Creamed Kohlrabi
Perhaps, like me, you’ve been kohlrabi-avoidant. Or maybe life hasn’t brought you into contact with the vegetable Yotam Ottolenghi compared to an alien. He’s right: kohlrabi is a strange looking vegetable. Don’t let this deter you. After almost sixty years of kohlrabi avoidance, I recently discovered what I was missing,…
Brief interlude
Four days ago I wrote the following: Dear Friends- Some of you know I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. This charming malady causes lax connective tissue and a host of other problems. In my case, EDS expresses itself most strongly as overuse syndromes: tendinitis, bursitis, arthritis, and carpal tunnel syndrome. At…
Almond Pound Cake
Before the allergic or otherwise nut-averse click away, know that an almond-free variation of this recipe lives at the bottom of the post. Below: Swan’s Market, in downtown Oakland. Unrelated but pretty filler. You should also know the “almond” in this almond pound cake is almond paste. But “almond paste…
Braised Back Ribs
Last week I went shopping and damn near passed out in the meat aisle. A package of short ribs was going for $18. Even the ham hocks, once reliably inexpensive, cost over $15 a pair. I tucked a package of back ribs into my cart–$7.49 a pound, in case…
Risotto Alla Parmigiana
I began this post with great hopes of offering cheap alternatives to traditonal holiday fare. Unfortunately, I hit on this idea on December 7th. It is now the 13th. Perhaps a bit late. In lieu of my original idea, I’ll keep on with the usual fare. Hopefully I’ll have my…
Easy Cinnamon Rolls
These humble cinnamon rolls come together quickly with pantry ingredients–flour, sugar, cinnamon, a little powdered ginger. Further, they’re leavened with baking powder, meaning you can mix up the dough, roll it out, and bake it. Even better, these cinnamon rolls are sturdy. You can freeze the unbaked dough in the…
Olive-Oil braised Celery with Potatoes and Carrots
With the holidays approaching, it is never the bird, the cranberries, or even the stuffing (roast in the bird or out?) that gives me pause. It’s not the sides, or whether or not to prepare brussels sprouts, which invariably go uneaten. Friends, it’s the celery. (We’re just talking food….
Polenta
Before diving into the excitement that is polenta, a few photographs from the Scottish Rite Center. Looking out on to Lake Merritt. It was extremely hot. The windows face east. Gauze curtains cut some of the sunlight. The Scottish Rite Center is in Oakland, California, on Lake Merritt. (Pictured above)…
Herbed Rice with Carrot and Potato
Herbed rice with Carrot and Potato was inspired by a Central Asian rice dish called Mashkichiri. Readers fluent in Hindi, Farsi, Uzbek, or Uiger may recognize the words mash–meaning mung bean, and kitchri, meaning a rice dish prepared with additional ingredients. My information comes from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duigud’s…
Thai Salt-Pickled Cabbage (Pak Dong)
If you are feeling ever so slightly depressed these days, you might take heart at the notion of fermented cabbage as a unifying force. Hear me out. At a time when people are busy insulting one another on social media and doing worse IRL, some of us have been equally…
