I am tardy. Once again. In part because, over the past few weeks, my culinary focus has shifted away from recipes that are easily translated in words and pictures, and toward a massive experiment in — lacto-fermentation. My friend (and urban forager extraordinaire) Hana got me onto it when I visited with her last month. […]
Pedagogical duties have left me less than my usual loquacious self, so I will let the images do most of the talking. This week’s experiment is baked cheese — Brie or Camembert — with fresh fruit and nuts. A classic, it has been on my radar — obviously — forever. I’ve only just begun making […]
I have a confession to make: in the past, my attitude toward folks who make liqueurs has sometimes edged more toward smug tolerance than genuine appreciation. Look at my science, I hear them exclaim to me, grinning enthusiastically. Then they put specimen jars full of off-colored liquid in my hands and encourage me to breath […]
Note: the images in this post are best viewed large. And there are more illustrative images over on my flickr. So I got a new toy. It arrived in the mail, I’ve had a little time to play with it, and now I’m itching to talk about it. It’s not a kitchen toy — although […]
A Dolley Madison cake, I told my friend Linda. That’s what I want to make you for your birthday. That’s what it’s called? That’s what I call it. It’s a historical recipe — supposedly her favorite when she was First Lady. It’s a sponge. With caramel icing. No chocolate, then? Linda sounded disappointed. Then: But […]
I am aware, just so you know, that way back in the archives, back in my pre-historic Livejournal days, there once lived a post about tomato sauce. I am aware that embedded deep within that post is another recipe for an oven-based marinara. But I would suggest that it is possible — just possible — […]
I have not, you’ll notice, written anything here yet about Missouri Senate candidate and giant Daniel Tosh fan (I can only assume) Todd Akin — mostly because I find myself so viscerally repulsed by this story. I don’t want to reproduce the vileness that rocketed his campaign against Claire McCaskill from obscure-national-joke status to object […]
I don’t know if this is common knowledge or not for folks without backyard gardens. But tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are all in the same family. So are potatoes — and belladonna. They’re all nightshades. What makes this interesting is that all but that last variety — the belladonna — are New World plants.* They […]
Thing one: I’d like to reassert my position that rosemary is a really excellent dessert flavor. And that it’s a terrible shame that it is not more used in that capacity. Thing two: I’d like to revise my position on summer. It’s still the most miserable time of the year here in Philadelphia, with the […]
I hate to say it, but I’ve been thinking a lot about Sarah Palin in the past couple of weeks. Why? Well, not because of what(ever) she’s doing these days. But rather, because of something she did last year. Last year — January 8, 2011 — Jared Loughner walked into a crowd at an event […]