If my 2012, folks, began with the afterglow of visiting Spain — with dry sherry, fresh seafood, and melt-in-your-mouth jamón — it has ended with the afterglow of Kentucky. It has ended with the memory of bourbon, amber and oaky, filled with notes of caramel and corn, vanilla, char, and spicy rye — with a […]
Please don’t misconstrue what I’m about to tell you. I do in fact think that sour pickles are great. I make them. I eat them. Like many of you out there, they were my introduction to fermented foods. And I even have a recipe for them here. But the thing is: cucumbers aren’t really the […]
There is a well-worn proverb — one that has been worn so well, in fact, that it has been ground into a fine pallid dust by the motivational / self-help industry: give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. […]
At least twice, now, in 2012, we in the United States have been subjected to two mass shootings in a two-week span. The first was mere days ago, when 22-year-old Jacob Tyler Roberts donned a hockey mask and an assault rifle, and began firing into a crowd at a Portland, Oregon shopping mall. By some […]
Over the weekend, just in time for the start of Hanukkah, I posted parts one and two of the Twice Cooked Holiday Gift Guide. I prostrated myself most shamelessly before the greedy god of commerce, encouraging you to to click through this site to Amazon.com, and in the process support us, even as you shop […]
Can you hear it? The cadence of our steps, faithfully attuned to the deafening drumbeat of holiday consumerism, marching us ever forward, onward toward the turning of the year, toward the yawning gates of Mammon. Seriously. It can feel that way, can’t it? But then, all things considered, there’s nothing to be done. Gifts for […]
Almost nine months ago, now, I made this post about the encroaching fingers of crass capitalism, stretching themselves over this blog, beckoning you (dear readers!) to buy, buy, buy. I added some (tastefully unobtrusive) advertisements over on the sidebar that would encourage you to click through, and support this site by indulging your wicked taste […]
On the day that fair-weather patriotism was redefined, we all looked on at the Republican leadership, mouths collectively agape, too flabbergasted to respond. I should (dear readers!) be hard at work on my end-of-semester grading. But when this piece from Talking Points Memo came across my Reader feed this morning, it stopped me dead in […]
Risotto is a dish on which Sarah and I disagree. For her, the pinnacle of rice is a long-grain variety like basmati, cooked dry and fluffy, firm but done, with enough nutty flavor to be delicious alone, but better suited to be a substrate for curry, or stew, or coq au vin. Risotto is okay, […]
It’s been a few months since I’ve made a soapbox post — like this one about Kiva, or this one about Creative Commons. This post, I would say, falls somewhere between that, an impromptu pictorial, and free advertising for a Philadelphia business that I admire quite a bit, and that I patronize as often as […]