Welcome to today’s installment of Cool Tool Tuesdays, where I feature a favorite item from my life and spotlight it so that others who are not familiar with the product may also benefit from it. A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, hardware, material, or website that I have personally tried and love.

Do you have any questions about today’s cool tool? Would you like an item featured in the future? Please leave a comment to this post, or send me a message via my contact form. Enjoy!

Today’s cool tool is not actually a tool, but a food — more specifically, a fruit. It may, in fact, be my new favorite fruit! Introducing the SUMO CITRUS…

The Sumo Citrus is a Japanese hybrid of mandarin, Satsuma and navel oranges. With a distinctive top knot that is reminiscent of a sumo wrestler’s hairstyle (hence the name), it was developed over the span of 30 years and recently became one of the most prized citrus fruits in Japan and Korea, fetching up to $8 per fruit! Called the Dekopon in Japan and Hallabong in Korea, it is finally available in the U.S. thanks to a grower in California who uses the same exact standards of the original Japanese farmer.

According to its website:

SUMO CITRUS^® is unique in that it is large, seedless, exceptionally juicy, very sweet and easy to peel. Its homely exterior belies delicious individual sections bursting with delicate flavor.

The unique size, shape and look of SUMO CITRUS^® distinguish it from other mandarins.

Its Asian origin makes it exotic, but since it is grown here in California, food safety and freshness are ensured at a fraction of the price that it costs in Japan.

My mother and I happened upon this fruit at a trip to our local H-Mart (a Korean grocery chain) over the weekend. The store had a big display set up with a girl giving out samples of the fruit — how could we resist? Once my mother had a bite, she gave a piece to Claire (who responded with her ham face) and told me that I had to try it too.

The fruit was a bit pricey at $15 for a box of 7, but we were already sold. We didn’t even know about the other qualities of the Sumo Citrus that I will be describing below, but the taste alone was THAT GOOD! It is the PERFECT blend of sweet and tart, with a surprising amount of juice that will absolutely delight your taste buds.

When I shared the fruit with J later that night, I was pleasantly surprised to see how easy it was to peel. The bumpy and loose rind made it exceptionally easy to prepare for eating, and sectioning it was practically effortless due to the very little amount of albedo, or rag (the white part of citrus). And unlike most other citrus fruits, the Sumo Citrus left very little to no juice on my hands and my fingers did not become sticky.

According to SFGate, this is only Sumo’s second season, and is only expected to run until the end of March. So what are you waiting for? Go check out the list of retailers that carry Sumo Citrus, and go try this deliciousness for yourself — I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!

When Maggie asked me if my readers might be interested in a post about wine glasses and how they affect the taste of wine, my reaction was, “Uh…heck yes!” I may have been jumping the gun a little there, but all I knew was that *I* wanted to learn more about wine glasses!

So here’s one for all the wine aficionados out there. Even if you enjoy just the occasional glass of wine, I’m sure that you would enjoy this post all the same. I know that I sure learned a lot from reading this piece, and now I’m craving more! 

Did you know that the shape and makeup of a glass affects the taste of wine? Did you know how much it affects the taste? And the smell? Yeah, I KNOW you think I’m crazy, but I promise you I’m not. It really, really does. But let me back up a little bit.

See, I love wine. And while my tastes have gotten a bit more refined as I’ve gotten older (and I’ve learned more from my Dad about different wines and what I personally like), I still believe that the best wine is one you enjoy. Not necessarily one that has a high score or rating from those organizations that rate wines. Because your taste buds are your own, and what if you just don’t like that type of wine? Wine is subjective and meant to be enjoyed, so drink what you like! But what’s not subjective (to me, anyway) is the type of glass that you drink the wine from.

See, one of the most amazing things that I’ve discovered about wine (and beer too, actually) is how much of a difference the glass makes. Now, I know exactly what you’re thinking, and that is that I’m totally full of it, a wine snob and c’mon, all that talk about glasses is just a marketing ploy to get you to buy more glassware. I know you’re saying that because I said all those things when my dad first did a glass tasting for my family to prove what a difference the “correct” glass makes for a wine.

Now, I put correct in quotation marks because while various companies each make their own glass for different wine varietals, I think all wines are improved when drunk out of a leaded crystal glass without a lip, regardless of whether you are drinking it in the proper shape or not. But the shape really does make a difference, I promise!

Having the proper glass at every stage in the winemaking process is key — this is
prior to bottling, making sure our blend was still tasty!

For a little bit of background, my love of wine comes from my father. He’s also passed on this love (or obsession, depending on your point of view) to my husband, to the point that when my husband and I got married we blended our own pinot noir that we served at our wedding. But the other part of this love that we all share is a desire to make sure that when you taste the wine, you’re tasting the wine itself.

What we discovered when we started tasting wine out of different glasses is that the normal glass you might find at a restaurant is just that — made of glass with a rolled edge around the top. But this type of structure means that the wine just sits in the bottom of the glass (as opposed to getting aerated when you swirl the wine in a leaded crystal glass), and when you drink it, there’s a bit of a catch due to the rolled lip. All of these things combine to take a wine and make it taste flatter, not as rich as it otherwise could be.

This is what a glass tasting at my parents house looks like. The placemats help to provide
a reference point for each of the glasses so that you remember which one is which. The
small glass in the lower left of the placemat is referred to as the “joker” glass. This is the
type of glass that you see at many restaurants — small bowl, made of glass with a rolled
lip. Not ideal. When we see restaurants with this type of glass now we usually drink beer.

But, back to the shape of the glass itself. I have come to love Riedel glasses which make up the majority of my husband’s and my collection.* As a family company which has been in business for 11 generations, you can’t argue with the quality of the product that they produce. They were also one of the first companies to create a specific glass for each varietal of wine.

Hearing this is when I figured that clearly it must be because they’re trying to sell more glasses. But, trying wine in its proper glass demonstrated to me how much effect the glass has on the wine.

For a Chardonnay with its higher alcohol content (relative to other white wines) the wider opening and shallower bowl reduces the alcohol you smell so that your nose is not overwhelmed (see the glass at top left of the placemat). For a Syrah you want a deeper bowl with a medium opening to provide enough room to let the wine breathe and focus the wine as you smell and taste it (see the glass at the bottom right of the placemat). Each different shape is designed specifically with the characteristics of the varietal in mind so that you end up with a purer, more accurate taste of the wine when you drink it.

A different tasting at my parents – you can see four different types of Riedel glasses on the table.

I could write a lot more on this subject, but instead I think I’ll end by asking if any of you have tried wine out of different types or styles of glasses or if you just think I’m totally crazy?

*There are other companies out there making equally excellent wine glasses, but my experience is with Riedel glasses. Also, please note that they have no idea who I am, I just really enjoy their glasses!

About the Author:

I’m a Northwest girl who spends my time goofing around with my husband and dog, traveling, trying to improve my photography and enjoying great local wine and beer. I’m also obsessed with the most ridiculous natural disaster movies you can think of (seriously, how can you deny the awesomeness that is The Core or 2012? That’s right, you can’t). You can find more of me over at A Long Far View or writing as Mrs. Eggs Benedict on Weddingbee.

As much as I love the holidays, I’m the type to get irritated to see Christmas decorations up in public or to hear holiday songs on the radio before the month of December. So it comes as no surprise that I nodded in agreement as I read the following guest post from contributor Terri — Thanksgiving really does seem to get the short end of the stick this time of the year!

What do you guys think? Do you gloss over Thanksgiving in favor of the December holidays? Or do you look forward to Thanksgiving with as much enthusiasm and excitement as Terri and I?

Whatever happened to Thanksgiving? This is one of my favorite holidays by far, but I’ve been noticing a decidedly different tone surrounding it in the past few years. Thanksgiving seems to get the short end of the stick when it comes to coverage and attention in the media and our culture until a day or two before. If you didn’t know it, you’d think there was a holiday lull between Halloween and Christmas. I could have sworn on November 1 that I saw a commercial with bells jingling, splashes of red and green and someone resembling a Santa. Oh. Heck. Nah.

Perhaps I’m making this all up, but I guess there is a little sadness in my heart that Thanksgiving doesn’t get the attention it deserves these days like Halloween or Christmas. As an only child growing up with a single mother, the holidays, beginning with Thanksgiving, were one of my favorite times of the year because I got to feel like I was a part of a large family. It’s not that I don’t have extended family, but most of them were born in and live in other countries where Thanksgiving doesn’t even exist. It’s just another Thursday in November to them (although they do acknowledge our day off and celebration with a little jealousy). 

My mother and I would get together at my godmother’s home, and she sometimes had up to 30 people over just for Thanksgiving dinner. One year, there was even a DJ and a party in the basement. Seriously! While I enjoyed my singleton childhood, it was fun to feel as if you were a central part of some bigger family holiday. It felt like I was celebrating an ideal and joining in something bigger than just our tight-knit two person household. 

I don’t know why we’d want to overlook a holiday like Thanksgiving, since it brings us all together. It doesn’t necessarily have the religious connotations that Christmas has, and who doesn’t want to be grateful and thankful for a day? It also doesn’t have the overt patriotism of Independence Day (yes, I know there are some politics at play with Thanksgiving, too). To me, it’s one of the few holidays in the U.S.A. that can cut through all of our differences whether we’re Christian, Muslim, an immigrant or can trace our family back to the founding of the country. Thanksgiving is a holiday for everyone. 

Since everyone can celebrate Thanksgiving, I love that over time the perception of Thanksgiving food has changed, too. I like the fact there are quintessential traditional Thanksgiving dishes we can count on, but we take each of these dishes and make them our own, kind of like our American experience. Everyone with their cultures and experiences has added a little something here and a little something there to change what is customary about the proper Thanksgiving meal, but it’s still all uniquely American.

I’m no longer attending the big Thanksgiving dinners that I’m used to, but that’s in part because the baton has been passed to me. I made and hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner last year. Feel free to take a look at what I made for dinner. Whether or not Thanksgiving gets short shrift, it will still have the all important 3 Fs: food, family and football. That’s my kind of holiday!

About the Author:

Terri writes the blog Try Anything Once, which chronicles her local, national, and international food and travel adventures and everything in between. She can usually be found tweaking her list of restaurants to try, watching DVR’ed episodes of Top Chef, dreaming about her next trip, and tweeting way too much.

Today’s guest post comes from none other than Serena of Big Apple Nosh. Here, she shares with us a recipe for…mushrooms on a stick??! I know it sounds a bit kooky, but wait until you see the delectable ingredients and the mouthwatering pictures! I’d take these over regular lollipops any day! Enjoy!

Earlier this year, Marx Foods hosted its 3rd annual Morel Recipe Challenge – the task at hand? Create a delectable hors d’oeuvres featuring this mycological delight. For this challenge, I decided to combine four of my favorite hors d’ oeuvres qualities – fried, cheesy, and on-a-stick. Using the dried morels as well as dill pollen also from Marx Foods, I created these Morel Lollipops. As a last minute add-on, I decided to accompany the lollipops with Garlic Truffle Aioli, using truffle sea salt also from Marx Foods. I know if I passed by a tray of these during a cocktail hour, I’d grab two (or five)!

You will need:

Morel Lollipops

8 large dried morel mushrooms
8 tbsp goat cheese
4 tsp dill pollen
2 cups panko bread crumbs
1 egg (forgot to include in the picture, oops!)
Oil for frying (I used canola)
Bamboo Skewers

1. First, reconstitute the dried morels per Marx Food’s directions. Strain reconstituted mushrooms, pat dry with a paper towel, and remove the stems.

2.With a spoon, combine goat cheese and dill pollen in a small dish.

3. Using my oh-so-technical method, transfer goat cheese mixture to a Ziploc bag. Cut a small corner of the filled bag,  and use this makeshift pastry bag to fill the mushrooms with cheese.

4. Skewer each cheesy mushroom

5. Beat egg in small bowl, and spread panko crumbs on a plate. Dip each lollipop in the egg mixture and then roll in panko crumbs.

If you like an extra crunch, you can re-dip in the egg and re-crumb. You will get this:

6. Heat oil in heavy-duty pot or pan. Fry each battered lollipop until light golden. Careful, oil is hot (duh)

7. Rest lollipops on paper towels. Serve while hot!

Served hot, these lollipops are rich, meaty and scrumptious on their own. If you’d like a little dipping action, however – you can put together a simple garlic truffle aioli:

Garlic Tuffle Aioli

1 egg yolk, room temperature
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1/2 tsp truffle salt

1. Whisk egg yolk, 1/4 tsp of truffle salt, and lemon juice by hand or …whirr? (you know what I mean) with a food processor.
2.  While whisking or whirring, drizzle in olive oil 1 tsp at a time, allowing it to emulsify. The key here is slow and steady! If you take your time, you’ll see the aioli start to come together.
3. Once aioli has reached desired consistency (should be like a thin mayonnaise), turn off food processor and add in minced garlic until well combined.
4. If desired, finish with more truffle salt.

Have you had savory lollipops before? What kind?

About the Author:

Serena grew up thirty minutes outside of New York City and has lived in Manhattan for the past 12 years. A strict follower of the “NYC Diet” of convenience, hole-in-the-wall joints and fine dining, she is on constant lookout for the next hidden gem. Her family learned of her passion for food early on, when she finished her baby food in record time (6 months old), woke her mother up for a midnight banana (2 years old), and came home from school with her lunchbox full of Jello (6 years old). Serena first created a DIY pizza tour itinerary for visiting friends four years ago. She has since organized food tours for friends and family, focusing on cuisine as varied as soul food, cupcakes, vegetarian dim sum, and allergy-aware establishments. 

The following guest post touches on a subject that is dear to my heart. And that, of course, is food.  I currently have both my own mother and my MIL cooking up storms of healthy, post-partum food for me but I can’t deny that I miss having the occasional treat. And these brownies look so fantastically delicious — and simple to make! — that I may just have to send J out for a brownie mix run…yum!

Hellooo friends. My name is Brandi and I met Jenny when we were both blogging over at Weddingbee (Espresso here). I’m a southern California transplant living in Wyoming with my amazing husband and adorable, bird crazy dog. I run a bridal accessories shop by day, blog by night, and hike to supplement my baking addiction on the weekends. Thanks for not running away yet…

So let’s get down to the heart of the matter:

Baking… Brownies… Battlestar Gallactica. Sorry I couldn’t resist. Just like I can never resist making these super delicious and super easy Peanut Butter Cup Brownies. They’re flaky, moist, and chewy. They’re amazing, and there are seriously only 2 steps… which is great for the time challenged like myself. Enjoy…

All you need is a box of this:

And 16 of these:

Follow the directions on the box, and once you’ve poured half the batter into the pan, throw in the 16 Reeses’ Peanut Butter Cups (unwrapped of course), and then the remaining half of the batter on top of them. Cook for the time directed on the box, and you’ll have this gooey goodness:

Enjoy!

Recipe by Katie Lee