CulinaryWoman

My godmother Maxine was a caffeine addict. Each morning, when she arrived at her University of Michigan laboratory, she made a pot of coffee and drank it herself. If she did not get her daily intake, she often wound up with a headache at night. I grew up hearing the “whoosh!” of a fresh can of Maxwell House as it opened, and the aroma that to a child wa…

In Sunday’s newsletter, I talked about the crisis that has erupted from the outbreak of cyclosporiasis. There were a couple of developments on Monday that I wanted to share with you. First, in a puzzling maneuver, the Food and Drug Administration walked back the test result that blamed Taylor Farms for the outbreak.

Red Beans & Advice is a weekly bonus feature for paid subscribers to CulinaryWoman. Upgrade to receive it and access the Red Beans archive, with recipes, tips and trends. I’ve already finished my first pint of blueberries for the summer. I bought a quart on Sunday, and I’m looking forward to more. Here is my adaptation of a recipe for using them in an interesting way. Thank you to Hank Shaw from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook for the inspiration. I explain the method in the podcast episode.

Happy World Cup Finals Day! After all the excitement leading up to the matches, it’s amazing how fast they seemed to fly by. My team, France, wound up in the consolation game on Saturday, while Spain and Argentina are playing each other later today. I haven’t been to Spain — my mother visited and loved it — but I’ve traveled twice to Argentina. In fact, I saw a soccer game there played by Boca Juniors. I know the fans of both countries are hyped for the showdown.

If you’re familiar with food recalls, you know that they happen all the time — or used to. The Food and Drug Administration traditionally has kept the public up to date on recalls and potential threats to public health. But the government seems to have dropped the ball on the latest illness to sweep the country: cyclosporiasis. Since May 1, it has cause…

Red Beans & Advice is a weekly bonus feature for paid subscribers to CulinaryWoman. If this is your first issue, welcome! And we’d love to have more people support the newsletter. We just celebrated our sixth anniversary of bringing you interesting people and food trends from Ann Arbor, Mich. One of the things I grow every year in my garden is mint, and my enthusiasm is shared with gardeners worldwide.

Bonjour, mes amies! Allez Les Bleus! It’s exciting to watch my beloved Équipe de France making its way toward another World Cup title. Fingers crossed for its next match on Bastille Day. This is a wonderful time of year in Michigan, eating wise. Last week, I picked up my first pint of sweet cherries and a couple of tomatoes. While the strawberries are done, the blueberries have arrived. We’ve gotten rain so our gardens are green and flourishing (if a little buggy).

Owning a bakery is one of those delectable business dreams. Your friends and family rave over your cupcakes, pies and cookies. You take pastry classes and think, I could make this work. As soon as the doors open, people stand in line to snap up your bread. The reality, as a growing number of owners can tell you, is that bakeries are a tough business. Wh…

Liz Williams and I were delighted to welcome our first Dinner Party guest, Kathy Gunst! You may know her as the resident chef for NPR’s Here & Now, or perhaps you own one of her cookbooks. Kathy runs a thriving business teaching food writers how to find their voice. Her classes take place in Maine, California and Italy. A session is coming up this fall in Liguria, on the Italian coast.

Happy Fourth of July Weekend! To keep from clogging up your holiday inbox (which you might not check anyway), I’m sending out the newsletter early. Paid subscribers will resume receiving Just For You and Red Beans & Advice next weekend. Thanks again to our newest supporters: you keep CulinaryWoman going. Welcome to new followers who found me through Michael Nagrant and The Hunger! I loved collaborating this week. Michael kindly let me rant about outsider bagels that have invaded Chicago.