TIP OF THE DAY: Purple Green Beans & Other Farmers Market Finds

Food can be fun; and unexpected food finds are especially fun. Take these purple green beans, known as Royalty Purple Pods. While they were introduced in 1957, have you ever seen them? The trick is to arrive at farmers markets early in the day, before the unusual veggies sell out. While the skin of the…
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RECIPE: Try Chocolate Raisin Panini

Chocolate panini: breakfast, snack or dessert. Photo courtesy Vosges Haut Chocoalt.   Our favorite breakfast bread is pain au chocolat. Literally “chocolate bread,” pain au chocolat is an oblong breakfast roll made of the same light, flaky, yeast-leavened laminated pastry dough as a croissant,* and filled with pieces of dark chocolate; *Pain au chocolat is…
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National Chop Suey Day: What Is Chop Suey & The History Of Chop Suey

August 29th is National Chop Suey Day. Many people refer to chop suey as a Chinese-American invention, like fortune cookies. But that’s a myth that keeps getting perpetuated. It came from China.     CHOP SUEY HISTORY Chop suey was first available to non-Chinese Americans in the mid-19th century, when Chinese restaurants began to appear…
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RECIPE: Make A Hurricane Cocktail

[1] A Hurricane cocktail served in the traditional Hurricane glass, fashioned after a hurricane lamp (photo © Alex 9500 | Panther Media). [2] The Hurricane is so popular that the Hard Rock Cafe in Stockholm has its own printed Hurricane glasses (photo © Bacardi Rum | Facebook). [3] Gosling’s Black Seal dark rum (photo ©…
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TIP OF THE DAY: What To Do With An Unusual Liquor Gift

You may receive a bottle of unusual spirits or liqueur* that you don’t know what to do with. Think smoked salmon-flavored vodka or chartreuse liqueur. Don’t stick it in a closet and forget about it. Our parents’ liquor closet grew and grew for 30 years, until the house was sold and a bar’s worth of…
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