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Eurow Microfiber Kitchen Towels

Finally, Attractive Microfiber Dishtowels

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These microfiber dishtowels look stylish in the way that linen ones do—and function superbly, too.

Eurow Microfiber Kitchen Towels

 

GET THIS | I can’t help but think that if for some mysterious reason Fog Linen Work, a Japanese company that produces an exquisite line of linen products coveted by design devotees everywhere, were to suddenly go rogue and use microfiber rather than Lithuanian linen to make their kitchen towels, they might make a waffle-weave product like the one pictured here from the American company Eurow & O’Reilly. “Yes, aren’t these towels awesome,” my designer friend Margo concurred when I enthused about how attractive and effective hers were as we stood hand-drying dishes after dinner at her place awhile back. Read more

Sophia Vartanian - Modern Farmer magazine

A New Magazine For Modern Farmer Types

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This new international magazine with a Vancouver connection is for anyone interested in where their food comes from.

Sophia Vartanian - Modern Farmer magazine

 

NEW NOW NEXT | While magazine publishers everywhere are getting out of print, Vancouver billionaire philanthropist Frank Guistra is jumping in. Last month, Modern Farmer, a new quarterly magazine on farming, which comes in both print and digital versions, launched in the U.S. with Guistra’s name listed prominently on the masthead as equity partner. Guistra is betting on the public growing ever more inquisitive about where their food comes from, how it’s produced, and how they can participate in the modern farmer movement. And he is counting on the talent and international connections of editor-in-chief Ann Marie Gardner, who made a name for herself as a writer and producer at Monocle and New York Times T: Travel, two stylish magazines known for nailing the zeitgeist. Read more

How To Ripen Fresh Bananas In 15 Minutes

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Who knew that if you needed to, you could ripen bananas this quickly.

Yellow Bananas- shutterstock

 

EASY & DELISH | Several weeks ago, I was invited to a dinner party and asked to supply dessert. I wanted to take along Caren McSherry’s no-brainer five-minute banana ice cream (CLICK HERE for the recipe) but did not have overripe bananas on hand, could not find any at the grocery store and lacked the (several days) time it takes to force-ripen fresh bananas in a brown bag.

I was explaining this predicament to my foodie friend Anne when she suggested I speed-ripen my bananas by popping them the oven. “This trick is so easy,” she told me. “And oven-ripened bananas taste just as sweet as ones that have been left to over ripen on their own. I love they way they look, too. Their transformation is so radical it makes me think of magic.”

Here’s how Anne ripens bananas, and what yellow bananas look like after they’ve been in the oven. Read more

Popcron in a wooden bowl.

Make 100% Healthy Microwave Popcorn

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How to make 100% healthy microwave popcorn in minutes for pennies a pop.

Popcorn - iStock

 

EASY & DELISH | While I love the convenience of microwave popcorn, I stopped buying this product several years ago because of worrisome news about the potential health risks to humans posed by exposure to chemicals found both in the fake butter flavoring on microwave popcorn kernels and on the lining of microwave popping bags.

I also stopped buying commercial brand microwave popcorn because a friend showed me how to make a cheaper, healthier, equally quick alternative. Read more

How To Decorate Cakes With Real Flowers

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Make me a simple, unaffected cake (or three) decorated with nature’s own ornamentation.

Purevege.com

 

EASY & AWESOME | In food TV land, cake decorating has been out of control since 2006 when “Ace of Cakes” débuted on the Food Network. The runaway success of this reality program inspired legions of pastry chefs and bakers across North America to seek TV fame by constructing crazy, teetering cakes—the more outrageous the better—on shows such as “Cake Boss,” “Wedding Cake Wars” and “Ultimate Cake Off.”

All of this excess is enough to make anyone pine for plain cake, simply iced and decorated naturally with real wildflowers and herbs. Here are three of our favourite cakes topped in this beautiful, natural way. Read more

It’s Easy To Make Crispy Krispy Chips

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Why would you ever buy prepared kale chips when you can easily bake up a batch of this tasty snack in your own kitchen?

kale+chips

 

EASY & DELISH | Kale chips are the currently cool snack among the super health conscious (kale is a seriously high in beta carotene and vitamins A and K). Snack manufacturers such as Rhythm Superfoods and Kaia Foods (both sold at Whole Foods) have jumped on board to churn out very small packages of very pricey dehydrated kale chips that are, in my estimation, so overseasoned with flavours like mustard, cheese and chocolate that you’d think their producers were trying to disguise the true taste of this big leafy green.

The best kale chips are only lightly seasoned so the subtle yet distinct flavour of the vegetable is equally present as any seasoning. The best kale chips are the ones you bake yourself, which you can easily do in fewer than 15 minutes.

Here’s how. Read more

Bacon Candy in a Cone - C. Rule

Pig Heaven: How To Make Bacon Candy

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Nothing is quicker than makin’ bacon candy, and nothing tastes as smoky and sweet. (RECIPE)

Bacon Candy in a Cone - C. RuleEASY & DELISH | Over the holidays, I had the good fortune to enjoy handcrafted confections from our top local candy makers—Thomas Haas, Chocolate Arts and Beta 5 included—and while all of this candy was a pleasure for my buds, none of it was remotely as memorable or addictive as the sweet bacon treats made by my dear friend Teresa Syrnyk. Read more

Gingerbread Men Ice Cream Sandwiches - C. Rule

Make Gingerbread Man Ice Cream Sandwiches

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How to make yummy ice cream sandwiches using gingerbread men—both scratch and cheater versions.

Gingerbread Men Ice Cream Sandwiches - C. RuleHOLIDAY 2012 | Forget lettuce, tomato and leftover turkey stuffed between toasted ciabatta. The sweetest, most memorable holiday sandwich—the one that screams You Need to Eat Me for Christmas—is pictured at the top of this story and is made from a layer of chilly ice cream and chewy gingerbread men. Read more

Walnuts In The Shell-iStock

A Very Good Reason To Buy Unshelled Nuts

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Notoriously addictive nuts are one superfood that should be consumed daily. Here’s how to avoid over indulging.

Walnuts-In-The-Shell-iStock-300x300EATING RIGHT | Jeffrey Steingarten, a leading food writer in the U.S., once compared ingesting a single pecan to swallowing a pat of butter. That didn’t stop the sometime judge on Iron Chef America from indulging in pecans, but this fact stopped me cold when I read it in Vogue—and it put me off pecans forever. After all who would knowingly shove multiple slabs of pure butterfat into their mouth? Read more

Affogato - Wikipedia Commons

How to Make The Perfect Affogato

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If you love coffee-flavoured desserts, the make-it-in-minutes affogato is hands down as good as it gets.

Affogato - Chef Master ClassEASY & DELISH | The best coffee-flavoured dessert in the world? Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel think it’s the affogato, and I would have to agree. According to the celebrity press, the Timberlakes served this simple Italian treat made with a shot of espresso and a scoop of Italian gelato to go along with the almond and coconut wedding cake at their nuptials in southern Italy. Read more