Are you a food blog junkie? Do you stop your friends from eating your culinary creations before they’ve been thoroughly photographed? Do you wake up and check your feed for new posts from your fave food blogs?  Most importantly, have you made online foodie friends?

If you’ve answered yes to these questions, it must come at no surprise that you’re a foodie.

Last week, Diane and Todd from White on Rice Couple sent me the best graduation gift a foodie could ever ask for.  It was a care package filled with a bottle of epicurean extra virgin olive oil, a hand-crafted wooden serving platter, exquisite dark chocolates, Vietnamese goodies and pretty party napkins that made for excellent shock absorbers during delivery. The gift also came right after they inspired me to plant my own herb garden (READ: 1 basil and 1 rosemary plant).  This week, as you can tell, my basil plant is out of control.  I pluck and it just keeps growing!  So to show my thanks, I’ve decided to write a post using my homegrown basil and a couple of their gifts. 

When I opened the bottle of extra virgin olive oil they sent, I was immediately taken aback by its bold fragrance. It was like sticking my nose up close into a big bowl of Mediterranean olives. This kind of oil is certainly not meant to go anywhere near heat and is perfect for salads and dunking bread.  I opted for the latter choice, and went with a warm baguette from my local baker.

Infused oils is something my mom always makes for when guests are coming over. It’s extremely simple and tastes even better when made a day in advance. This recipe is for a spicy basil-infused olive oil and it is by far my favorite variation from my mom’s collection. 

The oil is out-of-this-world! The minty subtleties from the basil play really well against the robust flavors of the unfiltered olive oil.

After the oil has had about a day to rest (overnight if you’re too impatient), there’s probably not much that wouldn’t taste amazing with a little drizzle of this concoction.  Seriously, drizzle this over some grilled chicken, spread some inside your sandwiches, heck, go at it with a spoon? OK, maybe that’s a bit much, but that’s not to take away any of its awesomeness.

Thanks again, D & T for the amazing gifts!  I’m looking forward to using the rest of the oil and the other treats you guys included.  The chocolates were gone by the second day, but that was to be expected.  You guys are the best!!

As a blogger, I spend a substantial amount of time perusing other people’s blogs.  Being that I blog about food, I confess that I frequent the token food porn sites on occasion (read: tastespotting).  Who can resist?! Perfect scoops of ice cream,  decadent cakes, oh my!  This weekend, however, I did - I resisted.  I stepped away from my computer and celebrated the 4th of July with the rest of America.  

Once the 4th was over, I decided to continue enjoying the rest of my patriotic weekend outdoors.  In fact, just the other day Peter, at Kalofagas, posted an entry that showcased his garden and the stunning array of herbs that he has at his disposal.  Not only him, but Todd and Diane (aka White on Rice Couple) also have an outrageous garden that I swear has more fruits and veggies than my local farmer’s market. Drawing inspiration from two of my favorite bloggers, I decided that this weekend I would start my very own garden. And without even signing on to my computer, I set out to buy my new plants.

OK, so I don’t have a full garden just yet, but I did start my mini-paradise with some sweet basil and upright rosemary.  I’m not sure if using chemical plant food is absolutely necessary (or actually good for the plants), but the staff member at Home Depot convinced me that the plants wouldn’t survive without it. So if anyone has any opinions about this stuff, I’d love to know. 

The fragrance that was coming from the herbs was intoxicating.  Immediately after I finished my little project, my stomach was craving for some attention of its own.  Since this was the 4th of July weekend, I had extra hot dogs sitting in my fridge that were screaming my name.  And yes, I do eat hot dogs!  Or at least doctored-up hot dogs…

I gently plucked a few leaves off my new basil plant and went straight to the kitchen. I chopped up some onions, tomatoes, a clove of garlic and a spotty avocado I had laying on the counter. Everything came together with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil a tiny bit of lemon juice.  Some grated mozzarella completed the production and made for some killer dogs!

Click on the stamp to find out more information about this event and how to enter to win this month’s prizes!

event: A Taste of the Mediterranean

deadline: July 15, 2008

recipe: Hummus

It’s getting close to graduation and I can’t get myself to start packing all my food stuff for the big move this Sunday. Each time I told myself to focus and pack, my ADD kicked into high gear and the cardboard boxes and bubble wrap took a back seat to my distractions. Yesterday I decided to procrastinate with good taste and make wine-braised mushrooms with a goat cheese and mascarpone topping. What, what? I still have 4 more days until the parental unit gets here and starts complaining about how unproductive I’ve been this past week.

Anna, my host mom from Italy (and my friend Francesco’s actual mom), came a week early to spend time in Ithaca before the big day. Since I’m a believer that not every dinner party has to be an 8-course, 20-guest ordeal, I called up Francesco and invited him and his mom over for some wine and appetizers. I made her biscotti recipe and whipped up a batch of my wine-braised mushroom cups.

Puff pastry is key for this appetizer; and if you haven’t already discovered Foodbeam, Fanny offers a brilliant step-by-step crash course on this classic French dough. Can you make do using the store-bought stuff? I guess. But only if your foodie conscience actually allows you to pick up the pre-packaged dough that has been sitting in the frozen isle of your local grocery store for who knows how long and has been stamped with a generic 2-year window of expiration… sigh.

Braising the mushrooms is a walk in the park. All you have to do is sauté them over high heat, deglaze the pan with balsamic vinegar and red wine, and lower the heat until most of the liquid evaporates.

Click on the stamp to find out more information about this event and how to enter to win this month’s prizes!

event: A Taste of the Mediterranean

deadline: June 15, 2008

recipe: Pesto

Although I’m sure many of us enjoy the rich flavors of a 6-hour Bolognese sauce (the way nonna used to make it) or the flaky homemade texture of Baklava, there are just not enough hours in the day to indulge in these treats on a regular basis. Since I would never advocate resorting to fast food, there are always ways around this pickle. I knew I had to create a variety of dishes that I could rely on when time was breathing down my neck. College was the perfect place to develop this habit because it wipes your bank account clean and works you till the wee hours of the morning.

One of my favorite go-to dishes (and the one I decided to feature in today’s entry) is focaccia sandwiches. I make the focaccia at home using store-bought pizza dough and keep it in the fridge for easy access throughout the week. Also, the topping combinations for focaccia are as endless as the ingredients you can pair with it. A panini press is not required; but if you have been thinking about getting one lately, you definitely should (it’s probably one of my favorite toys in the kitchen!). Before I got mine I used toast the sandwich on a grill pan or in the toaster oven if I was feeling particularly lazy.

Focaccia Recipe

other go-to dishes of mine include:
- Pasta alla Zarina (Spinach Pesto Pasta)
- Chicken Piccata
- Low-fat Vanilla yogurt with frozen blueberries, cereal, almonds & flax seeds (my usual breakfast)

This entry is dedicated to Dean Davidis, one of my favorite people to chat food with. Thank you for your endless inspiration and support; here’s to you - OPA!

My tzatziki recipe was born on accident after having strained yogurt too far while making a Middle Eastern spread called labne. I eventually tended to my forgotten disaster, but it was already too late – the once creamy yogurt had turned into a solid cheese-like mass. This is when the 1/16th Greek in me chimed in with the thought of turning my losses in for a spectacular tzatziki sauce.

Tzatziki is traditionally made with semi-strained yogurt (i.e. sour cream consistency) and salted, drained cucumbers. Well, what if I don’t drain the water from the cucumbers, what then?

Aside from receiving angry e-mails from Greek purists, the sauce turns out just fine. The moisture from the cucumbers perfectly compensates for the excess loss of moisture in the straining process. Personally, I even find the accident sauce tastier just because the cucumber liquid is more refreshing than the stuff that drains out of the yogurt.

You can execute the following recipe either way: traditional or not, just by adjusting how far you strain your yogurt. Regardless of the route, the final sauce is a tasty complement to almost anything your culinary mind can conjure. My favorites pairings for this sauce are kebabs, sandwiches and salads.