May Wrap-up

End of the month... time to review the news out there.



(Left: picking rhubarb from the backyard garden. Rhubarb is in season here in the Front Range. Check this out to find out what's good in your neck of the woods.)


First up, another blog to add to your list: Dr. Phil Maffetone's In Fitness and in Health. Great recipe for home-made energy bars in there (the original version of the mass-produced Phil Bar).

The Internet Food Association brings us a quick piece about the new Supreme Court nominee from a foodie perspective.

The New York Times finally notices everyone's favorite chile sauce.

(Odd... Blogger's spellchecker says "chile" is spelled incorrectly. They want to make it "chili," the Americanized version of the Spanish word for peppers.)

We road-tested two of the four dinners on NPR's "How Low Can You Go?" challenge (dinner for four for under $10). The Moorish chickpea stew was great, but we made a spicier and quicker version here. The fried rice was also wicked easy and should be on everyone's emergency back-up dinner plan list, as all you need are rice, eggs, and whatever else you want to throw in there. The Neely's mac-and-cheese looked like a run-of-the-mill attempt, so we're going to try to improve it a bit later next month (hint: going to do it on the grill).

Need to spice up your gym workout? Have you been doing the same dozen exercises, over and over, and need something to change your routine? Check out the list at the Mountain Athlete (or their sister sight, the Military Athlete). You'll find lots of different ways to use the same old gear, or no gear at all.

And finally, as everyone surely knows, it's officially grilling season. And for most people, grilling means meat, meat, and more meat. (Or, like a buddy of mine says, vegetables are what food eats.) But there's so much more to life than that, so over the next few weeks we are going to explore fruits and vegetables and introduce them to our friend, the open flame. In the meantime, you all have some homework. The best stuff to grill is always the best stuff, and the way to get the best stuff is to get stuff when it's in season. So check out the stuff that's currently available in your area of operations, using this little app from Epicurious.