If he or she would prefer some fine tea, one of our favorite tea purveyors, Tay Tea, offers these options in bright red canisters containing the finest loose leaf teas;

 
Although many people can give tea alluring names, few can blend such fine teas as Tay Tea’s Nini Ordoubadi.

Whether for Valentine’s Day or just because you deserve some great tea, check out her wares at TayTea.com.

Read our review of Tay Tea.
 
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT TEA?

For starters, visit our Gourmet Tea Section and check out our Tea Glossary.

THE NIBBLE celebrates its eighth birthday this month. Eight years, some 20,000 pages of content and about one million monthly visitors. Whew!

Instead of a cake, we’ve given ourselves a new home page design. Check it out!

Thanks to Andrew, Leah, Luisa and Sue for making it happen.

If you have comments or suggestions, we’d love to hear them. Use the Contact Us link at the top of the page.

Cook your cucumbers: They’re even better than when raw. Photo by Monika Szczygiel | SXC.

Halve a few cucumbers lengthwise, remove the seeds and cook them in some chicken broth with a squeeze of lemon juice. You only need enough chicken broth to cover the cucumbers about three-quarters of the way, so the amount will vary depending on the size of your pan. Keep things at a simmer (don’t boil!) to avoid mushiness and disintegration, and season with salt and pepper to taste. After you try this simple recipe, feel free to jazz things up with your favorite herbs and seasonings.

7. Feta…likes it hot! Feta cheese is one of the few cheeses you can grill (halloumi, paneer and queso blanco are others), due to its combination of a high moisture content and solid texture. Man, is it good! Simply cut feta into planks about an inch thick, drizzle liberally with olive oil, sprinkle with dried oregano and freshly ground pepper and slap that baby on a hot grill. Once you have nice, thick grill marks, flip it. Serve the grilled feta topped with some freshly diced tomatoes for a killer appetizer.

8. Lettuce…is tired of being relegated to salads! This is one you may have seen at restaurants, but few people try at home.

Start with a few heads of romaine; pull off the loose outer leaves, trim the stem (but leave it intact to hold the heart together) and split the head lengthwise. Brush the insides with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, then put the romaine on a hot grill (or in a grill pan, in a pinch) for about a minute—just until you have solid grill marks.

Let them sit for a minute, then enjoy. The char is a nice contrast to the lettuce’s natural flavor, and everything ends up tasting, believe it or not, buttery! You’ll never look at your greens the same way again.

When you roast nuts at home, you will really get a sense of what a difference it makes. Toss them in a little olive oil first and then sprinkle with your favorite spices: cayenne, cumin, chili powder, coriander or whatever you like. Just remember to let them cool a bit after they come out to get back to their optimal crunchiness.

You can heat store-bought, pre-roasted nuts in the oven, which is sort of like re-roasting them, but only for a short amount of time or they may burn. You can (and should), however, roast nuts that have been blanched or that are raw, which is how many store-bought nuts come packaged.

10. Steak…tartar at home! Few people are bold enough to serve raw meat in their own homes; it’s usually thought of as one of those things best left to restaurant chefs with the know-how to pull it off. But believe it or not, steak tartare is one of the easier things you can make. After all, it’s just mixing things together in a bowl and letting the flavors mingle.

Just make sure your beef is top quality; sirloin or tenderloin are good options. Grind it yourself, or get it ground by a quality butcher who has a grinder that isn’t used for pork (tell the butcher it’s for tartare). I personally prefer the beef chopped into very small, uniform pieces as opposed to ground. Yes, it’s more work, but I think the texture is much more appealing and has less of a “raw meat” feel to it.

To make a classic steak tartare, combine the following in a large mixing bowl: 1 pound of ground/chopped beef, 1 teaspoon whole grain mustard, 1/2 teaspoon (or more if you prefer) of Tabasco or other hot sauce, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 minced shallot, 1 teaspoon brandy, 1 egg and salt & pepper (preferably white) to taste. Cover and let it sit, refrigerated, for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to mingle; then serve with toasted baguette slices or toast points. I like to drizzle the tartare with a touch of fine olive oil when serving.

There’s the beef—for today, at least.
  

[2] Jalapeño cornbread muffins with Cheddar cheese. Here’s the recipe (photo © Vivacious Gourmet).

[3] The best way to de-seed and dice the chile is to first make a vertical cut and remove the seeds and pith (photo © Good Eggs).

[4] We prefer the red jalapeño color and flavor, but often make a red-and-green mix (photo © © Ball Horticultural Company).

[5] If you’d like a hotter chile than jalapeno (green), substitute habanero or Scotch bonnet (photo © Ashley Foods Co. | Mad Dog 357).

Our upcoming Top Pick Of The Week, Deano’s Jalepeño Chips, got us to thinking about the other ways we enjoy jalapeño.

Among our favorites is jalapeño cornbread. The heat of the chile bits brings the already-wonderful sweet corn and butter flavors to a new height.

In some regions of America, cornbread is associated with southern food. But you don’t need a plate of barbecue or eggs and grits to enjoy its pleasures. Serve it anytime: for breakfast or lunch, with soups and salads, as a snack or in the dinner bread basket.

Marcus Samuelsson, the world-famous chef, a Harlem resident, opened a Southern comfort food in Harlem last year, Red Rooster. His recipe follows.

> The history of cornbread.

> The history of chiles.

> The different types of chile peppers: a photo glossary.

> Check out the year’s 18 chile pepper holidays below.

> April 6th is National Cornbread Day.
 
 
RECIPE: MARCUS SAMUELSSON’S JALAPEÑO CORNBREAD
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 325°F. Spray a 9-x-5-inch loaf pan with pan spray.

2. WHISK the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.

3. WHISK the sour cream, buttermilk, eggs, yolk, jalapeños, and melted butter together in another bowl until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until combined. Fold in the corn.

4. SCRAPE the batter into the loaf pan and smooth out the top. Bake until the bread is browned and pulling away from the sides of the pan, and a skewer poked into the center comes out clean—about 60 minutes.

5. COOL on a rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the sides and turn out the loaf. You can cut it now but the slices will be rough-hewn. Otherwise, cool completely for a clean cut.

The bread will keep for four days, but freezing individual slices is better.
 
 
KNOW YOUR CHILES

Beyond jalapeño, how many other chiles have you had? Check out our Chile Glossary.

Is it spelled chile, chili or chilli?

The original Nahuatl (Aztec) word is chilli. The conquering Spanish spelled it chile. And many people use chili, a seeming middle ground between the first two. The choice is yours.
 
 
THE YEAR’S 18 CHILE PEPPER HOLIDAYS

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

Whenever we encounter the Bard Valley Medjool Date Growers at a trade show, it’s our favorite booth. The melt-in-your-mouth, better-than-sugar dates have been called mankind’s first candy—and maybe the best. The Medjool variety has been called “the fruit of kings,” and unlike other “favorites of kings”—horse racing, for example—everyone can enjoy dates, as often as they like.

Dates grow on a specific type of palm tree, Phoenix dactylifera. The date palm was one of the first cultivated trees, domesticated in Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years ago. Because the trees are so productive (an average date palm produces 100 pounds of fruit a year, some varieties twice that, for 60 years or longer), dates were the cheapest of staple foods. They were dried and eaten as sweets, added to meat and grain dishes and were easily portable, carried by travelers as an energy food.

The best dates we’ve had are from the growers of the Bard Valley Medjool Date Growers Association of Southern California, the members of which are family-owned date gardens (it’s gardens, not orchards).

The unique microclimate in the Bard Valley (situated between San Diego and Phoenix) is perfect for date growing, with an ever-present sun, intense heat and a high water table. The result is large, moist and delightfully sweet fruit. No pesticides are used in their growing process.

Our favorites are the plain dates, worth every dollar. Date rolls with almonds, coconut or pistachios are also available—also delicious, but the plain dates are pure joy. You can buy them online, finer products than any we’ve been able to purchase in local stores.

Dates are very nutritious and their sugars, fructose and dextrose, are quickly metabolized for energy. Enjoy them:

 
Check out these delicious date recipes