Dinner May 27th – Brief Pause in Our Asparagus Consumption for a Birthday
Zucchini-Basil Soup
Grilled Cheese Two Ways
– The Italian Stallion (aka Tomato-Basil-Cheddar Grilled Cheese)
– The Hot Brit (aka Chutney-Cheddar Grilled Cheese)
Salad with Rhubarb Vinaigrette
(Pea)nut Chocolate Bourbon Pie
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When I was growing up I was always told that ‘because is not an answer’. However, this week as far as Dinner is concerned, ‘because’ is absolutely the answer.
Why make peach moonshine? Because I could. Okay, also because I came across a recipe for it about 2 months ago and have wanted an excuse to infuse the essence of peach into alcohol ever since. It is delicious, and also a gorgeous color. Read the rest of this entry ?
BREAKING NEWS!
It is officially corn and tomato season. Let the gorging commence.
I stopped by the Stillman’s stand at the Wednesday farmer’s market on July 3rd and stared in blank astonishment at the pile of corn they had on display. Surprised, I asked how on earth they’d achieved corn in time for the 4th of July. The way that Kate Stillman muttered, ‘you have no idea what it took for us to achieve this’ left me wondering if small animals had been sacrificed on the edges of fields. Turns out it was a somewhat more prosaic method involving seeds from Germany, and hot houses, and constant constant vigilance – the guy at the stand looked exhausted just talking about it. It is possible virgin sacrifice would have been less time consuming all round, although you do then have to do something with the body. Read the rest of this entry ?
If you live in a major urban center in the US, or if you’ve watched the Food Network recently, you’ll have witnessed the explosion of the food truck movement. Boston is not exempt from this, and if you work in the downtown area you can have your pick of Southern-style barbeque, Silk Road-style barbeque, bahn-mi, noodle bowls, grilled cheese, popsicles, cupcakes, and (most excitingly) pickles. The grand daddy of all the Boston food trucks, however, is the Clover Food Lab truck. It didn’t quite start the movement in Boston, but it’s probably one of the best known, and with six trucks scattered around the city (Park Street, South Station, Longwood Medical Area, Kendall Square, BU and the South End) and two store front locations (Harvard Square, Inman Square, and theoretically coming soon to Hynes Convention Center) it’s also one of the most easily available. Read the rest of this entry ?
I, apparently, need a bowl.
It’s okay, I’ll wait while you all stop laughing hysterically and pointing at my china cabinet with its plethora of bowls.
My problem is that while I have three sets of soup bowls (in a variety of sizes, and quantities); and a large assortment of medium size serving bowls that are the right size for serving two people; and an even larger assortment of very large serving bowls that are the right size for serving Dinner; and a few small condiment size serving bowls; what I only have the one of is a bowl that’s in between medium and very large. Read the rest of this entry ?
I got to the farmer’s market last Thursday at the very end of the day which is always a mixed blessing. On the one hand you sometimes get fantastic deals because the farmers don’t want to have to repack and take home the bits and pieces they have left, so they’ll sell them to you for a fraction of what they were during the day. On the other hand, they’re frequently sold out of whatever it was you actually needed. This is how I ended up with 12 crazy early mostly unripe peaches and then had to figure out what I was going to do with them. Read the rest of this entry ?
There’s a new ‘diet’ making the rounds that seems to primarily consist of fantasizing about food that you then don’t eat. Okay, so there’s a little more to it than that. The idea, as far as I can tell, is that if you think about whatever it is that you’re craving – a burger, an ice cream sundae, an enormous plate of macaroni and cheese – and you visualize yourself eating it, and imagine the tastes and smells in Technicolor detail you’ll then stop craving it. Imagining the experience is, apparently, enough to satisfy the craving. 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 ?
Very occasionally aphorisms come true. In the first instance, virtue was both its own reward and the early bird caught the worm. Or, put another way, a couple of weekends ago I got myself up and dressed on Saturday morning long before I actually wanted to be awake and took myself off to the grocery store to get it out of the way so that I could have time for the more interesting parts of my weekend. The reward for my virtue? I scored two of the few bundles of early local asparagus at Wilson Farms. In fact, I had a bag of green beans in my hand when I spied the slender green stalks of local asparagus out of the corner of my eye, turned around, dumped out the green beans and grabbed for the asparagus. It’s possible the Produce Manager at Wilson Farms laughed at me a little when I squeaked in excitement. Ask me if I cared; I had asparagus. Read the rest of this entry ?
I firmly believe that sandwiches are the world’s perfect food. You can eat them for any meal of the day. They can be sweet or savory. They can be hand held or served on a plate and require a knife and fork to eat. They can embody the spirit of any culture and cuisine. Plus, by definition they contain a tasty starch. There is no bad in this equation.
The British understand the appeal of sandwiches (and bacon) on such a deep emotional level that students at Leeds University got funding to research and derive a scientific formula for making the perfect bacon buttie. How much do you wish you could have been a part of that research team? Read the rest of this entry ?
Monday Night Dinner 