edo ergo sum
The following appeared in this month's Food Notes, the e-newsletter published by Edible Michiana (http://ediblemichiana.ediblecommunities.com/newsletter-archive). If you are what you eat, then my current craze for all things sour doesn’t speak well of me. I can’t get enough kraut and pickles (ferment a batch a week, I say!), and lemons and limes go without saying,… Continue reading Hour of Sour
Tomato and peach from the Grant Park Farmers' Market in Atlanta, basil from the backyard: this is what late June in Georgia looks like on a plate. Not sure I could survive the summers here, but it’s sure nice to visit and eat a month ahead of our Michigan schedule.
My dad grew up in Winchester, VA, in the northern bit of the state from whence hail a lot of good apples and Patsy Cline. (My dad's dad was a food scientist at National Fruit; that meant we got to eat a lot of amazing peaches from dented cans.) Though pretty close to the Mason-Dixon… Continue reading When the Smoke Gets in Your Thighs
My son's birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and he wanted to do a blog post about the dinner. Oven fries, ready for baking... Burgers, his second-favorite food (pizza takes #1), ready for smashing on the griddle... And at the end of the meal, the Roman-numeraled (because of the classicist mama) gingerbread cake... Let's… Continue reading Belated birthday post for the boy
The bones from the Thanksgiving turkey generated many a bowl of delicious stock. Here they make their final contribution, to a lunchtime soup, before being sent to rest in the rubbish. Nary a morsel of meat was left on them. As Julia Child would have said, they gave their all. (The slight soft focus is… Continue reading They gave their all
Tuesday evening I picked up our pasture-raised, heritage (Bourbon Red) turkey from Blackberry Pines Farm, a lovely place run by Jim Ekhardt and Ron Thompson near Pullman, MI. Last time I was out here was a couple of years ago. On that visit, they gave me and my then six-year old son a tour, which… Continue reading My Own Private Portlandia – Thanskgiving edition
We had an excess of Brussels sprouts in the fridge from a recent farmers' market trip, and I saw this Lucky Peach recipe that suggested mole-ing them up and serving them over quinoa. Then I realized that the recipe called for a special mole negro paste from a restaurant in L.A. Stymied - but wait!… Continue reading Hola mole!
Last Wednesday evening, Chef Brian Polcyn, co-author with Michael Ruhlman of the now nearly biblical volumes on curing meat Salumi and Charcuterie, as well as being a well-known restaurateur, cooking instructor, and now wide-ranging food entrepreneur, gave a 4+ hour demo class in the theater kitchen at KVCC’s fabulous new culinary school building. In the… Continue reading Pigging Out
No, not her: That's Julep. Nothing makes her happier than standing next to the counter during meal prep and scarfing up whatever you drop, or stealing the occasional piece of toast from an unguarded child’s plate on the table, or cleaning up after the cat when she's just barfed up her breakfast. Though truth… Continue reading The Food Lab
That's what a guest called these potatoes when we served them to her last summer. They were just as magical last night. Fortunately, it's easy magic to make: get enough little spuds (dime to nickel in diameter) to cover the bottom of whatever skillet you're going to use (cast iron is best). Any kind of… Continue reading Magical Orbs of Happiness