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An American in Berlin Baking German Bread
By Debra Samuels GLOBE CORRESPONDENT AUGUST 11, 2015 BERLIN — With the grace of ballet dancers and the strength of weight lifters, Benjamin Tugwell and Timothy Naughton lift a long metal conveyance lined with linen and laden with loaves. They move toward the open doors of a wood-fired oven and guide the board toward the …
Read moreMatcha goes global as trendy ingredient
By Debra Samuels GLOBE CORRESPONDENT JUNE 23, 2015 Much is being made about matcha. From lattes and shakes to ice cream and baked confections, the bitter, mossy green powder, a specially processed tea, is turning up everywhere. Matcha is being treated as the perk-me-up of the moment in themed matcha bars from Brooklyn to Berlin. Today’s …
Read moreFood-savvy dads at the stove
By Debra Samuels GLOBE CORRESPONDENT JUNE 16, 2015 LEXINGTON — In mid-20th-century America, TV dads Ozzie Nelson, Ward Cleaver, and Desi Arnaz donned their wives’ aprons and mishaps and mayhem ensued. Now some dads have taken over kitchen responsibilities, either out of necessity or because they love the inventive aspect of cooking. The bumbling dad has been …
Read moreThis Chinese grandma forages and cooks
By Debra Samuels GLOBE CORRESPONDENT MAY 12, 2015 SOMERVILLE — Ginger Chen scans the terrain, a sharp knife at the ready. A wide smile spreads across her face as she spots something. She bends down, pokes the knife into the dirt, and wiggles loose a straggly plant. This is no ordinary, unwelcome weed. At the edge of …
Read moreBoston Ballet’s Nissinen cooks a Japanese dinner
By Debra Samuels GLOBE CORRESPONDENT DECEMBER 02, 2014 Dressed in black, with a black apron, Mikko Nissinen is stylish and cheflike standing over an outdoor grill on the deck of his South End home on a chilly November evening. He is roasting a meaty tuna collar for a Japanese-inspired menu. The Finnish-born Nissinen, artistic director of …
Read moreLife’s a bowl of cherry…blossoms
The 3 amigas have been at it again! My friend and assistant, Chie Ehara, invited me and Elsa Tian over to her home in Arlington, Massachusetts to pick cherry blossoms from the huge tree in her yard. The plan was to preserve them in salt to use throughout the year in tea, mochi (sweet rice cakes) and to …
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From the Boston Globe At popular restaurants in town, weekend brunch can attract a full house all morning and well into the afternoon. It’s the antidote to a late night out, it’s the ideal celebration for the new grad and a multi-generational family, and it’s a menu that can be lavish, leisurely, savory, sweet, or …
Read moreCommercial gefilte fish replaces Jewish grandmothers’
By Debra Samuels | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT APRIL 08, 2014 Mention gefilte fish to anyone who is Jewish, and some will smile, others cringe. This Eastern European specialty is an acquired taste. But it is also a memory trigger from Friday night Sabbath dinners and Passover holidays. Gefilte fish are dense oval balls made with varying amounts of …
Read moreBento Bash for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
How do you prepare bento for 150 people? With a lot of help! Make twenty tamagoyaki (Japanese egg omelet) rolls cut each into 8 pieces! With a sakura shaped vegetable cutter, stamp out 150 cherry blossom daikon flowers! Take 40 pounds of soy sauce braised chicken thighs made for us by Ben Lin of B.Lin …
Read moreVeggie chips, from garden-variety to great
TASTE KITCHEN Veggie chips, from garden-variety to great By Debra Samuels | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT FEBRUARY 25, 2014 Crunch, crunch, crunch was the only sound you could hear from a group of seven tasters as they munched their way through six brands of vegetable chips. There were chips that look like slices of carrot or sweet …
Read moreBento:Build a Better Lunch
Debra Samuels, bestselling author, food writer and cooking instructor, wants to give the American lunchbox a makeover. In the chapter on “bento,” the traditional Japanese lunch box, in her upcoming book, My Japanese Table, Debra encourages the use of color, texture and taste to create healthier and more visually appealing meals.
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