Potato Cardoon Gratin
Cardoons, which are seasonal for the next ten seconds, have long fascinated me.With their truly brief window–a few winter weeks in Northern California–cardoons remain that rare thing, a truly seasonal vegetable. This rarity means I’ve had little experience with them, and until now, that experience has been of…
Kitchen Kit and Singing Chickens
What follows is an unusually long post, and isn’t indicative of future writing. Given the holidays, I felt this was the time write about equipment, and perhaps take a risk with a longer piece. Feel free to skip to the end and check out the recipe for Chicken with…
Irish Lamb Stew and bad pickup lines
“You look like Stevie Nicks.” “Before or after the cocaine?” I retorted. — This exchange took place last Friday night. After a dreadfully long week, I was looking forward to a nice dinner followed by a San Francisco Ballet performance of The Nutcracker. Alone. This was not to be. Bay Area Rapid Transit…
Pork Roasted In Banana Leaves (Cochinita Pibil)
Yesterday I had a doctor appointment; I’ve been trying to get follow-up care for the tennis elbow. I arrived at the office only to find my doctor had cancelled her appointments for the day. Had her patients been informed? Of course not. Clearly, the very notion of continuing medical care falls into the…
Potato Salad with Parsley, Capers, and Olives
Two days before Thanksgiving saw me recipe testing for the blog and a PopMatters.com review. Not one but two recipes failed. (Hey! A link! Thanks to my lovely spouse, who set me straight here, on my overdue links page, and helped me make my Facebook page prettier.) Recipe fails happen….
Chickpea Chorizo Soup
This soup reflects continuing adventures in one-handed cookery while I struggle with Right Lateral Epicondylitis, whose onset last week was as abrupt as it was painful. I can’t pretend it’s been a good time, but people are stressed enough without my bitching. Let’s talk about Nigella Lawson for a minute…
Asian Noodle Soup
This will be brief, as I am experiencing an acute episode of Right Lateral Epicondylitis, or tennis elbow. After visiting a shockingly insensitive physician Thursday, I departed with a handful of steroids and useless instructions to “do nothing”. As doing nothing is not possible, the man insisted “do something about…
Sparkling Satsuma Aperitif
As a food blogger, I sometimes feel it incumbent on me to paint an autumnally mellow picture of holiday cheer. Scents of apple and cinnamon wafting from the oven, mulled cider bubbling atop the hob, an artisanal bird plumping in its brine. This isn’t that post. Yesterday my right elbow…
(No Words) Pumpkin Scones
I spent the afternoon of Friday, November 13th nattering on about Pumpkin Scones. By 3:30 I’d polished a snappy lead-in.The recipe was set to go. There were lots of pretty photos. For once, I was ahead of schedule. Hoping to resolve my lingering confusion over linking, I opened a new window and typed…
Chicken Broth: A Note
You know that terrible feeling of having forgotten something? A vague niggling that sends you checking for keys or glasses or even outside to make sure the headlights are off? That was me last night with the broth recipe. At 1a.m., my ever helpful brain woke me: You left the giblets…