Food Blog Round-Up

A few years back we had to spend some time in Vegas on business. This was before they had a Whole Paycheck. We were determined we were going to buy at least some local vegetables and tried to search out the farmer's markets. Silly us, Vegas really is in the middle of the desert, so the produce that some poor farmer schlepped in from California for the markets--not so much. This experience did, however, make us appreciate Bay Area farmer's markets all the more, and we feel blessed that there are so many good one's here that people can write about, beyond the main one's. For example, there's the efficient Walnut Creek market, according to Culinary Curiosity. Family Food heads to the other end of the Bart tracks and touts the Daly City market. And Brendon doesn't much care which farmer's market you go to, as long as you follow some simple guidelines.

Shuna's been posting some exceptionally moving, and emotionally revealing, writings over at Eggbeater these past couple of weeks. We don't know her well enough to know exactly what's going on, but we love the piece for the way it reminds us of Anne Lamott: totally fearless in her exposition about things that most people find very difficult to talk about. She also has a whole series (we'll only link to a couple here) about prepping for a dessert tasting in a job application process. It's riveting reading to see someone obsess over their craft, and realize that no matter what one does, if it matters, you agonize.

And maybe it's the richness of the food, but writing about butter seems to bring out the sense memories of some writers. 101 Cookbooks waxes rhapsodic over a Quartet of Compound Butters. Our favorite is the Dry Desert Lime Butter. How could you not love descriptions like "There is something haunting, vibrant and ancient in the taste of dried lime"? Albion jumps into the fray, and posts a recipe for some simple herbed butter.

And, on a couple random notes, Food Musings has a hysterical list of things not to do when it comes to cooking a lobster. On the plus side, running lobster races on the kitchen floor is not included, which means its still OK! Lastly, Sugar Savvy asks us all not to run around the chocolate. You might fall in.

Pic is from Fork and Bottle's delightful page showing you how to make watermelon juice.