Category — Food & Wine Products

Harissa is a spicy North African sauce or paste made from dried chilis, toasted spices, garlic, and oil. In Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya, people use harissa like mustard or ketchup–it goes on many, many things. It’s hard to find a really excellent version to buy in the U.S., but luckily it’s pretty easy to make at home. I like to make a large batch and preserve it in cute jars so I can give them as hostess gifts.

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I just got back from a long weekend in Isla Holbox, a little island off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Holbox is a weird name for a Mexican island, right? It’s actually a Mayan word meaning “black hole” and is pronounced “Ohl-bosh.” Whatever you call it, it’s pretty great.

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We have been getting the most gorgeous strawberries from a local farm stand out near Petaluma. In fact, we bought a 3-pack on Sunday morning and they were gone within a few hours. We stopped back at the stand for a full flat that afternoon, and after eating, sharing, and cooking pounds and pounds of strawberries for 24 hours – by Monday night they had all somehow disappeared.

One of the best things to come out of this strawberry extravaganza was these brown butter shortcakes. With the strawberries baked right into the fluffy, slightly sweet biscuits, all you need is a little ice cream or whipped cream and you’re good to go.

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I have a friend and I am very proud of her – because she is celebrating three years of being sober. For this special occasion, I wanted to make a very special non-alcoholic drink for all of us to toast with! I came up with a syrup infused with whole vanilla beans and juicy raspberries, and now I want to drink it with absolutely everything.

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My mom often made this dish for company when I was growing up. In a big pretty bowl, over a bed of fragrant basmati rice, it looks beautiful and impressive despite being pretty easy to make. It sort of gives off the impression that you’ve been cooking all day, when in reality, you can cook the whole dinner from start to finish in less than an hour.

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Do you remember eating sesame candy as a kid? I used to love the sticky little rectangles of sesame seeds suspended in a honey-sweet bar. Great news: it’s actually pretty easy to make at home, and you can add a bit of grated ginger to make it even tastier.

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Lately my sister has been making this all the time – and I have been loving it. I finally just had to have the recipe so I could make it myself. It’s one of those hearty soups that’s heavy enough for dinner, but not overly caloric or fattening. The warmth, the red color, and the hint of spice make it perfect for a cold, wintry night.

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Last year around this time, I was heading to Guatemala to check an amazing event off my bucket list: the graveyard kite festival in Santiago de Sacatepequez that occurs every year on November 1st to celebrate Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead.)

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You probably think of Oahu and your mind goes somewhere like this:

It’s a great place to visit – with sparkling white sand, clear blue water, peaks to hike, and palm trees swaying in the breeze. But one thing you might not realize is that this island paradise also boasts all kinds of unique and delicious culinary delights! Fortunately, the best things also happen to be pretty cheap eats. Here are some of my favorites.

Mochi at Bubbies
You can get ice cream almost anywhere in the world, but fresh mochi is a rare find. Head to this unassuming strip mall location for homemade mochi balls in dozens of flavors ranging from chocolate with peanut butter ice cream to passion fruit and sakura (cherry blossom.) The ice cream at Bubbies is also top-notch, and as a bonus, the sundaes are named to raise an eyebrow or two. Bubbies: two locations in Honolulu; check website for details. 

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Ah, Amsterdam. Perhaps you’ve come because the canals are picturesque, the folks whizzing by on bicycles are exhilirating, the museums are wondrous, and the design stores delightful… or maybe you just like drugs? Or are hardcore into tulips? No judgments here.

Whatever your reason, forget about all of that for a minute and focus on the food! If you find yourself in Amsterdam, here are seven special things you should seek out and shove down your gullet.

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