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Seasonal Bits:
Winter is upon us,
which brings about the global Christmas holiday.
Take a peak at Noel to get
historical facts about the holiday along with more than two dozen Christmas
recipes from around the world.
Christmas Recipes >
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Food Games:
Are you an
epicurean who
fancies food-related computer diversions? Check out our links to time
management games that can be downloaded and played at home. I've tried most of
them, and they're great fun. Some of the games also include printable recipes.
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Readers Mail:
Food Fare often receives e-mail from reader's who have something to say about
the web site, the recipes or the food articles. Every valid message or question
is answered.
Readers Mail >
Food Culture:
Food Fare has entered into a partnership with
Class Notes to offer our
food articles as research papers. The features include articles on the food and
culture of different countries, time periods and events and contain bits of
history, food traditions, lifestyle and dishes native to the specific country,
as well as authentic recipes. Research papers also include food-specific topics.
Visit Class Notes >
The move to
Class Notes was prompted
by the sale of unauthorized copies of our food articles by other entities
online. These entities were selling the food articles without our knowledge or
consent, sometimes for $75 a pop, therefore forcing us to to restrict access.
Note: All recipes from the articles will remain
freely available at Food Fare. Recipes >
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Greetings from Food
Fare...
 Welcome to Food Fare and the eighth
edition of our newsletter, Food Fare Notes.
It's hard to believe
that another year has passed by. Christmas is right round the corner again,
which fills some of us with trepidation because of the current economic climate.
What to buy someone when you don't have the money? It's hard enough to
scrape by week to week, let alone worry about buying gifts for loved ones and
friends.
When I'm pinching
pennies but still want to give gifts, I head for the kitchen. A five-pound bag
of flour and buttermilk can go a long way in making several loaves of tasty
Soda Bread.
Canned pumpkin is fairly inexpensive, so baking
Pumpkin Cookies
and
Pumpkin Bread
has become tradition
in my house in recent years. I almost always give away the foodstuff as gifts.
Giving gifts that are
the result of your own work are indeed gifts from the heart. They always mean
more to me than something purchased at a store and then hastily wrapped. I'm
almost certain everyone reading this feels the same way.
Merry Christmas from our house to
yours...
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Global Goodies
After several weeks
of organizing, more than one hundred new recipes were recently added to the collection
at Food Fare.
Categories
include:
Australia, Canada,
England, France,
Madagascar,
Mexico, Monaco,
Poland, Russia,
Spain, and
Sweden.
It was no small feat to gather the old recipe bones and edit the
entire
lot. Many of the recipes have been in our database for more than
a decade, but it was still tough to pick and choose, or pick and
discard. Some of them will probably find their way into the
upcoming electronic cookbook as well.
One of my favorite cultural
recipes comes from Sweden. My neighbor is of Swedish descent,
and she introduced me to the divine wonders of
Toscakaka. Her
"Almond Cake" recipe also won the Pillsbury Gift Basket
Contest sponsored by
Appetizing Muse
in 2008-09.
Another tasty morsel, although
more difficult to prepare, is Polish
Pierogi.
The Russians, Czechs, Slovaks, Baltic Estonians, Latvians and
Lithuanians also have their own version of the dish, too. Why not
give it a whirl?
More
Recipes >
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Ramen with a Twist
 In
an effort to save money, I've spent the last year eating
Top Ramen
noodles in various forms on a regular basis. Luckily, four packages still go
for $1 where I live, so I stock up every few weeks. I'm not one to enjoy the
noodles and soup, but rather cook the noodles, drain the water and
then toss the noodles with the seasoning packet provided.
To give variety to the dish, I often toss the
noodles with steamed vegetables such as frozen baby peas, broccoli and
kernel corn. Once in a blue moon I also make the ramen noodles from scratch,
which is also inexpensive and goes a long way.
Ramen from Scratch
2 C flour
4 eggs
Salt
1 TBS water
Oil for frying
In a large bowl, combine
flour and salt. Make a well in the center and add the eggs and water.
Combine until it comes together to form a nice pasta dough. Let rest 30
minutes, and then roll through pasta machine with an angel hair attachment.
Twirl your desired amount in a nest (the real ramen is square, but the nest
is easier to do). Let nests dry for a couple hours, then deep fry for 3
minutes on each side. Let cool. Boil in salted water until tender. Since
this is fresh ramen without any preservatives, store in the fridge for up to
a week, or freeze for 3 months.
There are at least a thousand different ways to serve ramen. Try a few of them -
your pocketbook will love you...
Chicken Milano with Ramen >
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Until Next Time
The launch of the
Food Fare Cookbook has been rescheduled for
May
2011. Because of unforeseen circumstances, the original release date of December
2010 had to be changed.
The cookbook will contain more than
six hundred-fifty recipes, from simple fare to family recipes for all meals,
herbs and spices, canine treats, tea time delicacies and ethnic dishes from
around the world.
Check back for updates and other
news as spring approaches, or come by our page at
Facebook to leave a comment. Food Fare also has a place to rant and rave
on Twitter.
You might be surprised by what you
find...
Happy Cooking from Food Fare,
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