Rainy Day Soup

Enter to win a collection of food items from France, selected by Sandy, along with Around my French Table cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. To enter the sweepstakes, go to http://bit.ly/YGrDyy. Follow Sandy in France on Twitter to keep updated on new goodies for the prize package.

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

The spring rains have begun as well as some amazing thunder clappers. This past week delivered not only tons of rain and high winds but lots of buds and flowering bushes and green grass. This is my favorite time of year (fall is a close second).

Today is a day of gardening and digging out of last year's twigs and fall leaves that found there way into my garden to form a protective blanket until spring really arrived. So maybe it's a tad early, as I know that up here in the Hudson Valley, they say, do not plant or uncover until frost is really a distant memory, which locals say is around May 15.

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Welcoming Spring with Strawberries

Enter to win a collection of food items from France, selected by Sandy, along with Around my French Table cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. To enter the sweepstakes, go to bit.ly/YGrDyy. Follow Sandy in France on Twitter to keep updated on new goodies for the prize package.

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

The time I’ve been waiting for all winter is finally here: the first of the season’s strawberries.

I’m surprised to find out that many people don’t associate spring with strawberries, but I do. In the South, they always marked the arrival of new spring crops and, of course, lasted well into the summer, when most people think strawberries are at their best. And while I agree with that opinion, I still love the first strawberries, with their slight tartness.

That tartness suits them well to maceration, my favorite treatment for strawberries. Akin to marinating meat, maceration is when you soak a fruit in liquid in order to soften it. How you macerate it and in what liquid is where you can get creative.

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Garlic Butter Rice

Enter to win a collection of food items from France, selected by Sandy, along with Around my French Table cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. To enter the sweepstakes, go to http://bit.ly/YGrDyy. Follow Sandy in France on Twitter to keep updated on new goodies for the prize package.

By Marilyn Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

I’ve always believed the first bite of every dish is the best bite. That’s why Andrew and I often skip the entrée at a restaurant and order appetizers and small plates only.

In fact, even when sharing an entrée, it’s a challenge for us to finish. It’s no wonder I’ve been enjoying the premiere season of Tony Bourdain’s show, The Taste ... a show about hooking people in a bite.

During our 12 days in Japan, we ate lots of delicious food, much of which, like nigiri zushi (hand-formed sushi), is designed to be a bite or two. But I came across a dish that was so good that the first bite took my breath away, and it got better as I finished the very last grain in my bowl. It made me wonder how I would survive without knowing how to make it at home.

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In Love with Meyer Lemons

Enter to win a collection of food items from France, selected by Sandy, along with Around my French Table cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. To enter the sweepstakes, go to http://bit.ly/YGrDyy. Follow Sandy in France on Twitter to keep updated on new goodies for the prize package.

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

Whether it’s the color, the floral scent or the memories of lemonade on hot days that it brings to mind, Meyer lemons are always the fruit that makes me smile widest. Yes, they’re basically just fancy, sweet lemons, but because of that, they’re so much more interesting and attractive.

I definitely never shy away from regular lemons in cooking, and for good reason: their bracing, strong acidity is needed in heavy dishes, both savory and sweet, to cut through the richness. But when Meyer lemons pop up, I like to use them in applications where their sweet, very noticeably floral notes come through clear and bright.

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Airplane Snacks

While Sandy is in France, she’ll be collecting little French food items as she travels, building a sweepstakes prize package, day by day. One lucky winner will receive the collection from Sandy plus Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table cookbook. To enter the sweepstakes, go to http://bit.ly/YGrDyy. Follow Sandy on Twitter to keep updated on new goodies being added to the prize package. (Hashtag: #SandyinFrance).

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

We took our boys on their first trip to Europe when Dave was seven and Chris was two. In addition to little toys, coloring books and other diversions, we packed granola bars, nuts and box juices in anticipation of days when we might not have convenient foodservice options for hungry and thirsty kids.

Steve and I woke up that first morning in Amsterdam to find that our two boys had wiped out most of the rainy-day provisions. Out of sync with the time change, they were up all night, and with nothing to do, they decided to sample the food stores.

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