The National Cherry Festival in Traverse, Michigan is almost here— just one day to go!

It's a week packed with cherry events, but for cherry lovers out there, you shouldn't miss the Cherries Grand Buffet!

Cherries Grand Buffet will showcase recipes prepared by the culinary and catering professionals at Grand Traverse Pie Company, you'll find cherries tucked into luncheon favorites like Cherry BBQ Baguettes and Cherry Chicken Salad Croissants, soups, and salads - not to mention cherry delectable desserts! Festival-goers will enjoy a 30 minute Musical Stage Show produced by the Old Town Playhouse Performers. And what better place to celebrate this newly remodeled event than the recently refurbished City Opera House in downtown Traverse City.

The 'All You Can Eat' Cherries Grand Buffet is $25. Admission into the Buffet is limited to 200 festival-goers at all three seatings: 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 3 p.m.

My palate is definitely intrigued. I think I only know cherries in pies!

IF you are a celebrity...peole follow you and pcitures of you end up in the papers and online. Even if the picture is of you, walking your dog, putting out the trash or just simply gettig your favorite coffee in th nearest Starbucks.

But what if you are the President of the United Sated of America? The more you get such kinds of photos and stories, Simply because people wanna know what you are up to and what you are doing when you are not running the country.

As in the case of President Barack Obama. Foodies are feasting and closely following his eating habits.

At the bustling Pi pizza restaurant in St. Louis, the staff has come up with a new mantra: "It's just pizza!"

Just pizza, and yet still, they marvel, customers are happy to wait well upward of two hours at peak time for a table. That is, ever since news came out that Barack Obama loved this pizza so much during a campaign stop, the owners were invited to recreate it in the White House ovens.

"We tell them it'll be two to four hours, and they say, OK!" says owner Chris Sommers, who traveled on his own dime to prepare the presidential meal in April. "This has been our own private stimulus package."

Well at least, now we know that just like any other american, President Obama loves pizza!

Taste of Home's America's Best Loved Recipe Contest is coming to a close with four selected finalist who are competing for the grand prize of $25,000 and a feature on Good Morning America. But Taste of Home wants YOU to pick the winning recipe by voting for their favorite, ala American Idol. You have until June 15 to to nominate one of the following to be crowned America's Best Loved Recipe:

Classic: Italian Meatball Torte, submitted by Sandy Blessing, Ocean Shores, WA

Light: Mango Chicken with Plum Sauce, submitted by Christine Vaught, Salem, OR

Time-Saver: Gorgonzola Penne with Chicken, submitted by George Schroeder, Port Murray, NJ

Serves 2: Asian-Style Baby Back Ribs, submitted by Esther Danielson, San Marcos, CA

Try out these recipes and cast your vote!

I got the following recipe from the May 2009 issue of rdasia.com.

This is an easy Italian-style chicken dish that serves four.

CHICKEN PARMIGIANA

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g small mushrooms, quartered
1 large eggplant, diced
500g roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
15g fresh basil, roughly torn
4 skinless chicken breast fillets (about 500g in total)
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 deg C. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan, add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes over a medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes until lightly colored, stirring frequently.

2. Stir in the eggplant, cook for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes and stir over a medium heat for 2 minutes. Reduce heat and leave to simmer for 15 minutes until thick. Stir in basil and season.

3. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in a deep ovenproof baking dish or casserole dish and spoon the sauce over the top. Cover and bake for about 25 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

4. Towards the end of the cooking time, preheat the grill. Uncover the chicken and sprinkle the cheese over the top of the dish. But the dish under the grill for 1-2 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling.

The preparation time of the above recipe is 10 minutes while cooking time is 55 minutes.

Spring is here and... it's asparagus season!

Tired of the classic Hollandaise sauce? Try these salmon-wrapped asparagus— perfect as appetizers!

Asparagus and smoked salmon love affair (serves 4)

1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed (equals about 20 spears)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Pinch salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
4 to 6 ounces thinly sliced smoked salmon (1 slice per asparagus spear)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Place the asparagus on a foil-lined baking sheet.
3. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with rosemary, salt, and pepper.
4. Roast the asparagus until cooked (the asparagus will start to brown around the edges, which takes about 10 minutes).
5. Take the asparagus out of the oven and transfer to another baking sheet to cool.
6. Once cooled, wrap each spear in a slice of smoked salmon.
7. Arrange on a serving platter and serve at room temperature.

Pair with Alsace Riesling or Crémant d'Alsace for a festive aperitif.

Don't let the recent pistachio recalls due to Salmonella contamination scare you into completely avoiding ALL pistachios and pistachio-containing recipes. Although there were numerous pistachio and pistachio-containing products affected, the fact is that only those with pistachios from one producer, the Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc, Calif., are being recalled.

For a list of products affected by the recall, check out the FDA website on pistachios. For a list of Brands NOT containing pistachios from Setton, check out this website from the CAL-PURE co-op of California pistachio growers ("CAL-PURE") and the Western Pistachio Association ("WPA").

If you've been using I Can't Believe It's Not Butter bread spread as a healthier alternatives to butter for use in your baking and cooking recipes, here's some good news: they now come in sticks, too, just like butter! It makes following your favorite recipes calling for butter all the more easy to follow. You just need to substitute butter 1:1 with the ICBINB sticks!

Try it on your grilled salmon. Or how about some butter-free butter cookies? Try out the recipes here and see if you and tour family can taste the difference!

As you prepare your Easter/Passover menu, don't forget the treats for your hungry Easter egg-hunters! Here's an easy to make carrot cupcake recipe courtesy of HP Hood:

Carrot Cupcakes with Sour Cream Frosting
Makes 24 cupcakes.

* 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
* 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup HP Hood Sour Cream
* 1 1/2 cups grated carrots
* 1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, undrained
* 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375˚F. Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake liners and set aside. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients, spices and sugar, mixing well. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, oil, sour cream, carrots, pineapple and vanilla extract, mixing well. Add wet mixture to dry mixture, stir just enough to combine ingredients. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full of batter. Bake in the center of the oven until light and golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from muffin cups to wire rack to cool completely.

Sour Cream Frosting

* 4 Tbsp butter, softened
* 1/2 cup HP Hood Sour Cream
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
* 1/2 tsp lemon juice
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients, except powered sugar, until well combined. With an electric mixer on slow, add confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth. Decorate as desired.

I just stumbled on some pretty interesting disturbing legislation coming out of the Congress of the United States. The bill is HR 875 and it's labeled as the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. At first glance it didn't seem like much. However, there are several web sites, including World View Times exposing some pretty scary legislation enclosed in the bill.

They're finding things in the bill that:

* Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn't actually use the word organic.
* Effects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it.
* Effects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game.
* Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is.
* Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the legislation. It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow them to determine and interpret the legislation. Who do you think they are going to side with?
* Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and what will be enforced up all food production facilities. The wording is so broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more.
* Section 207 requires that the state's agriculture dept act as the food police and enforce the federal requirements. This takes away the states power and is in violation of the 10th amendment.

The bill is monstrous on level after level - the power it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers, the 24 hours GPS tracking of their animals, the easements on their property to allow for warrantless government entry, the stripping away of their property rights, the imposition by the filthy, greedy industrial side of anti-farming international "industrial" standards to independent farms - the only part of our food system that still works, the planned elimination of farmers through all these means.

What really made me take a second look at this is that this has been done before in other "free" countries. My family is partly Irish, and my sister just got back from Ireland, where it is now illegal for farmers to grow their own food.

The food police will come to your door armed with satellite photos. Although seldom enforced on the west coast of Clare, my Uncle processes his own sheep and goats indoors under the cover of darkness.That law began as a similar sloppy piece of legislation.

Almost sounds like it can't happen, doesn't it?

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