CK Food Links--Friday April 10, 2009

Here's yet another selection of particularly interesting links from around the internet. As always, I welcome your thoughts and your feedback!
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How to Choose and Cut an Avocado at $5 Dinners
Let $5 Dinners take you to school with an excellent tutorial on how to prep this delectable green fruit which is loaded with fiber, folate and potassium. Oh, and while you're there, have a look at Erin's "healthified" chocolate chip cookies.

Rice Cooker Arroz Con Pollo at Coconut and Lime
I love laughably easy recipes like this. Chuck everything in your rice cooker, throw the switch and in 20 minutes you have an interesting dinner ready and waiting for you.

Rethinking the American Dream at The Wisdom Journal
What might our lives look like if we focused more on the content of our character rather than the content of our homes? I thought this essay was so insightful that I put this blog immediately into my feedreader.

China Chateau Lafite? at What Would Alpana Drink
One of my favorite wine blogs muses on China's efforts to become one of the world's biggest wine producers. Call me just a bit cynical on that one. I can't help but imagine bouquets of coal dust with a pungent melamine finish.

Haste Leads to Waste at Bittersweet
Hannah Kaminsky (author of the cookbook My Sweet Vegan) writes a thought-provoking post on how bad things (and serious injuries) can happen when you rush things while cooking. One thing I always counsel beginning cooks to do is to read the recipe twice whenever you're in a hurry--it relaxes and focuses the mind.

South Park Murdered Me Last Night at Kanye West's Blog
If you've been living under a rock over the past two days, Kanye West just learned to get over himself after joining a long list of celebrities skewered on South Park. I'll never look at fish sticks the same way again..

Are You a Gastrosexual? at Serious Eats
Although the mere sound of this word hurts my ears, I have to admit it describes me pretty accurately. But I'll still never look at fish sticks the same way again.

Manhattan Clam Chowder at For the Love of Cooking
Pam posts a really, really easy version of this classic recipe. Unless you're from Maine--then it's a criminal recipe.

Packing List at The Art of Nonconformity
Chris shares his tips and strategies on how to pack for international travel. After repeated trips around the world and visits to more than one hundred countries, this guy ought to know a thing or two about travelling light.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog at Problogger
Darren is revamping and redoing his popular blogging improvement project this year, and it's not too late to sign up and participate. For some past context on what the 31 Days project is all about, here's his 31 Days page from 2007 (it has a ton of useful tips, including some great ideas from readers too), and here's where you can register for this year's 31 Day project.

The Peter Principle Lives at BusinessWeek.com
Those of you who know the details of my last job on Wall Street will understand why the concept of the Peter Principle (managers at most corporations tend to get promoted to exactly their level of incompetence) is so fascinating to me. This article has nothing to do with food or cooking, but it has everything to do with the dire straits our economy is in right now.

Do you have an interesting article or recipe that you'd like to see featured in Casual Kitchen's Food Links? Send me an email!

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