Food

Travel: Holland America takes you Dancing With The Stars at Sea

Travel: A Day in Carcassonne, France

Arugula is moving beyond the salad bowl and showing up all over the place – in sandwiches, pastas, pestos, soups and sauces.    Although a leafy green, arugula – also called rocket – is not in the lettuce family. It’s actually a cruciferous vegetable like broccoli, kale, cabbage and cauliflower, making it one of the most nutrient-rich leafy greens available. 

This is the perfect dish for a weeknight dinner in late summer, particularly as the kids start heading back to school and family schedules get crazy again. The recipe calls for just a handful of ingredients that can all be pulled together in the time it takes to boil water. Tomatoes are the star of this show, as they should be this time of the year. A fresh local tomato at the height of ripeness is one of those things that make life worth living.

Life: Taking Baby Steps

In the wake of the craft cocktail movement, could poptails be far behind? “Poptails” (Octopus, $12.99) is the clever name for tipsy adult ice pops infused with a jigger of booze. The cookbook that recently crossed my desk is the brainchild of London-based food stylist Laura Fyfe.

When I was a kid, one of my go-to fend-for-myself meals was nachos. Heap tortilla chips, refried beans, olives, meats, cheeses and whatever else struck me onto a giant dinner plate. Sprinkle a most liberal amount of cheese over everything, then pop the whole thing in the microwave for a minute. Done! And delicious. It didn’t occur to me until I was an adult that there was any other way to make nachos. And I was blown away by the difference between nuking my nachos and baking them in the oven. Texture alone was remarkably improved. No more soggy chips that turned rubbery by the end of the meal. And that says nothing of the wonderful browning of the cheese no microwave ever could achieve.

The beauty of a pressed sandwich isn’t just that it can be done ahead of time, but that it actually should be done ahead of time. Because this is one of those rare sandwiches that improves with time. And as an added bonus, it also happens to be an excellent way to feed a crowd at a picnic. Here’s how it works: Start by slicing a full loaf of bread in half horizontally. A bit of the insides of each half is removed, then the cut side of each half of the bread is liberally coated with an oil- or other fat-based condiment. This step is key because that fat creates a barrier that helps prevent moist sandwich fillings from making your bread soggy.

Who says salsa has to be made from tomatoes? Or dumped unceremoniously from a jar? With all of summer’s bounty, there are plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables that make fantastic salsas. Scoop them up with chips or crackers, or add them to sandwiches, salads, burgers and tacos. We came up with three simple salsas, but they are easily tweaked to whatever is fresh or happens to be in your refrigerator. Switch out the apples for peaches or plums, even chopped strawberries. Don’t like dill? Opt for basil or tarragon.

The city of Spokane will host a second public hearing on the rules governing food trucks. Proposed changes to city laws would allow mobile food vendors as a permitted use in zones that currently allow retail. Mobile vendors would have to register each year with the city and get a permit.

Summer’s sweetest treat is enjoying a seasonal resurgence in Coeur d’Alene. Both Pilgrim’s Market and Scratch Creamery & Pizzeria are offering a new rainbow of house-made flavors, ranging from strawberry balsamic and salted caramel, to roasted pear with gorgonzola and creamy peanut butter.

It’s not even 9 a.m. and Leon Frechette’s house is already filled with the aroma of baking potatoes. Frechette, a former Spokane contractor and author of several books on building and remodeling, was researching a book on alternative building materials at a show in Las Vegas when he and his wife, Kimberly, came across the idea of potato nails while talking to a manufacturer.