Friday, September 08, 2006

A Blogger Returns...

Way back in the olden days, when I first started my blog, the blogosphere was a much smaller place. Not that I go back to the very beginning or anything. In fact, one of the most famous food bloggers, Julie of Julie/Julia was just winding down at the time that I started, some three years ago. Though food blogs were few and far between in those days, I did have some favorites even then. While the number of food blogs has grown (yay!) a few wonderful ones have disappeared (boo!). And I miss them. Especially those daily reads that became like friends to me, people like Renee of Shiokdelicious, Jeremy of Frost Street and Caryn of Delicious!Delicious! Most recently Seattle Bon Vivant went dark and I wasn't alone in missing her happy, upbeat posts about tasty travels, delicious discoveries and restaurant ravings. Well thank goodness, she's back! If you've read her site before then I'm sure you'll enjoy reading along again, and if you've never visited her site, b......

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Salumi: Restaurant

Have you been to Seattle? If you have, perhaps you've experienced what I have--that everyone there is awfully nice. I don't mean to generalize but from all of my visits over the years including a stint working there, it's true. My visit to Salumi in Seattle is a perfect example. I had a terrific lunch with Molly of Orangette that consisted of a selection of salami each intriguingly flavored with smoked paprika or fennel or a mix of spices, prosciutto and the most outrageous meatball sandwich ever. Really. Imagine a crunchy roll, perked up with a slathering of garlic and parsley spread, obscenely stuffed with big fat and fluffy meatballs with shreds of prosciutto in them. Top that with sauteed peppers and onions, thick slabs of fresh succulent mozzarella, and doused with homemade tomato sauce. Heaven! Stopping in back to peek at the operations and chat with owner Armandino Batali I was treated to a bit of Mario and Bill Buford gossip (suffice it to say Mario's ......

Monday, September 04, 2006

Newsletter Links

I send out a Cooking with Amy Newsletter once a month. It consists of a few words from me, and links to recipes, book reviews and restaurant reviews that were posted during the month. I also try to give a sneak peek at what's to come, as best I can. In each newsletter I also include my pick of links, usually three of my bookmarks that I think are interesting or just plain fun. For those of you who don't subscribe, below are the links I have sent out in my newsletter since it began a little over a year ago. I hope you enjoy these, and if you do, consider signing up for the newsletter and discover a few new links each month. The next newsletter is due out tomorrow. I've switched to a new mailing list so if you had trouble signing up in the past, do try again, the form is in the left column. Note: all links will take you away from this site Cook's Illustrated How To Guides Virtual Refrigerator Magnets Recipe Contests Waitrose Food Illustrated Relish mag......

Saturday, September 02, 2006

This week Posts of the Week has a theme, and it is chocolate! I really did think that Culinary in the Desert should have changed to "Culinary and the Dessert" when Joe moved from Arizona to Maryland. Obscene chocolate love post includes Thick Mint Brownies and a Beef Tagine with Dried Plums and Toasted Almonds. Both of those recipes are going on my list to try. Chocophile David Lebovitz interviews Frederick Schilling of Dagoba chocolate. I'm sorry David didn't ask Frederick about his chocolate cafe that was on Market street for several years but otherwise the interview is excellent. It includes lots of good information about how cacao is grown, organic chocolate and some tantalizing descriptions of his products and plans for the future. Sometimes that which you don't eat haunts you more than what you do eat. Such is the case with the bittersweet chocolate tartlets brought to the picnic last weekend by Anita of Dessert First. Fortunately she blogged a......