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Q: Is blood sausage really made of blood? Where can I find some?
A: Yup. It's blood, all right. Pig's blood, to be exact. To some, the idea of eating coagulated blood of swine sounds revolting – after all, the trend these days is to eat for your blood type, not to down sausages of boar's A+. But blood sausage has been around a lot longer than our prissy eating habits. So next time you see a blood sausage, don't be grossed out. Think of it as the distant relative of the hot dog.
I'm a fan of The Little Rascals and ever since I saw that the solidarity of the He-Man Woman-Haters Club couldn't keep Alfalfa from being lured into a picnic with Darla, I've been a fan of the picnic too. The meal Darla laid out (although heisted by Spanky and replaced with soap) was so simple and unfussy, yet looked delectable pulled from a hamper to sit atop a blanket in the schoolyard.
Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) is a member of the ginger family that is used heavily in Indian cooking but often shows up in Scandinavian recipes as well. Rather than using the root, as is done for most spices of the ginger family, it's the under-ripened dried fruit that's prized – a pale green or white pod swaddling pungent dark-brown seeds.