I have been growing a beard lately. Mostly out of laziness. I am just plain tired of shaving. I kid myself that I am saving time by not engaging in the daily ritual of lathering and scraping because the longer my beard gets, the more time I seem to spend trying, unsuccessfully, to keep food out of it.... More

Photograph from Muffet on Flickr On Wisebread Linsey Knerl discusses her Five-Day Freeze cook-ahead technique. It's her way of cooking and freezing food for future meals without having to spend two days straight in the kitchen. So basically advocates doing a half hour to hour's worth of extra cooking while you're prepping that day's meal: We have some amazing batch cooking (or make-ahead) tips here on Wise Bread. I’ll share those with you later in this article. What I’m aiming to discuss, however, is how to achieve the same level "cook now, eat later" zen, without the horrid hangover that occurs when you shop for an entire month’s worth of food, cook for 12 hours straight, and then collapse... More

Photograph from morning_rumtea on Flickr Farmers have been purposefully leaving edges of their fields unharvested and fruit unpicked for the less fortunate since biblical times. Today, groups around the country are translating that idea and encouraging us to do the same--by picking the fruit from your neighbor's tree. Photograph from Muffet on Flickr Urban fruit-harvesting groups started in places where there are abundant fruit trees, such as California. But groups are now popping up all over the U.S. and the world. All of them have one thing in common: making use of food that would otherwise go unused (i.e., rot on the sidewalk). Some groups gather wild food that's growing in a public space, such as a traffic median;... More

New to us, via Neatorama, comes panda bread. It's sure to make the hearts of panda lovers everywhere explode with rainbows. Or, if you've ever wanted to eat pandas, this can be your socially safe panda-eating outlet. Basically, it requires strategic folding of various colored doughs (green tea, cocoa) to form the ULTIMATE panda in baked form. Make sure to check out the original Japanese recipe to see other examples of panda cakes, some of which I'm sorry to say look like mutant strains of panda. Because nothing says "I love you" like a panda cake. Related Rubik's Cube Sandwich What's the Prettiest Dessert You've Ever Seen?... More

This isn't necessarily new (the idea, I mean; the video, which appears after the jump, starting making the rounds yesterday), but ... does anyone else peel their bananas that way?... More

When deal-making at very important business lunches, it's typically encouraged not to order watermelon. But, if you find yourself in this situation, fear not. All you will need is one cupped hand (a seed-spitting receptacle) to survive this problematic scenario. The video, after the jump.... More

Since there are only so many macaroni-bordered frames and lanyards you can make, here's another cheap crafty idea for Father's Day. The Object Project walks us through the step-by-step process, from tracing to stitching to the placement of the velcro strip. [via Craftzine]... More

Free PDFs are available from Make Magazine that guide you through making your own coffee roaster, hydraulic coffee tamper, and more. If you're absolutely, 100 percent serious about making your own espresso, you'll want to go beyond merely grinding boutique beans in the morning. You'll want to roast the beans, tamp the grounds with perfect pressure, and then make sure your espresso machine's at exactly the right temperature. Fortunately, Make Magazine has free PDFs for doing it yourself: DIY Coffee Roaster, DIY Espresso Tamper, DIY PID Temperature Control. [via Gimme Coffee]... More

All you need to know when you're looking for cookout wines is this: ZEST. It stands for Zinfandel, Easy on the Oak, South America, and Tempranillo. More

Alan Richman, "GQ" magazine food writer. Visiting Sweden? Hope to impress a Swede? Just want to appear worldly and stylish? The French Culinary Institute's Cooking Issues blog has been posting an ongoing series of photos it calls the Skål!/Skoal! Project that can school you in one small social custom. The series includes such food-world luminaries as Jeffrey Steingarten, Harold McGee, Wylie Dufresne, and Alan Richman (above), who has perhaps the most extreme skål to date. More pix after the jump.... More