15 articles Articles posted in matchmaking

Food Matchmaking: Lavender Loves Lemon

by on June 1, 2012, 0 comments

Happy first day of June! For this month’s matchmaking posts, we’ll be highlighting a somewhat uncommon ingredient in many people’s kitchens: lavender. As a cooking ingredient, it is most commonly encountered in the French seasoning mix herbes de Provence. The famous lavender fields of Provence go into bloom from late June through July, and hopefully you will see some blooming in your neck of the woods this summer as well.

Lavender also happens to be Becca’s favorite color and inspiration for her website and design business, Lavender’s Blue. Three years ago, when I was planning Becca’s tea party bridal shower, I wanted to incorporate her dearly loved lavender into not just the color scheme but also the menu in some way. So I decided to make lavender lemonade (I’ve forgotten the exact recipe I used, but this one is similar). I was worried that our mostly Asian guestlist would find lavender lemonade strange, but people ended up liking it so much they kept asking what it was they were drinking. The lavender is subtle, and the lemony tang adds brightness to the flowery perfume.

I must confess, I haven’t made lavender lemonade since then, but what a perfect summer drink it’d be for brunches, barbeques, afternoon tea, or just some people watching from the front porch (if I had a front porch). Incidentally, the lavender doesn’t actually color your lemonade, but if you’d like, you can add some blue and red food coloring to get a subtle, dusty purple, as I did for Becca’s shower. For a bit more excitement, try this boozy version. And beyond drinks, I can imagine lavender and lemon being a hit in cookies, creme brulee, and macarons! Try to look for culinary lavender, as other types may be heavily sprayed with pesticides.

I brought some Provencal culinary lavender back from my recent trip to France and am looking forward to some inspiration these next few weeks on how to incorporate it into my cooking and baking. You’ll be hearing from Becca the remainder of this month on her favorite color, flower, and now ingredient!

Photos from here and here.

Food Matchmaking: Strawberry Loves Sour Cream

by on May 25, 2012, 0 comments

I’m afraid I’ve never really been into chocolate-dipped strawberries: I don’t really like how the hardened chocolate comes between me and the juicy strawberry, not to mention the chocolate’s sweetness seems to bring out the tartness in the strawberries. But strawberries and sour cream I can get into. The cream adds some lusciousness, and the tang helps bring out the strawberry’s flavor and natural sweetness.

A few years ago, some family friends introduced me to the super simple dessert of strawberries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar, which I immediately became a fan of. The pairing sounds enticing in this cake and these scones as well. As strawberries are starting to show up at farmers’ markets, I’m looking forward to having them available for smoothies, desserts, and general snacking the next few months!

Photos from here and here.

Food Matchmaking: Guava Loves Chili Salt

by on May 11, 2012, 4 comments

I love the fruit stands in SE Asia where you can buy cut fruit that often comes with a little package of chili salt. In my family, guava is one of those fruits we always eat with chili salt. But chili salt is basically great with any fruit that’s a bit tart, like green mango, pineapple, or grapefruit. My mom always told me that adding a bit of salt to any fruit that’s sour would bring out its natural sweetness. Or maybe spicy, sour, and salty is just the SE Asian sweet. :) When we lived in Arizona, we noticed that Mexican road stands also sold mango with chili salt, so there has to be something to it, right?

Images from here and here.

Food Matchmaking: Lobster Loves Vanilla

by on May 4, 2012, 0 comments

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? I’m betting lobster isn’t one of them. I had never heard of lobster ice cream until I was searching the internet for recipes for my lobster.  I happened upon The Dog’s Breakfast’s version of it and was instantly fascinated. After a bit more research, I discovered that quite a few lobster bisque and lobster sauce recipes actually incorporate vanilla in them too! Who’d have thunk? It seems weird, but somehow, the sweet, creamy texture of lobster bisque does strangely remind me of melted ice cream. Try it next time with this recipe for vanilla lobster sauce or if you’re feeling adventurous, make lobster ice cream!

Photos from here and here.