Category: Food

Burlap! Camellias! Verdi!


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I regularly order wheat berries and hulled barley from Amazon, five pounds at a time, to grind into flour. This time the wheat came in a beautiful burlap bag. It’s a tiny burlap bag, but I haven’t seen a burlap bag in years.

My camellias are blooming. Camellias in bloom always make me think of La Dame aux Camélias, the 1848 novel by Alexandre Dumas fils, which I read in French some years ago. Verdi turned the story into an opera, La Traviata. It’s a tragic story, but Verdi included a happy piece, which also is a waltz.


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Barley pancakes, and two mysteries

Why is it that grains that are so difficult to make into bread — barley and buckwheat, for example — make such perfect pancakes?

And why is that so much barley is grown — especially in Europe — but that so little of it is eaten? Most of the barley goes into beers and ales and whiskeys, while trendy but inferior grains such as quinoa get all the attention.

I’m a barley evangelist, as regular readers know. I can’t imagine not keeping organic hulled barley in stock, with an electric mill to grind it into flour.

The pancakes in the photo are made from fresh-ground barley flour, a little olive oil, a little baking powder, and nonfat milk.

Getting by in a pub-deprived culture


Vegetarian fake chicken pie. Click here for high-resolution version.

To those of us born into a Northern European culture, there is no food more magical than a pie. Pies have ancestors in the ancient Mediterranean, but I suspect that it was in medieval England where the magical pies of fairy tales (and now, pubs!) came into existence.

Regular readers know how much I like the British and Irish pubs, and how deprived I feel because America does not have a proper pub culture. And, in pubs, it’s not just about the drink. It’s also about the food. I’m recently home from Scotland, and fall weather has arrived. So I can’t stop thinking about savory pies.

I kick myself for neglecting to photograph the seafood pie that Ken and I had in a pub in Peebles, near the John Buchan museum. Every pub is different, of course. Many pubs don’t have savory pies with a complete top and bottom crust — a lazy compromise. Instead, the filling is poured into a baking vessel, and a round piece of crust is laid on top. The pie is still good, but the magic isn’t very effective. The best pies, really, come from high street bakeries.


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Cream of mushroom soup and whole wheat bread. Click here for high-resolution version.

⬆︎ Bread and soup

And then there’s bread and soup. Somewhere in Scotland there must be pubs that can beat me at bread and soup. I haven’t yet found those pubs, though.

⬆︎ Wood for winter

The photo is from my morning ATV ride. An old oak up on the ridge had died. Neighbors sawed it up and split it for firewood. I wish I had the option of heating with wood. But I don’t have a chimney.

21,000 steps before supper


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Probably the most written-about hotspot for food in Edinburgh is the Sheep Heid Inn, especially their Sunday roasts. This inn lies some distance from the more trafficked parts of Edinburgh. If you walk down the Royal Mile to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, you’ll be right at the foot of Arthur’s Seat, a high, steep hill with stunning views. The walk up Arthur’s Seat will burn some calories.

Then if you descend from Arthur’s Seat in just the right direction, you’ll find the Sheep Heid Inn, hidden among some trees and a high stone wall. According to my watch, I had gone more than 21,000 steps in Edinburgh that day before we had Sunday roast at the Sheep Heid Inn.

Dunrobin Castle


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Most of Scotland’s castles are in varying stages of ruin. An exception is Dunrobin Castle, which is about an hour’s drive north of Inverness. The castle is in beautiful condition, and it’s fully furnished. It must cost a fortune to maintain.

Oyster stew

There’s no other taste in the world like oysters. I remember having oyster stew fairly often as a boy, and though I was a picky eater I loved it. Here in North Carolina — and probably all along the Eastern Seaboard, oysters are a rural as well as a coastal tradition. On the unpaved private road I live on, 200 miles from the Atlantic, this rural tradition has survived. I or a neighbor will buy a 40-pound box of oysters and share them around.

My share this weekend was a dozen oysters. I turned the whole dozen of them into one serving of a very oystery stew. As I recall, when I was a child, oysters, butter, and milk were pretty much the only ingredients. These days I like to add a little diced celery and diced onion — and heavy cream. Crackers are de rigeur.

I assume these oysters came from the Chesapeake Bay. From Googling I find that the oyster harvest there is still improving as work continues on reviving the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry, which was in steep decline twenty years ago. Fresh oysters are cheap again — $30 for a 40-pound box. They come packed in ice. I still have the shucking tool I bought years ago for shucking oysters from Tomales Bay in California. The Tomales Bay oysters are superb. But the Chesapeake Bay oysters are just as good.

Some years ago, in a vacation cabin on Tomales Bay, my mother, sister, and I made Southern-style deep-fried oysters. What a lot of work, and what a mess! Whereas making oyster stew is easy once the shucking is done. I’ve also had oysters at an oyster bar in Edinburgh. That was interesting. But homemade oyster stew is still my favorite.

By the way, that vacation cabin was a part of Manka’s Inverness Lodge, which I understand is now permanently closed. The cabin was right beside Tomales Bay with a path leading to the water. The main lodge was on a ridge, in the woods, on the other side of the road. Manka’s demise was tragic. The New York Times wrote about it here: Margaret Grade, Whose California Inn Was Beloved by Stars, Dies at 72. Stars indeed. I’ve been there many times, and even if you are a nobody like me, you felt like a star as soon as you walked in the door.

Beans for breakfast?


A modest version of a Scottish breakfast: Barley scone, beans, fake bacon, grilled tomatoes, fried egg

It’s less than a month until my trip to Scotland, and that got me looking forward to those enormous and irresistible Scottish breakfasts. How did it come to pass, I wondered, how beans are served for breakfast (to tourists, anyway) in both England and Scotland? I even have had breakfast beans in a hotel on Connaught Place in Delhi, which made me wonder if the idea came from India.

Nope. According to ChatGPT, breakfast beans came from America.

The H.J. Heinz Co., said the AI, started shipping its tinned Boston baked beans to Britain as early 1895. “By the 1920s,” AI wrote, “Heinz had adapted the recipe for British tastes, making it less sweet and more tomato-forward. These beans were cheap, easy to store, and didn’t require cooking from scratch, which made them popular in working-class homes — and eventually a fixture in the full English breakfast after WWII.” Breakfast beans arrived in Wales and Scotland a bit later, AI said — the 1960s-70s.

When I was making the breakfast in the photo, I tried to figure out the minimum number of pans required — (two). In a commercial kitchen, I’m sure, those big British breakfasts are cooked on a griddle. That made me realize than an electric griddle would be a nice thing to have, if I had a place to store it.

Democrats always get blamed for what fascists do

If I made a short list of the biggest lies ever told, one of them would be that there are two sides to every story. But there are not two sides to fascism — not two truthful sides, anyway. But that’s not how the mainstream media play it. We have a word for it — “both-sidesism.” It’s an ugly cousin of radical centrism, and it’s a foolish and deadly way of describing a world that has wicked people in it. Both-sidesism requires that lies have to be treated as though they’re true, or at least might be true, or at least that some people think they’re true.

There is a huge industry that blames Democrats for what Republicans do. For example, how many times have we heard that “Democrats abandoned the working class.” But Democrats didn’t abandon the working class. Republicans won over the working class with propaganda and con men that appeal to the deplorables’ ignorance, their racism, their gullibility, their awful religion, and their meanness.

The moment someone dares to point this out, the propaganda and con men have a ready answer: See there! You call them ignorant, racist, gullible, and mean but you claim you didn’t abandon them! No wonder they don’t like you! This is thought to be a real clincher of an argument that really owns and bedazzles the libs.

This so-called clincher of an argument also belongs on a short list of the biggest lies ever told. That lie is that educated elites are the real cause of fascism and that the deplorables are really just wonderful, wonderful people, if only we understood them. As for educated elites, as much blame gets heaped on liberals for failures to stand in the way of fascism as on fascists for their fascism. But if the deplorables saw fit to hand both houses of Congress, and the White House, to Republicans, just what magic wands do we expect Democrats to use to exert control, especially since fascists have packed the courts? Gavin Newsom of California is finally getting some traction with ridicule and plain talk.

Those who blame liberals for fascism apparently think that there exists some political strategy in which the deplorables can be won back from fascism with flattery, sweet talk, and “understanding.” That is nonsense. We have passed the tipping point. The only solution is to remind the deplorables that there are more civilized people in the world than there are deplorables, and that civilized people have a bigger stick, once they decide to use it. If the deplorables want a war, then ask them whose side half the American people (the smarter half), plus Europe, Canada, and Mexico would be on. Gavin Newsom and Beto O’Rourke are now, at last, being heard above the noise of both-sidesism.

One of most beautiful things we’ve seen lately was seven European leaders — five of them heads of state — descending on Washington to let Trump know where some lines will be drawn. The American media pretended not to understand, because it would feel oh so very harsh to have to explain to the American people that they now live in a rogue country that the world is preparing to deal with. That visit was a warning.

Trump and company know that this is their last chance. They’re going to go for full-on fascism that no law and no election can depose, counting on never being held accountable, free to loot and to dominate. They don’t have the cards to do that. Someone should remind them of Nuremberg.

Summer is winding down


A spicebush swallowtail butterfly was kind enough to pose for me on a Mexican sunflower. Click here for high-resolution version.

After a hot and humid month, Hurricane Erin moved up the East Coast, followed by weather than feels like early fall, with nighttime lows in the 60s and even 50s.

What a relief.

Protein bombs for the protein wars

On July 27, the New York Times had a very nice piece on protein and fitness — The Protein Bar Arms Race. Specifically it’s about a new entry in the market for protein bars — David bars. These bars have 28 grams of protein at the price of only 150 calories.

It happens that I was on a diet for about three months. I’m also trying to gain some muscle. To do both at the same time is difficult, especially at my age. The only hope is in keeping carbs and calories down while keeping protein up, plus resistance training and a creatine supplement. These are my doctor’s orders, actually. Because I’m healthy and can have a long “health span” if I behave myself, he says that gradual loss of muscle mass over the years is what’s most likely to put me out of commission someday if I don’t head it off. Walking is not enough, he said (but keep walking). Resistance training is essential. He prescribes 30 minutes of resistance training three times a week. He practices what he preaches. He’s as lean as a whippet and as fit as fiddle.

I used to think that resistance training always involves gyms and machines. But I’m learning that, these days, more and more people are doing their resistance training at home using inexpensive hand weights and a video routine. There are many of those on YouTube. A good video routine will keep you moving, as though you’re doing circuit training. So it’s good for your aerobic fitness as well as your muscles. My weakness is staying with it. I’ll try.

The David bars are pretty pricey. They can be ordered from Amazon, though they’re shipped directly from David’s. I’ve tried only the fudge brownie flavor so far, and they’re quite good.

Cucumbers … and sesame


Asian cucumber salad with salmon pâté

The local summer tomatoes aren’t here yet. The cucumbers, though, are tiding me over. For the past three weeks, I’ve gotten three pints of cucumbers each week from my local farmers, Brittany and Richard. They grow four types of cucumbers. I love them all.

If I were asked to make a short list of the loftiest flavors on the planet, I’d include toasted sesame. Sesame is an ancient crop with a history that goes back at least 3,000 years. (Barley, by comparison, was cultivated 9,000 years ago!) I always have raw sesame seeds in the fridge, and every time I think to use them I wonder why I don’t use them more often. They’re easy to toast, in a skillet. As for storebought toasted sesame oil, I use that almost every day.

I haven’t seen it in ages, but health food stores used to sell sesame salt. That’s a Japanese condiment (gomasio) made from toasted sesame seeds (ground) and salt. It’s easy to make your own. Toast the sesame seeds in a skillet, and grind them in a blender.

We usually disparage the post-agriculture diet as inferior to the hunter-gatherer diet. No doubt that’s true. But, these days, when international trade and international shipping are so easy, we can have post-agriculture foods from all over the world at low prices — foods from other climates, and thus a much greater variety of foods. Then again, a purely local diet can be healthy, too — as long as one has, or has access to, some really good fields, pastures, and gardens.

After all, what is comfort food for?


Fried barley biscuit with fixin’s

Especially on a diet, there is only so much that a mortal can do to fend off the heathen craving for bread and wine. Yesterday, a friend in California who had no idea that I’m on a diet sent me this text:

“I got a loaf of organic sourdough batard, some organic avocado oil mayonnaise, some Irish Kerry Gold butter, and some prosecco from Spain. I also got a bottle of organic Merlot.”

That, and the news, sent me over the edge. I tried to work out how to get maximum comfort from, say, 900 calories or less.

Fried barley biscuits were the solution: flour made from hulled barley, a little olive oil, and nonfat milk. Frying the biscuits in a little peanut oil made the biscuits a little less dry than if I had baked them.

Ignorance and folly

One of the most horrifying images I’ve seen in months was the White House photo of Trump, Vance, Rubio and Hegseth lying their ignorant asses off for the cameras. It would be hard to find four greater fools and sicker souls anywhere on the planet, and yet there they were, in the White House.

MAGA types probably still believe Trump’s lies and triumphalism. But I give the media high credit for starting to get the truth out so fast that by Sunday morning, on the talk shows, Trump’s goons had to start walking things back.

One of my biggest concerns is terrorism. Iran doesn’t have the capability of a military response far from their own borders. They’ll have to retaliate on the cheap, and that means terrorism. The Washington Post took up that subject this morning: A weakened Iran could turn to assassination and terrorism to strike back.

I hope gasoline prices jump to $11 a gallon. Gasoline prices are one of the few things that the American ignorati can understand.


Fools, rushing in

Diet theory


A diet burger made from mashed pinto beans, whole-grain (hulled) barley, wheat germ, and seasonings

There is a movement that argues that diets don’t work, and that people don’t have to be lean to be healthy. Diets don’t work, they say, because, when people lose weight on a diet, they almost always gain it back.

Of course they gain it back! What would be the fun of eating lean all the time? There’s a fix for gaining the weight back: Do another diet.

Thus I often say that I’m an experienced dieter. The real trick with dieting, though, I would say, is to not wait too long to start a diet when you need to start a diet. For most of my adult life, my weight has cycled up and down by about ten pounds.

Gaining ten pounds is great fun. One feels lean after a successful diet, and one wants to celebrate. But eventually that will catch up with you, and another diet cycle must begin. The relative length of the cycles, for me anyway, is not that bad. A diet usually lasts for three to six months. Whereas a live-it-up spree can last from two to four years. If I had better discipline, I’d start a diet after gaining five pounds. That doesn’t work for me, though, probably because at five pounds I can still pretend that my belt isn’t getting too tight.

My first rule for dieting is to count calories, aiming for 1,200 calories a day. That’s enough to have a reasonable chance of getting enough protein. It would be possible to have a doughnut-only diet and lose weight on 1,200 calories a day. But that would be miserable, because one’s glucose level would cycle wildly.

It’s the simple carbs that have to go — bread and pasta, for example. Then, each day, one must figure out how to get enough protein and stay under the calorie target. Fiber is the dieter’s friend. You can have pretty much as much low-carb vegetables as you can eat. The fiber keeps the microbiome well fed, and I think that helps keep the appetite under control.

On a diet, you’re going to be hungry for part of the day. But that’s not so bad if you keep the carbs down, and thus the need for insulin. The current trend in dieting is intermittent fasting. I aim for 19-5 — two meals a day between noon and 5 p.m. I’m moderately hungry in the mornings, but I never go to bed hungry.

There’s pasta, bread, and potatoes in my future. But not yet.