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My Plate or Yours: Confessions of a Popcorn Addict

First Posted: 4/26/13 05:12 PM EDT Updated: 4/26/13 05:12 PM EDT
Originally published
Food Column

BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR I am a popcorn junkie. I love it, I crave it, I fantasize about it. Sometimes, after a long, hard day, when I am too tired even to slice a vegetable, make a sandwich, or, indeed, lift a fork, I will have a big (big!) bowl of popcorn for dinner. Sprinkled with salt, or jalapeño seasoning, or maybe a little sugar, or, what the heck, all three—it is comfort food extraordinaire. Which is odd because really, when you get right down to it, popcorn is mostly air. Still, it is the crunchiest, saltiest, corniest air you will ever eat. If anyone in the house is having popcorn, I am too, seduced by that buttery hot aroma that [...]

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Magbloom.com Wins Best Journalism Website in Indiana

First Posted: 4/22/13 04:32 PM EDT Updated: 5/23/13 03:40 PM EDT
SPJs

Magbloom.com, the website you are looking at, captured the award for Best Journalism Website at the  Society of Professional Journalists’ “Best of the Best” annual gala held at the Marriott Hotel in Indianapolis on April 19. The judges said magbloom.com is “an inviting website, and the team there tells the stories of life in Bloomington very well.” Bloom won 12 journalism awards in all, including six first-place honors, three second-place, and three third-place for writing, photography, and design. Here is a complete list of the Bloom winners. First Place Lynae Sowinski and Kaye Lee Johnston, magbloom.com Best Journalism Website Elisabeth Andrews, “The Lotus Festival,” Aug/Sep 2012 Arts and Entertainment Writing Magazines and non-daily newspapers Jeremy Shere, “The Young Turks of Technology,” [...]

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The Tudor Room: Old World Ambience For Kingly Appetites

First Posted: 4/18/13 03:46 PM EDT Updated: 4/18/13 03:46 PM EDT
Originally published
Tudor Room

BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR To walk into the Indiana Memorial Union’s Tudor Room is to step back in time—at least to the middle of the last century, and possibly even several hundred years before that. With its soaring ceilings, sky-high windows, medieval-looking tapestries, and flying heraldic banners (one for each of IU’s schools), the room is a mid-20th- century American idea of a room where Henry  VIII might have felt at home tucking into a king-size, multicourse meal. Luckily, the meals in the Tudor Room are not reserved for royalty. Open for lunch from Monday through Friday and for Sunday brunch, the Tudor Room’s buffet menu is the creation of the IMU’s executive chef, Damian Esposito, winner of the Monroe County [...]

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Muddy Fork Farm Makers of Crusty Artisanal Breads

First Posted: 3/27/13 04:17 PM EDT Updated: 3/27/13 04:17 PM EDT
Originally published
Muddy Fork

BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR An artisan is a craftsman, someone who works with his hands to create singular and distinctive works of art. In the food world, that means small batches of exceptional and wonderful things to eat. Could be cheese (think Capriole Farmstead). Could be chocolates (think BLU Boy Chocolate Café & Cakery). Could be beer (Bloomington Brewing Company and Upland Brewery Co.). And of course it could be bread. Thanks to Eric Schedler and Katie Zukof of Muddy Fork Farm, shoppers at the local winter and summer farmers’ markets can now buy just-baked artisanal breads—crusty, fragrant, hand-kneaded loaves of whole wheat, rye, and rustic sourdough—as well as cinnamon buns, soft pretzels, and pies. Schedler was a musician and an adjunct [...]

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My Plate or Yours: Of a Fresh, Warm Corn Tortilla

First Posted: 3/20/13 03:56 PM EDT Updated: 3/20/13 03:56 PM EDT
Originally published
Christine

BY CHRISTINE BARBOUR One of my favorite things to eat is a fresh, warm corn tortilla. The steamy essence of corniness embraces whatever you wrap up in it, from fresh, spicy guacamole to slabs of freshly fried fish with a tangle of cabbage to chunky pork carnitas braised in milk and served with a handful of cilantro and a squirt of lime. The fillings are important, no doubt about it, but too often we overlook the tortilla itself, spending hours perfecting whatever we intend to put inside but then buying the prefab kind from the supermarket. Here’s a weird thing about store-bought corn tortillas. You can buy them, unrefrigerated, at the supermarket. And once you buy them and put them [...]

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