The shrink-ray is insatiable. First it came for our donuts. Now it focuses on pies. These days you can get ‘em so small they should come with postage stamps instead of napkins.
In this Food for Thought, Nancy Leson tells about two of the new mini-pie joints recently opened in Seattle: Pie, located in city's Fremont neighborhood, and High 5 Pie on Capitol Hill.
They’ve looked in the mirror, and the mirror’s not only looking back, it's talking back. Dick “The Big Eater” Stein and Nancy “All You Can Eat” Leson both say it’s time to diet. In fact, they've already started.
Have you noticed your local grocery clerk asking you more personal questions of late? "Plastic or paper?" is giving way to "What are your weekend plans?"
This wicked turn toward what they call a 'charade of intimacy' doesn't sit well with Dick and Nancy. They've had it up to their squeaky shopping carts with faux familiarity!
And what about those frequent shopper cards that populate your wallet? Are they really 'saving' you money, as you're told at check out?
The end (and the beginning!) of the year often marks change in business of all kinds, and the restaurant business is no exception.
Nancy and Dick lay down the latest on some noteworthy Seattle restaurateurs who have opened - or are about to open - new kitchens. Other famous spots have new names, or new owners. Nancy says look out for:
It's the first Food for Thought of 2011, so Nancy and Dick put the spotlight on a little morsel associated with the start of a new year from the Japanese tradition: Mochi making.
A lot of folks around these parts lately have become experts at cooking during a power outage. A listener asked Nancy and Dick to offer their own tips on making do when the juice shuts off.
This week's Food for Thought makes sure your covered when the lights go out.
Picture your favorite cookbook, and how you have come to savor the experience of its splendor. This week’s Food for Thought reveals new favorites that rank in that class, and Nancy and Dick are naming their top picks, in time for Christmas.
Northwest farmers--like all farmers, really--are known for their grit. A few decades ago, nobody thought you could grow wine grapes in Oregon. But the early growers worked hard at it and made some great wine. Today, it’s a $1.4 billion a year industry. Now, there’s a new crop on the horizon.
Ever wonder how your favorite restaurants make sure they have the freshest seafood ready to serve to you? Dick and Nancy take you on a journey from the boat (and the airfreight cargo office) to the table, and follow one of the regions top seafood proprietors on this week's Food for Thought.
Seattle Times food writer Nancy Leson and Dick Stein usually get together at the KPLU studios each Tuesday to record Food for Thought -- but given Tuesday's hazardous driving conditions it seemed more prudent for Dick to just get Nancy on the phone for their Thanksgiving chat.
It shakes, it shimmies, sometimes it's got marshmallows in it. It's that wiggly dessert Seattle Times food writer Nancy Leson recently rhapsodized about in her blog. But KPLU's Dick Stein is a fellow who's not so mellow about Jell-O.
Seattle Times food writer Nancy Leson and KPLU's Dick Stein get good n' greasy as they attempt and fail to exercise ground beef control in this installment of Food for Thought.
This simple preparation -- a standard in my house -- and one Mac's been making since he landed in Washington over 30 years ago. The glaze doesn't overwhelm the salmon and does wonders keeping the fish from drying out. This recipe is enough to glaze four salmon fillets (or half a medium-size salmon). Mac suggests keeping the skin on and grilling the fish covered, skin-side down.
Note from Nancy: If you’ve got a standing mixer, this is a breeze. And it’s pretty easy even if you’re using a large mixing bowl, a sturdy spoon and your hands. The dough can be prepared earlier in the day for baking later: just keep it covered, and keep punching it down till baking time.
An enameled cast-iron Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid yields best results, but the recipe also works in a regular cast-iron Dutch oven or heavy stockpot.
After all that fine talk from Nancy and me about how simple it is to bake bread, here’s a complicated recipe. It’s really about 90% from George Greenstein’s first rate Secrets of a Jewish Baker but over the years I’ve changed, amended, and otherwise horsed around with his perfectly good recipe in order to customize it to my own perverse tastes. Read this recipe all the way through at least 3 days before you try it.
