Miss Allaneous, volume 4

I'm hungry.

This is no shock to many people who know me. I've eaten pretty consistently since leaving the womb. The foods may vary from region to region (with some notable, comfort-food like exceptions), but food is always there.

It's amazing the role that food plays in our lives - and before you go Third World on me, I would suggest that food plays a greater role in the lives of the poor and hungry, then in ours. What is food to you? Depending on the food, I'd say it's many things; a psychological balm; a sensational rush; a chore; a visual feast (if you don't believe the last one, check out Cooking with Amy, or Simply Recipes, or even Tea and Cookies. I enjoy looking at food nearly as much as I enjoy eating it.

Perhaps it is no great surprise, then, that today's websites are about food that I love and the websites that provide me with the inspiration - and tools - that I need to make & eat it. See above for some of my favorite food blogs.

Kowalskis Market - Everyone should have one. When we were in Tallahassee, it was the Fresh Market. It's like shopping in Nordstrom's, but for cucumbers. Every shelf is artwork; the goodness is bountiful. It's hard to explain the happy feeling I get when I see massive fish and thick steaks on piles of crystal ice; then row upon row of every kind of cheese (except the really good European kinds that we aren't allowed to eat here).

St. Paul Farmer's Market - This is my Saturday morning escape. When I was younger, my dad took my family to Ohio, and we went to Cleveland's West Side Market. To this day, I can conjure up the smells of Baklava and butchered lamb when I'm having a rough day. The farmer's market here offers me a piece of that memory in a new way: stalls of locally grown vegetables, farm-raised eggs and meats, and specialties like chocolate, cheese, and honey.

Epicurious - I've been a fan of this website for a while. The recipes are creative and fancy, but you can make them without shelling out hundreds of dollars for expensive or rare ingredients. The blog is clever and of course the side articles about entertaining, etc. are worth the read.

Tradewinds Spice Company and Penzys Spices - They are on opposite sides of the Cities but I profess equal love for both. There is something very Old Word, very Marco Polo, about walking into a shop with barrels of spices with scoops; an aroma of pepper and vanilla wafting right up your nose into your tear ducts; of apothecary bottles strewn about, waiting to be filled with a smoky paprika or delicate, expensive saffron (someday, I'll buy it and make up reasons to use it).

Alton Brown - I began watching Food Network in graduate school, and immediately became hooked. My dad was always sick, so my Mom usually cooked very lean in the house (low sugar, low fat). I was suddenly exposed to the food gods: cream, lard, fresh garlic, salt. It was heavenly. And heavy. Anywho, Alton Brown's scientific explanations for how food does it what it does - how mayonnaise even stays together as mayonnaise - as well as the simplified gear for everyday cooking (we had a pasta maker attached to an ironing board for the longest time) made for entertaining, educational cooking. His new show, Feasting on Asphalt, is one of my favorites.

Ok, this made me hungry - off to cook. Tonight: Lemon-Pepper roasted chicken; Garlicky Mashed Potatoes; Corn with Gouda.

-E