Summer Fun, July 2012

I'm still discombobulated by my summer vacation. While I pull myself together, here's picture of Half Dome at sunset, and some fun food info I've picked up over the summer.
The photo is from Camp Curry's parking lot. We stayed in a wood floor tent for a week. Every time I looked up, I was awestruck.

The Wok Shop
I stopped in while visiting San Francisco, and ordered a new wok in person. (I may have to join Wok Wednesdays to break it in.) The Wok Shop is a great little store in Chinatown, stuffed to the rafters with cooking equipment. I wish I had all day to peek in all its nooks and crannies.
So, we now have Meatless Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, Wok Wednesdays, any suggestions to fill in the rest of the week?

Raichlen's Burgers
Steven Raichlen just published a quick (25 recipe) e-book dedicated to hamburgers.  It's a fun, quick read, for 99 cents.
*I noticed it while checking the sales numbers on my book. I mentioned I wrote a cookbook, right? I'm obsessed by my sales rank on Amazon. If it goes up, I'm ecstatic. If it goes down, I fall into a deep funk.
**And, as an aside from my aside, Steven's novel, Island Apart, is a fun read if you're a food fanatic like me. I started and finished it on the plane ride out west.

High Tech Shortcut To Greek Yogurt Leaves Purists Fuming
What? Greek Yogurt isn't always Greek Yogurt? I wondered why Yoplait some "Greek" yogurts taste grainy to me. There's the good version, using the traditional method of squeezing out the excess moisture...by using a huge centrifuge, and spinning the water out. I can live with that one. But the other method is to add thickeners (read: starch) to the yogurt to try to give it the same mouthfeel. Check the ingredients. If you see milk protein concentrate or cornstarch, watch out.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking App
32 of the most popular recipes from Julia Child's Mastering The Art of French Cooking, with full color photos, video of Julia making the recipes, and audio notes from editor Judith Jones. I'm getting excited just reading about it...must go order now...

Get Jiro!
Tony Bourdain, Joel Ross, and Langdon Foss's violent, hilarious graphic novel is a remake of Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars, viewed through Tony's...um...unique viewpoint on food. I worked at a comic book store as a teenager, watched A Fistful of Dollars more times than I can count, and loved all the inside jokes about food. It's like they designed the graphic novel just for me.
*Well, other than the over the top violence. My tolerance for that has dropped since I was a teenager. I still loved it, but be warned - this is not a comic book for the kiddies.

16 Essential Tips for Travelling with a Family [zenhabits.org]
I just spent a month travelling with my wife and kids. I read this list when I got back, and shouted "That's IT!" It describes everything that worked well for us. (I would put #5 - Gelato will keep kids happy - in bold and use an extra large font.)

What do you think? Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.

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