There's a Web in my soup
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later - people are now swapping recipes on the Web. Here are a few sites for epicurians of the information age:
"Diana's Kitchen"
Diana Rattray, of Tupelo, Miss., offers visitors to her Web site hundreds of electric crock pot recipes, tips for crock pot cookery, and performance dates for her son's rock band. (www.ebicom.net/kitchen)
"Flora's Recipe Hideout"
Cheesecake, lots of cheesecake. But before dismissing her as a purveyor of leggy photos, you ought to know Flora Deter stocks about 300 dessert recipes at (www.deter.com/flora/mxp/chcake).
Deter took a break from writing cheesecake recipes to do her master's thesis in English at California State University.
Flora's Recipe Hideout has hundreds of suggestions for cheesecake, pies, and pastries, and Flora's Kitchen has a large collection of links to other food sites.
New England Cheesemaking Supply Co.
Mmm, fresh cheese. Ricki Carroll claims that once you've tried your own fresh homemade cheese, you'll never go back to the supermarket dairy aisle. And she wants to set you up with the right equipment at (www.cheesemaking.com).
Carroll recommends spreadable frommage blanc for novices (starter kit, $17). For the hard core, hard-cheese maker, she sells a $211 cheese press.
Breads of the Southwest
It's the staff of life, and bread is the least threatening of food items. It's bread you reach for when the Cajun " `gator gumbo" is too spicy, and no one's afraid to try East Indian bread.
That's one of the reasons to get "Breads of the Southwest," by Beth Hensperger. This cookbook includes Native American, Spanish and Mexican bread recipes from Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
The book tells the history of each type of bread and includes detailed cooking instructions for tortillas, adobe breads and newer sourdough varieties.
The succulent Big Apple
Planning a trip to New York City? Three different Web sites offer views on New York restaurants:
"Passport to New York Restaurants"
Peter and Amy Meltzer and John Mariani are food and wine critics who buy their own meals and write clandestine reviews. The site reviews 500 restaurants in categories such as "Romance," "Cheap Eats," "Fun Spots for Kids" and "Grand Celebration " (http://newyork.digitalcity.com/passport)
"Steven A. Shaw" Objection, bad restaurant!
Shaw, a lawyer by trade, offers his expert testimony on 200 New York restaurants. He prefers French eateries and reviews every aspect of the dining experience . . . including a lot of himself in his reviews. (www.shawreview.com.)
"Cuisine Net"
Cuisine Net offers survey-based reviews of 1,455 restaurants in 10 different cities, primarily New York. Based on 3,753 surveys from online visitors, this site brings it back to regular diners.(www.cuisinenet.com)