Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...You know the song. Sadly, the closest many of us have ever gotten to roasting chestnuts on an open fire is sticking them in the oven. You know the drill. You cut the X's into the shell, roast them, and then you have to quickly peel off the skins while they're hot (inevitably burning your fingers along the way).

Even if you're lucky, you only have a 75% success rate, since many stubborn chestnuts refuse to slip from their skins once cooled. After many personal chestnut roasting fails, I have resorted to just buying them from the street carts of Manhattan. That is until recently, when I discovered a foolproof way to get it right, every single time. Read on to see how it's done:

If you've been spreading your chestnuts across a baking sheet to roast them, you're doing it ALL WRONG. You see, what chestnuts really need to open up is steam. Keeping them warm just until you peel them is also key. Here are some tips for roasted chestnut perfection every time.

Don't forget the X! Place the chestnuts flat side down on a cutting board. Use a small paring knife to score an X through the skin on the rounded side of each chestnut.

Soak 'em! Once you've scored them all, place the chestnuts in a bowl of hot water for 1 minute. This willl help them steam in the oven. Drain and pat the chestnuts dry. If you want to add herbs or flavorings, this is the time. Toss the chestnuts in a bowl with a combo of melted butter, rosemary, sea salt, or any other combo of fat, herb, and salt.

Wrap them up! Tear a generous length of of aluminum foil and place the chestnuts in a single layer. Gather up the edges to form a parcel with a small opening on top (while still keeping them in a single layer). Place the parcel on a baking sheet. You can stack multiple parcels on one baking sheet if you need to.

Work quickly! Bake at 350°F until the edges of the chestnut shells really curl up, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and working one parcel at a time, peel off the shell and the skin at the X. (A paring knife sometimes makes this job easier). Do this as SOON as they are cool enough to handle; the shells are harder to peel when cold. Don't open up a parcel until you are ready to peel the chestnuts. Eat the chestnuts right away or store them in the fridge for up to 3 days for soups, gnocchi, and snacking.

Olive Jar

By Naomi Shihab Nye

In the corner of every Arab kitchen,
        an enormous plastic container
of olives is waiting for another meal.
        Green tight-skinned olives,
planets with slightly pointed ends—
        after breakfast, lunch, each plate
hosts a pyramid of pits in one corner.
        Hands cross in the center
of the table over the olive bowl.
        If there are any left they go back to
the olive jar to soak again with sliced lemon and oil.
        Everyone says
it was a good year for the trees.

At the border an Israeli crossing-guard asked
        where I was going in Israel.
To the West Bank, I said. To a village of
        olives and almonds.
To see my people.

What kind of people? Arab people?

Uncles and aunts, grandmother, first and second
cousins. Olive-gatherers.

Do you plan to speak with anyone? he said.
        His voice was harder
and harder, bitten between the teeth Business Centre in Hong Kong.

I wanted to say, No, I have come all this way
        for a silent reunion.
But he held my passport in his hands.
Yes, I said, We will talk a little bit. Families and
        weddings,
my father's preference in shoes, our grandmother's
love for sweaters.
We will share steaming glasses of tea,
the sweetness filling our throats.
Someone will laugh long and loosely,
so tears cloud my voice: O space of ocean waves,
how long you tumble between us, how little you
        dissolve.

We will eat cabbage rolls, rice with sugar and milk,
crisply sizzled eggplant. When the olives come
        sailing past
in their little white boat, we will line them
        on our plates
like punctuation. What do governments have to do
with such pleasure? Question mark.
YES I love you! Swooping exclamation.
Or the indelible thesis statement:
        it is with great dignity
we press you to our lips.


Sizzled Eggplant with Yogurt and Almonds
Slices of eggplant sauteed in a pan with generous amounts of olive oil until melting and tender on the inside but just crisped on the outside. They truly sizzle as they cook 19 LED Light Bulb. A simple topping of thick yogurt and some almonds and parsley.

4-5 small size (5-6 inches long) firm eggplant
olive oil
salt
1 cup plain Greek-style yogurt or labane
1 small lemon
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup blanched almonds
pinch or two of Aleppo pepper or other mild chili pepper
equipment: optional, but a splatter screen is nice to have here

1. Trim off the top and bottom of the eggplant and then slice it vertically into thick strips. Sprinkle salt on one side of the strip.
2. Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a large pan over medium (not high!) heat. The olive oil should fill the bottom of the pan by about 1/4 inch deep. When the olive oil is hot, add the first batch of eggplant slices, salt-side up, being sure not to overcrowd the pan. Cook until lightly browned on the first side and the eggplant is almost totally tender when pierced with a knife, this could take as long as five to seven minutes. Flip the eggplant slices over as they are ready, sprinkle the opposite sides with salt, and let cook until browned and lightly crisped on the outside, but still very tender in the middle. Keep an eye on the heat and adjust it as necessary. Remove eggplant slices to drain on paper towels Cloud Video Conferencing.
3. Repeat the process in batches with the remaining eggplant slices, topping up the olive oil as necessary.
4. Place your yogurt in a bowl and zest the lemon into the bowl. Halve the lemon and squeeze the lemon juice from half the lemon into the yogurt. Season with a big pinch of salt and stir to mix well.
5. Arrange a layer of eggplant slices in the bottom of your dish. Drizzle some yogurt, sprinkle parlsey and Aleppo pepper over top. Repeat the layering of eggplant with yogurt, herbs and spice.
6. Finally, heat up that same pan you were using for the eggplant, and saute the almonds in the pan until lightly browned all over. Pour the toasted almonds over the top of the eggplant, sprinkle with salt, and serve.

M omofuku Milk Bar's Christina Tosi has always been a cookie freak EGF. When she was growing up, her family would spend time after meals huddled around the kitchen table playing card games like Skip-Bo and gin rummy while munching on cookies made by both grandmothers.

"I have always been a card shark and loved to eat my grandmothers' cookies. So much that as I grew, I became more bold, and my obsession with eating too many cookies became a problem," Tosi says. "I'd practically eat all of the lemon bars in the spring, the oatmeal cookies in the fall, and the cut-out cookies in the winter.… Eventually my grandmothers cut me off and handed me an apron. It was high time I learned to work for my cookies!"

She parlayed that love into an acclaimed and very popular bakery, Momofuku Milk Bar, which has given the world Crack Pie and the Compost cookie, among other sweet treats. And with such a deep love of cookies, it should come as no surprise that Tosi puts a premium on holiday cookie creations.

"It's not a holiday without a few staple cookies: a batch of cut-out cookies, frosted and decorated; cereal bound with marshmallow and adorned festively; sugar cookie bars; and so on," she says. "I have the same routine every year. I stay up all night baking and decorating. I lay out my cookie tins and plates, I distribute some of each cookie into each container, then I hit the streets spreading holiday cheer through cookies reenex!

"At Milk Bar, we have a cookie swap every year," Tosi notes. "Each one of us makes 100 of our favorite cookie, brings it in, and we have a holiday party eating and swapping cookies, recipes, and holiday cheer. I try each cookie. Nothing is better!"

To spread some holiday cheer with Epicurious, Tosi shares her no-bake recipe for Christmas Treats, inspired by another gooey treat made by her paternal grandmother. "As a kid, I was a lunatic when it came to Rice Krispie Treats. As a teenager experimenting in the kitchen, I would always try and reinvent the classic. I'd try all different types and mixtures of cereal. I would literally do this every day, and bring in squares for all my girlfriends to taste reenex.

"A decade later, at Milk Bar, I was prepping for a holiday cookie swap and wanted to make something different. I dug deep into my arsenal and decided to see how far I could take my teenage favorite. Having the knowledge and accessibility to more spices, seeds, fruit, nuts, and baking knowledge, I came up with the recipe."

Tosi's recipe allows for experimentation, and it's easy enough for kids to make too. Some of her own favorite combinations are peanut butter and Apple Jacks; Fruity Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch; and Cap'N Crunch with dried cherries and pistachios. Share yours on the recipe's Reviews tab.

Once again we find ourselves on the precipice dr max of a barista competition when it feels like no time at all has gone by since the last one.
But yes folks, it is happening again. The finest of Perth’s coffee scene will put their espresso, latte art, and cup tasting skills to the test in another huge weekend of specialty coffee action.

We’ll be running the WA heats of the AASCA Barista dr max, Latte Art, and Cup Tasting Championships.

When: November 6th and 7th
Where: Perth Town Hall, Cnr Hay St & Barrack St, Perth
Why: To show once and for all who has what it takes to be crowned the best barista in WA dr max.

As long as there are overripe bananas, I’ll be looking for ways to use them. After years of baking, I’ve made countless banana breads and muffins. I love them, but a little variety is nice, too.

I happened upon this recipe as I was browsing through Buttercup Bakes at Home, a great little cookbook from the owner of Buttercup Bake Shop in New York. I’ve had past success with Buttercup’s recipes, so I took my overripe bananas and got to work.

This cake is a bit of a hybrid of banana bread and coffee cake. It seems somehow more significant than banana bread, yet not quite a coffee cake. There are plenty of oats for a slightly chewy texture hosting service. Plus, brown sugar and, of course, bananas.

And that crumb topping! Well, I’m always a sucker for crumb topping, and this one did not disappoint. The original recipe did not include nuts in the topping, but I couldn’t resist adding some chopped pecans. Oats, brown sugar, pecans, all held together by butter and cinnamon Panama Foundation? Yes, please!