Enter the Dragon Sandwich

dragon sandwichI admit to a kind of three-ring-circus awe when I look at the colorful layered dragon rolls that some sushi restaurants serve. It might not be the most traditional or elegant form of the food, but it sure is pretty. So I’m always a teensy bit jealous that I can never order it, since it almost invariably involves salmon.

To combat this particular bout of vegetarian envy, I invented a sandwich that’s just as colorful and has a powerful wasabi dragon bite. It’s also a perfect way to use up those leftover sweet potatoes from Thanksgiving. If they’re already roasted, just warm ‘em up with some of the glaze on top.

Dragon Sandwich Continue reading

When Good Food Goes Rogue: Allergy Mysteries

peanut picture

I found this whimsical peanut shower by Lou Beach in the New York Times. Yes, that New York Times.

While visiting my homeland of Ohio this week, I learned that my youngest niece has developed an allergy to chestnuts. Chestnuts! Victorian open-fire roasting events and turkey-stuffing festivals will never be the same for her, that’s for sure. And then just a couple days later, my friend Dave was laid low (very low, sadly) in the middle of a wedding celebration due to his unfortunate exposure to pine nuts. It seems that everybody has an allergy to something these days, which begs the question—what exactly is going on here?

To be sure, food allergies are not a new phenomenon. Sir Thomas More implies in one of his books that King Richard III knowingly used an allergic reaction to strawberries to accuse one of his lords of poisoning him, and subsequently demanded his head on a platter. Yeesh. In more recent history, Bruce Lee, the martial arts star who may or may not have suffered from a family curse, died from an allergic reaction to aspirin.

But if you think that allergies seem like more of a problem now than they were, say, when you were a kid, you’d be right. Continue reading