City Kitchen Chronicles: Beyond Thunderdome

City Kitchen Chronicles is a bi-weekly column about living frugally in Manhattan. It's penned by the lovely Jaime."With the economy in a dark, dark place, we thought it was pretty obvious where society is headed. So TBTL introduced The Thunderdome Beach Diet. Can you eat for $3 a day?”That was the call to arms, or at least, the announcement, posted on the website of TBTL, one of my favorite podcasts. TBTL, or Too Beautiful To Live, is a radio show from Seattle. It’s funny, smart, random – sort of like a really fantastic blog, but in radio format – and in the last year I’ve come to have a lot of affection for it and its hosts.And, for a little more background: Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome is the third movie in the Mad Max series (I had no idea...

Read more »

Posted in: Buying Food,City Kitchen Chronicles,Cooking,Frugality

Tuesday Megalinks

This week, it’s bargain shopping, making the most out of what you have, and a little dash of sports news, just in time for baseball’s Opening Day. Viva la Mets! (Pleaseohpleaseohplease.)Culinate: For the Love of Meat, What Would You Pay?Jake pays about $8/lb for meat he receives as part of a CSA, and for him, it’s worth every penny. Here, he explains why well enough to make him a finalist in Culinate’s blogging contest. (P.S. This made me crave sausage.)Eat Me Daily: Cooking in Outer SpaceYou think cooking in your tiny kitchen is tough? Try it on a spaceship. Astronaut Sandra Magnus spent four months on the International Space Station, where fresh food was limited and tortillas became her best friends. For extra fun, click on her NASA slideshow,...

Read more »

Posted in: Links

Napa Cabbage & Red Onion Salad and Paul Rudd: Together at Last

Mostly in life, it’s the little things that make the big things work. Clocks are powered by tiny, irrepressible gears. People are powered by small, delicate organs. Good movies are powered by Paul Rudd.Recently, The Boyfriend and I realized that every solidly funny film we’ve seen since 2004 has starred Rudd in some capacity (Pixar films excepted). Adorable and dorky (adorkable?), he’s made Anchorman, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Role Models, and now I Love You Man much better for his presence. Maybe it’s the timing, or the fact that in less comic circumstances, he’s a stone hottie. Either way, the guy is MAGIC. He even made the last season of Friends almost tolerable, long after Phoebe and Ross drove most...

Read more »

Posted in: Sides,Vegan,Vegetarian

Grasslands Herb Salsa: Sweet Mongolia

In the past 20 months, we’ve featured recipes from India, Israel, Italy, and … well, many other countries beginning with the letter “I.” But it’s pretty rare we get to highlight food from outer Mongolia. Or rather: from a town located between Mongolia and Siberia called Manzhouli. (Thanks, Serious Eats!)In olden days, we used “outer Mongolia” as a synonym for “very far away.” (Also see: Guam, Mars, East Bumble****.) Up until several hours ago, the only things I knew about the place is that it borders China, and my friend J was considering working on a Habitat for Humanity project there. (Which I’m fairly sure solicited a shocked “MONGOLIA?” from each and every person she told.)But now, I’m a virtual expert. (Meaning: I looked at Wikipedia,...

Read more »

Posted in: 15 Minutes or Less,Dips and Sauces,Vegan,Vegetarian

CHG Favorites of the Week

Food Blog of the WeekRaw Food, Real PeopleYou know, I initially visited this site to see if Nathan and Kelly could make it the entire month eating only raw foods. But now I’m obsessed with their Halloween costumes. Either way, good times.Food Comedy of the Week"Rowlf and the Swedish Chef" from SNLI’d never seen this sketch before last week. On a scale of 1 to 10, its adorableness rates a Pierdy-pierdy-pier mork mork mork! (Meaning: 12)via videosift.comFood Quote of the Week"An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup." - H.L. MenckenFood Movie Clip of the WeekNo Man Can Eat 50 Eggs scene from Cool Hand LukeMan, Paul Newman was a babe.Totally Unrelated Extra Special...

Read more »

Posted in: Links

Veggie Might: Who Wants a Vegan Bran Muffin?!

Penned by the effervescent Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about the wide world of Vegetarianism.I do! Seriously. I do.My mom was that mom: first on the block to substitute carob for chocolate, rarely bought sweet cereal or pop, and always, always packet carrot sticks and an apple in my Tupperware lunch box instead of cookies or cupcakes. (I only got Ho-Hos on field trip days.)We were not wholly deprived of junk food or butter- and cheese-laden comfort food, but a frugal, borderline health nut, Mom liked to make her mom’s meat-and-potatoes Midwestern recipes (and my Dad’s Southern fried family classics) healthier whenever possible and cheap pretty much always.The New York Times’ ran a terrific article in the Health section last...

Read more »

Posted in: Breakfast,Vegan,Vegetarian

Information Central: 32 Free Food Charts, Checklists, and Wallet-Sized Guides

Have you ever puzzled over how many tablespoons are in a third of a cup? Have you ever been stuck in a grocery store, wondering if tomatoes were in season? Have you ever wanted to find some way – ANY way – of telling a chef that yes, you REALLY ARE allergic to dairy products, and yes, that means you can’t have butter? (Butter being a dairy product and all.)If only … IF ONLY there were small, portable documents that included this kind of data; files you could stick in your wallet, slap on your refrigerator, or even staple to your forehead if need be.Well, look no further sweet readers, as today’s post is all about instant information in conveniently-sized packages. From sustainable sushi to weekly menu plans to pesticide-free veggies, what follows...

Read more »

Posted in: Buying Food,Cooking,Organization

Tuesday Megalinks: Not-so-elderly Woman Behind a Laptop in a Large Town Edition

Today, Pearl Jam is reissuing Ten, the greatest, bestest, seminal-iest album of my adolescence. I had it on cassette, and listened to it so much you could hear Side A’s music when Side B was playing. To celebrate its 18th anniversary (lord, I’m old), today’s megalinks include a few of my favorite songs from Eddie and the boys.Consumerist: FTC To Require Advertisers Using Testimonials To Show Typical ResultsMan, what a development! From now on, businesses will have to portray the actual, average results of their product, meaning they won’t be allowed to show a person who lost 400 pounds and then add a tiny “results aren’t typical” caveat at the bottom. Needless to say, corporations aren’t happy because they’ll lose the “aspirational” allure of the product, which will drive away customers. Crazy.Epi-Log:...

Read more »

Posted in: Links

Chorizo and Potato Frittata: 'Til We Meat Again

(You guys! My column over at Serious Eats today is on Daniel Boulud’s recipe for Red Cabbage with Honey and Apples. I loathe red cabbage with the white-hot intensity of a thousand angry suns, and still thought this was DELICIOUS. We have enough to feed the entire block until 2022. If you get the chance, check it out.)One of the trickiest things about healthy cooking is figuring out how to use meat. Lean cuts like chicken breast, pork tenderloin, and flank steak aren’t too terrible of an issue. In general, they can be consumed in greater quantities without causing crazy damage to your diet. On the other hand, while undeniably delicious, overdosing on fattier meats like pork belly and sausage will end your newest bout with Weight Watchers faster...

Read more »

Posted in: Breakfast,Eggs,Mains,Meat and Fish

Kale and Mushrooms with Polenta: Temptation

Things I was tempted to do for today’s post, but ultimately resisted:1) Inspired by the most recent episode of 30 Rock, I wanted to put up several pictures of a young Alec Baldwin. Because, really, have you SEEN that guy in his twenties? He made Brad Pitt look like Ernest Borgnine after a chainsaw accident.2) Comment on this AV Club piece about the music you just can’t listen to anymore, “because of the memories you associate with them.” For me, it’s Jeff Buckley. My friend H turned me on to him back in 1995, a full decade before “Hallelujah” popped up on The O.C. or American Idol. Grace was a perfect album for a perfect time, and now he’s dead and his music isn’t my special secret anymore. Don’t get me wrong - the specialness isn’t totally...

Read more »

Posted in: Mains,Meat and Fish

CHG Favorites of the Week

Food Blog of the Week The Atlantic’s new food blogHoly moly. For a blog that’s just a few weeks old, this is already stuffed to the nines with content. It looks like it covers a vast mishmash of topics, and, uh … well, according to site master Corby Krummer: “you'll find a tasting menu with what I hope will be just enough writing and pictures to keep you nourished but a little hungry for what's next.” So take that and put it in your hat.Food Comedy of the Week "FDA Approves Salmonella" from The OnionBrilliance: “One of several new foods to feature the motile microorganism is Salmonell-Os—an O-shaped breakfast cereal packed with hearty typhoid clusters—which is expected to hit grocery stores by April.”Food Quote of the Week This week, a trio...

Read more »

Posted in: Links

Veggie Might: Curry World Tour ‘09—Pindi Chana

Written by the fabulous Leigh, Veggie Might is a regular Thursday feature about all things Vegetarian.Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reading about and experimenting with Indian curries. It’s been an enlightening and delicious endeavor. And naturally, I got a bit in over my head.I’ve been reading Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham, a few Indian cooking blogs, and my new favorite cookbook, World Vegetarian by Madhur JaffreyCollingham’s book is a fascinating, in-depth, if somewhat academic, look at the history of India and its cuisine. It even has recipes that accompany every chapter. I’m just a couple chapters in, and I know more about the Mughals and the Hindistanis than I ever thought I could.What’s interesting is...

Read more »

Posted in: Mains,Sides,Vegan,Vegetarian,Veggie Might

Last-Minute Little Dinners for One: Tips, Ideas, and 25 Recipes

A few months ago, our own Jaime posted a piece called Little Meals for One. It was a brief, well thought-out article all about simple, small-scale home cooking. I loved it, as did many readers who were looking for both inspiration and validation. (A spoonful of peanut butter IS TOO a meal, dangit.)Because sometimes? You just want food in your mouthhole. You want it in a single portion, and you want it a.s.a.p. Why? Well, maybe you’re late coming home from the office. Maybe it’s a lazy Sunday afternoon in August, and you have no great urge to further heat your already-sweltering apartment with a 450ºF oven. Maybe you’re just really hungry, and whipping up a whole lasagna for one person seems totally freaking insane.Unfortunately, quick, single-portion recipes are hard to come by, probably because...

Read more »

Posted in: Cooking,Frugality,Organization