Why I Adore Good Salt – Portland’s Salt Shops

The short answer is because good salt makes everything taste better!  I have loved cooking since I was about two.  And for many years, traveling around and being a scratch cook, I have preached “if you give me oil, vinegar, salt and a cooking source – I can make just about anything taste good.”  Well, to my delight, a couple decades after I first said that, I happened upon Samin Nostrat’s book, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat AND Portland’s salt shops.

A friend told me about it and I sheepishly admit it took me a while to get it, because I thought to myself “yeah, I already know that, I’ve been saying and living the philosophy for years.”  Well, I am happy I got over my ego and acquired the book because it is an absolute goldmine of information.  Samin really delves into each of the elements and, I promise you, there is something to be learned no matter how long you have been aligning yourself with your allies Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat.

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Fun Facts about Chocolate – Portland Food Tours

A really sublime chocolate experience is heavenly.  And chocolate is a health food and has been considered such for eons.  Only in relatively recent times has chocolate been denigrated to junk food, because of the additions of so much milk and sugar. It shouldn’t surprise you that a self-proclaimed foodie has a bookshelf full of books about food.  Many cookbooks, but also a lot of books that focus on a single ingredient, or the cultural aspects of food.  So I whipped out my book The Chocolate and Coffee Bible and dug around for some fun facts about chocolate.

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