right. Most people are so caught up in the world of energy bars and nutrient-enhanced drinks that they forget that their body needs actual food. You know, whole grains and vegetables and such.
This is nothing new, but it’s always nice to get a reminder of what a healthy diet looks like.
And on that note, I thought I would share my recipe for Almond Apricot Cookies with you. I posted it a few weeks ago on Foodie Underground, but given the recipe’s “natural energy bar” status, I figured it deserved a mention here. Especially since it has become a favorite post-run treat. (I like to call that strategy “run to eat”)
Yes, all you need is almonds, dried apricots, olive oil, honey and water. And some salt and ground cardamom if you’re in the mood.
Tracking Down Good Coffee in Montmartre
People often ask me where they should go when they come to Paris. It takes time to make personal itineraries for people (I really should start charging…), but fortunately I write enough roundups that I can just start sending links instead. Case in point: my favorite coffee spots around Montmartre.
A New Column! And It’s All About Coffee…
I am a bit behind on this announcement, but last week my new column for The Kitchn launched. And what is it about? Take a wild guess…
Coffee!
Titled “Smart Coffee for Regular Joes” the column is going to take on the coffee world, looking at the ins and outs of how to make coffee, exploring coffee culture in other countries, and celebrating the drink that so many of us love.
“Coffee isn’t just a drink, it’s a cornerstone of our everyday. A building block of our routines and our social interactions. Coffee fuels us.”
Read the first installment of the column and follow along in the discussion. What do you want to learn about in the coffee world?
2,592 Reasons to Hate Coffee Pods
Well, actually I didn’t write that many. But I did go on an anti coffee pod rant this week.
“If you’d had asked coffee specialists that this was going to happen, they would have told you, ‘That’s ridiculous,’” Mark Pendergrast, author of “Uncommon Grounds,” told the Seattle Times. That’s because coffee pods are ridiculous, but just like with so many other things, we’ve traded convenience for taste. In the process we’ve ended up with a product that’s really bad for the planet. For example, all of the K-cups (the name for the Keurig pods) sold in 2013 could wrap around the Earth 10.5 times.
Coffee pods. Wrapped around the earth 10.5 times. Think about it.
You can read the full rant – which includes all the environmental, economic and quality reasons not to drink single-brew coffee – on Foodie Underground.
Image: Mother Jones
What is Food Gentrification?
Have you heard about the new term “food gentrification“? It’s this week’s topic on Foodie Underground.
“Food gentrification” started as a hashtag by writer Mikki Kendall, who wrote about the impact of turning ordinary products into trendy ones, and the ultimate social impact. “My grandmother was a master of turning offal into delicious, and I still use many of her recipes to this day. But now, once-affordable ingredients have been discovered by trendy chefs, and have been transformed into haute cuisine. Food is facing gentrification that may well put traditional meals out of reach for those who created the recipes,” Kendall wrote in January.
Just like rebuilding neighborhoods has shot up real estate prices and pushed out locals, rebuilding the food movement, putting certain common-day vegetables on a pedestal, in turn making them more expensive, is pushing people away from eating them.
There was a time when we all had access to fresh food and ingredients. Think back to our grandparents. There were few things available, but the things that were available were real food. There were vegetables, there was fruit and there were no Doritos. Often there was a garden. People ate real food simply because it was the only thing available.
Hop on over to Foodie Underground to read the full article.
Everything You Wanted to Know About Coffee in Europe (Infographic)
Just in case you needed a good infographic of all things related to European coffee drinking, there’s this infographic. Although I do wonder where all the Scandinavian countries are… because if anyone knows how to drink coffee, it’s the people in the Nordic lands.
blog.annabrones.com 