Nuts and Edible Seeds

And Just Where Was Tinker Bell In All This?

Miss Pop Rocks: Cats Are Awesome

Tasting Bluebell's New Flavors

With this Groom's Cake, I thee wed?Three flavors, which one will come out on top? Our little Texan creamery sends out rotational flavors -- each made for three months before being replaced -- alongside the year-round lineup. Sometimes old seasonal flavors make a comeback; sometimes the flavors are ... More >>

Mom's Christmas Fudge

My mother is known for many things, but chief among them is her famous Christmas fudge.  Each year, lucky friends and family make out with a tin or two.  And until my grandfather passed away last year, she would always make an enormous gift basket for him each year at Christmas, filled wi ... More >>

No Peanut Butter At HISD Schools

HISD is making a bold, courageous move against the scourge of possibly poisoned peanut butter.It's cleaning out all its vending machines of any trace of peanut-butter crackers, confiscating any such potentially deadly crackers from kids' lunches, and even taking away PB&Js from students who boug ... More >>

Healthy But Flavorless Pecan Oil

I shelled out almost $13 for this bottle of pecan oil at Whole Foods. It doesn't taste like pecans--the manufacturer says that's a good thing. They were doing a demonstration at the store using the pecan oil to fry fish. The fish tasted fine, but I wondered why no flavor was a benefit. They lady sai ... More >>

Hot Plate

I shelled out almost $13 for this bottle of pecan oil at Whole Foods. It doesn't taste like pecans--the manufacturer says that's a good thing. They were doing a demonstration at the store using the pecan oil to fry fish. The fish tasted fine, but I wondered why no flavor was a benefit. They lady sai ... More >>

Hot Plate

I shelled out almost $13 for this bottle of pecan oil at Whole Foods. It doesn't taste like pecans--the manufacturer says that's a good thing. They were doing a demonstration at the store using the pecan oil to fry fish. The fish tasted fine, but I wondered why no flavor was a benefit. They lady sai ... More >>

Best Street Festival

The Southwestern Bell African-American Arts Festival

Hate the Statement at "Transcendental Smoothie"

But don't hate the art

Sandy's Produce Market

One healthy meal at Sandy's Produce Market will wipe away all of your high-cholesterol sins

Precision Pecan Pie

Roland's Swiss Pastry and Bistro

A Slice of Chocolate, Please

The Chocolate Bar

Walker, Texas Ranger

Carl Walker, Brennan's of Houston

Hot Plate

Dreyer's new "Dreamery" lineup

Hot Plate

Dreyer's new "Dreamery" lineup

Native Pecan Report

​The native pecans are nice and meaty this year. I knew it was pecan season when I saw two women walking around my neighborhood collecting nuts in a Shipley's Donut bag. Then I saw a very clever individual shaking the branches of a native pecan tree by means of a long pipe with a hook taped on ... More >>

Crispy and Crispier

Crispy Cashew Calamari at Eddie V's

How To Make The Perfect: Fudge

Note: This is a rerun of a popular post from last Christmas. We'd be remiss in not sharing our favorite fudge recipe this time of year. Enjoy and good luck in your fudge endeavors. My mother is known for many things, but chief among them is her famous Christmas fudge. Each year, lucky friends and f ... More >>

Recipe: Granola

​Instead of baking cookies or giving ornaments during the holiday season, we like to give little packs of granola. Everyone eats it, even if they're on a diet, and it's good to keep in your desk. This particular version uses raw honey to help with pesky seasonal allergies, as well as organic e ... More >>

Recipe: Honeyed Marcona Almond Brie En Croute

​Perhaps we're the only ones feeling the post-holiday slump, but it's been a bit discombobulating going from full speed ahead partying to life in its more quiet normalcy. To combat this sharp dip in festive fun, we've decided to have a few (a very, very small few) of our closest friends over ... More >>

Ceviche Challenge at Yelapa Playa Mexicana

​Perhaps we're the only ones feeling the post-holiday slump, but it's been a bit discombobulating going from full speed ahead partying to life in its more quiet normalcy. To combat this sharp dip in festive fun, we've decided to have a few (a very, very small few) of our closest friends over ... More >>

Hot New Chocolatier in Town

​Dark chocolate bark with chipotle and almonds marked the beginning of a romantic Valentine's Day season at my house. My wife is wild about chocolate and chile pepper confections, so I try to buy her some every year at this time. I used to mail-order the wonderful chocolate-and-chile pepper ba ... More >>

Recipe: Horchata Cubana

​We Houstonians love our horchata. We are more used to the traditional Mexican-style horchata, which contains cinnamon and lime and often is served as a hangover cure on Sunday mornings (or a hangover starter when mixed with rum on Saturday nights). Cuban horchata, however, is simpler and trad ... More >>

Brew Blog: Beer and Cashews

​We had some spare cashews in the pantry and, being the innovative people we are, figured we should try to pair them up with a beer suited to their unique flavor. Step aside, peanuts. It's cashew time. We stopped by the D & Q and found two bottles we thought might fit with our chosen nuts. F ... More >>

Recipe: Sweet and Spicy Nut Mix

​Nuts are a great way to curb hunger cravings. This tasty nut snack mix is a slightly sweet, slightly clumpy version of a trail mix -- simply speaking, this is a granola minus the actual oats. It was created as a post-workout snack and something to toss in a camelback, as the protein and raw s ... More >>

Local Spotlight: Maison Burdisso

Jackie Burdisso​WHAT: The best French macarons in town -- and proof that good taste is hereditary. In Houston, the word "macaroon" typically inspires visions of lightly sweet, chewy mounds of shredded coconut tenaciously held together by egg whites. But a "macaron" -- minus one O -- is a deli ... More >>

Summertime Splurge: Ice Cream at The Chocolate Bar

​Whether it is an innate physiological response to the sweltering heat or a more shallow desire to look good while lounging poolside, people have a tendency to eat lighter during the simmering months of summer. But this rule of thumb excludes ice cream. So despite my recent healthful eating ... More >>

Recipe Tasting: Spinach Bread

Does this look like bread to you?​It's the end of a stretch of diet for an upcoming vacation. Refined starches are a no-no, but I can't help but miss bread. Rather than sneak over to a French bakery and blow the diet, I decided to take a stab at this recipe I found online. "Slice and enjoy as ... More >>

Ingredient of the Week: Pepitas

vanderwal​What is it?"Pepita" is the Mexican Spanish word for "pumpkin seed." Pepitas are sold either with the shell on or off and can be raw or toasted. They're very popular in Mexico - where their status as a popular snack originated from the Aztec culture. Pumpkin seeds have a high percen ... More >>

8 Common Foods (That Are Poisonous)

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Earlier this week, Katharine Shilcutt took a look at 8 foods notable for containing trace amounts of radiation. She carefully pointed out that the radiation in those foods was so negligible, there's no real threat to you or me unless we were to ingest m ... More >>

Food Fight: Battle Baklava

No matter who loses Battle Baklava, we all win!​Several years ago I found a letter from the early 1970's handwritten from my great-grandmother to my grandmother. The paragraphs alternated between Serbian and broken English, some expressing open joy that my uncle had returned safely from Vietna ... More >>

"Really Rocky Road Cake" at The Chocolate Bar

​Since cost-value has been a popular subject of debate surrounding some of my more recent posts, perhaps I should preface this write-up with my general attitude toward the prices at The Chocolate Bar: they're about 30 percent too high. I have in the past tolerated this mark-up because the pr ... More >>

Mint Spice Bistro

​Since cost-value has been a popular subject of debate surrounding some of my more recent posts, perhaps I should preface this write-up with my general attitude toward the prices at The Chocolate Bar: they're about 30 percent too high. I have in the past tolerated this mark-up because the pr ... More >>

Cheat Sheet: Basic Box Cakes Jazzed Up 4 Ways

​For some reason, many of the people I hold near and dear are all born within a two-week window of October. Unfortunately, it's usually the same two-week period as midterms and a host of other pressing responsibilities. Since I have always had that 1950s housewife mentality of needing to bake ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 2: Pat Greer's Raw Vegan Kitchen

Pat Greer and her assistant Ray in the kitchen.​Yesterday we chatted with the lively raw vegan chef Patricia Greer. Today we discuss some of the items she makes - some even carnivores will enjoy. EOW: Here in Houston, you definitely have a niche market, which might be more difficult than oth ... More >>

Top 5 Worst Holiday Food Gifts

craftapaloozaPeppermint bark: you can't have just one. ​5. Thanks for nothing Have you ever gotten a $25 gift certificate to HoneyBaked Hams? Do you have any idea what $25 will get you there? I'm guessing half a pig's scrotum. Sorry for singling out this fine cured-meats establishment, but y ... More >>

Recipe: Mom's Christmas Fudge

Remember to cut a small square for yourself, for "testing" purposes.​My mother is known for many things, but chief among them are her Christmas baked goods, including this family recipe for fudge. Each year, lucky friends and family make out with a tin or two. And until my grandfather passed a ... More >>

Unfortunate-Looking Dessert Proves Quite Tasty

They're delicious; I promise.​"I'm not eating that. It looks disgusting." My boyfriend shoved the Styrofoam bowl back across the table at me, its contents jiggling slightly as he did. Inside the bowl were five spheres coated in a fine peanut dust. One of them was oozing a dark, black substanc ... More >>

Trying Roasted Chestnuts

olgucz​Roasted chestnuts were the first course for a beer dinner I attended the other night at the Alamo Drafthouse at the West Oaks Mall, which was pretty cool, but even better is that the event was also attended by Peter Billingsley. They were served with sparkling wine and piping hot when w ... More >>

Food Fight: Pecan Pie

Dacapo's, left. Goode Co., right.​It may be the state tree of Texas, but the pecan sure doesn't attract the kind of attention lavished on the state flower, the bluebonnet. Put it this way: You don't see photo studios offering to capture a young Texan's first bite of pecan pie. If only! The blu ... More >>

Food Fight: Store Brand Pretzels

Photos by Matthew DresdenStore brand pretzels from Whole Foods (left) and Trader Joe's (right)​As my friend Sara Dickerman wrote in 2007 in a fascinating piece in Slate, pretzels don't get much love in the snack-food world. When was the last time you saw a television commercial for pretzels? D ... More >>

Racing Rachael: Hot Topic

Carrie Applegate Jaeger​I'm not really a fan of chicken pieces with nuts. *Insert inappropriate comment here, kids.* However, since my husband dog-eared this 30-minute recipe, I thought I'd give it a go. Is it a keeper? The food: Chipotle Cashew Chicken with Brown Rice and Glazed Spinach ... More >>

Yoga Fuel: Everything Bars from Sinfull Bakery

Photos: Christina UticoneYou are my Everything.​This is the kind of review I hesitate to write. I am a horribly selfish person, so I fear that giving props to this product will result in my having difficulty finding it, which in turn makes me want to keep it a secret. I'm torn! But I will grud ... More >>

Better'n Peanut Butter

Joanna O'LearyAlso comes in a Low-Sodium Variety​Better'n Peanut Butter was better'n I expected. I spotted this imposter spread at Trader Joe's and decided to give it a whirl. Note: I know TJ's is not in Houston (yet), but never fear, you can find Better'n Peanut Butter at H.E.B. and Whole Foo ... More >>

Chef Chat, Part 3: Matti Merrell and Rodney Perry of Green Seed Vegan

Photo by Mandy Oaklander​Forget fat-bubbly steaks and cheese-drenched crab enchiladas. If there was one cuisine in Houston I had to dine on for the rest of my life, it would come from Green Seed Vegan. If you're just joining us, check out our chat with vegan chefs Matti Merrell and Rodney Perr ... More >>

Eat Smart: Top Brain Boosting Foods

Photo by twm1340Your future awaits.​With the multitude of mind-numbing reality television shows that I can't stop watching and people like this parading around the internet, it's become blatantly obvious; I'm getting stupider more stupider just more freaking dumb by the second. Luckily, resear ... More >>

Holiday Classics: The Linzer Cookie

Photo by jwalsh​For me, the holidays are all about family. But coming in at a very close second, like probably way too close of a second, is another one of my favorite things in the world: holiday food. I don't know about you, but when I think about this time of year, I think of cookies. We'l ... More >>

Christmas Traditions: Mom's Best Fudge

Remember to cut a small square for yourself, for "testing" purposes.​My mother is known for many things, but chief among them are her Christmas baked goods, including this family recipe for fudge. Each year, lucky friends and family make out with a tin or two. And until my grandfather passed a ... More >>