Apartment Therapy The Kitchn - Archive for the week of 2009-08-02

Seeing Julie & Julia This Weekend? Discuss It Here!

The big food movie of the summer, Julia & Julia, opens today! Are you going to see it? If so, come and tell us what you thought about it here! ...

What's Cooking This Weekend?
Weekend of August 8-9, 2009

Welcome to the weekend! What's cooking in your kitchen this weekend, and how are you staying cool in the August heat? Read on for so many recipes — icy cocktails, popsicles, salads, and more fre...

Kitchen Spotlight: Allison and Paul's Silverlake Special

We have a soft spot in our hearts for people who remodel their home around their kitchen. That's what Allison and Paul did two years ago. Rather like the Eagle Rock renovation we featured earli...

Why We're Loving Super-Flat Brownies

No, these weren't a mistake. Remember these brownie ice cream sandwiches we mentioned earlier this week? Well, we only got as far as the brownies, never making it to the sandwich part. And they're so ...

Recipe: Grilled Cactus and Corn Salad

Among the summer treats we found at the Barnsdall Art Park market this week were sweet corn and fresh nopales, or prickly pear cactus paddles. We picked up a few ears and pads and when we got home, th...

Easy Summer Desserts: 5 Puddings We Can't Wait To Try

We're unapologetic fans of this childhood dessert, and its cool creaminess sounds really perfect right now! Here are five recipes we've recently bookmarked. Which one should we make this weekend?...

Recipe Review: Cajun Lemonade
Straight Up Cocktails and Spirits

Looking for something cool and refreshing, with all the summery herbal flavor of a Pimm's Cup, but with a little extra kick? How does a tall glass of spicy, spiked Cajun Lemonade sound?...

Summer Flavor Inspiration Board: Cucumber and Mint

All we want right now are foods and flavors that are cooling, refreshing, and soothing. No pair fits this description better than cucumber and mint! What ways can you think of using these two ingredie...

Recipe: Back to Basics Cherry Pie

When we were in Italy in June, we stayed at a friend's house that, as luck would have it, was down the road from a fantastically fertile wild cherry tree. Each morning we'd hike up to it and fill our ...

What Are Your Best Unusual or Exotic Cookie Recipes?
Good Questions

Q: I would love some suggestions on really creative cookies — the kinds that bring out the oohs and ahhs. Something with rosewater, or Indian spices, or something that isn't your plain old oatme...

Kesäkeitto: An Easy Finnish Summer Soup To Try

Many years ago my aunt gave me the Sunset Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, which contained a recipe for Finnish Summer Soup. It was an easy-to-make concoction that contained potatoes, onions, carrots, a...

Creative Entertaining: Scrabble Letter Place Cards

Throwing any dinner parties this weekend? We think that even simple place cards can add a touch of fun formality to a sit-down supper. And how about this whimsical name card idea from reader Jess?...

Fig and Walnut Crisps
Delicious links for 8.7.09

Remember when a reader asked about a DIY recipe for artisan crisps, rather like the very popular Raincoast Crisps? We found another recipe that might be getting close to the crisp goodness of those ad...

Cool Recipe: Tara's Gazpacho With Basil Cream
Stay Cool!

We asked you how you're staying cool this August, and your answers are already coming in! Here's our second reader Stay Cool! recipe. Name: Tara Location: Dayton, Ohio How are you staying cool? Not e...

Bellini, Vodka, and Chocolate-Bourbon Popsicles
Fine Cooking

Struggling to come up with a creative idea for a weekend cocktail party? How about an all-frozen event, with boozy popsicles as the signature "drinks"?...

Help! What To Do With an Over-Active Starter?
Good Questions

Q: About a month or so ago I decided my bread making skills had improved enough to try keeping a starter. I followed Alton Brown's starter recipe and put the whole thing in a mason jar in my fridge. W...

Best Market Baskets

We love the bounty of summer. The stands at the farmer's market this past weekend were heavy with high summer produce. I had my reusable bags with me at the time, but I couldn't help wishing for a mar...

Look! Hidden Kitchen Cubbyhole

Look at this big chalkboard wall from Max and Peter's recent house tour. It's hiding a secret space! ...

Craving: Raw, Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad

Most of us think of brussels sprouts as a decidedly fall and winter food. But in our CSA share last year, we got bright green brussels sprouts all July and August. Why don't we normally eat them in th...

Ingredient Spotlight: Huckleberries

One of my favorite childhood memories is spending summers at my parents' mountain home in Highlands, North Carolina. Most days my mom would give me a metal pail and send me out berrypicking. I never...

5 Favorite Old-Fashioned Kitchen Gadgets

We've talked about useless gadgets and useful ones, but these mostly recent tools didn't include some of our real favorite kitchen gadgets. Ingenious kitchen devices have been around for hundre...

Summer Harvest at Barnsdall Art Park
Los Angeles, California

This week, we were thrilled to visit a new farmers' market in our neighborhood. Located below an olive grove and Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House at Barnsdall Art Park, the market has about 20 pro...

Stay Cool! Favorite Quick, Easy, No-Bake Desserts

Just because it's summer and we don't feel like turning on the oven doesn't mean we have to deprive our sweet tooth! Here are some of our favorite desserts for this time of year, ranging from quick wh...

A Soup-To-Nuts Guide to Eating With a Clear Conscience
New York Magazine

Are we destroying the earth with our stomachs, as one commenter moaned on a new article from New York Magazine? Maybe, but we can help by applying wisdom to our food choices, says the article, which i...

Watch Out! Dangerously Addictive Olive Oil Granola
Recipe Review

A few weeks ago Melissa Clark had a recipe in her New York Times column that we knew we had to try: Homemade granola with pistachios, sunflower seeds, apricots — and a dose of silky, fragrant, s...

Food-Lover's Guide to Brooklyn
The best markets, artisans, and shops for cooks

City: Brooklyn, New York Population: 2.5 million Local specialties: Pizza; Middle Eastern, Russian, and Polish foods; fresh, local and organic produce at farmers' markets, steak, beer Brooklyn rivals...

Recipe: Dark Chocolate Ice Cream With Fig & Cardamom

Summer is in full swing and there's nothing we crave more than ice cream. So when we found ourselves with some uneaten figs and a little free time, we whipped up a batch of this extremely deca...

Pie Pops Are Officially a Thing.
Delicious links for 8.6.09

Bakerella, Queen of the Cake Pops, turns now to the pie pop, newest blog craze on a stick. Plus gorgeous shortbread desserts and great cookie cutters for kids. ...

Kaya Toast: A Coconut Custard-Filled Treat
From Nationwide Newspaper Food Sections 8.06.09

That may look like grilled cheese, but it's something completely different: a coconut custard-filled street food from Singapore called Kaya Toast. Find more on that recipe below, plus Avocado Fries an...

Chicken Tikka Masala from The Pioneer Woman
Recipe Review

We love eating spicy foods when it's hot outside, so when a spike in temperature coincided with finding this recipe on the Pioneer Woman's site, we didn't hesitate! With a quick trip to the store for ...

Great Wineglasses: Are They Worth the Investment?

Are good wineglasses worth the money? Does a good wineglass enhance the wine? Should you use different glassware for red, white and sparkling wines? Are all good wineglasses expensive? In my opinion...

What Should I Make With My New Grill (and Sauce Pot)?
Good Questions

Q: I just received a brand new grill as a wedding gift along with a small sauce pot. I'm curious what would be a good starter meal for a great combo like this. I know BBQ is the first thing to come ...

Flickr Find: Couscous Cheesecake

This dish is called a kodafa, an Israeli couscous cake with a cheese filling. Do you think it's sweet? Or savory? Read on to find out... ...

From the Herb Garden: Tarragon

Tarragon is one of those herbs that we hardly ever think of using until we come across a recipe that specifically calls for it. We've even grown tarragon in our herb garden, only to reach the end of t...

Summer Pasta With Zucchini and Gorgonzola
Good Eats! A Weekly Roundup from Serious Eats

Every week we bring you our favorite eating and cooking from our friends at Serious Eats. This week? Farfalle with zucchini and Gorgonzola, styrofoam coffee cup art, a hubbub over Wal-Mart's new knock...

The Most Beautiful Refrigerators by Meneghini

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach...and it doesn't hurt when Nigella Lawson is the one doing the cooking. The British celeb cook was also kind enough to steer us over to checkin...

A Sustainable Kitchen Renovation in Los Angeles
Kitchen Before & After

We almost couldn't believe our eyes when we saw this kitchen renovation from Jeremy Levine Design. Levine took an old, small kitchen in Eagle Rock, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, and opened it ...

How Cold Should Beer Be Served?
Beer Guide

Cracking open an icy cold beer on a hot afternoon is as much a part of summer as cook outs and frisbee. Or is it? As refreshing as a cold beer can be, we recently learned that we might be doing some o...

Ingredient Spotlight: Thimbleberries

Thimbleberries come from thornless plants found from western and northern parts of North America, from Alaska to Ontario and Michigan. They have a striking resemblance to raspberries in that they are...

Recipe Review: Cucumber Ice Pops With Lime & Chile

Yesterday, we asked about eating spicy food in hot weather, and some of you mentioned dishes that are both heating and cooling, such as fruit sprinkled with chile powder. We just tried a recipe for a ...

Hot or Not? Wilton Combo Cookie and Brownie Cutters

We just spied these combo cutters at a craft store, and we're curious what you think. They are ostensibly for cutting shaped pieces out of brownies with a minimum of waste scraps, but we also think th...

Not as Hard as They Look: Homemade Profiteroles

We had profiteroles on our 21st birthday at a very fancy restaurant in Paris, and for years after, we ordered them whenever we saw them on a menu in the US. Soft ice cream enveloped by buttery pastry?...

Ingredient Spotlight: Jicama

We always have one or two of these bulbous brown roots in our fridge when the temperature outside starts creeping up. They don't have to be cooked and their crisp, apple-like texture is a welcome addi...

How To Make Infused Olive Oils and an Alpine Martini
Delicious links for 8.5.09

Some very cool (literally) ideas in today's Delicious Links: an Alpine Martini with Douglas fir sorbet, plus retro cool refrigerators....

How To Cook Frozen Fresh Pasta (Without a Stove!)

Thanks to Faith (and her mother-in-law) we've been making pasta on end recently. It's been unusually cool here in the Midwest and knowing it wouldn't last long (and it didn't), we took advant...

Secrets From My Tuscan Kitchen by Judy Witts Francini
Book Review 2009

Earlier this summer, I spent a day in Florence with Judy Witts Francini, an American who moved to Italy in 1984, married an Italian, and stayed put. She leads tours, teaches hands-on cooking classes, ...

Kitchen Confessions: Do You Like To Eat The Burnt Bits?

We made a berry buckle the other day for a little dinner party, and the edges ended up a little overdone. We sliced out pieces from the middle for our guests, but we didn't just do this to be a good h...

Cool Recipe: Michelle's Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade
Stay Cool!

We asked you how you're staying cool this August, and your answers are already coming in! Here's our first reader Stay Cool! recipe. Name: Michelle Location: Pennsylvania How are you staying cool? Lo...

5 Colorful and Multipurpose Mixing Bowl Sets
Best Kitchen Basics

We love to browse new kitchen gadgets and tools, but in the end, we tend to stick with the basics. We get new things now and then, but we always return to favorite classics. One of these classi...

Help! What Kind of Grapes are These and What Should I Do with Them?

My friend Marcus snuck a big (and I mean BIG, ten pounds at least) bag of grapes into my office when I was away at a meeting this morning. His note says that he grew these in his back yard in San Rap...

All You Need on Vacation is a Cast-Iron Skillet
The New York Times 8.5.09

And, despite the charming photo above, we mean one cast-iron skillet. That's the opinion of writer Jhumpa Lahiri (author of Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake), who gets nostalgic about vacation...

The Strangest Food I Ever Ate: Shirako

I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater. I'm nowhere near the level of Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern, but I'm willing to experience strange new culinary delicacies more than most people I ...

What's the Difference Between Sweet Potatoes and Yams?
Good Questions

Q: What is the difference between a sweet potato and a yam? My boyfriend and I are in love with "sweet potato fries" so I shop for them frequently, usually grabbing whichever is in stock. Is there a...

The Flatshare Fridge: Perfect for Roomates!

You can put the "Don't Eat Me!" and "This Is Not Yours!" notes away for now. Stefan Buchberger, a design student at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna has designed the Flatshare Fridge — a fri...

Cool Down With A Cantaloupe Granita

A granita is a traditional Italian dessert of puréed fresh fruit, sugar, and water that is semi-frozen and then scraped or shaved. Similar to sorbettos and italian ices, granitas differ becaus...

The Element Grill by Fuego
Prodded & Tested Product Reviews

A little while ago we showed you quite possibly the prettiest grill we've ever seen: the Element Grill by Fuego. Its sleek styling and tiny footprint made us wonder if it was the ultimate grill...

Do You Eat Spicy Food In Hot Weather?

In hot weather, we often gravitate towards cool and refreshing foods like ice cream, cucumbers, and watermelon. In many of the world's warmest regions, however, the food itself is fiery. Think Indian ...

Table Manners: Do You Eat Fast or Slow?

Take the guests at any dinner party and we guarantee that half the table will have wiped their plates clean while the other half is still leisurely munching. This might be annoying to those of us who ...

Recipe: Quick Feta and Olive Spread

We modeled this dish after something similar we've seen ready-made at Whole Foods. It couldn't be simpler, and you can buy half the ingredients in one trip to the olive bar at the grocery store....

Food Science: The Best Eggs for Meringue and Why

When we talked about making pavlovas last week, one thing we didn't really get into was the best kind of egg whites to use for the meringue. Fresh or old, room-temperature or cold - does it make a dif...

10 Mini Burgers and a 5-Course Roman Feast
Delicious links for 8.4.09

How to feast like a Roman aristocrat! ...

Cool Down Tip: Toss Your Yogurt In The Freezer!

It doesn't matter if you're making your own yogurt or you have a favorite store bought brand, one of the quickest ways to have a sweet treat (that's also easy on the hips) is to freeze it! We've pic...

The Perfect Fruit by Chip Brantley
Book Review 2009

Last year Chip Brantley told me was writing a book about pluots. I know Chip through Cookthink, the really wonderful food and cooking website that he founded and runs. But I was a little dubious about...

What Do You Cook When The Summer Heat Doesn't Come?

This summer has thrown us for a bit of a loop. We're used to sweating our way through June, July and August in the sweltering Chicago humidity, sticking with cold dishes as much as possible and refusi...

Color In the Kitchen: Chinese Porcelain Blue

The blue in this House Beautiful kitchen of the month stopped us in our tracks: Gorgeous! Read on for another photo and more about this deep, deep blue kitchen....

Lactose and Cheese: Are You Really Lactose Intolerant?
The Cheesemonger

Know anyone who doesn't eat cheese due to lactose intolerance? Or perhaps you yourself have to turn down cheese because of a lactose allergy? What you probably don't know is that lactose intolerance s...

How Can I Make My Oven Racks Slide Smoothly?
Good Questions

Q: My oven racks are sticking in the oven and very difficult to slide in and out. I singed my fingers last night trying to pull the rack out and turn the items on the broiler tray. Do you have any s...

The KitchenAid BeaterBlade, Shopping for Bargains at Whole Foods, and a Kitchen Visit with Melissa Clark
This Time Last Year

Melissa Clark's kitchen, quick kale salad, how to soften brown sugar and more. Just in case you missed them the first time around, here's a look back at the posts from this week a year ago. ...

Survey: Do You Have More than One Freezer?

As we talk about all things chilly and frozen this month, we're wondering how many of you have an extra freezer (maybe one of those big chests in the garage?) to store batches of homemade ice cream, b...

Mark Bittman and His Part-Time Vegan Diet
Good Food with Evan Kleiman

If you follow Mark Bittman's NY Times blog, The Minimalist, and you've been paying attention this past year, you maybe have noticed that Mark Bittman has been paring down on the luxuries and focusing ...

Etsy Finds: Yellow Accents in the Kitchen

There are few things more inviting than a sunshine-filled kitchen, but since the weather in San Francisco has been consistently foggy and overcast lately, we figure why not fake it? Inspired by this p...

Rental Kitchen Makeover: Leea's Lovely Little Budget

We just received this simply lovely budget kitchen makeover from reader Leea in central Mexico. She has a rental kitchen, so she couldn't change much, and yet she made a stunning difference &md...

5 Exotic Foods We Want To Try (Plus 5 We Really Don't)

Last week a few of us shared some of the weirdest and strangest foods we've eaten. Honestly, it's a little hard to come up with examples of strange food; we're pretty omnivorous around here, an...

A Week's Worth of Snacks, All Made from Ricotta Cheese
The Faster Times

You probably haven't heard of The Faster Times; it's a new online newspaper that hasn't been up and running for long. They have a pretty extensive food section, though, and their columnist on snacking...

Ingredient Spotlight: Ollalieberries

Growing up in Georgia, I never heard of an ollalieberry until I moved out to California. My first encounter with this strange name came as I rode my motorcycle up Highway 1 from Los Angeles to San Fr...

Seasonal Pairing: Peaches and Tomatoes

Peaches and tomatoes – it wouldn't be summer without them, but up until recently, we'd never eaten them at the same time. Hurrah for new taste discoveries! The golden sweetness of ripe peaches a...

Best Coffee for Hot Days: Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee

We're looking for ways to keep cool this month as we ride out the end-of-summer heat wave. A big pitcher of iced coffee will definitely need to be in our fridge at all times, we think! Here's a new-to...

Ice Cream Sandwiches Made with Super Thin Brownies
Everyday with Rachael Ray

These remind us of the classic, store-bought, rectangular ice cream sandwiches, and they don't seem any harder than making the cookie sandwiches we love so much... ...

Do You Know the Best Knife For Cutting a Tomato?

The tomatoes right now are so ripe and delicious that they practically melt in our mouths. We should know - we've been eating enough of them! They're also so ripe that they can get easily bruised or m...

Three-Berry Sangria and Tingle Tangle Spoons
Delicious links for 8.3.09

Plus sweet cicely, a new herb for us!...

Recipe: The One Minute Brownie

You know that we usually pan box mixes; from scratch is healthier and sometimes even quicker. And yet... while some days we feel in the mood for complicated desserts with lots of steps and ingredients...

Stay Cool! This August, Beat the Heat at The Kitchn

Stay Cool! That's our theme this August, the hottest month of the year. Cold ice cream, cool noodle salads, icy sorbet, frosty cocktails, and tips for staying cool in the hot kitchen — that's wh...

How Can Home Cooks Calculate Nutrition Information?
Good Questions

Q: I see recipes that include the nutritional information (e.g. calories, fat, protein, carbs, etc.) and I'm wondering how the Average Joe can calculate this information for home recipes. Is there use...

Keeping Cool: Have a Picnic by the Water

Welcome to August, the most abundant time of year. The produce is fresh and (very possibly) home grown, and as varied as you're ever going to see it. Tomatoes! Peaches! Zucchini! Paradise! Except...

The Man's Kitchen
Vintage Video

"It's the man's kitchen; the guy's galley. I am man — hear me roast!"...

On Egg Salad (and Other Non-Traditional) Sandwiches for Breakfast

Whenever we go to our favorite bagel store in New York for breakfast, we skip right past the array of cream cheeses and order egg salad. Maybe it's a lunchtime food to you, but we think it's perfect p...

The Latest Sweet On a Stick: Pie Pops!

First it was cake pops, brownie pops, and cheesecake pops, then bacon and cheese pops. Now pie pops! Why hasn't anyone thought of this before? It's brilliant. ...

Small Kitchen Solution: Cover the Stove Top for More Counter Space?

A few weeks back, we talked about bringing in a kitchen island for more counter and storage space. But what if your small kitchen can't accommodate another large piece of furniture? In those cases, we...

A Culinary Getaway in the South of France

Two years ago, former Food Network producer and cookbook author Anne de Ravel packed up her life in New York and moved to her family home on a vineyard in the South of France where she now hosts Ateli...

The Most Useless (and Useful) Kitchen Tools, New IKEA Kitchens, and Homemade Nutella
Top posts from July 26 - August 1, 2009

The hottest posts this week include the best (and worst) tools in the kitchen, ancient eggs, the most addictive summer recipes, and Oreo cookie cookies.15. Recipe Recommendation: Baked Falafel 14. 5 T...

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