So good to me

You have been so good to me this week. So good. You told me to rest, and to keep it simple, stupid, and gave me specific strategies for making this last quarter (!) of 2007 easier: you sent family recipes (none of which are supposed to be kept secret, thankfully), recipe ideas, and suggestions ranging [...]

DIY Rosemary-Walnut Toasts

I’m a sucker for both rosemary and walnut breads (especially the kinds made by Essential Baking Company in Seattle). Yesterday I picked up a baguette from Tall Grass at the season’s last Phinney Ridge farmers’ market (sadness!), and when I got home, I kept thinking about the flavored breads. . .

Walnut-Rosemary Toasts (PDF)
Recipe 272 of [...]

For Squash

My brother’s name is Josh, and there was an unfortunate period in his life when everyone called him Squash. It happened to coincide with the years he was the puniest, scrawniest pre-teen there ever was. This is no longer the case; he is now strapping and handsome – but I still can’t hear someone talk [...]

94 to go

I’m not gonna lie to you. Today, I don’t feel like doing this. My hands still ache from peeling apples for applesauce, my body is fighting to recover from hiking or horseback riding (still?) or maybe 7 mg, and I just want to eat take-out three nights in a row like a normal person, sitting [...]

269: Almond-Dusted Green Beans

Almond-Dusted Green Beans (PDF)
Recipe 269 of 365
Green beans, butter, and almonds are a fairly typical combination. Here’s something similar, done in a not-so-typical way: The green beans are coated with olive oil and chopped garlic, then sprinkled with almond meal and roasted in a hot oven. The texture is unique, and it’s a quick side [...]

Huckleberry Sin

I’ve never quite understood why some people insist on keeping family recipes secret. Isn’t bringing people together the point of a family recipe? And doesn’t sharing recipes tend to bring people together? Why do you read hogwash?
Now, if a bakery considers a recipe proprietary information (The Boise Co-Op’s lemon cookie comes to mind first), I’m [...]

Falling

In French, there’s a term for making a noun out of another word, nominalization. (Nom means both name and noun in French.) We do it in English, too, but since I learned it in French, I think of it as a French linguistic term.
I tend to do the opposite, stuffing nouns into action verbs as [...]

September reading (and listening)

Oh, and yes, I’ve been meaning to tell you. Check out my rather cranky piece on blackberries in Delicious City, the new Seattle food publication that launches this week. (Better late than never.) I also have a September Cookout Menu in Seattle Homes & Lifestyles, and a piece on Tom Douglas in the Septemer issue [...]

A list from Bromley, and the bittiest shrimp

We just got back from camping overnight in the Cascades, up near Stevens Pass. We went prepared for a little campfire, you know, hot dogs and s’mores and the like, but there had been a wee bit of a downpour, so no firewood was to be found. We came home, unloaded everything, and promptly hit [...]

265: The Greatest Little Potato Recipe Ever

Are you ready for this one? It’s like the town of Howe, Idaho. If you blink, you’ll miss it.
Take a pound of baby potatoes, any color or everycolor (like the beans), and mix them in a bowl with 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard.

Dump into a shallow baking pan, roast for about 40 minutes at 400 [...]

A Vermontish Apple Crisp

After their failed blind date the other day, I had to keep trying to get apples and cheese together, first because I still have all these apples, and second because I’m stubborn like that. If seeing the word “cheddar” in a dessert recipe freaks you out, please have faith. This is not cheese pie, it’s [...]

Soup on the brain

When the weather cools off, I get soup on the brain. I always start with my favorites – smooth squash soups, chicken noodle (tonight?), and this year, soupe a l’oignon, because I finally have a (meaning one) vessel that looks appropriate for it. (When I invited my neighbor over for lunch today to share, I [...]

A long-winded way to say “we had a great time”

I think it had been ten years since I used a gas pump like this. When we pulled up next to it in Wallace, Idaho, in the only vehicle in sight without a gun rack, I should have seen it as some sort of omen: Our weekend in Montana would be a time warp, in [...]

Less guns, more butter

I have a new favorite song, called Guns and Butter, by Hot Buttered Rum, the kickin’ bluegrass band that played at Josh and Dani’s wedding. (I’ll tell you more about that soon.)
Less guns, more butter. It’s an old argument, but yes, I quite agree.
This one will have you scooting miniature portions out, brownie-style, as long [...]

260: Nectarine Skewers

Peach fuzz makes me squirm.
I love the soft, bright flavor of a good late summer peach, as long as there is no skin involved. Yes, I know, a peach’s identity depends largely on the fuzziness of its skin, and I love that fuzz, as long as it’s nowhere near my mouth.
But the moment said fuzz [...]

Trader Joe’s: Yay or nay?

I’ve had this box of Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Blue Cornbread Mix in my pantry for going on six months. I’ve wanted to make muffins or corn dogs or something different with it for ages, but every time I base a recipe on something from TJ’s, I get this little stab of wonder: how many of [...]

From the law office of Hubbard, Gravenstein and Sage

Hubbard-Apple Soup (PDF)
Recipe 258 of 365
Flecked with sage and spiked with maple syrup and cayenne pepper, this soup is a true harbinger of fall. I used the first Hubbard squash of the season (you can usually buy big chunks pre-cut and seeded) and tangy Gravenstein apples, but any firm winter squash and tart apple will do. [...]

Would you like to buy an O?

We’re leaving for Big Sky, Montana today. We’re attending a wedding at the Rainbow Ranch. We’re excited for the wedding, but we’re driving. Not so excited for the driving.
Yesterday I put together some food for the car (and recipes for the weekend), using bits of this and that, all the things that had to be [...]

Boiled fingers and hot sauce

I peel the mesh covering off the slow-cooked pork shoulder and place the pork on a cutting board. I’ve seared it good and brown, and it doesn’t take more than a nudge to get the meat to start flaking off in fat, juicy strips. My heart does that little pork dance, and I preheat the [...]

Beef before coffee

Last year, we celebrated our arrival in Seattle (one year ago today!) by ordering a family pack of beef, pork, and chicken from Skagit River Ranch to stash in the freezer and use over the course of the year. It was a good idea, so we did it again this year.
Last Sunday morning, Eiko showed [...]