Author: Ben Starr
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Burning Man 2012: The Burn
After almost a full week of preparation and travel, we land in the Burning Man line. Burning Man takes place on the Black Rock Desert Playa…a vast dry lake bed in one of the most remote parts of the mainland US. You leave the pavement several miles north of the tiny village of Gerlach, Nevada,…
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Burning Man 2012: The Pilgrimage
If you’ve been following me since my season of MasterChef aired last summer, you know how fanatical I am about the Burning Man festival. Trying to describe this event is practically impossible. Each summer 60,000 people from all over the world assemble on a dry desert lake bed in northern Nevada and build a city…
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Homemade Sriracha (fermented red pepper sauce)
If you have a garden, like me, and have more than a couple of pepper plants, chances are in the early fall you’re INUNDATED with so many chiles that you can’t give them away fast enough. What on EARTH do you do when you’ve got pounds of hot peppers? If you’re me, you preserve them…
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1-Hour No-Knead Yeast Dinner Rolls
Bread. It can be a problem with dinner, because sometimes you just don’t have 4-5 hours to prep contemporary yeast bread or roll recipes. You all know that I prefer to use long, slow fermentations with my yeast breads to produce incredible flavor and crust. But that requires me to start the bread the day…
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MasterChef recap: The Season 3 Finale
(Please Note: The opinions contained in this blog are only that…uneducated hyperbole from my brain, and they may have absolutely no basis in reality. While I was on Season 2 of MasterChef, I have no inside information about how Season 3 is produced or judged, and my opinions should not be treated as fact.) We’re…
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MasterChef recap: Three’s Company
(Please Note: This blog is not endorsed or approved by MasterChef. The opinions reflected herein are solely that: opinions. I have no inside knowledge of how MasterChef is produced or judged and my opinions should not be treated as fact.) Josh, Becky, and Christine are the top 3. And beneath the mystery box today is…
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MasterChef recap: The Final Four
(Please note: This blog is not endorsed or approved by MasterChef, and they would prefer you not read it. This blog reflects my own uneducated and uninformed opinions about Season 3 of MasterChef, and I have no inside knowledge about how the show is judged.) We’ve got 4 contestants left: Christine (age 33), Becky (27),…
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Guava and Cream Cheese-Stuffed Pumpkin Muffins
It finally got cool in Dallas, and even though it’s still mid September, pumpkin season is calling me. One of my local markets finally started stocking sugar pumpkins (I didn’t get any planted in time in my garden this year), so I stocked up yesterday and made some puree. And since I have a friend…
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MasterChef Recap: Monti Gets the Boot
(Please note, this blog is not endorsed or approved by MasterChef and all information in this blog reflects uneducated opinion on my part. I have no inside knowledge about how decisions are made on the production of MasterChef.) It has been embarrassingly long since my last MasterChef recap. In fact, Season 3 has ended already,…
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Field Trip: The Olive Garden
My partner is Brazilian, and we have a fairly constant stream of friends and relatives from Brazil through our house year-round. It’s a delight, and I especially love the gifts of honey, guava jam, cachaca (Brazilian rum), and other treats that keep my pantry fairly well stocked. My season of MasterChef just finished airing in…