Pork Rib Curry
I apologize for the quiet around here. We live about thirty miles south of Santa Rosa, California. As I write, firefighters are slowly gaining control over the fires. People are returning to their homes, or what’s left of them. Berkeley Fire Engine Six was called to help fight the fires…
Stir-fried Beef with Shrimp Paste
This post was written last week, before events in Las Vegas or Tom Petty’s untimely death. Much as I’d like to add some sensitively worded writing about either event, words fail me. Thank you for reading. — Last week found me at the used bookstore, where I found the companion…
Thai Beef with Rice Noodles
Poke around the internet and you’ll find guay teow neua sab interpreted any number of ways. The noodles are invariably rice, but the meat can range from braising cuts to ground beef. Some dishes are wet enough to qualify as soups. Others are dry enough to be eaten with forks. However you…
Steak Salad
It’s impossible to post without thinking of everyone Mexico, Florida, Texas, and the Caribbean Islands. If you can help any of these folks, in however small a way, please do. To donate to victims of Hurricane Harvey, here is a list of charities from the New York Times. To help people…
Bitter Melon Curry
Note: The full impact of Hurricane Harvey was reaching the news after I posted. To help those affected in Texas, from the New York Times: Donations to the Red Cross for those affected by Harvey can be made online, or text HARVEY to 90999. Donations to the Salvation Army can be made online. Catholic Charities is accepting donations online,…
Kitchen Note: Rage, Despair, and Baking
Recent events have left me careering between rage and despair. Occasionally there’s a comparatively calm moment of depression, a lull in the mental action, before some tidbit of horrible news sends me bouncing off the walls again. Writing is nearly impossible. How do you sit down and write: “Today I…
Broiled Flank Steak with Mustard Mashed Potatoes
In 1994, yours truly sat in a grubby apartment, roach-infested apartment, reading Laurie Colwin’s More Home Cooking. Building management suggested we purchase geckos to eat the roaches. Animals of the four-legged variety were not permitted. (Forbidden.) So a youthful version of yours truly sat in the chair she’d hauled in from the…
Citrus Marinated Pork Chops
Pork chops, The IK’s notebook reads somewhere around January 27th. Make again. Lest you think this a gratuitous cat pic, know that all blog photography happens directly in front of that chair. The cat has decided to supervise. And the IK does wash that chair cover. Frequently. Some of the best meals…
Braised Oxtail
Michael Franti wrote a song called “Everyday Life Has Become A Health Risk.” No explanation necessary, right? — So, food. It feels insane to discuss food right now. The United States is collapsing and we’re talking about oxtail? Well, we still need to eat. And we must escape, if only…
Kitchen Note: repairing Pot Au Feu
Why not start with a nice NorCal flower picture? I was trying to take flower pictures the other day, and this seems like a good excuse to use them. Here’s another. You may be wondering flowers have to with pot au feu, or boiled beef. Nothing. They’re just pretty in…