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Digital Dish copyright 2005 Press For Change Publishing LLC
Digital Dish is the first ever compilation of the best writing from food blogs. Find out more at Press For Change and place an order!

 

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The Meatrix I'm not a vegetarian but I dislike factory farming and I support small, family farms.

 

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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Paper Chef #7 Fast out of the gate 
I got caught out daydreaming - what with the Memorial Day holiday here in the US and so on. Paper Chef Number 7 will start THIS Friday June 3rd at Noon PST and will end at Noon PST on Monday June 6th (or thereabouts).

Here is the current ingredient list:

Paper Chef Ingredients




Star anise, chestnut paste, egg, brown sugar, red wine, cream, cheddar cheese, buttermilk, quinoa, mejdool dates and honey. See below to nominate others.

Cannot nominate: ricotta, strawberries, almond paste or chocolate

Semi-Official Paper Chef Rules



On the first Friday of every month - that would be Friday June 3rd - at some point prior to Noon PST, I will announce a list of four ingredients that must be used, along with any other ingredients you choose, to make a dish and then write about it by Noon PST on Monday, 72 hours later. An impartial guest judge (usually the previous winner - in this case, A Finger In Every Pie) will pick the best sounding recipe to them and the winner will be awarded the "Paper Chef" title for that month. An evolving tradition is that the winner becomes the judge for the following month so that we have a judge and so that people can't just keep on winning...the winner also gets to display the prestigious winner icon on their site.

I've had lots of questions about things like photographs. Photographs are NOT necessary to take part. Nor is having you own blog - I'll be happy to post a recipe for you if you want. However, it is clear that having a nice photograph will help influence the judges - if they see it looking good it is a lot easier to imagine it tasting looking good...

It is also absolutely OK to substitute if you just cannot find an ingredient or if you or someone who will eat the dish has an allergy - just try to substitute with something close to the original to remain in the spirit of the occasion.

Anyone who wants to is welcome to submit ingredient ideas and all suitable ones will go onto a list. Three of the ingredients will be randomly picked from the list and the fourth will be seasonal or trendy or in the news in some way. If the list of four is totally unsuitable (maraschino cherries, english mustard, liver and suet) then we will redraw randomly until it is conceivable to cook different kinds of dishes with all four ingredients.

Ingredient suggestions go to the Paper Chef forum on Is My Blog Burning up to midnight the day before the event or in the comments field here. Ingredients that are NOT selected will be rolled over for a month and then removed. Anyone at all can suggest one ingredient - not more. Suggestions that are not realistic or are in bad taste in the estimation of the powers that be (me for the moment) will be ignored.

No sign up is necessary to take part. Just send an email to owenl1998@yahoo.com before Noon PST on the Monday to point to your entry.

To give you some ideas of what people have done in the past here is a summary of the events so far:

Paper Chef #1: Cilantro, Ginger, Almonds and Winter Squash

The winner was Curried Chicken and Squash Soup with Meyer Lemon.

Paper Chef #2: Potatoes, Savoy Cabbage, Chicken and Lemon

The winner was Lemon Chicken Egg Rolls with Citrus Dipping Sauce.

Paper Chef #3: Wheat Flour, Cinnamon, Creme Fraiche and Oranges

The winner was Very Posh Cheese and Biscuits.

Paper Chef #4: Eggplant, chocolate, stale bread and pomegranate.

The winner was Cocoa-Pomegranate Roast Chicken with Eggplant Stuffing.

Paper Chef #5: Prosciutto, sherry vinegar, green garlic and goat cheese.

The winner was Garlic chive and Goat's Cheese Ravioli with Sherry Vinegar Reduction and Prosciutto Shards.

Paper Chef #6: Ricotta, strawberries, almond paste and white chocolate.
The winner was Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote with Ricotta-White Chocolate Gelato and Scented Madeleines.

If you look through the entries you will see that people pretty much make just about anything - desserts or savory dishes, small or large, complex or simple.

I like to think it is a chance once a month to push your creativity a little in the kitchen by putting just a few constraints on what you can do.

Anyway - please nominate away...
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Monday, May 30, 2005

The next generation 
Just as it becomes time to reopen the doors to the Paper Chef, I have a moment to get back to normal here and write a little tiny bit about cooking and what we have been doing in that regard. I am not the chef of the hour, however. I have mentioned before how both my daughters' can make crepes and have even been known to do so and bring them to us in bed (if only we could find the secret to getting them to do this more often...)

Well, the younger one has always been more interested in the kitchen and in cooking. She asked the other day about making something special - maybe a souffle. So I helped her pick out four or five recipe books from the more than seventy that have made the cut in our household (that means they don't get purged every six months when I decide I don't look at them often enough to keep them). She went through a bunch and settled on a strawberry souffle with strawberry sauce from Pierre Franey's Cuisine Rapide (an excellent book that I should look at more). Then she made it. I helped with only two things - I put in and took out from the oven and I did about 20% of the egg white beating (since I persuaded her that it is correct procedure to do it by hand).

Strawberry Souffle copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm

We talked later and she told me that she wants the Pierre Franey book to go off to college with. Personally I think she'll be beyond it long before then - she's ten at the moment.

She also made brunch today for friends and family - six people - crepes with about fifteen toppings. I contributed some sauteed asparagus and onions in lemon and salt.

I did inaugurate the barbecuing season (technically grilling in our household) with the usual assortment of hot dogs, sausages and some very nice burgers made from high quality range fed beef, minced onion and garlic, herbes de provence, cajun spice and salt. I also made a lovely buttermilk-marinated chicken with spicy salsa, black olive paste, onion, garlic, meyer lemons, salt, paprika and bay leaves all added to the marinade. I slashed the chicken pieces before marinating to get the flavor inside and I let them sit for six hours. Mmmm, mmmm, good.
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Thursday, May 26, 2005

Greek Myth, food and Digital Dish 
Another sighting has been made out there in the blogosphere (oh how I hate that word but it has become common currency). Breakfast With Pandora is a greek myth, writing and sometimes food site that is really refreshing. Who doesn't like a Greek myth or two? And who doesn't like to travel in the Greek Islands? It all takes me back to my carefree days when I had just graduated and took several vacations in a row to the Greek Islands - my favorites being Crete and Samos. I fondly remember treacly coffee with a glass of water every sun-stroked morning at the harbor front and long hikes into the interior accompanied by oregano, goats, olive trees, small streams, tiny villages and lunches made of bread and olives and cheese and tomatoes and salami. And I remember innumerable delicious meals of grilled seafood and robust salads and wine. All that is already a myth to me.

So it was a really nice surprise to get a little plug for the book from another purchaser (and a fan of Alberto's). Thank you, thank you!
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Monday, May 23, 2005

Sightings! 
Today I found via Meathenge, a new blog, Banlieu Blog in Paris. And very, very excitingly, it has a picture of a real copy of the book ordered and delivered and now happily living in France!
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Sunday, May 22, 2005

The Launch: Day Two - The Lafayette Bookstore 
That was a really nice launch. Even hotter than yesterday and it was pretty hot in the store. Maybe hot tea was a mistake. The other local authors, Stephanie, Ellen and Guy all showed up early and Dave, the store owner got a space set out with chairs. Once enough people arrived we got started and I'm afraid I rambled on rather too much. I served some cheese bite things I made and made some real English Tea, which was perhaps a mistake. The readings and discussion about how everyone came to blog went really well and we sold a fair number of books and lots of people wanted signatures. I was so busy with the event that I actually forgot to take pictures, so I really hope the others took some!

It was another great event and we really did have a good and interested crowd. Dave was fantastic as always - he's a great bookseller and the Lafayette Bookstore is a great place to buy books from. There are over 200 book clubs that run out of the store!

I did get lots of confirmation that the book is really worthwhile. People liked the readings. People liked the idea. So, if you haven't bought a copy already get to it! Click on the book cover to the top left.

There will be more events and activities coming up. Stay tuned!
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Preview: The Launch Day Two - The Lafayette Bookstore 
After yesterday's wonderful day out at the Berkeley Farmer's Market, we are going to be at the Lafayette Bookstore in Lafayette California at 4PM sharp today. We also got a wonderful boost from the even more wonderful people at Blogger who wrote us up in Blogger Buzz. The write up is a work of art and I particularly liked the 'cloud' of all our member bloggers at the bottom. He also has a nice Google map to the bookstore!

I'm going to let you in a little on what we plan for today. We will be doing readings from the book, book signing (four of the authors will be there) and some simple, practical and totally delicious cooking demonstrations. I plan to serve REAL english tea and some kind of accompanying snack - which I admit I will make beforehand. We probably won't be doing performance demonstrations like the strawberry, smoked chipotle and mint salsa of yesterday. (Scroll down to see the whole thing).
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Saturday, May 21, 2005

The Launch: Day 1 - Berkeley Farmer's Market 
I've been nervous for weeks. I finally got to bed before 1AM for the first time this week last night. (If you didn't get an email from me about the launch it is only because I don't know your email address!) Then I got up early and zoomed over to Kinko's to make some little card handouts I dreamed up in my sleep since I failed in my aim of having thousands of lovely bookmarks printed in time. The cards looked good so I was happy.

Eventually, after loading my friend's car up with books, water, ice, pens, spare book covers, tape, sundry bits of little cooking equipment, I headed for Berkeley and arrived just in time to say hello to Robin, the cover designer who is a fantastic person and does really good, highly professional work in website, corporate identity and book cover design. Go check her out. She had already met Guy, who apparently lives at the Berkeley Farmer's Market on Saturday's. People kept coming up to him (or he would go off to see someone) with little bags of food goodies. It was sort of like tribute or something. So he helped me unload and my back thanks him. Then Ellen showed up and we finally got to get started.

Let me set the scene - it was a gorgeous day - the first true day of Summer in the Bay Area - just a touch over 80 degrees and bright sunshine. The Farmer's Market was in full swing with its annual strawberry tasting going on. We had a nice canopy and some chairs arranged in front with a microphone and speakers. We also got a great arrangement where we went on last and got to stay and sell and sign books until the market closed.

A few minutes after we got started, Stephanie showed up, she had been caught in beautiful weekend traffic and parking issues. We talked about the book and how we came to blog and how we came to cooking and about our food blogs. Then we did some readings along with a few ad hoc demonstrations. I challenged audience members to go off and find random ingredients to go with strawberries. One took me up and returned with whole raw almonds. I had come prepared. We scored a punnet of awesome organic strawberries from the market and I pulled out the greek yoghurt (from Trader Joe's), some honey, a lemon, and some decorticated cardamom seeds (translation seeds removed from hulls but still whole). I roughly chopped the almonds and layered them in the bottom of a glass, then strawberries, then I mixed up some yoghurt, lemon juice, honey and freshly ground cardamom. It was good but not spectacular - and since nobody took pictures of it, it will have to remain undocumented further.

Digital Dish Farmer's Market Launch copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm

Just then was when one of Guy's suppliers slipped him a sealed bag of home-smoked and dried chipotle peppers. I want to know how he knows these people. Why don't people slide up to me and give me (say) two ribeye's from an artichoke and saltgrass fed angus cow?

Anyway, Guy upped the challenge level severely. He handed me the bag and asked what I could make with them and strawberries. Thinking VERY quickly I came up with a strawberry, smoked chipotle and mint salsa. I then had to run back to the car to get the mint I had fortunately picked from the garden that morning as well as more lemon (meyer lemon from a local tree). I passed the chipotles and the cardamom around for everyone to smell by the way - the aromas were explosive in their freshness and power.

Here's the recipe, as best as I remember it.

Strawberry, smoked chipotle and mint salsa



Strawberry Chipotle Mint Salsa copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm

Chop one smoked chipotle pepper into as fine pieces as you can. If you are in a kitchen, it might be better to whiz it in a chopper attachment along with the lemon and mint. Instead I chopped it as fine as I could - these peppers were hard and dry, so very hard to cut small. Then I let it sit with the juice of a meyer lemon in a bowl while I prepared the rest. Next I roughly diced up half a punnet of strawberries. Again, on reflection, use the whole punnet. The berries went in with the lemon and chipotles as well as a big pinch of salt. I stirred it all up again to keep the spice circulating and to bring out the pepper flavor. Then I minced up the mint leaves (about a quarter cup - I would use half a cup or even a whole cup next time) and added them and let the whole salsa rest for five to ten minutes. We served it with some strange seaweedy crackers and a little greek yoghurt on the side. The salsa would be great with fish and good with chicken or turkey as well. The first taste is lemon with strawberries and mint, then you get strong smokiness, followed by a long, strong burn of heat that last for a long time in the mouth. It was very nice.

We had a great time talking and reading and soaking up the sun. More to come tomorrow.

After I got home to celebrate and because I didn't eat lunch, I went all out and made chicken thighs wrapped in bacon cooked with mushrooms and a little sorrel and oregano. It was a great end to a good day.

Chicken wrapped in bacon copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm
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Today's the day! 
Today and tomorrow is the big launch! I'll try to post some pictures (and some from the Farmer's Market) tonight if I'm not too exhausted!
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Thursday, May 19, 2005

Party Planning 
Whew! It's a maelstrom of planning and publicity and ideas and shipping and on and on - and that's just the day job!

No, seriously, there has been a LOT of planning going on for this weekend's events

[[aside for those who haven't been here before or are not paying attention

Digital Dish (look over to the top left) is out and we are having a party.

On Saturday May 21st at 11:30AM we will be launching the book and talking about food blogs and then signing the book at the Berkeley Farmer's Market in Berkeley, CA at the corner of Center Ave and M. L. King Jr. Way, two blocks from Berkeley BART. This will be part of the Farmer's Market's Annual Strawberry Tasting.

The second launch event is at the Lafayette Bookstore at 3795 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, CA and that is two blocks from the Lafayette BART station. This will be on Sunday May 22nd at 4PM and will also feature talks and signings from the same four authors plus perhaps some cooking demonstrations and tastings!]]

So scratch that last item on the planning list. It turns out that we can't prepare food even to give away in public without doing it in a certified kitchen. I had been planning on making some kind of flavored biscuits in a convection oven. I say some kind because I was going to challenge the audience to give me three ingredients and try to make something of them with what else I had brought. But now I can't except as a 'demonstration' which I may do anyway. So something along the lines of green garlic and arugula (rocket) biscuits. Then because of the strawberry theme I was going to make a simple dish of strawberries sliced and marinated in meyer lemon juice and maple syrup (strawberries and meyer lemons from the Farmer's Market of course) accompanied by a creamy/yoghurty thing with freshly ground cardamom and honey (as many items as possible from the market) and garnished with mint.

Oh well...let's see if I can run my mouth for three hours instead. Wait, that's not a challenge at all - plus Dr. Biggles, Ellen and Stephanie seem perfectly capable of holding down their end of a food blogging filibuster (maybe that's what the Senate should be discussing in the coming week?)

The weather is supposed to be good so I am really hoping for a great turnout.
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Sunday, May 15, 2005

Digital Dish Is Here! 
By now you must have noticed the big Digital Dish image on the top left of Tomatilla. Many of you have even clicked on it and know what it is. For those of you that haven't, now is the time to find out.

Digital Dish copyright 2005 Press For Change Publishing LLC

Digital Dish copyright 2005 Press For Change Publishing LLC

Digital Dish is a book that I have been working on for 9 months. It is a compilation of the best writing from some of the best food blogs around. I set up a real publishing company - something I have wanted to do for a long time - and I picked this compilation as the first book to publish. This book is a celebration of food and of food bloggers and it is available at Amazon and at bookstores, but we really hope you'll buy it online directly - that way less of the money goes to the distributors and more to the authors and to me - and I need for the book to do well in order to break even and hopefully do well enough to publish more. You see, this is the best of one season - Summer 2003 to Summer 2004. The next one will be Summer 2004 to 2005...and so on. All the other bloggers in the book are listed in my links on the left (plus some others who I really like).

Press For Change Publishing is the name of the company I set up and it intends to be different from other publishers. We really want author participation and we want authors to do well out of our books. We are paying better royalties than the industry standard and we are finding creative ways to get authors involved.

For example, the four authors in the Bay Area are going to take part in two novel book launch events. On Saturday May 21st at 11:30AM we will be launching the book and talking about food blogs and then signing the book at the Berkeley Farmer's Market in Berkeley, CA at the corner of Center Ave and M. L. King Jr. Way, two blocks from Berkeley BART. This will be part of the Farmer's Market's Annual Strawberry Tasting.

The second launch event is at the Lafayette Bookstore at 3795 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Lafayette, CA and that is two blocks from the Lafayette BART station. This will be on Sunday May 22nd at 4PM and will also feature talks and signings from the same four authors plus perhaps some cooking demonstrations and tastings!

So, apart from these events, why the hoopla? The books arrived a couple of days ago from the printer. All 3000 pounds of them...

Digital Dish copyright 2005 Press For Change Publishing LLC

If you can make it, PLEASE come to the launch and tell all your friends to come too. Both events should be great fun and you'll get to meet lots of (other) food bloggers and check the book out firsthand for yourself.
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Thursday, May 12, 2005

The results are in! 
David at A Banana in Australia did us proud with three awards and a careful and serious consideration of everyone's recipes. Thank you all for entering! I think the standard of food and cooking on display was the highest it has ever been overall and I will be making some of these myself...
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Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Paper Chef #6 Entries 

Roundup of entries for Paper Chef #6 - The ricotta, almond paste, white chocolate and strawberry edition



Another bumper crop of entries. We had the usual flurry of issues and slightly late entries, but finally they are all in. The list this time around is simply amazing and includes a remarkable level of creativity! I don't envy David over at A Banana in Australia who has to judge all these! It will take him a couple of days but then check out his site for his pronouncements from the bench. I'll post the link here as soon as I know it.

To recap, this month's randomly chosen ingredients were: ricotta cheese, white chocolate and almond paste and the topical/seasonal ingredient was strawberries - with the usual disclaimers about allergies, inability to get your lazy self out the door to go to the grocery store, living on isolated islands and in places where some things aren't in season all applying.

Without further ado, here are the nominations in no particular order. If I missed someone yell out loud and clear here and to my email owenl1998 at yahoo dot com...


Barbara at You Gonna Eat All That entered a stunning looking Ricotta Cheesecake with white chocolate and strawberries in a graham cracker-marzipan crust.

Lyn of Lex Culinaria entered a white chocolate & ricotta semifreddo and garden fresh strawberries in almond tuille cups and a bonus recipe of baked white chocolate ricotta cakes with almond tuile cookies and fresh sugared strawberries. Bonus points to her for making the ricotta from scratch!

Julie of A Finger In Every Pie created a Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote with Ricotta-White Chocolate Gelato and Scented Madeleines with a separate recipe for each of those yummy-sounding elements.

Alice of My Epicurean Debauchery made a Strawberry Katsu - Alice taught me that a Katsu is a Japanese crusted cutlet and since these are usually savory meat dishes, her switch to a dessert was certainly creative! Alice has entered Paper Chef before and seems to stretch the creativity considerably every time.

Daffy of Kitchen Crazy Daffy (now called Chopsticks? - I'm not sure)- by now our most prolific Paper Chef entrant - who once managed to enter somehow while on a weekend trip to France(!) - also supplied three recipes: Baked strawberry cheesecake with chocolate syrup and Sweet Softies and Strawberry sorbet with cheesy almond cores and chocolate syrup.

Kevin of Seriously Good made us the deceptively simple-sounding Strawberry Cheese, designed to highlight the flavor of the strawberries, accompanied by almond tuiles. His picture looked a lot like Lyn's above but they are very different recipes.

Honore - a brand new entrant - did not have a blog to host his entry of White Chocolate - Fruit and Nut Cheese Blintzes, so I put them up on Tomatilla! for him.

Brenda of Culinary Fool entered Strawberry Ricotta Fool in Almond Florentine Cups. She has some absolutely lovely pictures with her entry of the Florentine cups setting over glasses and punnets of berries lying around. And she designed it to go with the upcoming WBW (Wine Blogging Wednesday) on rose wines.

Another Barbara - of Winos and Foodies in New Zealand - had trouble finding Strawberries (it is Autumn turning to Winter there after all) so she went with jam for her White Chocolate Cupcakes with Ricotta Filling and Strawberry Frosting. She includes a bonus cutaway photo of how it looks inside!

Sarah of The Delicious Life entered White Chocolate Ricotta Cheesecake that looks absolutely delicious. She was then insulted by her (I'm sorry if the truth hurts, but...) absolutely idiotic colleagues at work who dared to mention the (bleh!) Cheesecake Factory in the same breath as this delightful confection.

Even though Chopper Dave and Mrs. Deedop of Belly-Timber going through some tough times right now, they somehow managed to take up the gauntlet of using the four ingredients to make a non-dessert. Not once, but twice. And they did a dessert too. And Chopper Dave included a recipe that used the ingredient he nominated that did not get selected as well - quinoa. I'm not just impressed - I'm intimidated. The full list of recipes is: Quinoa Crusted Prawns with Mole Fresa, Duck Leg Confit with savory Strawberry Compote and Strawberry & Red Wine Granita.

UPDATE: Noticed Viv at Seattle Bon Vivant's entry: it is somewhat deconstructionist, but lovely just the same: Fresh strawberries garnished with grated white chocolate (South African Cadbury's Dream)along with, the freshest Amandine, purchased early this morning at Le Panier at the Market, an Almondy and moist Friand, also from Le Panier and finally, in lieu of Ricotta, a serving of very tangy, creamy and thick homemade yogurt.


I think that's it - If I missed anyone (for example if you contacted David at A Banana in Asia directly) then let me know and I'll add you.


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White Chocolate - Fruit and Nut Cheese Blintzes 
We had a brand new entrant for Paper Chef this time around - Honore - without a blog to post on, so I am putting his creation up here for all to see.

The full indexed list will go up in a couple of hours.

Owen

Honore's White Chocolate - Fruit and Nut Cheese Blintzes



Crepe Ingredients:
4 eggs
4 Tablespoons oil
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups flour, sifted
1 teaspoon salt

Filling Ingredients:
1/2 pound cream cheese
1/2 pound Ricotta
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 Tablespoons almond paste
2 Tablespoons White Chocolate, melted (save some white chocolate to shave over the top)

Sliced fresh strawberries for garnish (can also be added to filling) could be frozen strawberries or preserves or compote.


Beat eggs, oil, and milk. Add flour and salt, beat until smooth. Chill 1/2 hour. Lightly grease hot pan. Pour 3 to 4 Tablespoons batter into the pan, turning pan to coat thinly. Fry lightly on one side. Repeat with remaining batter. Stack crepes on waxed paper, brown side up. Beat filling ingredients together until smooth. Fill each crepe with 2 heaping Tablespoons of filling and roll up. Top with strawberries & shaved white chocolate.


Sounds wonderful, Honore!
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Monday, May 09, 2005

3 Hours to go...officially 
It's not even too late to get started for Paper Chef. Although the official deadline is Noon today (in about 3 hours where we are), the official rules also state that creative excuses can extend the deadline quite a lot - and - since I don't actually get home to round up everything tonight until about 11PM PST - you effectively have until then! (that would be 14 hours from now....)
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Friday, May 06, 2005

It's a party...and you are ALL invited... 
Well, the book arrives early next week. (Currently circling near Martinez). So it is time for a book launch, complete with author signings and everything - and strawberries...

Here are the details. Many of you already know that I started a small publishing company some months ago and have been working away to get our first book out. The time has finally come!

The book launch will take place on Saturday May 21st and on Sunday May 22nd. On Saturday May 21st an author talk and book signing will take place at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market at 11:30AM as part of its annual Strawberry Tasting event. On Sunday May 22nd, an author talk and book signing will take place at the Lafayette Book Store in Lafayette, California at 4PM. All four of the authors who reside in the Bay Area will be present at both events and will be available for signing, interviews and discussion.

Here's how to get there:

Berkeley Farmer’s Market, Saturdays 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., Center Street @ M. L. King, Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA. This is in downtown Berkeley two blocks West (toward the Bay) of Shattuck and the Berkeley BART station.

Map link:


Lafayette Book Store, 3579 Mt. Diablo Blvd. Lafayette, CA Contact: (925) 284-1233. This is in downtown Lafayette a very short walk from the Lafayette BART station and one block West of the downtown Safeway/Starbucks intersection.

Map link:


So what is the book? Here's a little piece from the press release....

Digital Dish: The Freshest Recipes and Writing From Food Blogs Around the World

The writing in food weblogs has an immediacy and sense of adventure that is completely different from food writing in magazines and newspapers. Food blogs chronicle failure as well as success. They explore the familiar and the exotic, the everyday and the special occasion. Food blogs are accounts of inspired cooking, travelogues that whisk you to far off places and cultures, memories of times and places fixed by taste and small as well as sight and sound.

Recently food blogs have been widely covered by the mainstream media. Some of the contributors in this book have appeared on French national television, been interviewed by the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle and have been written about by magazines like Gourmet and Time. But they remain intensely personal and cover food, cooking and dining from a wide range of personal styles and angles.

Digital Dish brings together some of the best writing and recipes from food weblogs over the period of five seasons.

You will be able to get a copy easily at either of the launch venues and you won't have to pay shipping!

The publication date is June 2005 and Digital Dish will cost $19.95. It will be available from all major booksellers, from Amazon.com and directly online from the publisher at http://www.pressforchange.com, where it can also be pre-ordered.

Title: Digital Dish: Five Seasons of the Freshest Recipes and Writing from Food Blogs Around the World
Price: $19.95
ISBN: 1-933249-00-5
Publisher: Press For Change Publishing LLC, PO Box 1321, Lafayette, CA 94549
Pages: 232
Perfect Bound
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Paper Chef #6 - Ready, Set, Go.... 
For May, 2005, the final ingredients are:

1)Ricotta
2)Almond paste - if you can't get it, try ground almonds or almond flour or another nut paste (even peanut butter I suppose) or something nutty or a paste of some kind if you are allergic to nuts
3)White chocolate - or if you can't get it another form of chocolate - or if you can't do chocolate try carob or another sweet and fatty substance that is highly addictive of your choice
4)And the topical/seasonal ingredient? Strawberries (see post below) - if you live where they are not in season or you can't/won't eat them then substitute frozen or another red fruit or another fruit

This is the first clearly dessert only Paper Chef - having said that, the clever people who managed to do things like make truffles with eggplant will surely be able to make a fruit-nut mole with chillies for fish (or whatever)

Our judge this time around is David of A Banana in Australia (winner last month) BUT - he may bow out since his mailbox isfull and I'm not sure he got the notification. If he can't do it, then I will.

Start as soon as you read this - and email a link to your entry about what you cooked before Monday Noon PST. Spectacular whining, preferably with stupendously creative excuses left in the comments area, may get you an extended deadline.

Winner gets to put up the prestigious Paper Chef Winner icon (which will be supplied) and also gets to judge next month (if they want).
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Explaining Strawberries 
In the comments to the previous two posts I mentioned that there was a super special reason why strawberries are the seasonal/topical ingredient this time around for Paper Chef. They were pre-announced inadvertently when they were suggested by one of the nominators, and since there is a special reason, I had already selected them, so I had to come clean.

The reason is in fact both seasonal and topical. It all comes about because the Berkeley Farmer's Market is holding its annual strawberry tasting on Saturday May 21st at the Farmers market at the intersection of Center and ML King Jr Way (two blocks from downtown Berkeley BART). In conjunction with this prestigious event, I am finally launching Digital Dish. (See little advert thingy up in the top left). This book is a compilation of the best food writing from food blogs around the world between Summer of 2003 and Summer of 2004. There are 24 different food blogs represented. So, if you live in the Bay Area get on over to the Farmers Market where you can get a signed copy. Four of the authors will talk about food blogging, serve little snacky things and sign books. Plus you get a free strawberry tasting thrown in!

If you can't make that date, an additional launch event takes place the following day at the Lafayette Bookstore in Lafayette (also 2 blocks from BART) on Sunday May 22nd at 4PM where the agenda will be a little more literary and a little less strawberry but will still have four authors talking and signing books. The four local authors in question are me, Dr Biggles, Ellen and Stephanie.

Besides wanting to not lose a lot of money on the book (I set up a publishing company and spent six months on researching, signing up authors, editing, laying out, designing and dealing with business and printer issues and then paid for printing) I have an additional agenda in mind - if the book is even a modest success I want to follow up with Digital Dish 2 - from Summer 2004 to Summer 2005. And there are a LOT more food bloggers from around the world now! The authors are all getting a better deal than if this was a normal publisher and a normal compilation. I have wanted to start a publishing company for some time and this seemed like an ideal vehicle and since I am also a writer and have been all my life, I wanted to make sure it rewarded writers properly. So, do your bit and order a copy!

The book is being delivered on Wednesday. I had hoped for today but the freight company couldn't quite make it and they can only deliver in the middle of the day and I can't manage Monday and Tuesday because of that so Wednesday it is...

So - that is the rather surprising reason for strawberries being both the seasonal and topical ingredient for Paper Chef this month. Full ingredient list to follow shortly...
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Thursday, May 05, 2005

Announcing the special ingredient! 
Since Biscuit Girl jumped the bandwagon in the comments to the previous post, I am going ahead and pre-announcing the special seasonal ingredient for Paper Chef. It is strawberries!

Spring Strawberry copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm
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Paper Chef Update 
We've gotten bogged down...people aren't thinking of ingredients enough (or at least not suggesting them!)

Here's the state of play....

The current list is: Chorizo, ground coriander, star anise, chestnut paste, egg, almond paste, brown sugar, red wine, cream, cheddar cheese, buttermilk, quinoa, mejdool dates and honey. Nominate others in comments here or at the Is My Blog Burning Forum.

Cannot nominate: prosciutto, garlic, sherry vinegar or goat cheese


So, what are you waiting for? Nominations close tonight at 11PM...
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Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Lemon Almond Shortbread 
It was time to suck up at work - I am the new kid on the block after all. So I made shortbread - Lemon Pistachio Shortbread. Read on for the details.

Lemon Almond Shortbread copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm

Shortbread is surprisingly easy - it is basically butter and flour and sugar. You can add other things if you want but those will do...

Lemon Almond Shortbread


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Cream together 3 sticks (12 ounces) of butter and 1 cup of granulated sugar. Mix in thoroughly one teaspoon of vanilla extract and 4 tablespoons of (meyer) lemon zest. Add two and a half cups of flour and 3/4 of a cup of ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) and a teaspoon of salt and 1/2 a cup of toasted almond slivers. Thoroughly mix these using two forks or two knives or a pastry cutter or a Kitchen Aid mixer. You will end up with a crumbly, almost-dough mixture. Get a flat baking pan up to an inch high but no more and carefully press the dough into the pan using the back of a fork until it is bound together and pressed in tight. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes until the edges are starting to turn brown. Take out, let cool five minutes. Carefully cut into squares with a knife and then carefully lift out onto cooling racks with a spatula. Let cool thoroughly to allow them to get firm. Beat off passers-by with the spatula. Carefully pack in boxes with paper towel to take to work.

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Paper Chef Ingredient Update 

paper Chef Ingredient Update



The current list is: Chorizo, ground coriander, star anise, chestnut paste, egg, almond paste, brown sugar, red wine, cream, cheddar cheese, buttermilk, quinoa, mejdool dates and honey. Nominate others in comments here or at the Is My Blog Burning Forum.

Cannot nominate: prosciutto, garlic, sherry vinegar or goat cheese
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Cherries and Springtime in the garden 
We are well into Spring and our garden is growing almost as fast as the weeds. The time we've put into some of the plants over the past seven years is paying off as they start to mature a bit more. For example, the cherry tree, now in its fifth year, produced a lone cherry two years ago (eaten by a bird), three cherries last year (eaten by us in a slightly unripe state for fear of the birds) and this year is up to about sixty or so. Next year we should get our first real crop. Here's a quick picture to give you an idea....

Spring Cherries copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm

If you want to see the rest of the bounty (artichokes, peaches, apricots, lemons, strawberries, roses - not to mention grapes, herbs, blackberries, persimmons) then read on...


The cherries were one of the earliest of our efforts, but not the first. The first was a multi-fruit tree - all grafted onto a single trunk. The nectarines and plums didn't make it but the white peaches and apricots did.

Spring peaches copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm

Spring apricots copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm

The lemons aren't technically ours since they spill over from next door. We have our own Meyer Lemon tree coming along but it is too small to produce much as yet.

Spring lemons copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm

The strawberries are spreading all over thanks to the girls who efficiently pop the slightly slug-eaten ones back into the ground for the future.

Spring strawberry copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm

The artichokes took some work - this is probably their best year yet, but we do usually get two crops. Note that these are spikier and smaller than commercial ones, but my are they tasty!

Spring artichokes copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm

And finally, I threw the rose in (one of about fifteen - all different - just because they can represent the wide variety of gorgeous flowers that Jan has planted.

Spring rose copyright 2005 Owen Linderholm


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Monday, May 02, 2005

Paper Chef #6 - Friday May 6th 
It is that time of month again! Paper Chef Number 6 will start on Friday May 6th (this Friday) at Noon PST and will end at Noon PST on Monday May 9th (or thereabouts).

Here is the current ingredient list:

Paper Chef Ingredients




The current list is: Chorizo, ground coriander, star anise, chestnut paste, egg, almond paste, brown sugar, red wine, cream and cheddar cheese. See below to nominate others.

Cannot nominate: prosciutto, garlic, sherry vinegar or goat cheese

Semi-Official Paper Chef Rules



On the first Friday of every month - that would be Friday May 6th - at some point prior to Noon PST, I will announce a list of four ingredients that must be used, along with any other ingredients you choose, to make a dish and then write about it by Noon PST on Monday, 72 hours later. An impartial guest judge (usually the previous winner - in this case, A Banana in Australia) will pick the best sounding recipe to them and the winner will be awarded the "Paper Chef" title for that month. An evolving tradition is that the winner becomes the judge for the following month so that we have a judge and so that people can't just keep on winning...the winner also gets to display the prestigious winner icon on their site.

I've had lots of questions about things like photographs. Photographs are NOT necessary to take part. Nor is having you own blog - I'll be happy to post a recipe for you if you want. However, it is clear that having a nice photograph will help influence the judges - if they see it looking good it is a lot easier to imagine it tasting looking good...

It is also absolutely OK to substitute if you just cannot find an ingredient or if you or someone who will eat the dish has an allergy - just try to substitute with something close to the original to remain in the spirit of the occasion.

Anyone who wants to is welcome to submit ingredient ideas and all suitable ones will go onto a list. Three of the ingredients will be randomly picked from the list and the fourth will be seasonal or trendy or in the news in some way. If the list of four is totally unsuitable (maraschino cherries, english mustard, liver and suet) then we will redraw randomly until it is conceivable to cook different kinds of dishes with all four ingredients.

Ingredient suggestions go to the Paper Chef forum on Is My Blog Burning up to midnight the day before the event or in the comments field here. Ingredients that are NOT selected will be rolled over for a month and then removed. Anyone at all can suggest one ingredient - not more. Suggestions that are not realistic or are in bad taste in the estimation of the powers that be (me for the moment) will be ignored.

No sign up is necessary to take part. Just send an email to owenl1998@yahoo.com before Noon PST on the Monday to point to your entry.

To give you some ideas of what people have done in the past here is a summary of the events so far:

Paper Chef #1: Cilantro, Ginger, Almonds and Winter Squash

The winner was Curried Chicken and Squash Soup with Meyer Lemon.

Paper Chef #2: Potatoes, Savoy Cabbage, Chicken and Lemon

The winner was Lemon Chicken Egg Rolls with Citrus Dipping Sauce.

Paper Chef #3: Wheat Flour, Cinnamon, Creme Fraiche and Oranges

The winner was Very Posh Cheese and Biscuits.

Paper Chef #4: Eggplant, chocolate, stale bread and pomegranate.

The winner was Cocoa-Pomegranate Roast Chicken with Eggplant Stuffing.

Paper Chef #5: Prosciutto, sherry vinegar, green garlic and goat cheese.

The winner was Garlic chive and Goat's Cheese Ravioli with Sherry Vinegar Reduction and Prosciutto Shards.

If you look through the entries you will see that people pretty much make just about anything - desserts or savory dishes, small or large, complex or simple.

I like to think it is a chance once a month to push your creativity a little in the kitchen by putting just a few constraints on what you can do.

Anyway - please nominate away...
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