For now this is just a series of links to some of my favorite sites and what I consider to be the most helpful. They are not in any particular order.
The
Cookbook Critic
This site is maintained by Colleen Flippo who graduated from the
California Culinary Academy in 1999. I heard her on Evan Klienman's
Good
Food via KCRW (weekly podcast available free through iTunes) and
just couldn't help myself. Ms. Flippo's penchant is "uncovering
which celebrity cookbooks work, and which don't" which is very
helpful if you are planning on spending your hard-earned cash on
books.
Berta's Cooking
General Tips and Converting Weights and Measures, etc.
Farmer's Markets throughout the United States
I've discovered that store bought produce just doesn't pack the same
flavor that you get from buying straight from the farm. Sure, there
is produce that just won't be available year round, but there is a
reason that Chefs cook with seasonal ingredients. It's all about
taste. Give it a try and see the difference for yourself. This
website allows you to obtain information about the hours, etc., for
your local farmer's market.
Delicious
Days
A wonderful food blog that discusses a wide variety of interesting
things.
Chowhound -
For those who live to eat.
A marvelous site that allows you to communicate with others
across the land and sea. Looking for a restaurant, a tip, a recipe,
just post on the boards. The difference between a chowhound and a
foodie is explained by Jim Leff of Chowhound.com as follows:
"Foodies eat where they're told. They get excited about the hot new restaurant/cookbook/ingredient. They'll go to unfamiliar neighborhoods to eat, but only with their Zagat securely in hand to guide them to The Accepted Places. Chowhounds, by contrast, are iconoclasts who spurn trends and established opinion and sniff out secret deliciousness on their own. The places they find and frequent today will show up in newspaper reviews in two years and in Zagat in four (by which time the restaurants usually will have grown crowded, overpriced, and lousy)."
Food for thought!