Links

I know the past few weeks I've been a bad blogger and not posting, so I've decided to post some of my favorite links for food reading (plus other useful things) so you can entertain yourself when I'm too lazy to write something on my own.

Food Media Blog from chow.com. Food-related news from all over the internet, movies, cookbooks, and more. Where else can you learn about Michael Ruhlman's new book and chic beer bottles? And I love that they made fun of Sandra Lee on the new KFC grilled chicken commercial.

Scott Ian's Food Coma. Yes, it's on the suicidegirls website, and no, I'm not going to explain how I ended up finding this awesome column. I'm not even into metal but I love the idea that Scott Ian of all people is into food. Plus, he's full of great quotes. A favorite: "There's no reason to eat at a chain. I hear stories about American bands touring Europe and only eating McDonald's. That's it. Maybe KFC. That is so fucking retarded. I have utter contempt for that. It makes your band suck even more."

Gigachef.com. This is a wonderful site that's full of useful tools - they even have a culinary spell check you can download for MS Word! Plus a talking dictionary (for those weird words you've only ever read and never knew exactly how to pronounce), wallpapers, a message board, and collections of recipes from chefs that use the site. Hopefully it will get big and be even better because of it - with more chefs uploading recipes to share, creating profiles, and using the forum.

Localwineevents.com's big list of food and booze events all over the country. If you're planning a trip you can take a quick look at this site and find out if there's going to be something cool to check out while you're there.

Cookingforengineers.com. This site is incredibly detailed (honestly sometimes I really don't care for all that) with step-by-step pictures for most of the recipes. Sometimes it feels like they almost complicate things, but other times it's intriguing and helpful if you're uneasy making something for the first time.

Seriouseats.com. They really just have all kinds of cool shit.

Ideasinfood.com. Pretty self-explanatory. And I'm a sucker for pretty pictures.

Recipematcher.com. Just plug in what you've got in your fridge and pantry, what you're in the mood for, and what course it is, and voila! A recipe just for you!

America's Culinary Heritage. I haven't gotten a chance to read through this completely yet, but if you're into the history of food this is a great place to start.

Food Pairings. Put in an ingredient, and find all sorts of flavors that go along with it. Especially helpful in coming up with new ideas for dishes.