Skip to content

Category Archives: Food

Falafel

Monday, September 28, 2020

Once you legalize deep-frying in your kitchen (as I recently did), you’re on a slippery slope to — falafel. I probably thought of falafel as one of those city foods that can be made only after centuries of practice, and only in a commercial kitchen, like bagels. With falafel, it’s not like that at all. […]

Also filed in | | Comments (0)

Deep frying?

Friday, September 25, 2020

For many years, I avoided deep-frying. The first reason was that it’s messy. The second is that it’s not regarded as healthy. Then again … When I measure the oil before and after frying, I find that surprisingly little oil is lost — certainly less than a stir-fry, which is regarded as healthy. Also, I […]

Also filed in | | Comments (0)

It was 94F in the garden, though

Monday, July 20, 2020

Vegetables don’t like to be picked in the heat of the day. Early morning is the best time. But basil wants to be clipped five minutes ago, so this basil, squash, and tomato went from the garden to the supper table in 35 minutes.

Also filed in Sustainable living | | Comments (0)

I wore out my first copy

Monday, July 20, 2020

It was 1976, I believe, when I bought a copy of the 1943 edition of Irma Rombauer’s The Joy of Cooking at a junk shop. I am not hard on books, so I’m sure that the book was in fairly rough condition when I bought it. Over the years, though, the fabric peeled off the […]

Also filed in Culture | | Comments (2)

Food departments

Monday, July 6, 2020

A screen capture from the Washington Post web site When a newspaper is prospering and newsroom budgets are growing, that newspaper can have itself a food department. When revenue is sliding and newsroom budgets are being cut, the food department is the first to go. If the Washington Post had a notable food department ten […]

Also filed in | | Comments (0)

Cucumber sandwiches

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Here in the U.S., cucumber sandwiches are thought to be an English thing. I’m not sure if that’s true, though it sounds reasonable, and stores here sometimes sell what we call “English cucumbers.” In any case, when I was a boy in rural North Carolina, cucumbers were plentiful, but I had never heard of a […]

Also filed in Culture | | Comments (4)

Borage

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Click here for high-resolution version. I had not previously encountered borage. I think it is not as commonly used in the U.S. as it is in Europe. But we grew some this year in Ken’s herb trough, starting from seeds in a variety pack of favorite German herbs that I bought on Amazon. The borage […]

Also filed in Sustainable living | | Comments (0)

One last noble service from your mayonnaise jars

Saturday, June 20, 2020

It bugs me how much food gets wasted inside retail food jars, no matter how much scraping you do when the jar is empty. With mayonnaise jars, my solution is to keep the near-empty jars in the refrigerator until I need a quick salad dressing. Add vinegar, seasonings, and herbs, shake it up, and you’re […]

Also filed in Sustainable living | | Comments (0)

Countdown to summer: 4, 3, 2, 1

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

The first pesto of the season may not be as exciting as the first tomato sandwich. But it’s pretty exciting. It would have been a crime to apply heat to a perfect little squash that was growing in a cool rain only minutes ago. So I et it raw. Speaking of summer, do we tolerate […]

Also filed in Sustainable living | | Comments (2)

April 20

Monday, April 20, 2020

The photo is from 7:50 p.m. Supper is over, and the kitchen has been tidied up after the wreckage of a wok supper. I am so lucky not to be cooking for one — or gardening or orcharding for one — during this quarantine. There is a certain reluctance, as suppertime approaches, for those who […]

Also filed in Sustainable living, The land | | Comments (2)