Hi everyone. I’m Maura. I’ll be writing every Thursday about food and cooking, and what it means to me. I won’t be doing many recipe posts, although I do plan to pass on a few of my signature dishes over the next six months.

I’m a transplanted Northerner, originally from central Pennsylvania, now living in Durham, NC. I spent many years as a make-up artist and manicurist, and quite some time working in non-profit-administration. Due to circumstances out of my control, I’m not working at the moment. I’m a writer, of sorts, meaning I don’t make a real, actual living from it, but I do have a couple of regular gigs; and I occasionally do some party planning and catering. I spend my time writing, cooking, messing with my plants, taking care of my cats and my (mostly) self-cleaning husband, watching Law & Order reruns, and complaining about things over which I have no power

I’ve been cooking since I was 10 years old, and have learned much of what I know from my Sicilian (not off-the-boat, but close enough) mother. I have that same annoying pride in my cooking that a lot of Italian-Americans have. Everyone in my family loves to cook, and we all follow a few hard and fast rules that my mother laid down when we were kids:

Sugar has no place in red sauce.
Meatballs do not get browned before they go in the sauce.
Never use a recipe that begins with “1 can of cream of mushroom soup.”

I’ve been referred to as a gourmet cook, but that makes me cringe. Also, laugh. I’m a simple cook. Less is more for me. I think a roasted chicken makes one of the great dinners of all time. I believe gourmet pizza is an oxymoron. And I’m convinced that, given the choice between a homemade chocolate chip cookie and a really complicated dessert, most people will choose the cookie.

I have a few pet peeves, but the biggest one is food snobbery, because it encompasses all the others. I do what I can to be a good citizen of the planet, but I have my limits. I do most of my food shopping at a small, locally owned neighborhood store and go to the Durham Farmer’s Market most Saturdays, but also go to Costco about once a month. I grow my own herbs but also use dried. I make bread every other day, using only my favorite wooden spoon. But I keep packaged bread in the house, because you can’t make a peanut butter sandwich without it. I make cookies from scratch, but put a bag of Oreos in front of me and I’m a goner.

Food snobbery is tyrannical, because it says there’s only one way to think about food. It’s elitist, because it assumes that everyone has the time, the resources and the desire to use what it deems the right ingredients and methods. It’s classist, because it fails to recognize that a lot of people eat the food they eat because that’s what they can afford. There is no joy in food snobbery. It’s not about the food. It’s about competition to prove who’s the coolest, the smartest or the one most likely to get a surprise e-mail from Anthony Bourdain.

Food should bring us together, not make us set up battle lines. Those rules my mother set down? They’re for me to follow. I’ve had the sugar in the sauce argument, as well as the discussion over whether meatballs should be browned. But I’m done telling people they’re doing it wrong if they don’t do it my way.

So that’s what I’m about. I plan to talk about everything from the power of food to how I run my kitchen. I hope you’ll all join the discussion.

For those of you who do not live in or near a city with a high concentration of people with Japanese ancestry, the above picture may be a little unfamiliar. So let me make an introduction.

This is daifuku. A rice cake if you will. The outside pastry is a very chewy rice dough (some would call it glutonous), the filling is called anko, a redish bean paste made from azuki beans and sugar. My understanding is that, while available all year round, they become quite popular around the new year celebrations.

I had my first run in with these treats about four years ago, when Derrick, a friend of mine from here in Seattle, took me into a local pastry shop and forced me to have one. As a person weened on cookies and pies, it's taste and especially it's texture came as a bit of a shock. But I found myself returning to them every so often when I would visit my local Japanese grocery store. They go quite well with hot tea.

They do have a certain aesthetic about them that draws me to them. As you can see, this one does have the dreaded green food coloring added to the dough, but I'm willing to give this a temporary pass, for the color may have some traditional meaning of which I am unfamiliar.

Over at Mouse Print, they've been covering the recent downsizing of products upon the supermarket shelves. So far, they've noted the reduction in sizes in such products as ice cream, orange juice, mayonnaise, and margarine. As far as anyone can figure out, there's been no press release or other publically available information to alert consumers when this occurs.

The question I have is this - How big of a deal is this? Do people care? This isn't the snarky version of me asking, I'm asking out of a genuine sense of curiosity.

Part of me is a littler perturbed by this, as it seems such an underhanded way of squeezing profit out of the consumer. If a person expects 1.75 quarts of ice cream, and unknowingly purchases only 1.5 quarts for the same price due to a subtle change in packaging, how is that not fraud? I know, I know, it says the size of the ice cream right on the label, so this clears the company of any responsibility, but how many of you out there read and know the weight and/or volume of the food products you purchase? At the very least, it's a duplicitous practice.

However, the other part of me feels that some of these companies are in an impossible situation. To meet their own rising costs they either have to raise the prices on the 1.75 package of ice cream, or down size it and keep the cost close to the customers price expectation. If only they were more upfront about this practice, I'd be a little more willing to cut them some slack on this.

What are your thoughts on this practice?

h/t U.S. Food Policy

About "Eat Your..."

Hi, I'm Ben, and "Eat Your..." is a column focused on meatless culinary treasures. As I hope you will come to see over the next six months, the entries herein are not strictly for vegetarians and this is most certainly not a political soapbox. Both meat eaters and those who abstain should learn something new, experience unfamiliar foods, and rediscover old favorites.

In my personal life, I'm currently working on a graduate degree in Crop Science at North Carolina State University. Past lives have known me as a Macintosh support technician, a dishwasher and prep cook at an Asian restaurant, and just about everything in between.

The point is, when it comes to food, I'm not a professional.

Sometime around 18 years ago, I learned to cook... by necessity. Like most American families, the more we grew up, the busier we were. The nightly ritual of a home-cooked family dinner at the table dissolved into fast food in front of the TV which eventually disintegrated into no family dinner at all. Presented with the choice between heating up frozen cheeseburgers, or picking up a few pots and pans and figuring things out, I chose the latter and have been experimenting ever since.

I was born and raised in Georgia and lack a Southern accent. Yet, put me in front of a group of people and I'll say "y'all" because "you people" just ain't right. I love to eat squash casserole, collard greens, and pecan pie. I think sweet tea is the only way to drink it. And I get confused when people say "soda" and "pop" -- because isn't everything just a Coke?

With that in mind, I plan to make this column part "down home Southern" and part culinary adventure. I hope you enjoy the ride!

Eat Your... Plan

Since it's almost the mid summer here in the U.S. Southeast, we have literally tons of vegetables arriving daily at the Raleigh State Farmers Market down the road. The first four installments of "Eat Your..." will feature okra, squash, sweet potatoes, and beans & peas. Inside each entry you will find some history of the plants including origin, common and uncommon uses, tips for cooking, and finally one or two of my favorite recipes.

Here is the basic timeline:

July - Southern Summer Vegetables

• Eat Your... Okra
• Eat Your... Squash
• Eat Your... Sweet Potatoes
• Eat Your... Beans & Peas

August - Grains From Around The World

• Eat Your... Rice
• Eat Your... Couscous
• Eat Your... Quinoa
• Eat Your... Teff

September - Fake Meats: What the ?

• Eat Your... Tofu
• Eat Your... Tempeh
• Eat Your... Seitan
• Eat Your... Veggie Burgers

October - Southern Fall Vegetables

• Eat Your... Cabbage
• Eat Your... Broccoli
• Eat Your... Rutabega
• Eat Your... Collard Greens
• Eat Your... Kale

November - Traditional and Vegan Holiday Favorites

• To Be Determined

December: Desserts

• To Be Determined

Be Prepared

Generally, I like to keep things simple. Most of the recipes that I will feature here require only the most basic ingredients; I don't like to go buy specialist items any more than you do. However, one of my goals is to expose you to new foods.

Some of the topics like the series on grains and fake meats may require some hunting or advance preparation for ingredients, especially if you are located in a rural area. To make this easier, I will be listing ingredients one week prior so that you can prepare. Because really, what's worse than reading a great recipe, wanting to make it that night, and not having the ingredients that you need?

For Next Week

Next week's recipes will require:

2+ lbs of fresh okra. Needless to say, it's best to buy it fresh from a local farmer. If you can't find it locally, because you're in, say, Portland, Oregon you can usually find okra at Asian markets. Make sure to pick the smallest, youngest pods -- 2-3 inches are best. Yes, you'll have more to cut up, but trust me, the longer pieces can be tough and woody. I have no advice, positive or negative, about frozen okra since I've never used it.

1-2 medium potatoes of your choice
1 medium yellow onion
2-3 cloves fresh garlic
2 cups corn meal
1 cup flour
1 cup buttermilk*
4 cups vegetable oil (peanut is best)
Salt
Pepper

*[For non-dairy buttermilk, add 2 tsp white vinegar to 1 cup plain soymilk]

See you next week!

. . . . .

Now Playing: the B-52's and Original Soundtracks 1 (by U2).

---

Ben is a graduate student at NCSU studying Crop Science with an emphasis on Sustainable Agriculture. Official foodie credentials are non-existent, other than the fact that he has been cooking for himself since he was 12 years old. You can find his personal blog at bengarland.com, photos and videos at bengarland's Flickr photostream, and his plans for a self-constructed cob house and organic farm over at Our Farm Adventure (still a very new work in progress).

From Nelson's Weblog comes two observations that are right on the money.

Consumers think sourdough is shorthand for quality. It's not. In fact, sourdough is seldom the appropriate bread for a meal. It makes lousy sandwiches, lousy breakfast, it clashes with cheese.

(snip)

The flipside of sourdough is hideous American industrial bread made out of sugar. Sugar has no place in bread. OK, maybe a pinch to proof the yeast.

Grocery store bread, which I define as anything sold in a translucent plastic bag, is a blight upon all things noble and pure. Addressing Nelson's second point first, I want to ask the following:

Has anyone else run into difficulty finding hamburger or hot dog buns that are HFCS-free, let alone sugar free? It is nigh impossible. Luckily there are some artisinal bakeries here in Seattle that have filled that void, but we had to look to find them. It's easier finding squid ink than it is Sugar-free Hamburger buns.

To the first point, it seems as if people have forgotten that the types of bread was once as diverse as the types of cheese or (not so coincidentally) the types of beer. When one considers the different types of bread multiplied by the different types of yeast multiplied by the different types of baking techniques, it's easy to figure out that there are/were hundreds if not thousands types of bread out in the world.

Alas, if you go to the bread aisle in the grocery store, it's what? Sugary white, fake wheat, maybe a multi-grain of some sort, and sourdough. Most of them aren't worth the time it takes to look at them.

My hope is that bread becomes the next artisinal revolution in the food world. We would be better served by it, that's for sure.

CLARRIFICATION: This is my fault, as I did not explicitly state so in the post, but I do believe there is good sourdough out there. But it has its time and place. It is not the end all of bread, which I believe was Nelson's point.

Let's put it this way - I would not serve sourdough bread with summer season Italian dishes. To me, this just doesn't match.

In my defense however, I did say that my post applies to the plastic-wrapped, mass produced breads.

h/t to Kottke

Being the token Canadian here, I take launching my stint as an Accidental Hedonist on Canada Day to be a good sign. Kate managed to sign me up, I managed to sign in and so far it looks like we're off to a clean start.

As a reward for our efforts, I thought I'd begin with one of my favourite desserts, the quintessentially Canadian butter tart. A simple mix of butter, eggs, sugar and vinegar -- yes, vinegar -- these addictive nibbles should come with a warning: You can't eat just one.

Every bakery, coffee shop, deli and grocery store sells some sort of variation on the butter tart theme. People will practically come to fisticuffs over whether you make them with pure brown sugar or introduce corn syrup to the mix. Some want them with raisins; others demand nuts. Now, I've tasted new fangled versions chock full of Skor bars, Caramilk and even white chocolate. While these are good, they aren't really butter tarts.

So, for those with a sweet tooth or an interest in fostering international relations, try my mother's recipe. It's won prizes, so you know they're good.

Sometimes you have to experiment with new tastes, just to see if you like them. In this recipe, that new taste belongs exclusively to the squid ink.

It was a little odd to work with, being quite viscous and staining everything it touched. Watering it down was a necessity simply because it was too concentrated to sit by itself.

How did it taste? Well, with a dish with the strong taste of cloves, its difficult to say. In fact, that was the weird thing about this dish - Having it sit at a simmer for an hour, it muted the flavor of the major ingredients, creating a more subdued dish. A subtle dish made with cloves - who would have thought this was possible? That's Venetian cooking for you. All those years as the center of the spice trade means that they know how to cook with the stuff.

Would I make it again? Probably not, but if I saw it on the menu of an Italian restaurant, I'd order. Is that a positive response? I don't know.

• 1 onion, white, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 1/2 lb cuttlefish or squid, cleaned and separated
• 1 bay leaf
• Pinch ground cloves
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 oz squid ink
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped
• Lemon Juice from 1 lemon
• Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil until soft, about five minutes.Add the bay leaf and the cuttlefish with a pinch of the ground cloves. Pour in the white wine and cover, lowering the heat to a simmer (about 185 degrees F). Cover and let sit for about twenty minutes.

Mix the squid ink with 6 tablespoons of warm water. After the initial twenty minutes, add the ink to the cuttlefish, mixing in thoroughly. Cover again, and allow to simmer for another 40 minutes.

After cooking, remove from heat and add the parsley and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4-6

Water sommeliers:

In Tokyo and Paris, you can now spend $5 a glass on special beverages selected by a professional sommelier.

Nothing surprising there, except the beverages being served are different brands of bottled water -- with various "flavors" supposedly matched to different foods.

Desalinated seawater from Hawaii, meanwhile, is being sold as "concentrated water" -- at $33.50 for a two-ounce bottle. Like any concentrated beverage, it is supposed to be diluted before drinking, except that in this case, that means adding water to . . . water.

Oh, and the only thing that is "concentrated water" is ice located in the minds of water marketers. (Enough with the science e-mails! You've convinced me!)

It's that time again, when we here at Accidental Hedonist rotate out and in writers.

So first, it's heavy heart that we say so long to Vanessa from What Geeks eat. She has provided top notch posts over the course of the past six months, and her pictures both made me jealous and hungry. If you haven't put her site in your RSS reader, you should. Her site is a great read. Thanks Vanessa for all the work you've done.

Now for the new folks. Yes, this is plural. I've decided to try something new, increasing the amount of guest writers from one to four. I had initially thought of increasing only to three writers, but there were so many great folks out there, that I looked at my budget and realized that I could afford one more than I had planned. The new guest writers are:

Emily Monaco: Taking over the veteran Saturday posting responsibility is Emily Monaco. Her site Tomato Kumato is filled with wonderful photos and exquisite recipes that make her a natural fit amongst the several other writers who have proceeded her.

Charmian Christie: With an extensive writing portfolio, Charmian provides a level of credibility to this site that I could only wish I could muster. She gets the Tuesday spots and will start posting tomorrow (if I've set up her account correctly).

Ben Garland: Ben is a regular commenter here, and has asked to provide the Vegetarian perspective to offset my pro-meat propaganda. So he gets the Wednesday spot (and I'm going to try to make Wednesday's 'Vegetarian day', meaning I will endeavor not to post meat related articles on that day).

Maura McLaughlin: As our first Livejournal guest writer, Maura brings to the table an opinion and a desire to get to the root of what makes a good home gourmand. She is set to offer her posts up every Thursday.

So welcome these new writers one and all! I'm quite looking forward to seeing how this experiment turns out.

(Promoted from the Diaries - K)

Forgive the unimaginative title, and the fact that I have no pictures of food. I spent a whirlwind two days in Dublin, and managed to get hardly any pictures. Which is too bad since it was gray and drizzly all week and I've always felt green things look especially green, almost luminous, in that weather (It's worth mentioning here that I was born in Washington). In any case, I had some excellent food in Dublin and some that I can only describe as "what globalization hath wrought", much of that from what the guidebooks call "self-catering" and what I call "tired, broke, desperation".

In any case, starting with the excellent: With much fear and trepidation I tried the restaurant recommended in a Bon Apetit article on "Euro Bargains", Ely HQ, and I have to say, I was just wrong to approach with fear and trepidation, bon apetit was just right. That's all there is too it. This lovely restaurant is tucked into a narrow little slot about two blocks away from St. Stephan's Green so it's easy to get to (or as easy as anything is when trying to navigate the Dublin bus system, which is fast, reliable, and requires several years of study to use with success). You sit down and are handed a one page menu and five page wine list. Nice. I ordered venison medallions with new potato wedges. The potatoes were, it has to be said, a little salty, but I found myself not caring because it was just so profoundly good. The venison was perfectly seared but pink and bloody just beyond the crust, nestled on soft, almost caramelized onions and swimming in a wine reduction pan sauce that, according to my hastily scrawled notes was simply, "brilliant!". I may or may not have licked the plate. Sources will not confirm. I spent a total of about 30 Euros on the meal including tip (I was not sure if that was necessary) which is reasonable for a really good meal, and I do think it was a good deal, even if not out and out cheap. If you want to go though, go at lunch, their dinner menu is close to twice that.
The other really excellent meal I had was at the cafeteria at Marks and Spencer. Seriously. I'm not entirely sure how British food got such a bad reputation, but I think it was from someone who willfully ignored afternoon tea. Technically I had brunch at M&S, but since that consisted of a devon scone, apple cake (the filled sponge cake kind), and a pot of Earl Grey I think it counts as a tea, culinary speaking. I can't say enough about the scones. They were the kind of magical baked good that proves the goodness of simple food done right (especially with strawberry jam). They were so good I found myself not even caring that there was no clotted cream in sight. The tea was perfectly done, and here's the cool part, by them. I am always a little annoyed about the do it yourself tea served in even nice places in the US. They either put leaves in it or a nasty bag. I am a firm believer that tea should only steep for so long, so when it's done, you have to remove it from the leave then, and only then, so if you're served a pot of tea with leaves you only get one good pour. At M&S they brew fresh tea periodically and keep it in giant, hot urns so it comes to you brewed perfectly, because frankly if I'm going to spend 3 dollars for a pot of tea with maybe 25 cents worth of leaves in it I want someone else to do the work. It's called value added people. The cake was also lovely, appley and perfectly spiced with thick buttercream caramel frosting between the layers and on top (but not the sides) and dusted with confectioner's sugar. Not a well balanced meal, and it did serve as my lunch (I had a lot of luck with lunch) so shame on me I suppose. Oh well.

As far as the bad, I have three words for you: hoisin duck wrap. I don't know what I was thinking. I was at a convenience store (Spar, if you're interested), hungry, tired, and a long walk from the nearest decent pub and I saw this and thought "My what a zesty and intriguing combination", hoisin "duck" wrapped with roasted bell peppers, arugula, and scallion in a whole wheat tortilla. As I mentioned earlier: what globalization hath wrought. I'm sure it is obvious to you that the duck only faintly resembled a once buoyant water fowl and really the same could be said for every other ingredient (although why arugula would resemble a water fowl is anyone's guess). I ate the whole thing. I was that hungry and tired.

As far as ugly we have the Irish breakfast. Consisting of sausage, bacon, tomatoes, eggs, black pudding, white pudding, brown bread with irish butter (yum!), and some potatoes it's substantially ugly and absurdly good, not that I can claim to have eaten the whole thing.