Blogs

Ever get a hankering for some great Hokkien mee? Want to throw together the perfect shabu-shabu? Looking for beautiful photos of mouth-watering caldereta? If you answered yes to any of these questions — and even if you didn't — you won't want to overlook these great websites dedicated to the cuisines of East Asia. Read more »

A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call from Cousin Joni. She said, “What are you doing Saturday morning?” Since it was early in the morning, and I had not finished my first cup of coffee, I absentmindedly said, “Nothing.” Joni said, “Good, we need some help butchering our rabbits!” Read more »

East Asian cooking, especially the cuisine of southeast Asia, uses a lot of rice noodles. They are served hot, cold, in soups, in salads and rolled up into spring rolls. Their lightness and chewy texture make rice noodles a pleasant change from heavier wheat noodles. Only thing is, many of us don't have a clue how to soak them properly. Perhaps I can help. Read more »

Out on the prairie, in the southeasternmost corner of Iowa's Pottawattamie County, on the eastern slope of the Nishnabotna River Valley, located on the third terrace at the south end of my upper garden is my perennial vegetable garden. Read more »

The Huffington Post has a piece today on the Top 10 Farmers Markets in the US. They have a pretty good list: Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Savannah, Madison. But as with any Top 10 list, they miss quite a bit. Read more »

These days Melon Cauliflower is turning into a Bitter Melon. My perpetual "sigh" is turning into an "ACCCCKKK!!!" It's this cooking thing. I do it, every day, every night (well almost every night) and I'm starting to really DESPISE it. Read more »

There are a lot of yogurts out there on the market. Quality plain yogurt should be just milk, live cultures and perhaps a pinch of salt. But so many brands out there have additives, stabilizers like gelatin and carageenan, or preservatives. Others are so spiked with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup that they have more carbs than a can of soda. I found a yogurt with none of that, but one that has all the thick, creamy texture of a great Greek yogurt. Read more »

I love mole poblano. The subtle heat of the ancho, pasilla and mulato peppers. The sauce, its flavor deepened with chocolate and thickened just enough to coat slices of turkey or chicken with a cocoa-velvet sheen. But all that wonderfulness can take a long, long time to make. I came up with this speedy version that—while not quite as ethereal as the hours-long stuff—can still make your heart sing and your tummy beg for más! Read more »

Today I planted one of my easiest/hardest gardens, the Heirloom Dry Bean Garden. It's one of the easiest because once you get them planted and — with a little weed cultivation later on — you don't have to do a darn thing to them until you harvest them. Which is the hardest. Read more »

Given that Whats4Eats is a website with international recipes, it's no wonder that we get visitors from around the world too. The Philippines, India, Germany, Mexico — they are all big sources of traffic for the website. Not all Whats4Eats visitors speak English as their first language. So now we have a tool that can help you. Read more »

With travel season starting, I thought it would be a good time to check out the food festivals and events taking place around the country this summer. Here's a list of some of the more interesting happenings. Some are big, some are small. But I'm sure there's fun to be had at all. Read more »

April 27, 2009...just 8 months until Xmas.

Yesterday I planted cabbage plants in my garden. Usually I grow all my plants from seed, because I'm cheap. But this year I purchased my eight plants from a local garden center for a total of $3.50. According to my personal garden ledgers they should have been planted last week, but I was busy planting all of the other vegetables that can handle a late frost. Read more »

Here I go again ranting and raving. All that touchy-feely business from my last posting all down the drain.
I am attempting a baby back ribs recipe. What was I thinking? I can barely follow a recipe, what made me pick a difficult recipe?
I'm such an idiot sometimes. Why do I make my life harder? Why I am always such a Melon Cauliflower?
Next time I need to THINK and choose wisely. Know thyself. I am clueless in the kitchen... at least for tonight.
UGH...

I just finished reading a new friend's blog (parent in my son's class)  and I was very inspired (Hi Nicole!).
I'm always happy to find fellow crafters and mamas (Nicole, are you friends with Erika -the one with the massive curly hair and gorgeous boys?) Anywho, that made me rethink viewing myself as a crafter.
I'm a better crafter than I am a cook. I mean, I love to eat, but cooking stresses me out. Crafting does not. Crafting is way more fun for me. Crafting however doesn't nourish my family and keep them alive. Read more »

Being a self proclaimed "one pot wonder", I'm awesome at whipping together nice tasting meals that get eatened up by the family. However, there's often little left for leftovers and heavens forbid, someone doesn't like what this mama cooked up-there's no other option to enjoy. It's eat it or starve kiddo! Read more »

Everyone loves mashed potatoes. Creamy, buttery, smooth. The ultimate comfort food. Your basic ingredients are quite simple: potatoes, milk or cream and butter. But why not mix it up a little? With just a bit of tweaking your basic mashed can be transformed into a high culinary masterpiece. So get on the bus, Gus! Here are 50 Ways to Mash your Taters. Read more »

This blog is going to be one of those jumbled sentences that I can hopefully tie into a nice, neat package at the end of the blog. Here goes... Read more »

Whats4Eats now has a Facebook Fanpage for you to visit and join so you can always get the latest updates on food, cooking and recipes from around the world. Start a discussion or give a review. Suggest us to a friend.

And that's not all! We also have our own Twitter page with a streaming list of thoughts and tidbits from Chef Brad and a running update of any new additions to the website.

So climb on the social media bandwagon and friend and follow Whats4Eats today! Read more »

These days I must sing a lot of praise for the unsung hero/vegetable I now love: celery!

I've never been a crazy-gotta-eat-me-some-celery kind of gal, but lately I've been digging it hardcore when it comes to my soups. Some chopped celery adds just the right amount of "sumpthin sumpthin" to my beef stews and chicken soups. Plus I love that organic celery can be found on the cheap. It's one vegetable that I can have without having to dip into my kids' piggybanks! Read more »

With all of the recent food contamination scares, most of us are understandably worried about the safety of what we put in our mouths or those of our children. While salmonella in a peanut factory is a matter for government regulators, there are some basic steps you can take in your own home to make sure your family's meals are safe to eat. To get started, let's break down food sanitation into three numbers and one letter: 40, 140, 2, and X. Read more »