Monday, July 6, 2009

Evolution of a food lover



How does a very fussy eater as a child evolve into a chef and food lover? I know that I cannot be the only picker eater in the world who really loves delicious food. The conversation started like this:

“You know, you are really picky for a chef.”
“Really, cause most of the chef’s I know are picky!”

As a kid I mostly ate fresh fruit and veg to the shock & horror of my mother. As a teen I ate ramen, which by the way, does no good for a teenage girl’s metabolism. Middle teens, cereal. A lot of carrots and cereal.

My friend Lori, is the one introduced me to brie, stuffed mushrooms and decent wine. K taught me how to make the easiest dessert in my repertoire (which caused one of my adopted older brothers to become a dessert convert) and Steve is the reason I tried rabbit and alligator.




As your palate opens, you long to try new things. Now that I have tried them, I cannot imagine never again having really good champagne, truffles or excellent cheese. So essentially, you cannot go forward without leaving a few things behind.

Evolution, in my opinion, is important in food. You can’t just say, ‘oh I love dark chocolate’ with snobbery aimed at anyone who likes white chocolate or milk chocolate. Why? Because each of those types of sweet have something to offer if made well.

And because you like what you like. No, I don’t eat certain brands of chocolate any more, as I find the quality no longer suits my palate. I’m hardly going to make fun of someone who does. So you can call me a picky eater all you want, I’ll wear the title with pride.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Luna's Pick of the day: Aequare 70% Ecuadorian Chocolate



Aequare 70% Ecuadorian Chocolate

I got this as a gift from Emily over at Foodzie, and this chocolate is truly a gift. 8 squares of high quality dark chocolate, holds a bit of fruitiness, a hint of coffee, very subtle vanilla flavor. I like the fact that unlike many 70% chocolate, it melts slowly in the mouth to release the flavors.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Is baking really that hard?

Yes. and no. Everything & anything is hard if you think that way. On today's show, I share some on how to make baking less fearful & more fun + plus an easy recipe for sugar cookies!

Luna's Kitchen Magic airs @ 7 p.m. EST, 4 p.m. PST:
www.radiodentata.com/RDplayer/lunaraven/

Monday, June 22, 2009

Grana Padano

Grana Padano…if Parmesan is the king of cheeses, then Grana is its Grandparent.

Born about 1,000 years before Parm, Grana is the original hard cheese. It is also severely underrated. Find one that is aged around 16 months, you will be happy you sought it out! These cows are afforded more scenery, walking a meandering path. They can eat flowers as well as grass giving this cheese a smooth delicate flavor & texture. This is fantastic over pasta, salad or drizzled with a good honey, such as lavender!

I think that the greatest shame of hard cheese is that all anyone ever wants to is grate it, which I personally find is madness. My preference is to either break into chunks or simply flake it off. The latter is my favorite way.

When you look at cheese, you see that there are natural grooves in it. This is where the flavor is. If you cut cheese into cubes, (in my humble opinion, an atrocity and total waste of cheese) you lose the essence of the flavor. When broken into chunks or flaked off, you get all the wonderful subtleties that cheese holds.

Always make sure you are shopping with a reputable dealer. The real deal on imported cheese is that they are generally stamped for authenticity.

I know that there are plenty of those who feel that Parm is the only way to go, however I say that you should at the very least give it a taste. At worst, you won’t love it as much, at best you will love it more!

For more on Grana Padano check out these sites:

http://www.granapadano.com/ing/index.htm

http://www.igourmet.com/granapadano.asp

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Father's Day Tribute

My show for this weekend is all about my father: without him, I wouldn't be the witty, lovely, obnoxious foodie that you know and love.

My dad was, as many father's are, flawed. After losing both of his sons' to divorce, he made a decision to be the best and most active dad he could.

We often hold grudges and blame our parents for everything that goes wrong, but we have to bear in mind that they truly do the best that they can with what they have.

My dad, I think, raised a great kid. Thanks for listening to the show today and Happy Father's day!

NOTE: this post is from last year but it all still stands. I was lucky: my dad chose me and I am so lucky he did. I cannot imagine my life without him and would never want to. Losing him was rough, but I was blessed to have had him.

Happy father's day, daddy, wherever you are.