For the first time in a long while, I woke up this morning with no one expecting any kind of work out of me whatsoever. As a change of pace, I found a new book to read, announced to the cat that I was taking a vacation, poured some coffee, and plopped down on the couch. All that relaxing eventually made me hungry, however, so I headed to the grocery for some fun, over-processed treat to fuel this day of slothfulness (as part of my vacation, I was keeping off the internet and out of the kitchen). Cruising down the aisles failed to produce anything tempting–plus, I realized halfway through my shopping adventure that it would be hard to eat… Continue reading »
Blood, Bones & Butter: Lifestyles of the Overworked and Hungry
Indeed, the adventure! The bad-assedness! But you know that feeling you get when people ask who would play you in the movie version of your life? There was a tone to the entire book that made me suspicious, as if I was reading the dramatization of Hamilton’s lived history. I mean, it was an awesome read because of it, but it also felt like it had to be a bit of a lie. Or at least it was throwing up sign posts that it was committing sins of omission. I know in the end she notes a few details that were altered for narrative reasons, and obviously when you sit down to write a memoir, you pick and choose among… Continue reading »
Blood, Bones & Butter: Opening a Restaurant
The Three Points Kitchen crew launches its first book club this week with a bit of friendly conversation surrounding Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef , a memoir by Prune‘s chef Gabrielle Hamilton. To kick things off in style, we took a stab at getting a table at her restaurant (during the no-reservations brunch crush!) so that we might try out her much-praised offerings for ourselves. We had already dug around in her life through the book, so now it was time to pull up a chair and dig around in her kitchen. We were prepared to endure a long wait outside the establishment, standing among Prune’s notoriously adoring fans. We were prepared to be… Continue reading »
Three Cubed: B&O Fresh Fruit Shortcake
The Book: Dining on the B&O: Recipes and Sidelights from a Bygone Age (2009, though the collection gathers recipes from instructions published decades earlier) And now for a bite of dessert. Kate conceptualized this Three Cubed cooking project as a way to expand our horizons and blow our minds, and so far it seems to be working! By forcing our spatulas a bit and getting us to try a few of the recipes we usually just skip over, we’re bound to be making things we have already decided won’t work out well or don’t meet our usual tastes, so there is a kind of odd dissonance at play in the kitchen during these experiments. I had already been having an… Continue reading »
Feast O’ Yeast
In addition to the bread making and the butter churning, this year I have also begun running kitchen experiments in alcohol production. My first batch of strawberry wine was a disappointment–fully attributable to user error, I’m sure–but my subsequent stabs at short mead were much more encouraging. I stumbled on little kits from Ambrosia Farm that included a tea flavoring and a bit of yeast at last year’s Renaissance Fair–just add water and honey! Though I wasn’t expecting much from them other than entertainment, they were actually very tasty. Now I am hooked. Due to interest (mine) and wrist injury (my friend Scott’s), I had the chance to serve as an apprentice homebrewer last weekend on a 5 gallon batch… Continue reading »
Prelude to a Feast
Three Points Kitchen is hosting its first group dinner in D.C. this weekend, and the cooking has already begun! With hints of spring on the horizon and a Persian theme on the table, a few quick pickles have been mixed for the fridge, an elderberry short mead bottled, some yogurt and chutney made up, and a couple flat breads baked (I will try my best not to eat them before Sunday!). I’ll put my knife down and pick my camera up throughout the weekend, and we’ll catalog the recipes when it’s all over. Meanwhile, an amuse-bouche to get things started. Here we go!
