Jackson Cannon in action (Photo: Susanna Bolle)

“I was into drinking from a really young age,” says Jackson Cannon, who runs the bars at both the venerable Eastern Standard and its new sister restaurant, the Island Creek Oyster Bar. But don’t get the wrong impression. He’s not confessing to a youth spent in a haze of alcoholic excess. Cannon was into drinking before he had drunk much liquor himself. It was the rituals around cocktails, rather than the drinks themselves, that first captivated him: the storytelling of the toastmaster, more than the esoteric techniques and tools of the bartender or the occasionally arcane and mysterious ingredients.

“In my house, even before we drank alcohol, we were all in on the toast,” he explains. “And when my father took his gimlets in the summer, I would get a glass of sweetened lime juice, so I always liked the idea of drinks and drink-making and how that fit into a social context.” Continue reading →

I just saw Chicken Fricasse and Hanukkah Polish Apple Cake being rolled down the hallway.

Destination? The “On Point” studio, for Chef Joan Nathan’s interview with Tom Ashbrook, all prepared by JJ Gonson of Cuisine En Locale. It looked GOOD.

Here are those two recipes, plus several more from Nathan’s repertoire. If you’re not listening live right now, download the show later today or stream it online anytime. Thanksgiving left-overs only last so long…

Photo: Courtesy of stiramemory.org

The other day I bit into a piece of shortbread and found myself in England. Not literally of course, but something about the combination of butter and sweetness reminded me of the summers I spent there with my mother’s family growing up.

We’ve all had this experience: a smell, taste, or sound evoking some kind of memory. Perhaps not a vivid one, maybe just a feeling. Food certainly has this incredible power and presence in our minds. It has the ability to transfer us to a different place and time.

That is precisely what Krina Patel celebrates through her community food and art project, Stir a Memory, which invites you to document and share a favorite food memory. How? By using one of the simplest and most conventional delivery mechanisms out there: a postcard. Continue reading →

(Courtesy Photo)

Picture this: you’re at a restaurant, you’ve finished your meal, and you really want to pay your check and leave. But where is your server? Well, a company in Cambridge called Text My Food has unveiled a new service that lets you text your order to your waiter or waitress.

I decided to check it out for myself.  Listen to the Radio Boston piece HERE.

Extras:

• Text My Food
• Charlie’s Kitchen, Cambridge

Photo: snowy4052002/Flickr

A VERY Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers! Thank you for being a part of the PRK community, and happy eating today!

LOCAL BITES

“Not So” Black Friday
Small businesses don’t get the same crazed action on Black Friday as do chain stores and shopping malls. To help out, Salem’s 62 Restaurant Wine & Bar chef and owner, Antonio Bettencourt, gives shoppers a little more incentive November 26th to spend some dough locally: he’s offering a free plate from his “Spuntini” menu (think Italian tapas) to anyone who stops by from 5-10pm with a $35+ receipt from shops, galleries, boutiques, or any other small businesses located in Salem, MA. For more information, call (978) 744-0062.

If You’re All Cooked Out…
Head to Mooo Sunday nights for a fabulous $35 three-course prix fixe meal that will get your mind off all that leftover turkey. Call (617) 670-2515 for reservations.

Get on the Train
Do you blog? Have you heard of blogging? Did you know you’re reading a blog? If you feel clueless, the BCAE is offering a December 6th class “Starting a Blog: What You Should Know.” If you think you’ve got the basics but want to take your blog to the next level, stop by December 13th for “Boost Your Blog.” So if you’ve got a passion (like, um, food), share your wisdom through your blog.

Gift with No Clutter
Tre Olive came up with a holiday gift idea that doesn’t take up any unwanted space. Adopt an authentic Italian olive tree for $110 and they’ll send you a certificate of adoption, a photo of the tree, and most importantly, three liters of extra virgin olive oil in the spring. No need to gift wrap.

NATIONAL TREATS

Get Your Fill of Greens Today
We all know it’s important to eat your vegetables, but Time is stressing this old fact in “Study: Veggies Still Really Good for You” after the release of some new research.

Stuffed
The New Yorker posted the Park Avenue Hotel’s Thanksgiving menu from 1900. Some of the features: Clear green turtle (?), Diamond-back terrapin (turtle crazy?), and potted quail. Bit too fancy for my liking.

Think Twice
This is more of an international treat: The BBC reflects on the history of bottled water and what its popularity says about our culture.

Bread Pudding Topped with Figs and Caramel Sauce (Nicholas Dynan)

This week and weekend (left-overs!) is all about the celebration of food and traditions, of coming-togetherness and how to strut your stuff in the kitchen.

Chef Barbara Lynch visited with Rachel Gotbaum of WBUR’s “Here & Now” to share “mom-inspired” recipes for Thanksgiving Day, including bread pudding with figs, above, and instructions on how to truss a turkey.

Photo: Flickr/PaulGorman

This Wednesday on Radio Boston, we welcome two members of the team from Upstairs on The Square: co-owner Mary-Catherine Deibel and chef Susan Regis. We’ll be taking your calls and questions during the segment in between bites of lovely Upstairs cuisine.

That’s today on Radio Boston between 3-4pm EST.  You can tweet us @radioboston or @pubradiokitchen and don’t forget to call 1-800-423-TALK.

Learn more about the segment HERE.

Cheers! (and yum).

Photo: Michael Piazza, Courtesy of Edible Boston

Ilene Bezahler
Guest Contributor, Edible Boston

The neighborhood bakery, butcher shop, vegetable market. Entering each store, you would be greeted by name. Frequently you would ask for the “usual” while you talked about your kids, grandchildren and friends.

You don’t have to turn back the clocks to enjoy this shopping experience, the kind your parents and grandparents had. Just head to Boston’s North End and you will find your butcher, baker and green grocer. Steps off Hanover Street, away from the hustle and bustle of the restaurants and tourists, is a real neighborhood. Though the North End community has changed–the younger generation has moved to the suburbs–a new community is moving in and they are supporting the traditions of the individual food shops.

Rosie DeQuattro wandered the side streets and got to know the shops and vendors of this historic part of Boston. We hope you will take a similar trip.

Thin Green Beans with Meyer Lemon and Chestnuts. (Kevin Sullivan)

You know Thanksgiving is near when the airwaves are punctuated with words like meyer lemons and green beens.  Don’t worry, we’ve moved beyond Susan Stamberg’s cranberry relish recipe.  Today, WBUR brings you two delicious segments.  First on Here & Now at 12pm EST, resident chef Kathy Gunst discusses low-fat side dishes for your Thanksgiving table.  Kathy answers listener questions and sheds some wisdom on protecting your waistline during the holidays.

Get those recipes HERE.

Plus on Radio Boston at 3pm EST, we take you on a grand tour of the Boston Beer Company (the brewery behind Sam Adams) with founder Jim Koch.  Jim Koch will also be in studio to talk about the evolution of Sam Adams and his partnership with Accion USA.   Through this microlending effort, Koch hopes to help small food and beverage business owners in New England realize their own culinary (or brewing) dreams.  Jim Koch will be taking your questions.  Call in at 1-800-423-TALK or tweet or Facebook @radioboston or @pubradiokitchen.

All segments will also be available on the (free!) WBUR iPhone app.

Photo: BruceTurner/Flickr

The weekend before Thanksgiving is upon us!!

If you’re one of those super-organized cooks, you’ve got your recipes chosen, your shopping list meticulously laid out and your shopping done. Check, check. CHECK!

For the rest of us, this is going to be a *busy* bunch of days. Here’s more worthy R&D.

Chef Jeff Mushin from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Boston is sharing with Public Radio Kitchen the recipes for several traditional Thanksgiving dishes invigorated here with unexpected, flavorful ingredients. With these recipes Mushin is encouraging home chefs (that’s us!) to create extraordinary fare that stands out from customary Thanksgiving dishes. Have a look and, yes, update that grocery list just one…more…time. Continue reading →