Rabu, 30 Januari 2008

Food for Thought: Wrap Up

All of the time I have spent living in Africa over the past few years has given me a special appreciation for those things that tie you to memories of home. So this January I decided to dedicate myself to recipes that were vehicles for memory. I was having a pretty good time at this myself, so I invited some other bloggers out there to join me and submit the recipe that made them feel nostalgic.

Caramel Popcorn Balls

As the holidays in Accra drew near, I found myself fixating on the idea of making popcorn balls. And so I began my nearly anthropological foray into the weird and wonderful world of strategically heating sugar. As a novice sugar-heater I learned to decode (perhaps a bit too late) the secret language of expert sugar-heaters. I develop techniques for shaping popcorn balls (again, perhaps a tad too

Rabu, 23 Januari 2008

Christmas Cinnamon Rolls

Let’s just get one thing straight. Is there anything more delightfully, sinfully, homey than warm home-made cinnamon rolls? I think not. They are, perhaps, the perfect vehicle for food-induced nostalgia (and are my contribution to Food for Thought). In fact, I had been doing a lot of thinking about cinnamon rolls in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Growing up, my mom often made cinnamon rolls

Minggu, 20 Januari 2008

Soccer Fever Sweeps Ghana!

There is a palpable energy on the streets of Ghana. I awoke on Friday morning not to the customary sounds of roosters and goats but to the trumpeting sounds of soccer fans blasting noisemakers. When I traveled down to the Ministries, where I was doing some interviews for my dissertation, every car seemed cloaked in Ghana's red, yellow, and green. Flags waved in the wind. In the downtown

Senin, 14 Januari 2008

A Memorable Playlist

My husband is a music fanatic. When we first started dating we would often wrap up dates sitting around while he played songs on his guitar. Sometimes, if I thought the neighbors couldn't hear, I might be brave enough to sing along. I always sing poorly but with gusto, so singing in front of others means I really like you. That was probably one of the early indicators that I was hopelessly in

Kamis, 10 Januari 2008

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies for My Father

Yesterday I went to great lengths to bake peanut butter kiss cookies to reminisce. Sometimes the weight of what we remember seems to dictate and equally weighty act of commemoration. But memories don’t always conform to this neat little formula. More often than not the most absurdly mundane things get embodied with special significance in the stuff of memories. My father died two and a half years

Senin, 07 Januari 2008

Mango Salsa Sushi Fusion

I recently agreed to participate in a food blogger exchange of sorts, called Taste and Create. You are paired with another blogger and then challenged to look through their site, pick a recipe, make it yourself, and blog about the experience. I have been impressed by all the high quality blogs out there, so the exchange sounded like a perfect way to get my feet wet. I hesitated, only for a moment

Kamis, 03 Januari 2008

Food for Thought: A Blog Event for Food Nostalgia

The roundup has been posted here.Proust had his madeleines, but we all have something. Food is evocative. It has the power to transport us, to connect us to times and places past. It has the ability to recall to us lost loved ones. I have never been more aware of this than when I am living far from home. In particular, celebrating this past holiday season with my husband in Accra, Ghana has

Rabu, 02 Januari 2008

The Skinny Gourmet 2008 In-Out List

It is that time of year. I have always been a sort of introspective person. Most birthdays I like to spend a little down time contemplating what the last year is like and what I want to work towards in the coming year. New Years always winds up being some sort of giant, often hectic, moment of introspection for us all. So this year I am turning my swami-like powers to the topic of food. I don't

Selasa, 01 Januari 2008

Into the Wine "Way-Back" Machine

The New Year is always a time of looking forward to upcoming trends. My husband and I have recently been having fun constructing and "in-and-out" list for Skinny Gourmet, which we will surely post soon. But sometimes we get so focused on being hip and trendy enough to predict the future, that few of us take time to look back on predictions past. My mother-in-law has a prodigious collection of