By Russ Parsons, Los Angeles Times Beans can seem complicated. They come in different colors — green, yellow and purple are the most common. And in different shapes — round and flat — and different sizes — yard-long and fingernail thin. They grow on different types of plants — pole beans climb to the sky […]
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By Russ Parsons, Los Angeles Times Peaches and nectarines are two of the most glorious prizes of summer, but this year you’d better grab them while you can. Blink and you might miss your favorites. Because of the warm winter we experienced — the winter that wasn’t — harvests are much smaller than usual and […]
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By Kim Severson, New York Times SANTA CRUZ — Andrea Nguyen, who writes cookbooks for a living, knows that making pho in a pressure cooker is not the solution to California’s drought. Still, developing a reasonable version of the Vietnamese noodle soup that can be made in less than an hour, with half the water, […]
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By Los Angeles Times Close your eyes and imagine the smell of baking bread, of a pungent curry dish, of popcorn at the movies or a bouquet of freshly cut tea roses. If these prompts send you into swoons of olfactory delight, there’s a good chance that upon opening your eyes, an obese person could […]
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By Matt Lee and Ted Lee, New York Times We’ve never been the kind of guys to worship outdoor grilling gear and technology. When we were growing up, Dad set the tone, making do with a rusty hardware store hibachi and a metal chimney. We’ve written about the ascetic thrill of using government-issue grills in […]
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By Julie R. Thomson, Huffington Post By now you’ve probably been told a million times that you should never put tomatoes in the refrigerator. But aside from knowing they’ll get soggy and taste a little worse for the wear, do you really know why? We’re about to get to the bottom of why you should […]
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El Dorado and Amador county wineries scored well in the annual California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition. This year’s wine competition consisted of 2,881 wine entries from 743 winery brands. Seventy-two judges on 18 panels awarded 57 double golds and 254 golds. The first State Fair Wine Competition was in 1855. The competition is the oldest […]
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By Kathryn Reed TRUCKEE – Knives go so fast it’s a wonder no one is injured. Flames shoot up. Pans are occupying nearly every burner, yet nothing is being neglected. A quick squeeze and flick of the wrist creates an artist-like design. It’s controlled chaos in the kitchen at Manzanita. A small army of sous […]
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By Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post First it was blueberries. Then the tart, deep red seeds of pomegranates. Now it’s avocado’s turn in the spotlight. Long revered as a superfood with good vitamin and fat content, the fleshy green fruit is being used in the development of a drug that researchers hope will one day be able […]
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By Luke Whelan, Mother Jones Figuring out whom to trust for nutritional advice can be a daunting task; new findings on everything from the dangers of sugar to the health benefits of leftover pasta seem to come out every day, and the “experts” behind them often have ulterior motives. According to a report released this […]
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