Posts Tagged ‘Chicken’
December 3, 2010
My perennial New Year’s Resolution is to stop looking at people like they’re moronic, not because people aren’t frequently stupid but because it seems impolitic and like a wearying way to go through life. This resolution gets harder and harder to remember the later in the year that it becomes.
In an effort to make it through the end of the year without egregiously transgressing on my own resolution I’d like to request a moratorium on idiotic questions (also on people who don’t understand the serial comma, and end sentences on prepositions). Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra, Uncategorized | Tagged Chicken, chili, Side Dish, Starch | 2 Comments »
November 24, 2010
Let’s take a moment to discuss space or, rather, my kitchen’s distinct lack of it. My kitchen has one 36-ish inch long section of counter and one 12 inch long section. That’s it. There’s space for one cutting board next to a bowl with maybe space for some (but never all) of your ingredients. There’s space for two people to be actively cooking… but not if you also want to open the fridge. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Jeska, SF Dinner | Tagged Chicken, Dessert, Side Dish, Starch, Vegetables | 1 Comment »
October 28, 2010
We had an almost full house for Dinner this week – only missing one regular member of Dinner who was off chanting to the Lord (otherwise known as rehearsing for a performance of Hildegarde von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum). I feel as though I have welcomed all my wayward ducklings home, which is such a horrifyingly Lisa Geddes kind of thought that I need to excuse myself for a moment to go scrub my brain with bleach and read something scandalous to try and eradicate any evidence of even the transient passage of such a thought through my mind. All this being true however, it was nice to have a full table again. Clearly we should have moved Dinner months ago. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra, Uncategorized | Tagged Chicken, Meat and Seafood, Vegetables | 1 Comment »
October 19, 2010
Apparently, it only took me three years to get my act together and make this dinner (see the first comment on the linked post). It was worth it. Our brief summer is now fading into memory and while that usually means that it’s time for chili… For the next generation of MND, I decided to start off with my idea of comfort food. Thus the most traditional southern dinner imaginable. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Jeska, SF Dinner | Tagged Chicken, Side Dish, Vegetables | 2 Comments »
June 17, 2010
We moved an average of every two years when I was growing up. The top ten list of things I learned from this runs something like this:
– Picking up marbles from bowls of soapy water with chopsticks is not as universal a party game as I thought it was when I was 8 (we lived in Hong Kong, you start with m&ms and work your way up to marbles).
– Europe is awesome, not the least of which because if you drive about 4 hours in any direction you’re going to be in another country with an entirely different language, currency, and food (yes, I’m still bitter about the Euro). Also, it gives you a totally unfair advantage when memorizing slides of medieval buildings for an art history class. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra | Tagged Chicken, Meat and Seafood, Side Dish, Starch | 2 Comments »
May 14, 2010
My roommate and I were up in Toronto this past weekend – she was there to sort of work, I was there to play tourist. We had a good time in Toronto, miserable weather notwithstanding. All the Canadians we met kept apologizing for the weather, and swearing it was highly unusual. I haven’t decided if I believe them or not – we came to the general conclusion that we’d all move to Canada if it was just a bit warmer. Boston is as far north as I go. If I move, I’m moving south not further into the frozen wastelands of the north. On the other hand, bikers who stop and apologize when they cut you off at zebra crossings are a compelling inducement. At the risk of perpetuating a cliché, the Canadians really are awfully friendly and polite. Not that this is a bad thing, it’s just that when you come from New England where nobody makes eye contact with strangers on the street if they don’t have to, it’s a little disconcerting.
Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra, Uncategorized | Tagged Chicken | Leave a Comment »
April 1, 2010
Sometimes you come across a recipe that involves every ingredient in the kitchen and has seventeen steps and you know it will be fantastic because in the end you’ll have created something rich and decadent with layers upon layers of flavor – for example Coq au Vin requires marinating and straining and browning and braising and straining the sauce again, just about every dish in the cupboard and the end result is like liquid sin. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra | Tagged Chicken | 4 Comments »
March 12, 2010
I acknowledge that I am not sane about the Oscars. I don’t mean about caring who wins – although I’ve seen more than a usual number of the movies up for awards this year and hoo boy did I have firm opinions about who shouldn’t win Best Picture/Best Director. Mercifully, the Academy chose to reinforce my faith in humanity this year rather than crush it like they did in 2006 so four years from now I won’t still be grousing about what should have won but didn’t. Sadly there were very few really entertainingly terrible dresses this year – which, let’s face it, is the real reason I watch the Oscars. There was far too much pale pink, and flesh-tones, and Miley Cyrus needed to stand up straight (apparently Lauren Bacall agrees with us on this, which is reassuring because it means that I could be turning into a classy dame and not just channeling my father) but nothing that approached the cheerful insanity of Bjork’s swan dress from 2001, although that is the gold standard for insane Oscar dresses and would be hard to beat.
All that being true, the reason I like entertaining for the Oscars is because it’s an excuse to experiment and make things I’m not entirely sure people will like (b’stilla), things that are just too rich for everyday (cauliflower tart), and things that are just fun (pickled grapes). The Oscars are a chance to fiddle with appetizers and try things in small quantities because I’m not entirely sure what they’ll taste like, and if they’re not entirely successful it won’t be disastrous because there are other things on the table to eat. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra, Uncategorized | Tagged Appetizer, Chicken, Side Dish | 3 Comments »
January 7, 2010
I believe in the power of a pair of 3 ½” heels, not just because I’m short, but because they make awesome clicking noises when you walk across marble floors and that is the universal sound of being a grown-up (well for women anyway).
I believe that foie gras is one of the best things you can eat, and that the santon we saw on the market was of a duck being fattened up with an eye to a nice foie gras at Christmas, not a beloved pet being hand fed, no matter what the woman behind the counter said. I know I speak English, but that doesn’t actually make me an idiot. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra | Tagged Chicken, chili, Meat and Seafood | 6 Comments »
Monday Night Dinner 
