A California Online Magazine with Local Focus and Global Appeal
Bacon has become quite the trend over the past couple of years. I’ve seen bacon flavored candy and mints, bacon shaped throw pillows, T-shirts with all kinds of bacon sayings, and even bacon perfume. Historically bacon has been a flavoring agent in many cuisines before it became a popular stand alone breakfast food and topping for burgers and baked potatoes. Now bacon has come into its own as a leading role.
{ 0 comments }
Nothing says Spring or Mother’s Day, like a tea party. Drinking tea was once a lost ritual in the U.S., but it is now making a comeback. The specialty tea market has grown and tea shops can be found all over, even in cities like Fresno! Tea can be sweet or savory, spicy or fruity and it has depth and flavor. Tea is for people of all ages, and especially for those people who like to feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.
{ 2 comments }
Tea time and Mother’s Day seem to go together, so I immediately thought about the simple tea infuser. Once nearly extinct, but now making a comeback, this lowly little item was a necessity for brewing the perfect cup of tea. Infusers were around for a long time before the invention of tea bags. Sometimes called a tea ball or tea egg, by the time of Queen Victoria, no respectable British household would be without one of these, but before we get in to the nitty-gritty of tea infusing, we need a little history lesson on tea itself.
{ 0 comments }
“CArtHop is a series of weekly events that highlight local eats, local music, and local art. We’ll have some of the best food trucks in the Valley out at locations all around Fresno, all serving food made with local ingredients.”
{ 0 comments }
Pizza—That symbol of the circle of life, the roundness of the world, and the bearer of all the food groups of nutrition (but usually too much of the wrong ones). This FoodQuest tried five different pizza parlors/pizzerias, ordering a large sausage/mushroom/pepperoni pizza and various other goodies.
{ 1 comment }
While conversing with a chef friend one day in the break room, we talked about the Greenmarkets in New York where she grew up, and recalled a time when there were no Greenmarkets. She remembers a time when Union Square was known as “needle park.”
{ 0 comments }
This February something new and exciting moved into the spot on 10th Street in downtown Reedley that used to be the home of Domino’s Pizza. Something not only healthier, but unique! Before you even walk through the door at Mooner’s you are greeted with bright colors and a feeling of fun. This feeling continues once you step inside–combined with great fruit treats and drinks!
{ 1 comment }
Most of us pay little or no attention to salt & pepper. They don’t cost much and are easily obtainable at any grocery store. Every household has a container of salt & pepper on the table or in the cupboard, but it wasn’t always this way. At one time, both salt and pepper were literally worth their weight in gold! Modern salt mining techniques and expanded pepper growing regions have made them an everyday item rather than a luxury.
{ 0 comments }
When people find out that I’m originally from San Jose, California, there are typically a few responses that I get. “What are you doing out here?” “Why would you leave the beautiful weather?” and often times a rendition of, “Do you know the way to San Jose?” followed by, “Are you even old enough to know that song?” These are all legitimate questions, I suppose.
{ 1 comment }
I had no idea what to expect from Irene’s Café. I’ve driven by and walked by it for years, but have never gone in. It always seemed clean and busy from the outside with an attractive and compelling presence. I just never had a need to try it out when I was in the neighborhood. Assignments such as these open a world of possibilities. I went for the purpose of writing about another Tower District experience. I will return for the atmosphere and for the flavor as well as for the sense of community.
{ 1 comment }
O, the life of a roving food critic!
I’ve been to upscale restaurants, simple restaurants, Middle Eastern food, Mexican seafood, Salvadoran, burger joints, taco wagons, and now…..Chinese Food in Sanger!
{ 0 comments }
Happy Year of the Snake. Be sure to decorate your doors with poems written on red paper scrolls, light your torches and set off fire crackers all night long to scare away the cruel and ferocious beast, Nian. The Cookers and Kibitzers didn’t go that far but we did celebrate Chinese New Year when we got together in February.
{ 0 comments }
Just in time for last minute Valentine’s Day celebrations this weekend we have a wonderful guest post called A Love Affair With Cheese that includes a heavenly chocolate and cheese fondue recipe from mystery author Avery Adams, author of the Cheese Shop Mysteries. We also have a review of Avery’s latest book, To Brie or Not To Brie, and info at the end of this post on how to win a signed copy of one of the Cheese Shop Mysteries.
{ 6 comments }
Chinese New Year has a few different names. It is also known as Lunar new year, since many Asian cultures celebrate the new year according to the lunar calendar, and it is also called Spring Festival in China. It is not a single day and evening event like we celebrate according to the Gregorian calendar. Chinese New Year is a national holiday that mandates that Chinese citizens have seven days off.
{ 2 comments }
My dad was crazy about chocolate covered cherries and every Valentines Day my sisters and I would go to the local drugstore and buy him a box of these sweet treats. Mom, a frail, delicate woman, favored milk chocolate with nuts or dark chocolate with coconut and we gave her Hershey or Mounds bars, all of which she ate sparingly, nibbling the bar as though she were a bird pecking at a treasured crust of bread. Nothing says “I Love You” like something made of chocolate.
{ 5 comments }
Shawarma is a Middle Eastern cone of layered meat and fat, shaved off the rotating spit on street corners in the Arab world, and wrapped in a pita flatbread as one of the first fast foods. In Greece, it is known as a gyro sandwich. Anywhere, it’s good!
{ 0 comments }
China is a Pug/Chihuahua mix female around 3 1/2 years old. She is gentle & plays well with our other dogs, is crate trained, potty trained, walks well on a leash & she loves to stay right by your side when you are walking outside or doing chores in the house. China is available through Animal Compassion Team.
Cheeto is a 7 month old male orange and white tabby. He gets along with cats and dogs and loves to just play and hang our. Cheeto is available through Cat House On The Kings.
<div align="center"><a href="http://KingsRiverLife" title="Kings River Life Magazine"><img src="http://kingsriverlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/KRL-200x200-SOURCE-WHITE-144x144.jpg" alt="Kings River Life Magazine" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
