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Top 20 Holiday Gifts for Your Favorite Foodie

12/14/2011 By dana Leave a Comment

If you are still hunting for the perfect holiday gift, there’s no need to brave crowds and traffic. Here are some gourmet goodies that you can buy with your slippers on. I’ll bet your favorite foodie doesn’t have these… 1. Cast Iron Pans — a gift to last a lifetime 2. Copper Fondue Pot + Skewers (wrap it along with my recipe for Chocolate Coconut Fondue) 3. Glass Food Storage Containers — safe to go from the fridge to the microwave 4. Cake Paper Placemats + Napkins — what I use now in all of my cooking classes 5. Nespresso Citiz Automatic Espresso Maker with Aeroccino — a true game-changer 6. A 1-month supply of fresh produce from FarmBox LA — your local farmers market … [Read more...]

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Farmgirl Holiday Menus

11/08/2010 By dana Leave a Comment

The holidays are all about bringing family and loved ones together…not an easy feat in itself. And if you are the one attempting to feed the hungry crowd, you will need a plan of action. Here are some menus to help you sort it all out. They are designed to please a variety of appetites and dietary desires — Kosher, low-fat and low-cholesterol, meatless, or vegan. For the recipe, simply click on the name of the dish. Once you have decided what’s on your menu, be sure to check out my Farmgirl Shopping List before heading to the market. By popular demand, I will be posting more menus in the coming months. For delicious and do-able weekday dinners, you’ll find more menus at A Week of Farmgirl Menus. A … [Read more...]

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A Week of Farmgirl Menus

05/12/2010 By dana Leave a Comment

When iTunes took over the planet, all of a sudden there were millions of songs at our fingertips. It was exciting and overwhelming, to say the least. Many of us (of a certain generation) freaked out and refused to embrace the technology. Then someone ingeniously decided to help us out with playlists. Suddenly, the world of music wasn’t so vast. We just needed someone to tell us what we wanted to hear. I believe cooking is heading down a similar road. Despite the jillion recipes out there, I often have no idea what to make for dinner. Even with shelves of cookbooks and bulging recipe files, it is still a daily challenge to come up with menus that are nourishing, satisfying, and exciting. What we need is a playlist to tell us … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style

Contain Yourself

02/26/2010 By dana Leave a Comment

www.countryliving.comI had one thought this week: Must…Get…Organized. I was desperate. After tripping over a can of tomatoes and finding granola bars in the onion basket, I concluded it was time to rearrange my life. So I decided to start with the room where I spend the majority of my time…the kitchen. My past organizational skills peaked at Ziploc bags. Every time I opened a cupboard, I cringed. I started leaving leftovers on plates in the fridge because finding the matching lid to a plastic container would take up 10 minutes. Then, on a trip to the mall, I discovered a store entirely devoted to controlling clutter. There was hope. But I needed a plan. There were so many options, so many ways to keep my stuff … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style

My Top 10 Favorite Holiday Gifts for a Foodie

12/06/2009 By dana 1 Comment

Many of you have already finished your holiday shopping and if so, big time domestic goddess points for you! But for those of us who will be doing most of our gift hunting with our pajamas on, here are ten great ideas for the food-lover who has everything (I’ll bet they don’t have these!)… 1) Executive Pen Salt and Pepper Grinders by Grind — $60.00 This sleek set is attractive enough to be put on display in your kitchen or on your dining table. There are so many salt and pepper shakers out there, but only a few grind both the salt and pepper of your choice…and these require the use of only one hand. You decide what to do with the other hand! 2) Silicone baking sheets — $19.74 to $26.95 on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style

Cold Weather Entertaining

11/14/2009 By dana Leave a Comment

Entertaining this time of year is all about creating warmth and memories. There’s nothing more inviting than a sumptuous dining table laden with glowing candles, fully-bloomed flowers and abundant fresh fruit. From tabletop to menu, here are some ways to help you create a memorable experience for your guests. But as with any celebration, the magic ingredient is gratitude. Keep it in mind and your soirées will always be meaningful. 1. Place pillar candles inside glass hurricanes (see Eight Ways to Decorate a Hurricane) and light votives everywhere (don’t forget the powder room). 2. Arrange wooden or vintage platters and bowls (mismatched is more stylish) using squashes, pumpkins, apples, crabapples, clementines, multi-hued grapes, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style

Summer Entertaining

06/24/2009 By dana Leave a Comment

Summer entertaining is what I wish for all year. It’s always casual, convivial, and fuss-free. But what I love most is that everyone slows down this time of year. A late morning brunch will flow into siesta time, and early sunset dinners linger well past midnight. Your friends aren’t sneaking neurotic glances at their iPhones or rushing out to their next appointment. Kids can stay up late with the grown-ups. Summer is the perfect excuse to loosen up, to decelerate. And it’s when I get to spoil my friends and family without stressing out. If you want your company to hang around a long time, keep the food and drink flowing. Because temperatures are warmer and appetites tend to diminish in the summertime, portions … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style

My Top 10 Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

05/23/2009 By dana Leave a Comment

These days it seems like everything is on sale, and even my beloved cooking supply stores are offering deals on essentials like knives, pots, and kitchen gadgets. So, this week, I diverge from my style musings to talk practical. In my cooking classes, I am frequently asked which are the kitchen tools I use most. The question usually comes up when I am demonstrating how to whip egg whites to frothy peaks, because no one can believe that I do not use a Kitchen Aid mixer to perform the feat. I respond that I do not own one. Gasp! How can I not own a Kitchen Aid mixer, or any mixer for that matter? True, I have always admired the retro-chic contraption, with its designer colors and domestic goddess presence on sleek kitchen counters. But … [Read more...]

Filed Under: 90210 Style