My husband is a committed cyclist, and as he’s gotten more serious about his training, he’s taken additional care with his diet. This means, in part, that my full fat cooking is not always on the menu, so we have developed new ways to team cook and eat together, even when we are not eating the exact same thing. Bonding! In this guest post, he gives us a glimpse of a multi-layered dish that is sometimes second breakfast.—MS In many cultures, food plays a central role in the social fabric. A meal is not simply a compulsory routine occurring at regular intervals throughout the day, it is a community ritual, an exercise in hierarchies, a time to forge and strengthen… Continue reading »
Hey Honey, It’s Your Birthday*
In embarrassing Libra fashion, I must have changed my mind w/r/t the type of cake I wanted to make for the now annual Libra birthday party at least five times. Last year’s entry was a hit, so I was feeling the follow-up pressure, it’s true. But more than that, there’s also finally a full-on fall chill in the air, so I wanted something more rich and comforting than sharply sugary. Still, the options were myriad. First, there was the red wine and chocolate idea, then the bundt cake thought, a browse or two through the photos on Tastespotting, a passing fancy with Baked’s White Out cake (which I thought might compliment Rebecca’s trial of the salty chocolate and caramel one)… Continue reading »
Making the Connections
I opened the refrigerator in search of dinner last night and was confronted by leftover portions of ingredients that seemed anxious to be combined together into one epic dish. Seasonal produce conveniently seems to work that way, doesn’t it? As I pulled various items out onto the counter–half an onion, some mushrooms, half a box of spinach–a dish started to materialize in my mind. The freezer coughed up half a bag of frozen sweet potato cubes and the pantry matched that with half a pound of whole wheat pasta. I was itching to stir. I should pause here to point out that while I’m no slave to a recipe or a measuring spoon, when I try to cook completely without… Continue reading »
A Peck of Pickled Peppers
Okay, not a peck, just a jar. Still, when Brian stripped down our one and only jalapeño plant and laid out all those bright green peppers on the kitchen counter, I was a little stumped. I had flashbacks to when my dad would proudly arrive in the kitchen carrying four or five baseball bat-sized zucchinis that had been hiding in our backyard garden. My mother would take one look at him and his harvest and order them all back outside. She wanted nothing to do with any of it. When Brian said he was looking forward to seeing what I was going to do with so many jalapeños, I was tempted to follow her example. These peppers had been on… Continue reading »
How To Bake Cookies (and Make Friends) Without Really Trying
I’m traveling a lot lately, which is probably how I got to reminiscing about all the globe-trotting adventures I used to have when I was younger and less gainfully employed. Greyhound carted me between cities scattered across the Northeast one memorable summer, and I took advantage of frequent layovers to spend time with friends who didn’t mind sharing their couches and their kitchens. I still have a little Post-It note that was attached to a sack lunch I was packed off with once. I didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but it was suggested that on a multi-state bus ride, cookies could turn out to be a valuable commodity. Even though I was heading off down the road again,… Continue reading »
Have to Have a Challah
One of, um, okay, probably the only benefit to my oven being temperamental lately is that when things are baking I now must stand sentry by its side throughout the cook time just in case it should decide to start turning itself off again. From this location, my typing is especially inspired, what with all the lovely baking smells wafting my way. This effect was particularly potent during the baking of an Apple and Honey Challah the other morning. I had spotted the recipe on Smitten Kitchen and wanted to try it out immediately, but who wants to spend hours prepping bread dough only to be thwarted by an uncooperative appliance? Feeling braver after my pot pie success, I set… Continue reading »
