Eat: Links for Foodies

I often post updates about recipes that I have found on the Internet. I love my cookbooks, but when I get a hankering to make something new for dinner and I am no where near my bookshelf, I have a number of wonderful go-to sites that I can refer to in a pinch. I finally got around to compiling a list of my favourites so I thought I would share it here. Feel free to comment and let me know which sites are your favourites. Any must-try recipes or hidden gems out there that I missed?

In the beginning (of my food tinkering):

allrecipes - Huge variety of recipes but as they are often user submitted, I an hesitant to trust the ingredient quantities and flavour profiles unless I see numerous positive user reviews.

Food Network US and Food Network Canada - Sometimes, even if I have the book (i.e. Barefoot Contessa) I like to print the recipe so that I don't worry about smearing it with butter or sauce while cooking. Be warned, I have noted that sometimes a recipe shown in a TV episode varies from what is printed in the book (i.e. Giada's Chicken Vesuvio)

Rachael Ray - Most or all of her recipes have moved from Food Network to her personal site. I love cooking but sometimes I feel that the effort can be daunting; Rachael Ray's recipes are great for quick results (Check out her Pumpkin Sage Pasta, Vodka Sauce, French Onion Soup, Apple Spinach Salad, Celery Fennel Slaw, etc.)

Healthy and/or Vegetarian

super natural every day: Heidi Swanson - Beautiful photography and healthful recipes. Her books are filled with even more gorgeous photos. I haven't made enough of her recipes, I must make a sincere effort to use her site/books more often.

Vegetarian Times - THE vegetarian resource during my year without meat. Still a great choice for my 1-2 meat-free dinners a week. Really love the Spicy Tofu.

Veggie Num Num - Such a lovely web site, the pictures do so much for the recipes. I must admit that I haven't tried many recipes from here yet, but I am dying to try the Veggie Kofta

General Sites

Epicurious - The BEST recipe site on the Internet. Period. I believe it has every recipe ever printed in Bon Appetite and Gourmet Magazine. User reviews really help to determine if a recipe is worthwhile; not to mention a great source of information for modifications. The recipe box is a fantastic feature, my box has about 400 recipes stemming back from 2001 or so. Can't gush about this site enough, I'm always surprised when I hear a foodie doesn't already know about this one. Bookmark it. Now!

Martha Stewart - In the past I was a subscriber to Everyday food, but I found the recipes a bit lack-lustre; bland and a bit too simple. Martha's site has both easy and more moderate/advanced recipes. It's not the first site I go to but I would trust her recipes when it comes to baking.

Canadian Living - A good variety overall. Recipes lean towards the lighter/healthier option

Fine Cooking - What makes Fine Cooking special is how educational the articles are. The best resource for tips, tricks, reviews, tools and techniques. LOVE their Christmas cookies.

Food lifestyle blogs; sometime recipes, other times food writing.

David Lebovitz -  Living the Sweet Life in Paris. He is so charming and funny, I love his writing style, not to mention his recipes. Our favourite Carnitas recipe comes from an American living in Paris, go figure!

Smitten Kitchen -  Her cook book has just arrived, and I am excited to support her effort and buy the book. Her blog has really evolved, it's been fun to see her develop from miscellaneous blogger to food blogger. Lovely pictures. The best baked french toast recipe; it's now my Christmas morning tradition!

101 Cookbooks - Love the idea of this blog, and her design/photography is beautiful. Lots of great ideas/suggestions

spicy habibti - A bit less glossy than the rest, but some great Indian flavours and inspiration.

Pickled Plum - This site belongs to a friend in NYC. I must admit that Japanese recipes intimidate the crap out of me, but she makes them seem really accessible. Looking forward to trying the Pumpkin Oreo Muffins and working my way to the Japanese recipes

Yet to try, bookmarked and ready to go:

Saveur - I have yet to make a recipe from this site, but the intention is there. Saveur recipes appear in my Pulse News application daily, and the photos are very enticing. On my to-do list.

Jamie Oliver

yummly

Local (i.e Montreal) Blogs: Restaurant Reviews & Food Scene

Foodie Date Night - Based on their recommendations so far, I trust their reviews enough to influence my restaurant selection.

Will Travel for Food - Also another great way for me to discover new or hidden gem local spots. I love the pics of the meals, it's a sneak preview which really helps me decide where I'm spending my dollars.

Food Guy Montreal

Shut Up and Eat

Chow Hound - Boards (Montreal)

And finally, When in Rome...

Katie Parla's Rome for Foodies - Great site, wonderful iPhone app. If it wasn't for her site, we would not have discovered Trattoria Monti, L'Asino d'oro, Vino Roma and Pizzarium. These places MADE our trip to Rome, and we would go back to every single one if we ever go back.

Halloween: Pumpkinausaurus

Using your best guess, would you say this pumpkin was decorated by a 6 year old child or a 34 year old woman? I believe that this pumpkin stood a better chance of looking like a dinosaur had it actually been decorated by a 6 year, but alas, it was my artistic handiwork. Look upon my Pumpkin, ye mighty, and despair!

We picked up this adorable Martha Stewart Dinosaur kit at Target, thinking that we could entertain my nephew while he was visiting our place for the afternoon. It was such a romantic idea, going out to select a pumpkin and decorating it together on a cool autumn day. Picturesque, right? But once my nephew realized that we would not be stabbing any pumpkins with knives, we realized how little interest this 6 year old actually has in pumpkin decorating (ah yes, he IS my nephew). I managed to coax him to paint the pumpkin this lovely shade of green before he managed to convince Marc to turn on the xBox and leave me holding the paint brush.

A couple days later I decided that I might as well finish it myself so I could present it to him as a Halloween decoration for his front step. I sat down with a steaming cup of coffee and adhered the foam stickers. I felt like I was robbing the kid of the opportunity but at the same time I was acutely aware that he was uninterested AND that my arts & crafts skills were about the perfect match for a  5+ and over pumpkin decorating kit. There were a few technical glitches; the paint stuck to the glue of the sticker and came right off the pumpkin leaving big orange spots, and the heat from our base heaters seemed to have dried out the glue causing Dino's head to fall off more than once! Poor Dino. I'm not sure he's going to make it to my brothers place in one piece, so here's a picture for posterity.