2nd Way of Christmas: Go Fish
Seven delicious courses to savor, marvel at and talk about. Pass 'em around. Family Style. The handoff. The social interaction. A feast to share. You can pull this off. With ease. For less than $20 per person.
1st Way of Christmas: Pass it, please
Everyone inhales deeply while the polenta's being passed. They gasping in awe, maybe drool, when the platter of osso buco comes around. Family Style. The handoff. The social interaction. A meal to share. Easy and foolproof to prepare.
Pizza Upgrade. Just add patience.
Get a pizza crust that looks, feels and tastes like one that came out of a real pizza oven. Soft, chewy and partly charred around the edge. Thin and crisp in the center. From your own little kitchen oven.
Price of Popping Corn
This might be the ultimate Better Cheaper Slower snack. Do-It-Yourself popcorn. I don't mean just pop-it-yourself. I mean dry it, scrape it and pop it yourself. Couldn't be fresher. Or better-tasting. Couldn't be cheaper. Couldn't be more fun.
The Gift of the Exotic
Exotic aromas. Exotic flavors. Excited tongues. Delighted taste buds. These spice blends are godsends for anyone who wants to eat more fruits and vegetables. $24'll get you three blends that breathe new life and fire into anything you cook.
Seckel Pear Tart. Almost free. Very easy
Concentrated sweetness from baking very ripe fruit. Zero sugar. Flaky, buttery luxury-in-your-mouth from your leftover homemade pie crust. Your home smells like a very good bakery. Your tart cost less than 75 cents.
Ratatouille Time
When you get eggplant, peppers, squash, fennel, scallions and tomatoes in one week's CSA farm share, it's time to make ratatouille. And when these hot-weather vegetables ripen at once, make a huge pot to refrigerate and enjoy cold for the rest of the week.
Chill your mouth: Mint-Melon Popsicles
Get a really ripe melon. So sweet you won't even think about adding sugar. Not even to offset the cool of the mint and the kick of the ginger. A truly sweet and wonderfully refreshing Way to end a meal on a hot day.
Revival Eating: Gazpacho Popsicles
When the temperature outside is 95 F, put one of these inside your mouth and lower your body temperature to complete comfort in one minute flat. A convenient, frozen, hand-held soup and salad on a stick. Great for parties.
Garden Watch: Summer Solstice 2012
On the first day of summer, my first raspberry turned true red. Tiny green tomatoes are hanging everywhere. The beanstalk's outgrown its trellis. The cucumber's not far behind.