Blogosphere: Food & Recipes

Homemade Butter at Traveler's Lunchbox - When I read this post, I figured I'd confirm "ya, right." Hmmm...I didn't. I came away thinking "I might actually be able to do that." City girl that I am, I didn't even know this was possible outside of a farm. Why hasn't Alton Brown covered this?!? He's covered making homemade yogurt, which seemed much more complicated.

Butter Snobbery by David Lebovitz - Speaking of butter, he makes a very good point. If you're going to eat butter, shouldn't you aim to eat the butter that tastes the very best it possibly can? If you're spreading it on toast, where you really get the flavor, I find this to be especially true. My theory is if it's not worth it, don't waste the calories.

Homemade Vanilla Extract also at Traveler's Lunch Box - If you ever use vanilla beans, this is a great way to get a second use out of them. And as Melissa points out, it means you'll never run out of delicious, homemade vanilla.
If you have the following on hand, you're money and you don't even know it: a jar, a bottle of booze, a bottle of vanilla extract, used (or new) vanilla beans, and 6-8 weeks.

Writing on Cupcakes on Geek Sugar via Chief Family Officer - Apparently, cupcakes are popular again. In, out, in, out...why won't they make up their minds? In any event, they are convenient for parties. Everyone gets a cute little something, and there's no mess or clean up. Well, not on the table. The clean up will still be required on the floor, under the table, on the refrigerator, under the couch, the dog, etc. Use your cupcakes to offer cute geeky characters or spell something out, like "Happy Birthday" or "The Sky's the Limit."

Cinnamon, cranberry rice pudding at the Perfect Pantry - I've never been one for rice pudding. I've tried it on several occasions, and I think the texture does me in every time. I loved the aromatic flavors in this recipe though, so I gave it a whirl. It came out lovely, and my husband, a rice pudding aficionado, loved it. But at the end of the day, the texture just didn't do it for me. I like things either velvety smooth, or not...but velvety smooth rice makes my Virgo impulses twitch. I feel the same way about tapioca. Just weird. That said, this really is a lovely recipe. I used dried black currants from Trader Joe's because it's our current favorite dried fruit.