CHEESESLAVE

All my life, I have loved shortbread cookies. I usually buy Walker brand, from Scotland, which are, thankfully, still made with real butter. I love the sandy texture, the sweet taste.

But most of all, I love the butter. Butter is not only delicious, it’s also very good for you.

Someone once told me I should change the name of this blog from CHEESESLAVE to BUTTERSLAVE. It’s a tough call. I love them both.

I made a couple pies over the 4th of July weekend. While I hate to seem immodest, I have to tell you… I’m still blown away at how amazing the pie crust came out.

I’ve been making pie crust for decades and, thanks to Jeffrey Steingarten and Marion Cunningham, I have mastered a perfectly light, flaky pie crust.

But this crust was even better than my best pie crust. A hundred times better! My pie crust was elevated from perfect to divine, thanks to a new ingredient. New to me, anyway.

What’s my secret? Read on…

Japanese food is one of my favorite cuisines. Growing up in Texas, I also cultivated an appreciation for BBQ sauce. Today we’re doing a fusion dish. Call it New American meets Japanese: BBQ Natto with Shrimp.

We Americans love our deviled eggs. They are the perfect compliment to summertime foods like hamburgers or hot dogs, baked beans and potato salad. Pastured egg yolks are rich in vitamin K2, which helps to prevent heart disease and build strong bones and teeth. I’ve added salmon roe (fish eggs) to these deviled eggs to boost the vitamin K2. Fish eggs are also rich in K2, and are a sacred food in many traditional cultures, reserved for parents prior to conception, pregnant and nursing women and children.

I visited the Gold Mine Natural Food booth at Expo West on Saturday to find something exceptionally thrilling: freeze-dried natto. Natto is a form of Japanese fermented soybeans. Natto is unique in that it contains extremely high amounts of vitamin K2.