ifood.tv

A recipe for skirts and kidneys stew is available at the Irish food site ifood.tv

You want to appear the most Irish out of all your friends, right? That's kind of the point. St Patrick's Day is a "who can tenuously claim the most Irish heritage" festival. Well, my friend, have I got the solution for you. Here is some entirely true traditional Irish food. To be honest I wish I had made it up, but it's all real. Cook it up for the weekend, serve it while everyone is drunk and in the middle of a party, claim your Irish heritage victory and be the envy of all your friends.

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fullosophie.com

What do you get the person who has everything? This question comes up year after year, birthday after birthday, holiday after holiday. And while there are plenty of creative ways to answer it, there are few solutions more rewarding than a gift that ends with the receiver cooking the giver dinner.

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LDD

Strawn's Ice-Box Peach Pie (a bit deflated after a long road trip)

Strawn's Eat Shop first opened in Shreveport in 1944 as a diner serving home-style burgers, fried chicken and strawberry ice-box pie. The latter has garnered national recognition and a slew of salivating fans from far and wide.

I didn't know about the pie hoopla of Shreveport until I got an email from chef David Anthony Temple (aka DAT) recently about an underground dinner party. Here's an excerpt:

"Friday morning I am buying my favorite pie in the world to bring to Dallas and serve for dessert at Saturday night's Underground Dinner. Oh Yeah! Since 1944 Strawn's Eat Shop has been a Shreveport tradition and they are internationally known for their famous ice-box pies. The Strawberry pie is available year round and has been in many nationwide magazines, but one month a year Strawn's uses ripe Ruston Peaches and makes an out of this world Peach Ice Box Pie. I sure hope to have you as my guest Saturday night so I can sit down at the table with you and enjoy my favorite dessert in your company."

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Bailey's Berry Patch

Three berries in hand -- better in a cobbler.

Bailey's Berry Patch in Sadler, Texas, has experienced quite a few ups and downs the past year or so. Even before last summer's drought killed 65 percent of their bushes, in early spring one tall dark cloud sauntered over the farm and pummeled the delicate crop like a school-yard bully, leaving many bushes battered, bruised and broken.

In 2009, Erick and Jeannie Duarte took over this berry farm in a desolate part of far north Texas from Pearce and Ann Bailey who had planted rows of blueberries and blackberries in 1996. After many years of hard work, the farm became a popular pick-your-own berry patch. When the Bailey's were ready to retire from farming the Duarte's stepped in. Their first season, 2010, was bountiful. But, as luck always has it for new farmers, things have sort of went down hill after that.

Working with less than half the bushes they had two years ago, the Duartes are trying to regain their footing. The good news now is that the ones that survived are producing plump blueberries almost the size of quarters.

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photos and cooking by foodbitch

Tomorrow marks 10 days of me doing the cleansing. Here's what I've gathered during my stint.

5. A "foodie cleanse" = a SHIT-TON of work.
I like to cook, even love it. But after an average of two hours of cooking every night, I've come to realize that nobody can love cooking this much. And you cleansers who just pop a top or juice a few veggies? Don't even! Suck it up, wussies.

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Dallas-based Southern Recipe, the world's largest manufacturer of pork rinds, has donated $10,000 of their pork rinds to The Today Show's Lend a Hand Tour benefiting tornado victims in Birmingham, Alabama.

We're not sure if the first thought on the Alabamans' minds was, "What I wouldn't give for some pork rinds right now." But it's the thought that counts, right? And c'mon-- the sight of a giant truck full of thousands of bags of pork rinds had to have been pretty great.

According to the release, "Southern Recipe is sending volunteers to help with the secret pork rind delivery as a surprise to the Alabama Soup Kitchen to aid the tornado disaster relief."

How does one become a Secret Pork Rind Delivery Operative? Do you start off as a Secret Pork Rind Delivery Gumshoe? Are there pork-rindy Mission:Impossible cable drops involved? We can only hope.

There was a time when anyone drinking hooch ran the risk of blindness. Those days are behind us in Dallas. People can now drink to help the blind, as the U.S. importer of Michel Chapoutier Cotes du Rhone Belleruche is donating 50 cents for every bottle of Belleruche Rouge 2008, Blanc 2009 and Rose 2010 wines sold at Sigel's Fine Wines and Great Spirits locations to the Dallas Lighthouse for the Blind. Each of these wines' labels includes Braille. And the promotion is good through the end of May.

The winery has a special connection with the blind. Chapoutier sources the grapes for its Monier de la Sizeranne wine from a plot of land owned by the Sizeranne family. One of that clan's ancestors, Maurice de la Sizeranne, lost his vision as a child and ended up creating the abbreviated form of Braille commonly used in France.

"It's our pleasure to leverage our standing in the market to help those in need," said Jasper Russo, director of wine marketing for Sigel's. He said there has already been an uptick in sales of the Belleruche.

This is good news to the ears of Blake Lindsay, communications specialist for Dallas Lighthouse for the Blind, himself blind. "It's a blessing," he said. "The funds donated will go toward our the improvement and continued operation of our Assistive Technology Training Lab and the Serving Our Seniors programs. The former helps the visually impaired learn computer skills in order to find professional success. Serving Our Seniors benefits individuals who lose sight later in life by giving them access to talking clocks, talking thermometers, sectioned dinner plates. "Anything to improve their quality of life," said Lindsay.

Drinking has never been better for you. Or others.

Babies-eating-spaghetti pics litter the Internet. Why? For God's sake, why?

Although the weather is warming, we still insist you gorge yourself -- particularly on pasta. You may retain that winter blubber, but at least it's for a good cause.

The Place: Carino's Italian
The Causes: Autism Speaks and Autism Society
During the month of April, your low-carb diet is not only making you miserable, it's downright uncharitable. For National Autism Awareness Month, Carino's Italian will donate a dollar to Autism Speaks and Autism Society for every pasta entrée sold. The two organizations will split the money down the middle.

The Event: Battle of the Chefs Challenge
The Cause: Texas Neurofibromatosis Foundation
Dallas loves a good throw-down. The city's top chefs will get some action today when they compete in the Battle of the Chefs Challenge at the Frontiers of Flight Museum. It will be slightly less violent than other Dallas fights: Chefs will create their "house" dishes and attendees will vote for their favorites. To the victor goes the 2011 Best Chef Award.
The event starts at 6 p.m. The only thing Dallas loves more than a throwdown is a silent auction, and the silent auction at this event boasts some pretty great prizes. Tickets are $75. For more information, click here.

Bolsa partner Chris Zielke hopes an upcoming fundraiser benefiting Paul Quinn College's Food For Good Farm will help change how people think about Oak Cliff.

"From the Oak Cliff community standpoint, I want to show people it's more than just Davis Street," Zielke says. "There's a big area out here."

That includes the two acres which serve as Paul Quinn College's Food For Good Farm, a student-run, sustainable urban farm that's now in its third growing season. Launched in collaboration with PepsiCo, the farm's designed to teach students about agriculture and entrepreneurship and provide the surrounding community with fresh produce.

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Last week, we told you where you could eat well and do good on a budget. This week, it's time to stop being so stingy.

The Event: The Annika Experience: Dinner & Golf Outing with Annika Sorenstam
The Cause: ANNIKA Foundation
The Place: Park Cities Club; Dallas National Golf Club

If your pinky finger is permanently fixed in the air and you care about children's health, consider the Dinner & Golf Outing on Apr. 3-4, hosted by Coquerel Family Wine Estates. Triple-threat Annika Sorenstam of golf, wine-making, and philanthropy fame, will be there.

The first day features a meal at Park Cities Club, prepared by John Tesar and Kerry Simon, paired with Sorenstam's wines. Tickets are $500.

The second day's highlight is a golf outing, with a golf clinic followed by rounds of golf. The outing is $2,500.

Dinner is limited to 125; golf is limited to 24. Contact clayandbrenda@coquerelwines.com> clayandbrenda@coquerelwines.com to RSVP.

Editor's note: This event has been rescheduled for October 16-17 because of the early arrival of her new baby boy, Will.

The Event: A.W.A.R.E. 2011 Luncheon: A Dallas Love Story - A Tribute to Juanita and Henry S. Miller, Jr.
The Cause: Alzheimer's Association-Greater Dallas Chapter
The Place: Hilton Anatole's Chantilly Ballroom

The Millers are longtime art patrons whose contributions have helped support cultural development in Dallas. Thursday's luncheon will celebrate their generosity, philanthropy and love for each other. How precious.

Tickets start at $150. Money raised by the function will benefit the Alzheimer's Association.