Reality

Checking in

February 10, 2024

Hello all- I am dealing with a tendinitis flare in my left hand. This makes posting–among many other life activities- challenging. My apologies. I have excellent medical care and reasonable hope this will soon be resolved, allowing me to post. Thank you for being here- D.

Continue Reading »

Photo post

July 11, 2023

Hello all, It’s July 10th (now it’s the 11th) and I haven’t posted. This weighs on me. You, on the other hand, have better things to worry about. When not worrying, I visited the Berkeley Public Library. The blueberries, pictured above, were purchased for a recipe. Which did not work….

Continue Reading »

Repairing a Ruined Recipe

March 20, 2023

Today’s post is less about “recipes” than it is about thinking creatively. More succinctly, it is how I turned one awful dish into two good ones, and saved the world. Well, maybe not that last bit. I am not the type who recycles leftovers into new dishes. As far as…

Continue Reading »

A Picture Post

February 18, 2023

At times like this I remember David Lebovitz saying he had 40 blog posts stored away like virtual acorns, ready to post when a recipe failed or simply wasn’t good enough. After nine years of blogging you’d think I’d have tidy little store of posts tucked away myself, but no…

Continue Reading »

Boxing Day Photo Dump

December 26, 2022

So where have I been during this foodiest of food months? Cooking like a madwoman, actually, in expectation of a Christmas guest. Days of shopping, cleaning, and cooking finally culminated in my going to Oakland Airport on Friday, December 23rd, to pick up our guest, who was expected to arrive…

Continue Reading »

Long-Cooked Broccoli

October 25, 2022

Long-cooked broccoli comes to us from Paul Bertolli’s Chez Panisse Cooking. I cooked it for years, forgot about it, then recalled it when I began making Paula Wolfert’s green beans with tomato, another recipe calling for long cooking. “Long-cooked” isn’t a euphemism for pap. Prepared with attention and care, long-cooked…

Continue Reading »

Soaring fuel prices are forcing many people, myself included, to reconsider everything we were taught about “good cooking.” Especially now, when we would normally be starting to prepare stews, bone-in roasts, and soups, dishes demanding hours of slow cooking. Gourds. Official harbinger of Fall. Well, these and pumpkin-spiced coffee drinks,…

Continue Reading »

Pretty Pictures

August 11, 2022

But sadly no recipes. Two dishes I’d hoped to post weren’t good enough to share here. Another has passed muster, but putting a post together takes days, so here are some photographs in the interim. One of the failed recipes was an attempt to update a curry recipe. Below, dried…

Continue Reading »

“Cheap” is a relative term, of course. At a time when the cost of living is soaring, and the price of food along with it, steak isn’t featuring in many diets. While porterhouse and prime rib are off the menu for the forseeable future, flap steak, a cut resembling skirt…

Continue Reading »

So, hi. Sorry for the long absence. It was unplanned, unwanted, and just…well…let me explain. For some time my trusty Mac hasn’t been all that trusty. As in, taking five minutes or so to boot up only to crash, the photo app not working at all. Long story short, the…

Continue Reading »