There are plenty of fast foods that you can make better at home: this burger will beat anything that ever crawled out from under any golden arches, or, if Taco Bell is your thing, you can easily beat the experience at home by cooking up a bowl of oatmeal and throwing it in a tortilla. […]
4 comments | chickpeas, Egypt, Lentils, middle east, Pasta, Rice, Starch, vegan, vegetarian
4 comments | Cross Country Skiing, Lebanon Hills, Minneapolis Metro, Pancakes, photos, ski weekend
Far be it from me to complain about having a job in this economy, but there are certain inconveniences for the food blogger engaged by day in the 9 to 5 grind. Like bread-baking: for me, it has to be a weekend activity, since even if you take the delayed-fermentation route – doing most of […]
4 comments | Delayed Fermentation, Focaccia, Italian, Office, Olive Oil, Work
Cookbooks have a life cycle: when a book is new, it’s exciting, it might get cover to cover, torn bits of paper sprouting up like so many shoots in the spring marking promising recipes. Then comes experimentation: making each of those recipes, seeing which work and which don’t. And finally – tragically – the third age […]
2 comments | Cabbage, chickpeas, Chole, cookbooks, Curry, Indian
I put away our Christmas ornaments today and disassembled the tree; I packed up the lights around the window, the “candles” in the dining room, and the gingerbread tea light holders. Because we’re not quite finished burning through this year’s Frasier Fir candles, I’ll keep our new Sagaform votive holders out a little longer. The spot where […]
1 comment | boxes, Christmas, containers, organizing, ornaments, Storage
Around 10 boxes formerly part-filled with tea are now flattened and in the recycling thanks to this handy yellow file drawer. Originally purchased for our wedding in September, this box from Hindsvik‘s shop has been sitting around my office with nothing in it ever since it arrived as a part of a package from Michigan […]
4 comments | boxes, containers, Hindsvik, organization, Tea, Yellow
Today is Epiphany, the day the Three Kings reach the manger, or pesebre, to present their gifts to Jesus. I’m not sure to what extent Epiphany is celebrated in the United States* beyond special readings for Catholic masses near the date, but it’s always had significance for my family in that it marks the end […]
1 comment | Epiphany, Holidays, nativity, pesebre, Reyes, reyes magos, Three Kings
Besides being delicious, cooking a variety of cuisines is educational – you learn the quirks of the cuisine itself, and tricks and techniques from one cuisine can enhance the understanding of others. Take the fritter: practically every culture has its little fried ball of something, its croquette, pakora, hush puppy, etc. The methods for producing […]
2 comments | falafel, Fritters, Indian, Judaism, Latkes, middle eastern, Ta'amiya
Over the weekend I reorganized our spices, a project that involved transferring our dried herbs and spices into new jars. An unexpected perk of the process was the opportunity to take in the aromas of each. The wafts of cardamom seeds stayed with me through the day on Monday, and by evening I could no […]
2 comments | Bread, Breakfast, cardamom, Cinnamon, Rolls, Swedish