Dancing Spoon

Spin It Again, Baby

Techniques Tips and

by J. Michael Wheeler 

As I found to be equally true with my cell phone, there are a finite number of times that you can drop the top of an OXO Salad Spinner on a hard surface. Even a product of such high quality as the OXO Salad Spinner has its limits. (My cell phone had its limits too, but not quite as high.) For me, a salad spinner is a requirement of my kitchen: its uses go beyond merely making lettuce dizzy.

I use my salad spinner for cleaning and drying lettuce, parsley, sage leaves, green beans, brussel sprouts, and any other herb or vegetable that needs cleaning and drying before using. (The How To Use a Salad Spinner follows) So I really needed a new salad spinner.

Fish Farm No. Two

Green Becoming

by J. Michael Wheeler
Part of an on-going series on Sustainable Agriculture

Friends don’t let friends eat farmed fish
Seattle bumper sticker
The Kona Coast of Hawaii is known for its volcanic-soil-grown-coffee. Now, a few miles offshore from those coffee fields, a new type of farming is taking place below the ocean’s surface. And it may change the way Seattleites feel about farmed fish.

Half the world’s fisheries are depleted from over-fishing and many formerly abundant species are all but commercially extinct. Fish farming would seemingly be the perfect solution: fish are raised in their natural habitat, the dwindling wild stocks are preserved, and there is minimal disruption to the environment.

Duck: Men Cooking!

Trends Food

by J. Michael Wheeler 

Emeril Lagasse, bless his heart, made cooking okay for men. I don’t mean professional cooks and chefs; I mean he made cooking okay for the guy next door.

Because Emeril is the guy next door. He grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts, an ex-textile town. Emeril, to his huge television audience, is the kind of guy you’d want to share a beer with over the backyard fence.

Because it’s okay for men to cook, it’s okay for men’s magazines to include recipes. They’re mostly manly recipes, like laying down a thick juicy porterhouse on the grill or they proclaim to be manly recipes, like the one in the October issue of Esquire Magazine entitled The Red Meat with Wings.

Our Kitchen Store Grand Opening!!!

 

We're really excited to announce the GRAND OPENING of Foodie's Emporium, our new online kitchen store. It's filled with thousands of hard to find kitchen and cooking gadgets, products, and ingredients.

In Foodie's Emporium at DancingSpoon you'll find those perfect kitchen things, like chardonnay smoked sea salt, bamboo cutting boards, Dutch Ovens, truffle oils, knife sets, an oh-so-cool French Press, gourmet pastas, and every whisk* you might ever need!

And to make buying quick, easy, and secure, we've teamed up with the most trusted name in online shopping, Amazon.com. You can shop and purchase with confidence using your existing Amazon.com account, or create a new one right in our store. Buy with Amazon.com security.

Shop  Foodie's Emporium where you'll always find that perfect kitchen thing you've been looking for! Check out  Foodie's Emporium. Click here! And right now we're offering FREE shipping on orders over $25 on qualifying items: and most items qualify.

PS: We'd love to know how you like our store and how we can improve it for you. Please add your comments, click here.

Thanks, J. MIchael Wheeler

Chimichurri Grilled Flank Steak

Wine Food and

by David Haley

Food and wine belong together. Syrah is an especially food friendly wine. Chimichurri sauce is of Argentine origin and comes with many variations. It is used both as a condiment to be put on your steak after cooking and as a marinade. I used it as a marinade in this recipe because I like to cook the flavors into the meat. If you prefer to use as a topping on your steak set aside a 1/4 cup and spoon over the cooked sirloin before serving. Use fresh herbs and lime juice for this recipe-it makes a difference.

All the wines reviewed in my article Great Value Syrahs & Shiraz were tasted with this recipe.

Great Value Syrahs & Shiraz

Finds Wine

by David Haley

As we enter the autumn season we move away from lighter whites and look for fruity, slightly heavier reds that accompany our seasonal foods. In this article we found four delicious reds that deliver excellent body, flavor and all around balance.

Liberty School Syrah 2005 Central Coast California
The Hope family traces its wine growing heritage in Paso Robles back twenty five years to a time when the area was known for fruit production. Wine grapes were barely found in the area. Farmers first, the Hope family typifies the great wine families of the early California wine industry. Austin Hope, third generation farmer/first generation winemaker, oversees all the wine production for Treana Winery and Liberty School wines. Austin also travels the country promoting both Paso Robles and the Hope Family wines.

Lovable Syrah…or is it Shiraz?

Wine About

by David Haley

On the ladder of most overlooked and least understood grapes, Syrah is on a rung near the top. Evidence of this is abundant as I am often asked at wine events “What’s the difference between Syrah and Shiraz? It’s a question I never tire of hearing… the answer is that Syrah & Shiraz are the same grape. 

Business Breakfasts

the Road Eating on

by J. Michael Wheeler 
Business Travelers Get Better Choices

The executive travelers’ breakfast just got better. The New York Times (New Menus, New Mission for Breakfast) reports that the hotel industry is creating menus that “emphasize health, renewal, and especially a better grade of coffee.”

Omni Hotels has introduced its Art of the Breakfast program that includes shade-grown coffee, whole grains, and pork from a family-owned ranch that uses certified humane methods.

Buying Directly from Coffee Farmers

Joe Cup o'

by J. Michael Wheeler 
From the New York Times 9.13.07

They travel directly to the coffee farms in places like Yemen, Guatemala, Burundi, and Rwanda seeking out extraordinary beans for extraordinary cups of coffee. “We’re finding flavors we’ve never ever tasted before, different fruit and floral flavors from really pristine, clean coffees,” George Howell, who runs George Howell Coffee Company, is quoted in the New York Times article To Burundi and Beyond For Coffee’s Holy Grail (9.13.07).

The Times reports that a new breed of coffee hunters whose business model is “direct trade”  – and direct communication – between the buyer and grower is in stark contrast to the prevalent model in which international conglomerates buy coffee by the steamer ship, through brokers, for the lowest price.

Grape Harvest Earliest Ever

Terriors Shifting

by J. Michael Wheeler 
From the Washington Post Foreign Service 9.2.07

The Washington Post reports that wine growers the world over are harvesting their crops earlier each year, and that this year, in the Alsace wine region of northeastern France, the harvest began on August 24 – the earliest ever recorded. The Washington Post continues:

Throughout the wine-producing world, from France to South Africa to California, vintners are in the vanguard of confronting the impact of climate change. Rising temperatures are forcing unprecedented early harvests, changing the tastes of the best-known varieties of wine and threatening the survival of centuries-old wine-growing regions.

Scientists and vintners say wine grapes are the best agricultural measure of climate change because of their extraordinary sensitivity to weather and the meticulous data that have been kept concerning the long-lived vines.