Photos by Molly Dunn

PB2 is the perfect food for peanut butter junkies.

If you give me a jar of peanut butter, there is a guarantee that I will start eating it by the spoonful. Creamy, sticky and comforting peanut butter is one of those foods I just can't resist. Unfortunately, it isn't calorie or fat free -- the downside to most comforting foods.

I love to look at the new products on the organic aisle in grocery stores in hopes that I will stumble upon something interesting and healthy. Recently I found the best thing to add to my diet, PB2. PB2 is powdered peanut butter that has 85 percent less fat calories than regular peanut butter. Seems to good to be true? I beg to differ.

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Photo by David Marcel

Ramp and spring pea soup.

From the mailbag, a reader request for ramps:

Ramps, which are basically wild leeks, are widely available in other parts of the country in the spring. Where can Houstonians find lovely spring vegetables like ramps, fiddleheads, etc? Tried Trader Joe's, no luck. Houston needs our ramps!

Sorry to say, but ramps are pretty hard to find in Houston to begin with -- especially this late in the season. Calls to Revival Market, Whole Foods and Central Market all netted the same response: No ramps. Maybe next year.

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Photo by Joanna O'Leary.

Zucchini Pancake.

After two meals at Bon Ga , I understand why Oxhart chef Justin Yu names it as one of his go-to restaurants.

Bon Ga is not about culinary posturing, fussy presentation, and unorthodox flavors. Fresh ingredients and consistently impeccable preparation are Bon Ga's hallmark virtues and why this restaurant is exactly where I want to go on a casual weekend night with friends.

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Eric Junker

After food finished killing rock and roll, it apparently stole the genre's poster artists too.

It could be said that the Age of the Foodie has arrived.

Food is the topic of interest across more conversations than simply what the current fad diet is or what restaurant you ate at for your anniversary. Food is everything these days.

Hell, it's even being blamed for killing rock and roll.

Food is politics, from arguments for federal labeling of genetically modified foods to the Supreme Court siding with agricultural juggernaut Monsanto, from government subsidies of corn producers to state laws regulating the labeling and sale of foods and beverages.

Food is health, from concerns over high-fructose corn syrup and the recently questioned benefits of organic produce to the national (and often comorbid) epidemics of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and high cholesterol, from the proliferation of vegan and paleo diets to the discovery that every kid you know is allergic to gluten, dairy, peanuts or some combination thereof.

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Photos by Molly Dunn

Make a fried cool treat this summer.

With summer right around the corner, it's always fun making new cool and refreshing treats for your friends and family. While you could stick with regular ice cream, ice pops and other ice-cold treats, take the classic ice cream to a whole new level by deep-frying a few scoops.

Last week, I watched Carla Hall and Daphne Oz, along with the help of guest Curtis Stone, make fried ice cream balls coated in coconut and corn flakes on The Chew. While my mouth was watering, I decided to give this a shot. I have always been intimidated by frying anything at home, but it isn't as hard as it seems.

Here's how you can make fried ice cream balls for your family and friends.

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Photo by Lars K

Although it's all the craze lately, ramen is just one of the soups you'll find in Japanese cuisine. And although you'll find sushi everywhere these days -- from gas stations to grocery stores -- there's more to Japanese food than raw fish and rice.

And while Houston may have far fewer Japanese restaurants than Vietnamese or Chinese, the Japanese food we're running down today is relatively easy to find in the Bayou City -- from super-casual joints like Cafe Kubo's to high-end haute cuisine at Kata Robata, we've [almost] got it all.

The list of dishes below is just a jumping-off point for Westerners (fitting, as many of the dishes, ingredients and preparation techniques were originally adapted from European influences despite Japan's famously isolationist policies in the past), and therefore only a slice of the delicious fare the nation has to offer. But what a tasty slice it is.

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Photo from wikipedia commons.

What's colder and more fun than ice? Booze cubes.

Every since my experimentation with the Halloween brain hemorrhage cocktail, I have continued to scheme about concocting beverages that change in character as you drink them. Thus far I've focused my efforts on cocktails that change color, but a few weeks ago, in a tipsy Joycean epiphany, I thought: What about a drink that gradually meted out more alcohol the cocktail that kept on giving ah hah ice cubes made out of booze.

Of course, I'm hardly the first person to have this revelation. Many have mused over the possibility of "ice" cubes made from alcohol as a means of increasingly spiking your beverage and/or changing its flavor profile by tipping the balance with the introduction of another type of liquour.

But anyone who keeps vodka in the freezer knows why simply pouring alcohol into a standard ice tray won't produce booze cubes. The freezing point of ethanol (which varies slightly depending on proof) is way below that of water (0 degrees Celsius) and your average Frigidaire doesn't maintain temperatures that low. If, however, there's anything I've learned from the interwebs, when there's a will, there's a way.

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Photos by Christina Uticone

Plastic tubs of joy.

A couple of months ago I was waxing nostalgic about some of my favorite forbidden foods. Everyone has them -- items you can't keep in the house because you just eat them, all in one sitting, until the bag/jar/box is empty. About a month after I made that list, I went home to visit my parents in New York, and a new item was added to my list.

Cool Whip Frosting.

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Photos by Katharine Shilcutt

Pistolero's serves basic chicken and beef tacos, but also oxtail, lengua, barbacoa and more.

Shawn Bermudez has slowly and steadily amassed a small real estate empire along Lower Westheimer to rival that of longtime restaurateur Marco Wiles and recent upstart Bobby Heugel. Wiles owns three spots, Heugel four. But Bermudez -- he now owns five.

In addition to Pistolero's, a tacos and tequila joint that replaced Nabi when it opened its doors a couple of weeks ago, Bermudez also owns Boondocks, Royal Oak Bar & Grill, a line-up of resale and vintage clothing shops that includes Pavement and Taxi Taxi, and the upcoming Stone's Throw. He's also a partner in food trucks Koagie Hots and The Golden Grill.

Not bad for a California kid who -- just a year ago -- was busy getting arrested by the Houston Police Department over a [patently ridiculous] noise complaint filed against his principal property, Boondocks. Although it only opened in 2007, Boondocks has already become the so-called "third corner of the Lower Westheimer triangle" along with Poison Girl and Catbirds.

While some longtime Montrose denizens have derided Royal Oak as the "Chili's of Montrose" and fret over the crowds that Bermudez is bringing to the quickly gentrifying neighborhood, there's no denying the positive impact that Bermudez has made in other areas since first moving here in 2004.

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Photo by Darla Guillen

An affogato at Eatsie Boys Café.

I've always hated the phrase "movers and shakers," but if applied literally, it's an accurate description of our city right now. With locals running around town implacably, outpacing frequent mentions from national publications (which have taken to calling us the new "it" city), it's easy to forget that Southerners are said to keep a leisurely gait.

Blame it on highly addictive frozen and iced forms of caffeine, without which many of us would cede to summer's oppressive heat and humidity. As luck would have it, getting your caffeine fix is becoming more convenient and more interesting.

Although there are plenty of consistently good warm classics -- such as the Valrhona mocha at Blacksmith, a cortado at Southside Espresso or pretty much anything at Catalina Coffee -- there are other less-known, summer-friendly takes on coffee that even the most devout purist would enjoy.

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