Feb 26 2009
Mario Batali eat your heart out. Depression Cooking by Clara, my new favorite chef.
food
Dec 25 2008
if only life could be like roasted broccoli with red pepper.
Nov 06 2008
Will My Kids Hate It?
Spinach with bacon and Spanish tortilla.
One child abstained. the other, ate with neutrality (which equals success although I practice detachment all the time and the fact that I’m blogging about it means that I have not detached enough). I stopped asking my kids if they liked the food I made. I just put it out and it’s up to them to choose to eat, or not; to enjoy, or not. It also helps if the cook has a glass of wine and is myopic. Since I fixed my eyes, I don’t have myopia as an option, so drinking will have to be enough.
Oct 31 2008
Machaca
El Cilantro, Long Beach, CA. Excellent Mexican food, at good prices.
Oct 19 2008
what makes me proud to be an American
I have to plan the goddamn menu for the week and in my research, I came across this recipe for “Talerine.” Think Hamburger Helper, which I cannot eat as an adult, having had it too much in the 70’s, and therefore I cannot prepare it for my family either (much to my kids’ dismay, as HH is their idea of haute cuisine). As a kid, I too enjoyed it for a while, but then I began to object to the frequency of this dish being served and my mother explained that she made it because times were tough. It was difficult for me to comprehend tough times at age 8, but HH became inextricably linked with economic hardship from then on.
What’s great about the recipe post, though, is the comments section. There is no real name for the dish, but it has been known as “HOTDISH” (all caps required), “Shut up and Eat it”, “Goulash”, “Johnny Marzetti”, “haluski”, and “Grandma’s Goop”, to name a few.
This dish is constantly being reinvented, for better or worse. Anything goes in the US of A! Throw in crushed Fritos! Use tortillas, call it tamale pie! Substitute Tater Tots for the noodles! Turn it into soup! It makes me proud to be an American, yall! Let’s reinvent ourselves, just like we do with food.
Sep 17 2008
safe seafood
The Ethicurean produces in this reader either total rage or abundant hope. It’s rarely in between the two. So I have to steel myself whenever there’s a new post.
The latest post about the jacked up BULLHOCKEY that government is pushing to create POISONOUS SEAFOOD by allowing the conversion of abandoned oil rigs to fish farms, definitely sent my emotions over to RAGE.
BUT the good thing about Ethicurean’s post is that I finally have in my possession a definitive, researched list of fish that is safe to eat and OK for the environment. I’m trying to focus on the positive. Got hope?
Aug 06 2008
Sacred and profane
In my carry-on bag there is:
The most heavenly smelling French soap
Both gifts from Abigail, gracious hostess living in splendor with her boys and the trees
Jul 27 2008
what is this herb?
[Update] PURSLAIN, and I think I have some growing in my backyard now, though the photo is of a purchase made at the farmer’s market. I thought it was a weed but didn’t pull it because maybe it would turn out to be useful. Turns out, it is, somewhat: they are mixed in salads, eaten boiled as spinach, or pickled. (source)
[Update] AKA Verdolaga
Highest vegetable source for omega-3 fatty acids, well-documented for beneficial cardiovascular and cholesterol controlling effects. Chickens grazing on purslane produce high omega-3 eggs.
[Update] Purslane Tomato Salad (Pirpirim / Semizotu Piyazı) - Turkish recipe
