Anastacia Marx de Salcedo
Guest Contributor, Slow Food Boston

Ever since the Native Americans repurposed their beach party trash as cold hard cash, the clam has had a monetary taint. In fact, over the ensuing centuries, a whole clam-based class system evolved, one whose categories hold true to this day. Want to know what your marine mollusk proclivities reveal about your social standing? Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, I spent some time at Elephant Walk, learning the secrets to one of the Boston-area restaurants’ most popular summer dish: Chilled Avocado Citrus soup.  There is NOTHING more delicious on a hot summer day than Continue reading →

Alexandra Dimodica

In Italy, each region is virtually a separate country, an area which embodies a unique history, dialect, political view and cuisine. When visiting Sicily, that semi-wild island perpetually kicked by the ‘boot’ of Italy, it’s apparent “we’re not in Tuscany anymore.” Instead of Giotto’s paintings, medieval architecture and glasses of chianti, Sicily offers up Greek ruins, diverse architectural styles and a spin on the mainland’s cuisine. The latter includes, di certo, pizza. In Sicily, it can come with a twist, crepe-like, in fact. It’s called pizzolo, a specialty which hails from Sortino. It may be the magical honey from the nearby hills of this small town that is often discussed. But pizzolo also gives Sortino’s citizens and its visitors something to talk about (and savour). Continue reading →

Radio Boston’s Adam Ragusea has a lot to say about pizza.  He’s going to speak his mind on today’s Radio Boston.  You can listen live from 3-4pm EST or catch the audio HERE (will be posted after broadcast).

You see, Adam says he’s “hard-pressed to concede that Boston lacks anything relative to our larger neighbor down I-95. But I’ll admit I have found it quite difficult to find a decent New York-style pizza here.”
No, Adam’s not from New York and he puts it right out there “this isn’t New York snobbery. I just know what I likes in a pizza, and I likes me a New York pie.”
Adam isn’t blind, he realizes there are a few New York-style joints in Boston, but there are none within walking or delivery distance of his apartment in Cambridge.  In fact, his neighborhood is “all Greek pizza [to me]– which I don’t really like.”
Continue reading →

Anne Fishel
Guest Contributor

I’d do almost anything to turn the clock back and crowd around my too-small-kitchen table with my two sons and husband for nightly family dinners, the best part of my day for 20 years. But, my sons have both flown the coop—the younger one left for college two years ago, his brother two years before that.

At first, my husband and I pretended this new freedom was great—now we could eat dinner at nine or have leftovers two nights in a row — something we never would have dared when our sons were home. Other times, we misbehaved like children, eating in front of the TV or snacking on cheese and crackers until we lost our appetites for dinner.

So, when my 22-year-old son, Gabe, came home for the summer after a trip to Vietnam, I was overjoyed. I thought we would return to the comfortable dinner-making patterns of his childhood. In those days, he and his brother urged me to try a new recipe almost every night, and in return for this daunting expectation they helped with the chopping and kept me company. I experimented, took risks, and they always gave me honest feedback.

This summer marked a change. Gabe had attended a cooking class at the Hai Café cooking school in Hoi An, Vietnam, and offered to teach me the recipes he had learned. Continue reading →

 

Alexandra Dimodica

LOCAL BITES

Vote today!
America’s Favorite Farmer’s Markets contest is underway, and it’s not too late to put in your two cents. As of July 31st, our own Attleboro Farms was ranked 6th in the U.S. for its size! Congrats and keep up the good work (and voting).

Need a vacation?
Yelp Boston has the perfect local adventure for you. Visit Boston to partake in the Passport to the South End event. Enjoy a week-long promotion with special deals at local businesses and kick off the week with a charitable launch party at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts on September 13th.

When life hands you…peaches?
In honor of the local peach season, food blogger Rosie DeQuattro tells you what she did when life handed her too many peaches.

Out of this world fruit
Boston Zest exposes Saturn Peaches and their unusual shape. Try a taste, sans interplanetary travel.

A Fête for Fisherman
Catch this Italian celebration in the North End. The 100th Annual Fisherman’s Feast runs from August 12th through 15th. Go today or tomorrow, or catch the tail end this weekend.

Lobster Lovin’!
Visit Maine on August 14th for the Winter Harbor Lobster Festival. With 12 hours of activities, eating lobster won’t be the only memorable moment.

A luau, with a New England twist
On August 14th Hawaiian festivities meet Newport summer in Rhode Island. Hawaiian cuisine, Polynesian dancers and Newport Storm beer will all be in attendance.

Blueberry season is upon us
And so is the 35th Annual Machias Wild Blueberry Festival in Maine. Visit Washington county from August 20th to 22nd for a pie-eating contest, blueberry musical and cooking contest (and more!)

Tomatoes & Corn for all!
On August 21st, Concord MA’s Verrill Farm welcomes visitors to enjoy a day at the farm and taste their fresh tomato and corn crops at the Tomato and Corn Festival. Celebrate these summer delights with tastings, music and hayrides.

A 36-hour guide to Boston
Art, music, international cuisine, the Greenway and more in this day-and-a-half guide to the local scene, offered up by Katie Zezima of the NYTimes. Catch Katie LIVE during today’s broadcast of Radio Boston and immediately following the show in a LIVE WEB CHAT. Just click here and tell her what you think!

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR

Ever felt “as full as an egg?”
For all of you who have always wondered what the French expression “plein comme un ouef” means and, for that matter, what many French food idioms really mean, Chocolate and Zucchini’s Clotilde Dusoulier shares an inside perspective on these sayings. After you’ve learned a thing or two, treat yourself to her refreshing gomadofu sesame tofu recipe. Bon appetit!

A lot of us oooh’d and ahhh’d this past weekend when we read the New York Times‘ take on Boston and, most important, the guide to a visitor’s “36 hours” in our fair city. We oooh’d and ahhhh’d so much in our “Radio Boston” editorial meeting that we decided to open up the conversation.

So, it’s happening today, Thursday, at 3pm EST, during the “Radio Boston” broadcast. We want to here from you, our listeners and readers: what would your ‘Insider Guide’ to Boston include? We’ve invited the BOSTONIAN who wrote the article, Katie Zezima, contributor to the New York Times, as well as Globe Arts Reporter, Geoff Edgers. 

It’s sure to be lively and fun, as well as fascinating (what are the NYTimes‘ criteria when it comes to creating a visitor guide?).

Listen and call in with your thoughts: 1.800.423.TALK. Or comment via Facebook or Twitter at Radio Boston OR Public Radio Kitchen.

You can also join a LIVE webchat after the show at 4pm EST with Katie. Just click HERE.

• New York Times: 36 Hours in Boston
• Hubbub: How would you kill 36 hours in Boston?
• PRK covered two locales featured in the Times article: Teranga, the only Senegalese restaurant in Boston proper; and Allston’s Deep Ellum.

If you’re looking for WBUR’s Public Radio Kitchen, we’ve moved.

Please click this link http://publicradiokitchen.wbur.org/ and reset your bookmarks.

Many thanks  –  PRK Staff.

A few of us from Public Radio Kitchen made it out to Sunday’s First Annual Boston Food Truck Festival.  Personally, I was blown away by the turn-out and made it my business to get the city’s official reaction come Monday morning.  News was in the making including the announcement of the 2011 Boston Food Truck Challenge.
Listen to what I found out HERE.

Besides City Hall’s reaction and food truck challenges, you may be wondering…what exactly did I eat? (Full disclosure here).

• One trolley dog (Chicago-style, thank you very much).
• One delicious Del frozen lemonade
• One *SPICY* Grillo pickle

We wanted to get more grub but the lines were just slightly intimidating.  Now for the best question of all: what did YOU eat?