Posts Tagged ‘Chicken’

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WND – Farmer’s Market Addiction

July 24, 2008

I hear that the first step is admitting that you have a problem . . . . I have a problem with farmer’s markets.

They’re so enticing. They make me want to buy far more fruit and vegetables than we can possibly eat before they go bad. They make me want to buy vegetables that I know I don’t like just because they look so pretty sitting there in cheerful jumbled piles. I am lured by the huge glowing purple eggplants, and the muted greens and yellows of summer squash. I am seduced by the earthy mounds of yellow and magenta beets. Read the rest of this entry ?

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WND – The “they’re breaking down the hegemonic structure of the heteronormative language system*” edition

July 19, 2008

You’d have to ask Jes what it’s like to meet us en masse for the first time. I can only imagine that it’s mildly terrifying. Strictly speaking on an individual basis we’re not particularly scary. But, we’ve all known each other for at least 10 years and we’ve been having dinner together once a week for most of that time. We don’t always communicate in full sentences anymore. A lot of the time we short hand ideas via various British comics – Eddie Izzard, the folks at Beyond the Fringe, the occasional influx of Yes, Prime Minister, although that’s mostly just me. We have multiple in jokes about homunculi (because well, once you have one they seem to multiply – the jokes, not the homunculi). We’ve had perfectly serious conversations about the composition and history of blood mead that sounded for all the world like we were contemplating serving it at our next party. Rest assured, to the best of my knowledge none of us has ever served anyone blood mead for any occasion. And, while having an opinion about which captain was the best captain isn’t a requirement, having the answer not be Janeway probably is*.
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WND – You want me to do what?

July 3, 2008

Some of my best friends make recipes out of Martha Stewart Living.

This is actually true and not just a facetious statement, and since occasionally they bring us the fruits of their labors and thus far haven’t shown any signs of alien possession we call this quirky and endearing rather than insane.

Admittedly I occasionally read Martha Stewart Living – usually when I’m over for dinner at afore mentioned friends’ house – but I’ve never seen a recipe of hers and thought, “now that’s something I’m going to make”.  It isn’t that her recipes are unappetizing, it’s just that they’re unrealistic.  They’re for desserts that call for 30 eggs and involve three cakes stacked together to make a single centerpiece.  They’re for stews that have 18 steps and take five hours to make.  I lack that kind of patience.

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WND – Grilled Chicken Salad

June 12, 2008

There are advantages to living in the US – libraries, book stores, movies, TV – but I wouldn’t class grocery stores as one of them.

What I like about shopping in France is that by and large it still operates on the principal of buying your food only 2-3 days in advance. There are green grocers and butchers and bakeries in the middle of cities – not just in the residential areas, but in the financial districts as well. Food and food shopping hasn’t been relegated to the outskirts and the suburbs. I am always frustrated by the fact that if I forget something at the grocery store on the weekend there is nowhere easy for me to pick it up during the week. There’s no small grocery store on my way home where I can go to buy a can of tomatoes, or bag of flour. There’s a 7-11 where I can get some milk, but no eggs or cheese. There’s a farmer’s market in town twice a week during the summer, and while I can get amazing tomatoes there I can’t pick up a box of pasta. If I forget something when I go shopping on the weekend it means that at some point during my week I’ll have to get in the car to go back to the grocery store to pick it up.

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WND – Food Snobbery or No Tofurky Please

June 5, 2008


Here’s the thing. I’m a food snob. I freely admit this, and while I don’t always say it out loud I’m pretty sure it’s not going to come as shocking news to anyone who knows me.

It’s not so much that I don’t believe in tofu, it’s that I think that tofu has a time and place and if I chose to mostly avoid that time and place that’s my own business. What I emphatically don’t believe in is tofu dressed up to taste like bacon or sausage or beef. If you want to be a vegetarian, that’s fine*. Read the rest of this entry ?

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WND – Curried Fruit and the Internet

May 15, 2008

I am a child of the internet age, or at least I’m an adult of the internet age. When I graduated from high school personal email addresses were still unusual enough to cause comment. By the time I graduated from college it was understood that if you couldn’t find it on the internet it didn’t exist.

I probably own 20 or 30 cookbooks, but I only use them if I already know the recipe I want. I don’t browse them for recipe suggestions – unless I’m really desperate for ideas on a Sunday morning. I like flipping through cookbooks in the bookstore, but in the real world I find myself hampered by the inability to key word search them for an ingredient, and by the lack of user feedback. I’ve been spoiled by the reviews section of epicurious.com and foodtv.com. When I read a recipe I now want to know if it really works before I try it. I want to know if it needs to cook for longer than written, or if it’s okay as written but spectacular if you add half a cup of cheese. I want to know if people would make it again, or whether it was more trouble than it was worth. Also, I’m lazy and I never want to have to put away the stack of cookbooks, with the internet all I have to do is close my laptop.

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WND – Sumer is icomen in

May 8, 2008

Summer is my favorite time of year. I love everything about it. I love the colors. I love the fabrics and the clothes. I love the heat. I love the humidity (yes I know I’m crazy, it’s been pointed out to me before). Most especially, I love the food. By the end of winter I’d be willing to engage in minor felonies for fresh fruit and vegetables.

Summer to me is ice tea in the fridge, melon for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and tomatoes bursting with so much flavor you could almost eat them for dessert. It’s open windows and the smell of freshly cut grass, and planning your meals so that you don’t have to turn the oven on more than necessary. It’s letting the heat soak in to your bones so that you can store it up against next winter’s cold.

Massachusetts is gracing us with a real spring this year, and summer feels like it’s around the corner. The days are (with a few exceptions) warm and sunny. There’s been enough rain to turn everything green, but no so much that I feel like I should be contemplating the logistics of building an ark. It’s not quite summer yet, but I can see it from here.

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WND – Spicy Roasted Potatoes

April 24, 2008

My mother asked me an interesting question the other day: Is it cheaper to make pancakes with Bisquick than it is to make them from scratch?

I cook from scratch (a) because I like cooking; (b) because I’m inherently distrustful of the preservatives they use to extend shelf life; and (c) because it honestly doesn’t take any longer to make pancake batter from scratch than it does to use Bisquick. And okay, (d) because there’s a part of me that feels superior for doing it, although I usually manage to not actually say that.

My mother was reading an article about the rising cost of groceries in the US, and the problems that’s causing in conjunction with the failing economy. What struck her was the picture that accompanied the article of a woman with a shopping cart piled full of Bisquick and cake mixes. If you are pinching your pennies and cutting back on meat and other luxuries on your shopping list, are you compounding the problem by relying on mixes rather than making your own? Read the rest of this entry ?

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WND – My Colors are Blush and Bashful

April 17, 2008

“The groom’s cake! It’s awful…it’s in the shape of a giant armadillo. Worse, the cake part is red velvet. People are going to be hacking into this poor animal that looks like it’s bleedin’ to death!” – Steel Magnolias –

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WND – Seasonal Ennui

March 27, 2008

I am experiencing seasonal ennui. It’s reached that time of year where I just want it to be Spring already. On the one hand, I am greatly in favor the earlier roll back of Daylight Savings Time. I’m not convinced I’m saving money on electricity, which I think was the point, but I am enjoying walking home in the sunshine, however thin and cold it might be. On the other hand, I keep expecting it to be much warmer outside than it is. Technically it’s Spring right now, although you couldn’t prove it by the weather outside which is stubbornly resisting my desire to leave my heavy winter coat at home.

They’re predicting snow for later this week (it won’t stick, but still) and sadly I can’t fly south for the rest of the winter. To console myself I made Southern food for dinner because it reminds me of summer, and if I can’t actually be in a warmer climate I can at least eat like I am.

Barbeque Baked Beans
Chicken with Root Beer Barbeque Sauce
Corn Muffins
Ambrosia Salad
Salad

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