A couple of weeks ago I said I was feeling excessively negative and wanted to get happy, but that I’d do a grousing post some time soon. This is that time.
Firstly, the term ‘flavor forward’ needs to be taken out to the woodshed and put out of its misery. What does that even mean?
More seriously, can we talk about the most recent spate of idiotic diets that are being touted. Read the rest of this entry ?
End of Birthday Season 2012 – Dinner, November 27th
Pumpkin Chili
Creamed Corn Cornbread
Salad
Goat Cheesecake with Pistachio Crust Read the rest of this entry ?
I know I’ve said this before, but I believe that there are certain foods you have to have been introduced to at a tender age, and then grown up eating to really appreciate. Marmite/Vegemite is one of them – I was clearly too old by the time I was introduced to it in middle school because I continue to think it’s one of the most revolting things you can put on bread. Ambrosia Salad is another – which I cheerfully embrace in all its mini-marshmallow & canned mandarin orange glory, although I admit that I’d be hesitant to call it a salad per se. It’s possible that baked beans on toast are another thing that you have to have been introduced to at an impressionable age. Read the rest of this entry ?
I have a new entry on my list of ‘national foods which I have only had good examples of outside of the country of origin’. That list needs a snappier name.
Included on it, are: Read the rest of this entry ?
I have to preface this post by saying that custard is very much my culinary bête noir – everyone’s got one (or more), and nobody should be discouraged from making this ice cream based on how much I’m about to whine.
Or, let me put it another way, there’s a catch phrase in our house that nothing is serious until James Earl Jones says, ‘mother-of-god’*. When I tasted the ice cream base on Saturday afternoon I paused, stared down at the pot in awe, and did my very best James Earl Jones impression (which since I’m a 5’ nothing WASP is distinctly underwhelming, but the sentiment was heartfelt). This is seriously good ice cream, y’all. The Effort here is entirely commensurate with the payoff, my issues with custard notwithstanding. Read the rest of this entry ?
I have a very clear memory of walking down a street with my mother when I was quite young being given a crash course in Afternoon Tea etiquette as we made our way to the house of a British friend of hers. I don’t remember whether I successfully didn’t embarrass my mother (on that particular occasion, at any rate), but I was quite young (and American) so I probably got a pass from her friend (who, being that kind of English, would have been too polite to say anything anyway). Read the rest of this entry ?
This is the time of year when everyone comes out with their “Best of Lists” and either my reading material has changed in the past year (entirely possible) or cooking/food has become a much bigger deal (also possible) because I’ve seen more “Best of 2011 Cookbook” lists in the past few weeks than I think I saw in the previous decade.
A random, and completely unscientific, sampling of lists (epicurious, Bon Appetit, NPR, the NYT, the Boston Globe, Serious Eats, The Kitchn, David Lebovitz, Kirkus, and The Huffington Post) reveals the following moments of agreement and endorsement. And, in a rare moment of being insync with the zeitgeist I have not only read two of the three books, I wholeheartedly second their endorsement. Read the rest of this entry ?
Apparently my new default for Dinner is ‘dither’. I spent a day and several IM conversations dithering about whether one time the lasagna recipe would be enough to feed 8 people. This is partly because while the recipe itself divides into halves or thirds or quarters fairly neatly, you end up with strange amounts of raw ingredients leftover (like 3 oz of ricotta), and a strange assortment of pans on the table (one large pan, one really small pan). I eventually decided that one time the recipe was enough to feed 8 people if I stretched the meal with both the requested salad and green beans (originally it had been an either or) and added a plate of tomatoes. Then on Tuesday afternoon at the farmer’s market I dithered about whether I really needed/wanted the tomatoes since Dinner had been reduced to six people and the lasagna would be a gracious plenty all on its own. Eventually I voted against the tomatoes but not before standing there with my hand hovering indecisively over the tomatoes for several minutes. Read the rest of this entry ?
Last week I was critical and complaining about trends in food TV. Friday afternoon devolved in a series of small annoyances which cumulatively were enough to make me wish I kept a bottle of scotch in my desk drawer the way that everyone in the 1950’s seems to have (or so television would suggest). I spent the first half of this week playing phone tag with a restaurant manager so that I could complain about mediocre service we’d had on Sunday afternoon. In the light of all that negativity, I feel the need to redress the balance with a burst of positive thoughts. One of the podcasts I listen to ends every show with a segment called “What’s Making You Happy This Week”, so in that spirit here’s a list of what’s making me happy this week. Read the rest of this entry ?
Sunday was one of those days where everything seemed to conspire to make me irritable – my timing was a little off on everything, and nothing wanted to work quite as predicted. It was a day full of what NPR refers to (correctly) as First World Problems. Knowing that didn’t make them any less annoying. Read the rest of this entry ?
