Blood, Bones & Butter
My birthday present to myself this year was a copy of Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by recent James Beard award-winning chef Gabrielle Hamilton. Then my food-themed book group decided to read it for our next discussion. Problem was, I plowed through the story so quickly, it was a [...]
Asian Grilled Tofu
Sometimes I challenge myself to come up with dinners using only food in the house. Such was the case last night when I didn’t feel like going out after arriving home from a four-day trip. Having a winter into spring garden helps, as does a semi-stocked pantry. The resulting Asian flavored tofu and vegetable dish [...]
Irish Quick Bread
A few weeks ago, I won an Irish-inspired recipe contest with my vegetarian Cottage Garden Pie. I ended up with a gorgeous cookbook, the James Beard Award-winner The Country Cooking of Ireland and about 8 pounds of Kerrygold cheese and butter! To thank Amber, who ran the contest on her blog, I invited her and [...]
The Scent of A City
I met Maryellen Burns over a year ago. Our meetings and conversations became frequent as we discovered our common interest in food. Not to mention her extensive Sacramento area food history knowledge (she can paint pictures that take you back to what it was like and make you smile), she’s a lively character, great cook [...]
Guinea Pig Kids: Trying New Things
Want something green in your life? Try pistachio-sage pesto to hold you until summer arrives.
Souring Your Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut- I haven’t eaten it much but being of German descent causes me to take note when I hear the word. Grilled bratwurst with sauerkraut and mustard is right up there on my taste scale but there are a multitude of other applications I’ve discovered as I delve into the world of fermented and pickled [...]
Irish Inspired Stew
Ann posted a recipe she made from her book Hand’s Off Cooking yesterday, an entry in Amber’s Kerrygold Irish inspired challenge. Joining in on the fun (and secretly thinking all that Kerrygold cheese and butter could be lots of fun to have in my fridge) I decided on shaking up the traditional Irish stew. I [...]
Chermoula My Pesto
Ever flip through a cookbook and find lots of things you’d like to make? Or a magazine? Or a blog? I found chermoula doing this, a North African marinade and sauce. Chermoula is similar to a pesto in that it comes in lots of varieties- Ann just shared her spinach pesto recipe. It’s pungent in [...]
When Your Kid Only Wants Pasta
This week, I thought I’d talk about the horror of many an omnivorous parent: What do you do when your kid only wants to eat pasta? I like pasta so much that I used to wish I was Italian when I was little, but I try not to carbo load every day. Coming up with [...]
Quince Slices You’ll Love
Quince is definitely not the easiest fruit to work with but if you’re willing to put some effort into it, it’s worth the eating reward. I’m finding I like this darn hard fruit more and more. I keep getting grocery bags full of seasonal fruit from various friends and just got one with the largest [...]
