Physician, Heal ThySelf

On his blog, Michael Ruhlman ruminated recently on the pros and cons of cooking. Pro? Making his family happy and healthy, among others. Con? Exhaustion and lack of time, among others. Check out the comments, too, in which readers offer their reasons for choosing to cook.
from Sift

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Diner’s Journal is gathering readers’ favorite bake-sale recipes (no homemade Doritos, please), and will post those judged to be the best.
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Big news for a prized but endangered fish. Hopefully, this will lead to movement to ban trade in a species that is headed for extinction. The Washington Post reports:
The U.S. government announced Wednesday that it supports prohibiting international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a move that could lead to the most sweeping trade restrictions ever [...]

I had a hankering for currant scones the other day. The yen resulted from remembering how much I adored the book The Secret Garden as a little girl. I distinctly recall feeling ravenously hungry while reading about the hampers of wholesome country fare that Dickon’s mother would pack for him and Mary and Colin to [...]

sesame no-knead bread

There was suddenly a lot of talk about baking bread around here and during the last couple of snowstorms we finally brought our talk to fruition. I should mention our impulse to get a loaf in the works was spurred by my sister’s arrival back from Australia with a few precious gifts: a [...]

In America, we have havens for mistreated farm animals, such as the Farm Sanctuary. But they tend to focus on large, fuzzy mammals, such as goats and cows. In England, however, a group of dedicated knitters has been providing aid and comfort to battery chickens — birds that have outlived their egg-laying years and would [...]

There are lots of uses for leftover gravy. Want to share yours?
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That’s what many fear about genetically engineered alfalfa. Organic farmers grow alfalfa as a forage crop for livestock, but genetically engineered crops can pollinate organic crops, making them non-organic. No organic forage, no organic livestock. No organic livestock, no organic milk. 
That scenario has already played out in corn and canola, at least in some regions. [...]

I’ve been battling insomnia lately (and losing.) As a result, I’ve been feeling too tired to cook much. But I would hate to leave you in the culinary lurch so I thought I’d share some of the food blogs, sites, and cookbooks that I find most inspiring in the hopes that some of them will [...]

scones with bonnie's plum jam

This fall my sister got a serious “baking bug” and made everything from delicious ginger carrot layer cakes, biodynamic quark cheese cakes and pavlova, to whole wheat shortbread and a tiramisu (“pick me up” in Italian) that lived up to its name so much so that I was tipsy after I [...]