A new and interesting blog

This year, Eat Well is celebrating Earth Day with the launch of our newest venture, the Green Fork Blog. The Green Fork is the official blog of the Eat Well Guide, your resource for finding thousands of farms, grocery stores, restaurants and other "green" food outlets throughout the US and Canada. Their new and expanded listings now include produce farms, farmers markets and vegan restaurants, as well as water-conscious ratings that let you know which of your local restaurants are helping to "take back the tap". If it's been awhile, come back for a visit, and see what's new. The Eat Well team is currently at work on new cutting edge features that will make it easier than ever to eat greener, including an interactive mapping and travel feature due later this summer.

On the menu at the Green Fork Blog:

food and farming news
farm tours and seasonal food information
interviews with food activists and leaders of the sustainable food movement
book reviews
food for thought

They started off Earth Day with a list of 20 ways to green your fork--click here to check it out and learn delicious ways to tread lightly while eating well! As Earth Day reminds us, one of the most vital things people can do for the environment is to change what they eat--to more locally-grown, sustainably-produced food.

Shopping for that unique something

While most of us are fond of simple, wholesome, familiar, comfort foods, there times when we crave something different. From the closed poll it seems I am like most people who seek out those unique ingredients at Ethnic Grocery stores. I’m most familiar with the Asian grocery stores as I’ve shopped them over the past 10 years mostly for a restaurant's pantry. It wasn’t too many years ago that not a single major purveyor could consistently deliver wonton wrappers, or wasabi powder, or nori sheets, so we had to go out and get them ourselves.

I have had many plesent shopping experiences at the Asian Grocery, on top of the unique stock, the communication barrier is strong, challenging, yet trivial in most instances. Almost 100% of the stock is completely foreign, for instance what do you use a 3 foot dehydrated octopus for? Yet there are a lot of heat and serve fast food dishes that are very accessible. Noodles, rice, and soy are the staples. The live frogs, turtles, crabs, lobsters, catfish, and tilapia are all fun to look at, more in a zoo type of way than a food type of way. My favorite is the section of the cooler stocked with hundreds of unique soft drinks, juices, and canned coffee. I almost always pick one to go.

If by chance you are not shopping for edibles, there are plenty of items at the Asian Grocery for you. Hello Kitty, that’s all I have to say. Honk Kong Supermarket has a huge selection of restaurant quality small wares. There are woks, chopsticks, tea pots, and serving bowls everywhere, all priced very reasonably. My favorite three Asian Grocery stores are listed below.
I’m quite unfamiliar with any other good ethnic groceries around town, so please let me know where I can find something new.

Asia Food
3126 St. Clair Ave.
216-621-1681

Hong Kong Supermarket
3038 Payne Ave.
216-861-8018

Tink Hall - Asian Grocery
E. 36th between Payne and Perkins

MMMMM Bacon!

I was lucky enough to be stumbled upon by a fellow bloger, Sheena Simpson who is a contributor to a very interesting blog about the culinary scene in and around Atlanta. Sheena was nice enough to forward me a sample of an interesting product, Bacon Salt. The product is in fact fat free, vegetarian, and kosher, three things no one was previously foolish enough to associate with anything bacon-y. On top of that, the main detractor of most seasoning salts is there insanely over the top saltiness which is pleasantly absent in Bacon Salt.

I’ve been using the Hickory Smoked Bacon Salt with great satisfaction. It brings both smoke and bacon to the game, which is very nice. The flavor of bacon is mysteriously there, but also up front and in your face. I’ve added it to steamed vegetables, a very light dusting as to just hint at slathering the otherwise healthy vegetables with bacon fat. Bacon Salt also made it into a batch of potato croquettes that I seasoned more aggressively, and was able to keep a smooth, light potato texture with full bacon flavor. We put some on popcorn, that was very interesting. I think of popcorn as light and fluffy, but the Bacon Salt comes through so clear as to fill you up.

If you like bacon, you will like bacon salt. You can find it at their website for sure. I’m impatiently waiting to sprinkle some on fried eggs, fresh tomatoes, and french fries.

In the news again

With only one shift so far under my belt the Cleveland Free Times had a short news bit to mention my current move. I hope there are some more posative things to be discussed in the furture. Than again, I'm always to see my name in there!