Front Burner

Much to my roommate Kelsey's chagrin, I  tend to seek out subtly flavored foods. I'll prefer a mild Brie instead of her aged Gouda; chard sauteed with a bit of garlic, not her Asian fusion garlic-peanut-soy-ginger version; or the occasional teaspoon of honey in my tea to her preferred 1/4-cup. It's not that I don't enjoy assertive flavors, I would rather concentrate on a few subtle ones.

This spring, Haagen-Dazs launched an awareness campaign to inform consumers about colony collapse disorder, and to benefit the sustainable pollination research programs at UC Davis and Penn State. Researchers and beekeepers estimate that 1/3 of all honeybee colonies have been abandoned since 2006. The reasons aren't entirely clear yet, but the NRDC believes the sudden disappearance could be the combined result of pesticide exposure, inadequate food supply, and an emerging immune system virus.

The cause is noble and the ice cream is delicious. The super silky Haagen-Dazs Honey Vanilla worked wonders in my newly minted minimalist version of Strawberries Romanoff. The recipe follows:

I'm really glad CHOW didn't let being bought by CBS mess up their mojo. They turned out some noteworthy posts on funny supermarket commercials, British people eating squirrels, and the guy who saw the emerging food crisis coming (to name a few).

Overseas, Deb from Smitten Kitchen shared some gorgeous pictures of Prague and Vienna, and Kim is now officially famous in Korea.

And back home, Chicago has lifted its foie gras ban. Fois gras is cruel, but a ban on serving it doesn't really change much. Consumers shouldn't have to be prevented from buying it, they should know what they're eating and be allowed to make informed choices.

Photo shared by Dave-F.

The Date Night Cookbook, by Meredith Phillips, ruined my roommate for summer rolls. She demands them weekly and does nothing but complain when we eat them in Vietnamese restaurants. "These aren't fresh" she says. "Ugh. How can they sell this?" I am more forgiving of inexpensive restaurant food, but Meredith's recipe for Fresh Shrimp Rolls with Peanut-Lime Dipping Sauce really illustrate how easy, cheap, and fun making food with friends can be.

Here we go: defrost (or cook) shrimp, boil cellophane noodles, chop basil and cilantro, dip rice paper wraps in boiling water, and assemble. The entire process takes less than 20 minutes, costs a few dollars, and tastes great. Then you sit down, dip the neatly wrapped rolls in some peanut sauce, and that's it. (We preferred store-bought to her recipe, because it was not peanutty enough.)

The cellophane noodles and rice paper wraps aren’t ingredients I typically have in my pantry, but they were easy enough to find; both were right in my supermarket’s Asian section. One thing worth noting about the noodles is that they are also known as Chinese vermicelli, bean thread noodles, or glass noodles. They are all actually the same thing and all cook in about 5 minutes in boiling water.

It was an interesting week on the food web. I, for one, didn’t know we're in durian season. For our benefit, I found this pile of durians, right, on flickr. Kim, my editor, has followed her trail of crumbs to Seoul, where she’ll launch her book's Korean translation and appear on national television (she’s eaten common and royal food already, has an allegedly incredible view from her hotel, and has been cordially asked to leave Seoul’s city hall. Needless to say, it’s been an exciting week for her already).

The folks at Cookthink were kind enough to point out a pithy, poignant article on vegetarianism from Taylor Clarke on Slate.com. Here’s a little clip: “Now, when I say that vegetarians are normal people with normal food cravings, many omnivores will hoist a lamb shank in triumph and point out that you can hardly call yourself normal if the aroma of, say, sizzling bacon doesn't fill you with deepest yearning. To which I reply: We're not insane. We know meat tastes good; it's why there's a freezer case at your supermarket full of woefully inadequate meat substitutes.” They also posted a fantastic recipe for Pan Roasted Snapper Wrapped in Pancetta.

There were a few interesting posts on food politics: Peruvian asparagus imports choking out American-grown crops and Chef Gordon Ramsay’s proposed seasonal foods law.

And, just for fun, a free giant cup of coffee from Gezellig, and the most ridiculous skewer I’ve ever seen.

There were a bunch of other posts that caught my eye this week, but what can I do. Ok, here are two more: one on a new book by Joanne Chen investigating our “complicated love affair” with sweets (I certainly have one), and how soy infant formulas aren’t that bad (or good).

Photo by bingregory.

We've been on the road lately, and have some great pictures to show for it. This gallery has my behind-the-scenes shots of our photographer at work with the staff of Cafe Reconcile in New Orleans.

Photo shoots, if you have never been on one before, are quite the operation. Some of the most seemingly simple shots can take hours of fiddling to perfect, and the number of people it takes to get the task done is similarly interesting. From what I've seen, it takes anywhere from 3 to 7 people to orchestrate the shoot: the photographer, photographer's assistant, story editor, prop stylist, food stylist, and any number of other assistants.