Category: Cooking

IIK: Vietnamese Papaya Salad

| Posted in Cooking

Lindsay Sterling has published another installment in her collaborative ethnic cooking project Inside Immigrant Kitchens. This time she learns from Hop Nguyen of Yarmouth how to make “green papaya salad from Bac Ninh province in northern Vietnam”.

But what’s really amazing is the story how she ended up here. Thirteen years ago in January in Vietnam, she was riding her bike home from English class in a short-sleeve shirt and jeans. The air was smoky, the gutters next to the road filled with trash. All the motorbikes honking their horns looked like a stream of fish rushing to spawning ground. As she came up to the archway at the Temple of Literature she saw a letter that someone had dropped on the sidewalk…

Portland Magazine, The Foodie Issue

| Posted in Reviews, Events, Cooking

The new issue of Portland Magazine includes a review of Sonny’s,

Think of Sonny’s as an F. Parker Reidy’s for the 21st century: seafood-aware (you should see the lobster mariscada there, though the Cuban steaks are great, too); bar on the square (corner of Exchange and Middle Streets, with views of Tommy’s Park); and divertido, with a Caribbean/South American twist.

There’s also an in-depth guide to food events statewide in 2010, and an article about Maine chef’s use of edible flowers in their dishes. The food event guide and edible flower article are only available in the print version of the magazine which is on newsstands now.

Maine at Work: Cooking at Becky's

| Posted in Cooking

Reporter Ray Routhier tried his hand at being a breakfast cook at Becky’s for this week’s Maine at Work column in the Press Herald.

But when I glanced up at the order slips – clipped by clothespins to a string hanging across the window between the kitchen and the dining room – I felt like someone had suddenly shoved an intercepted code from World War II in my face.

“BEOM/#13” read one slip. “B/Scb/It, BagTst” read another. “#3/HF/Whtt” read a third.

I had no idea what any of it meant, never mind how to start cooking any of it.

Maine at Work: Cooking at Becky’s

| Posted in Cooking

Reporter Ray Routhier tried his hand at being a breakfast cook at Becky’s for this week’s Maine at Work column in the Press Herald.

But when I glanced up at the order slips – clipped by clothespins to a string hanging across the window between the kitchen and the dining room – I felt like someone had suddenly shoved an intercepted code from World War II in my face.

“BEOM/#13” read one slip. “B/Scb/It, BagTst” read another. “#3/HF/Whtt” read a third.

I had no idea what any of it meant, never mind how to start cooking any of it.

IIK: Chinese Pot Stickers

| Posted in Cooking

Lindsey Sterling has published another ethnic cooking adventures on her blog Inside Immigrant Kitchens. This time she’s cooking Chinese pot stickers with ingredients picked up on a trip to Haknuman Meanchey.

People are carrying bags of rice as big as couch cushions on their shoulders. We all do a good job of pretending that there’s no difference between those present and me, a third-generation Caucasian-American, born in Wisconsin, accustomed to buying rice in a sac the size of an aerobics weight.

Ag Show, Eating Advice and Barbecue

| Posted in Cooking, Farming

Today’s Press Herald has a report from the 69th Annual Maine Agricultural Trades Show

The annual event brings together a mix of agricultural producers: grass growers, maple syrup makers, alpaca breeders, woodland owners and florists. The crowd is equally diverse, with attendees as likely to be sporting dreadlocks and hand-knit organic woolens as John Deere caps and Carhartt work boots.

an interview with Dr. Peter Knight from True North in Falmouth on how to eat right

“With kids, I find that parents are afraid to change things in their kids’ diets,” Knight said.

The fear, he said, is based on a mistaken belief that little Johnny “won’t eat anything else.” There’s typically some validity to this statement, but it can be overcome by introducing the child to a wide variety of whole foods, allowing the child to select food at the farmers market, and gardening together as a family.

and an article on indoor winter barbecuing with Dennis Sherman from DennyMike’s CUE Stuff.

“Tell that writer that indoor barbecue is an oxymoron,” he said. “There is no such thing”

We laugh. We both know that Davis is correct. But Davis doesn’t live in Maine, where the long months of winter can make true-blue barbecue fans go into withdrawal.

A Day at Len Libby

| Posted in People, Cooking

As part of its ongoing Maine at Work column, the Press Herald sent a reporter to Len Libby in Scarborough to spend the day making candy.

A few minutes later, I was dipping my fingers into a bowl of satin-smooth melted dark chocolate, then gently flicking ribbons of chocolate onto a giant pan of peppermint bark candy. I felt like Jackson Pollock, creating some wild abstract work of art as I let the chocolate fly from my fingertips.

Cookie Swaps

| Posted in Events, Uncategorized, Cooking

Meredith Goad’s article in today’s Press Herald catalogs the 3 types of cookie bakers and interviews Julia Usher, author of Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year.

When it comes to holiday cookies, there are three types of bakers.

The first type sticks to an old family recipe like Taylor Swift trying to hold onto the microphone at the VMA Awards.

The second type is more like Adam Lambert at the American Music Awards — always pushing the envelope with something new and more, um, challenging.

The third type is like a karaoke performer. These folks buy pre-mixed, pre-sliced cookies in the grocer’s freezer, pop them in the oven, and they’re done. They like to call themselves singers, but they’re not fooling anyone but themselves.

Do you want to participate in a cookie swap? Rabelais is holding a cookie swap and book signing with Julia Usher this Sunday.