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Supper games

(article, Kim Carlson)

So it's been nearly three months since Culinate debuted, which seems like almost enough time to iron out the kinks. To celebrate, we've stripped the "beta" banner off the site.

Which isn't to say that we're not going to keep making major enhancements, but simply to let everybody know that the party's on. We've also added a new masthead photo, renamed a few sections, and added this column, which will serve as a guidepost to the latest features and content on the site.

[%image champagne float=right caption="Three months means it's time to celebrate." credit="Photo: iStockphoto/jirsa"]

Whether you're back for a repeat visit or new to Culinate, welcome! Come visit often. We like having you at the table.

h4. Food and the younger set

Lots of people like to talk about food, and goodness knows, we breeders like to talk about our kids. So it's no wonder many of us like to talk about food and kids at the same time.

Bob del Grosso, a chef and guest blogger on author Michael Ruhlman's food blog, wonders what he'll cook for his son, who eats, like so many other children, selectively:

bq(blue). The only meat he eats is hamburger, he refuses all fish, poultry, eggs and of course rice.

Be sure to read the comments section; that's where the discussion really gets good. 

Over on Culinate columnist Matthew Amster-Burton's blog, he directs us to this recent Seattle Times article, in which he interviews local chefs about their strategies for getting their kids to eat. Says Matthew:

bq(blue). For some parents, whipping up a wide variety of appealing foods isn't just a good habit — it's their career. So if the advice given in glossy parenting magazines holds up, the children of chefs must be the most adventurous eaters in town.

Are they? I'll leave it to you to read.

Finally, in her Kitchen Limbo column this week, Carrie confesses to calling tender, luscious, grilled salmon "orange chicken" a few years back so that her kids might eat it. 

As I remember it, this name game wasn't a huge deal, not like Santa or anything. (The rest of us, thankfully, were allowed to call it salmon.) But I can see why Carrie needed to get the whole thing off her chest. White lies about such things as orange chickens have a way of coming back to haunt you — say, in 25 years, when your kids are feeding their own kids, or are in therapy.

Have a picky eater at home? Check out Carrie's other columns on the subject of food and kids: "The green monster" and "Eating crow." I can laugh about the feeding dilemma now that I have teenagers who eat almost anything (with the exception of meat). In fact, thanks to Carrie (with whom I've discussed this subject for a dozen years), I was able to laugh all the way through — luckily.

h4. Quinoa, first thing

I’ve yet to meet Deborah Madison, but I take her advice about food more than practically anyone I know. She saved me, the queen of ugly pie crusts, with her recipes for galettes in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. 

She helped me rethink vegetables and understand that vegetarian cooking wasn't just for those who don't eat meat (admittedly, for me, a time limited to a few weeks one summer in the mid-eighties before I gave in to a sausage-and-olive pizza). Members of my family take turns craving her simple peanut sauce. And so on. 

Most recently, here on Culinate Deborah provided us all with a recipe for quinoa for breakfast. I’ve been looking for ways to work this high-protein grain into my diet, but it had not occurred to me to try it for breakfast (nor to rinse it first to diminish any bitter flavor, a tip that I won’t soon forget). Now I have, and man, do I love it. So check out Deborah’s  article on quinoa and other whole grains for breakfast.

h4. Have it your way

Finally, check back soon for our third Potluck writing contest, featuring prose by you, our readers.

Cheers!


champagne, l


reference-image, l