Skinny Gourmet Celebrates its 1000th visitor!

Last night the Skinny Gourmet was visited by its 1000th unique visitor. I have been watching this count-up to 1000 like a kid waiting for Christmas. So this morning I did a little happy dance around the kitchen. As a new blogger myself, I have often looked around for thoughts on more established food blogs about what they did when they were new. Things they found out the hard way. So although I

Recipe Review: Chicken with Balsamic BBQ & Tri Colore Orzo

My mother-in-law is an incredible cook. She is responsible for my husband's culinary ability, and for that I am eternally grateful to her. That means that visiting my husband's parents in Wilmington, NC always means a ton of delicious food. One night she decided to do a meal based on the recipes of Giada De Laurentiis from Everyday Italian. She selected a delightful, sophisticated take on BBQ

Is Coffee the new Wine?

As I promised last week in my rant about airport "gourmet" I'm back with another installment of my investigation into all things gourmet (or not). Like so many fashionistas regularly announcing blue (or brown or red) is the new black, the high-end coffee industry is now emulating the well established snobbery of the wine industry. As I sit in Starbucks, gleefully sipping my mocha cappuccino with

Is Your Olive Oil a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?

Olive oil is fabulous. Let's just get that fundamental truth out there. Good quality olive oil is a delight for the palate. But it is also gaining fame as a "good" oil for your body. A pharmacist friend of mine once told me in no uncertain terms that we would all be healthier if we used olive oil in place of the other common oils in the American diet. The monounsaturated fats that predominate in

Mother's Zucchini Bread

Zucchini bread is powerfully associated with feelings of warmth and home. In late summer when the zucchini crop was particularly plentiful and the air was just starting to show some signs of coolness, my mother would pick up zucchini from the local farmer's stands and make zucchini bread. We once shared a warm slice with a young neighborhood boy who eagerly ate the entire piece and then confessed

Et tu Wolfgang?

I have been doing a lot of thinking, writing, and research lately on the concept of gourmet. A lot of what I'm finding out there is interesting, sometimes provocative, but often unsatisfying on the whole. Over the next few weeks, the cumulative efforts of all this thinking and writing will come out on the blog. I have a little rant on Starbucks, and the budding idea for a foodie event (does the

Frontera Grill

Preparing to leave on a long sojourn to another continent has all the disadvantages of moving and spending time away from loved ones. But it also has the advantages of causing one to really spend quality time with loved ones before departure. On this note, this past Saturday our wonderful friends Chris and Gabrielle Ferrales invited us out to Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill, sister restaurant to