All About Food

Cooking With a Friend

January 29th, 2015

My friend Barb wanted me to teach her how to make my version of falafels. It really is the version that a coworker from my Full Circle Restaurant days shared with our staff.

For those of you who do not have a clue what I am talking about, falafels are made from garbanzo beans (some call them chickpeas). Fava beans can also be used.

Falafels are full of delicious spices and served on pita bread, or in my case I like to put them into a wrap. They have humus, tahini sauce and lettuce too. I…

Introducing sommelier Jean Taylor

January 21st, 2015

Photo by Dan Francis

Fargo’s flourishing dining scene has reached a new high.

Jean Taylor, of Mosaic Foods (parent company of Mezzaluna and Rustica), recently became the region’s first certified sommelier after passing the Court of Master Sommeliers’ difficult three-part, Level II exam.

As a professional wine steward, a sommelier works as a trained and highly knowledgeable spirits guide for restaurants and their patrons.

“I can have a conversation with you and understand what you like and why you like…

Road Trip Cuisine

January 16th, 2015

Welcome back, all you HPR readers, from the holidays. I hope you had a great holiday, as much as I did.

Over my next four articles I will talk about (1) All the food I surrounded myself by on my break, totally shameless (2) Some new people I met and that love they have for cooking so they shared their favorite items with me (3) The importance of feeding yourself through relaxing and (4) A very BIG lesson I learned in the world of catering.

“Road Trip with Lora”

I'm so excited to share…

The Ultimate New Year’s Eve Guide

December 23rd, 2014

Cover by Max Morlock

Plenty of free champagne, rowdy music, swanky parties and exquisite food will be going around this Wednesday, December 31. Whether you want to treat yourself to a fancy meal, party along with your favorite rock band or play dress up, we’ve done our best to give you the most comprehensive guide to all things New Year’s Eve in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

Highlighted are some of the folks behind the most above-and-beyond dinners and/or parties in town. Don’t hesitate to book…

Plum Pudding a Christmas Tradition

December 23rd, 2014

When it comes to re-gifting I think the number one item would be fruit cake. That boat anchor of technicolor dried fruits and maraschino cherries bound together in a molasses-based cake mixture that has a nuclear half-life. The problem with fruitcake, outside of being inedible, is people get it confused with plum pudding, a rich dense alcohol soaked masterpiece that adorns every British Christmas Day table.

It is a bit late in the day to make one for this Christmas, well that is if you…

Gotta-Have-It Cookbooks

December 12th, 2014

I collect, or amass, cookbooks the way squirrels stash nuts for the winter. Our family room, perched at the uppermost part of our house, is part workout room, part artsy office and is dominated by a wall of cookbooks. Importantly, those books have all been read, earmarked and referred to frequently over the years.

With the advent of the Internet it is easy to just type in a search phrase and a number of recipe options will pop up. I have done that in a pinch, but I prefer my trusted…

Going “Nuts”

December 10th, 2014

So let's talk about nuts and the holidays. I do mean the nuts you eat of course. “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” definitely comes to mind as I write this, and now it is continually looping and stuck in my head! I think it's really interesting that, for me, the first thing I grab is holiday candy, any kind for that matter. It’s everywhere, but there's so much more out there to munch on that you can get your sweet fix from, something a little healthier. I'm…

From Asian to Mexican

November 28th, 2014

Usually I write about my food adventures to Minneapolis or Jamaica. But, hey, we drove 45 minutes due east and found some yummy food in the home of our friends Lucy and Tom of Detroit Lakes.

My husband and I have lucked out twice this month eating really, really well due to Lucy.

One weekend, she taught us how to make sushi, and another weekend she made some amazing Mexican food.

The first time Lucy invited us and a few of her friends over, to learn how to make sushi, it was really fun.…

Apple this, Apple That

November 12th, 2014

My husband and I have owned two homes in Fargo and both have had apple trees, although not the same kind. And, as of this writing, neither of us have a clue what the names of the apples are, only that they were and are delicious.

Over the years, more when we lived at our previous home in south Fargo, in my young and more energy filled days, I would have my nurse friends over for an apple-cutting, pie-making, whatever-let’s-have-some-fun-girltime party! It was so interesting to see how…

Coffee Talk: Stumbeano’s Coffee Bar now pouring over downtown

November 5th, 2014

Photo by Raul Gomez

Greg Stumbo of Fergus Falls started roasting coffee in the early 2000s as a hobby. He said it was a popular trend at the time and he was starting to see an annoying push from advertisers for roasted coffee.

“It was weird to see how advertisers marketed buying coffee back then – it was really sexist – like guys angry at their wives because they had burnt the coffee,” Stumbo said.

Therefore, he stuck to roasting his own beans from then on for his family, friends and for wholesale.…