Because I’m not (much) of a masochist, I don’t make homemade pasta very often in our small kitchen. Like I was telling my cousin the other night, the last time I undertook that endeavor I ended up with flour on the front of my shirt, in my hair and somehow all over the back of my shirt too. Continue reading
It’s elegant for brunch, it’s simple for lunch – and sometimes it can help a couple of sick people. A couple of weeks ago I spent Friday on the couch with a sinus headache that was so rough that it mimicked a migraine. Then I spent Saturday and Sunday working. But KABLAM! On Monday I was knocked on my back again and then, sadly, my husband joined me there on Tuesday. Continue reading
Julia Child, the woman who almost single-handedly led Americans out of the hell of soggy green beans and Jello molds and into the Paradise of perfectly roasted chicken with butter-enriched pan sauce, would have been 100 today. She deserves every accolade she gets.
Without Julia Child, I might never have learned to cook. I was a Modern Young Woman, hungry to make my way in the great wide world and determined never to serve in any man’s kitchen. Cooking was the last thing I ever intended to do. But when I saw Julia make cream puffs on TV, I thought, “I love cream puffs. If it’s really that easy…” It was that easy, and they tasted like nothing I had ever imagined, tender and yeasty and totally unlike the leathery shells in the bakery window. The world of food opened up to me and Julia Child had me in the palm of her open, competent hand. Continue reading
Several years ago, we heard a recipe for tomato pie on the radio as the Mister and I were driving into the Blue Ridge Mountains to go camping. As soon as we got home, we started looking up recipes and testing them out. This is a savory pie that is a fantastic side for any summer meal. I like it hot, Mister likes it cold. It’s amazing either way. Continue reading
Politics, religion, same-sex marriage, breast feeding, health care. Sometimes it seems that there’s nothing Americans don’t vehemently fight about. But – just like you shouldn’t bring up your hatred of Chuck Norris around your NRA-loving uncle at Thanksgiving – it’s also not a great idea to walk into a party and loudly exclaim your love of cilantro. Continue reading
For most of the year, we Midwesterners are stuck with vegetables grown somewhere down south and picked before they’re really ripe. Then they get trucked up here, artfully arranged in the supermarket and finally make it to our kitchens, where they taste… like nothing. Continue reading
There’s something so simple and satisfying about scallion pancakes. These staples of Chinese restaurants aren’t difficult to make at home (although there are a few simple techniques that help them to be soft and flaky) and they are incredibly delicious. Scallion pancakes also only require one “expensive” ingredient – sesame oil. You can find a bottle of that for three to nine dollars – and it will last you for at least a year, even if you use it regularly. Continue reading
A good chicken sandwich can mimic a hamburger, becoming a delicious vehicle for toppings. We don’t go out to eat very often, but when we do my eyes always stray to the hamburger menu. I stopped eating beef in my late twenties because I had burned out on it and I’ve never fully redeveloped my taste for it. So, hamburgers are just little sandwiches that taunt my memory. When we do go out to eat, though, I’m a hamburger pusher for my husband. Continue reading
Way back in the annals of history, between the time when the fairies hid under the hills and the English came and screwed the pooch, had a very different cuisine, if you can call a backwater European country’s hunting and gathering to be cuisine. Continue reading
Greetings, chickadees! I know you’ve been eagerly waiting for the results of our Crasserole Contest. This time we asked you to be a little luxurious with the ingredients seeing as we’ve been making you be all stingy with el budget. You did not disappoint! We ended up having an ultimate smackdown between The Grand Inquisitor herself and our resident Aussie, BaldwinP. Both formidible opponents who you wouldn’t want to get caught in a culinary dark alley with, so to speak. So without any further ado, on to the results! Continue reading