Writing the good read
It wasn’t that long ago that I was craving (and buying) watermelon and iced lemon ginger green tea. Now, the trees are glowing and I want warm starchy things. Lucky me: I had a recipe I found last fall in the Seattle Post Intelligencer. It was for a bulgar pilaf with chestnuts and brown butter….
I read an insane amount. I shop for books like some women go after Manolo Blahniks, and enjoy the smell of a good bookstore as much as those women do the smell of leather. Books, magazines, blogs: to me the written word is a constant source of delight. When someone asks me what I do…
My childhood friend Pam wrote me a note recently that she couldn’t directly help with a project because she was still woozy from a great bowl of Pho. It was August. Granted, Seattle in August isn’t hot, at least not often. But soup in August? I don’t get it. Unless it’s gazpacho. We have a…
Second to soup, stew is one of the pleasures of chilly evenings in fall and winter. Making one is simple. Together with a salad and a nice loaf of bread, it can be a great dinner to serve for guests, or (since it freezes well) something you can pull out of the freezer in the…
Stock is the basis not just of soups, but an ingredient in numerous stews and other dishes. A good one can make a deceptively simple dish seem like an elegant masterpiece. You’ve roasted your chicken. You’ve eaten the readily accessible meat. Don’t throw away the bones and the meat that you’d really have to work…
Or: The most useful kitchen trick there is A roasted chicken is easy, tasty, and the pathway to many other culinary delights – think homemade soup, great chicken salad sandwiches, or an easy chicken burrito. It also looks splendid on a platter. A couple of caveats: I can’t cut up a roasted chicken so that…
There are some things that every cook should have at all times in her or his kitchen. Some are no-brainers, like salt and pepper and sugar. Others you might not think about. Here’s a list I think you should have on hand. In the Pantry: Oils — an extra virgin olive oil for salad dressings,…
First, a definition. Herbs are leafy plant tops. Spices are seeds, roots, or fruits (think peppers) that are dried and sometimes ground or toasted. Herbs you can buy in a bottle and keep in a drawer, but for the most part, you want to buy your herbs fresh. They just taste different, more redolent of…
Every kitchen needs a few things. Here’s what you need to make sure you have to cook just about everything: 2 pots – one large, one medium. The large one is for things like soups and stews. The small one is for things like small quantities of pasta. If you feel like splurging, make the…
Until she was about 18, we referred to Mia as “Natasha” to all but family. That was so no one might find out who she really was and make use of her services as babysitter extraordinaire. Life is tough for parents of young children. We do what we can to secure babysitting, even if it…