| Green salad has tasty dressing
I love fresh, green salads especially in the spring and summer months and lately have been experimenting with new combinations of ingredients and new dressings or vinaigrettes.
I enjoy reading recipes and looking at magazine photos and imagining the taste of that plump red tomato or the leafy green lettuce leaf covered with a shiny dressing. Yum.
I've even been thinking ahead to summer salads while planning my container garden. I'm impatiently waiting for a package of grape tomato seeds and a package of Early Girl tomatoes to germinate so I can transfer them to an outdoor pot. I'm also waiting for the weather to warm so I can move six gourmet lettuce plants to an outdoor planter. It will be nice to move my emerging garden from our dining table!
And if I can figure out the best variety to buy, I'll also be planting some red bell peppers, and maybe some green ones as well.
Welcome to Mother's Day Dining at Opus, in the Renaissance ...
Opus restaurant in Pittsburgh offers two special seatings, brunch and dinner to help families celebrate a tasteful -- and tasty -- Mother's Day on May 13. Pittsburgh, PA (PRWeb) April 23, 2007 -- Opus restaurant in Pittsburgh offers two special seatings, brunch and dinner to help families celebrate a tasteful -- and tasty -- Mother's Day on May 13. Treat Mom like a queen in one of the city's most regal downtown Pittsburgh restaurants. First, a sumptuous brunch of seasonal delicacies will be served from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Later, a sit-down dinner that includes special fixed-price offerings and Opus' signature cuisine will be served from 5 to 8 p.m. Immerse her in luxury with palate-pleasing dishes prepared by gourmet chefs amid charming décor.
Mother's Day Unique Gift Idea Features Lobster Feast For Mom
"Mom's Magnificent Lobster Feast" gift package makes a unique gift just in time for Mother's Day. New gift idea features sweet lobster tails, crab cakes and chocolate cake. Chicago, IL (PRWEB) April 24, 2007 -- Mother's Day just got a little tastier with a great new gift idea from Lobster Gram - "Mom's Magnificent Lobster Feast". Featuring sweet, cold water South African lobster tails , luscious Premium Crab cakes, and even a Chocolate Heart cake for dessert, "Mom's Magnificent Lobster Feast" is a unique and delicious gift for your Mom, special someone or seafood lover. Sales of this very limited-time offer are expected to be high for Mother's Day, especially with the extra coverage it is getting as a feature on the Lobster Gram website. "Lobster Gram is continually striving to achieve fun and unique gift ideas of a variety of gourmet baskets for its customers, to ensure we have something to offer for every occasion, and our "Mom's Magnificent Lobster Feast" is a great example.
Dining out around West Michigan
Bentham's Riverfront Restaurant -- This Amway Grand Plaza Hotel restaurant offers basic food with a fabulous view of the Grand River and its bridges; popular for before or after downtown events; parking free for two hours if you self-park in the Amway ramp. Open daily. 187 Monroe Ave. NW, 774-2000. $$ Bistro Bella Vita --Downtown eatery in a redone warehouse next to Van Andel Arena serves upscale and gourmet meals. 44 Grandville Ave. SW, 222-4600. $$, $$$ Black Rose Irish Pub -- Urban pub atmosphere picks up even more with live music on weekends; a full menu with traditional Irish meals and hearty sandwiches, draft beers, ales and lagers. Open daily. 100 Ionia Ave. SW, 456-7673. $, $$ Flanagan's --Although it's as much a "spirits" place as a place for food, this eatery's specialty is corned beef and cabbage with boiled potatoes.
Homemade matzo adds fun to a Seder
Often families play "find the matzo" during the Passover Seder, and children search the house for the hidden treasure. However, a hidden treasure you could have been overlooking is the preparation of your own homemade matzo. With the convenience and quality of store-bought matzo, it's little wonder few people make their own, but it's a fun and easy project to try yourself or with your children that yields distinctive results. Every store-bought matzo is uniformly square and has perfectly proportioned lines of pinpricked holes. Homemade matzo looks much more rustic and usually turns out oval with rough edges. The flavor will charmingly vary slightly from batch to batch because it's not commercially produced. .
Jazz up muffins from the store
Sure, you could make your own blueberry muffins from scratch. But sometimes you want a special occasion breakfast without the trouble. Likewise, it would be nice to have that fresh-from-the-oven taste without traipsing to the bakery that morning.Use a few simple ingredients to give store-bought muffins a gourmet makeover.The muffins (they need not be blueberry) can be bought a day or two ahead; the toasting will revive any life lost during that time.If muffins aren’t your style, caramelized fruit also is a great topping for waffles, pancakes and crepes.A lower fat version of this dish can be had by using cooking spray (such as canola oil) instead of butter. The taste won’t be quite as rich, but the browning and toasting will be fine.Blueberry Muffinswith Caramelized Bananas4 tablespoons butter2 large blueberry muffins, cut in half down the center1 large banana3 tablespoons brown sugar1/2 teaspoon cinnamonPreheat oven to 200 degrees F.In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter.
CandyCot Dried Apricots Prove To Be Especially Sweet: Third World ...
CandyCot apricots, a dried fruit snack made from especially sweet heirloom apricots found in Central Asia, are helping farmers create a brighter economic future. Now these amazing apricots are available online. Each box of apricots help third world farm owners provide stable lifestyles for their families through the planting, harvesting, and natural drying process involved in creating the gourmet dried apricots. As a food connoisseur, Myron Stoltzfus has always enjoyed finding unique, one-of-a-kind foods. Now that he has paired that passion with an online store providing third world relief, his CandyCot dried apricots are truly unique. With the help of these super-sweet CandyCot dried apricots, Central Asian fruit farmers have experienced greater markets for their own farms. They can now make a living planting, harvesting, and naturally drying the heirloom apricots that are enjoyed by people around the world.
Getaways that give
In November, Toronto residents Kate Woolmer and boyfriend Jeff Cole jumped on a plane to Bolivia for a vacation they had booked through G.A.P Adventures, a company that specializes in off-the-beaten-path trips for those with a serious case of itchy feet. On the itinerary: exploring a country largely untouched by tourists — and spending a few hours at the travel company's Hogar Sucre project, an orphanage for boys. The orphanage is partly funded by G.A.P's Planeterra Foundation, a charitable arm that collects donations from travellers for projects that better the lives of the people they may be visiting. When Woolmer and her dozen or so companions arrived in Sucre, a World Heritage Site, they wanted to give something to the kids right then. So they ducked over to a market, bought a TV for the kids and jumped into a cab with it.
|
