Because it’s been so beautiful out, we’ve changed some of our usual eating and cooking habits for the summer. We’ve been eating out a bit more and have been sharing more meals with friends. To counteract the cost of eating out more often, we’ve slowed down our grocery shopping routine (Incidentally that is not very hard to do considering you don’t need to cook as often if you eat out more).
Despite the fact that we haven’t really shopped in the last month, we’ve still been eating about as well as we usually do (one disclaimer: I’ve had a ton of fresh greens and herbs from our local community garden that I wrote about last time). That’s why you haven’t seen much of me here, I’m cooking some old favorites over and over again. It’s times like these where I’m really proud of my home cooking experience and the ability to keep a well stocked pantry and freezer.
Not writing blog posts (sorry about that, really), has also given me time to read some other great posts. These two say it all better than I ever could, and also came at the perfect time: Continue Reading »
Tags: food philosophy
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We’ve been stopping by a community garden in our neighborhood doing a bit of weeding and pruning this summer. When we went a few weeks ago, we saw these tall bushes of what looked like dill and smelled like licorice. I tasted a bit and it tasted overwhelmingly like dill, so I thought that was what it was. We took some home and I’ve been adding a little bit to pretty much everything. Continue Reading »
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This summer, strapped for time and staving off heat stroke, I can’t stop craving cucumber sandwiches. The simple sandwich highlights the natural coolness of a cucumber and don’t require me to turn on an oven (if you didn’t know, New York has been in the middle of a record breaking heat wave).
Cucumber sandwiches take minutes to make, and seconds to eat, and will leave you feeling light and satisfied.They can be posh with crusts off, perfectly thin bread, cut into tiny triangles and served on china; or they can be rustic with thick, uneven bread, crusts left on, and eaten right off the cutting board they were assembled on. Continue Reading »
Tags: cheese, dairy, eggs, main, sandwich, sides, vegetarian
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I could run off a huge list of excuses about the lack of posts lately, but I find those kinds of posts tiresome and I bet you do too. The most interesting reason that I’ve been a bit absent here is that it’s just been too gorgeous out to hang out in a hot kitchen. As much as I advocate for cooking instead of always eating out, there are times when getting out of the house and enjoying the great food your city has to offer is pretty much obligatory.
So get out, enjoy the great food that summer brings out! And hey, if you aren’t lucky enough to be in New York where you can get a great hot dog pretty much anywhere (in any meat or non-meat variety), make one yourself and have a picnic.
I’ll be back soon, I just need to soak up a few more rays and eat a bit more terrible, but oh so wonderful, local foods.
Psst: If you’re still not satisfied, check out the archives by poking into the tags, categories or monthly links in the right side bar.
One year ago: Warm Creamy Peanut Chicken Salad
Tags: food-porn
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As far as I can tell, a corn fritter happens when you pan-fry corn kernels in a white flour batter. A hushpuppy, on the other hand, is the product of deep frying dollops of corn meal or cornbread batter. I’m not really sure what happens when you add corn kernels to a corn meal/ white flour batter and deep fry them, other than the fact that whatever they are doesn’t stick around long enough to be named. Continue Reading »
Tags: fried, main, sides, vegetarian
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As promised, following up from last weekend, here are the results of the Mother’s Day soul food feast. I think the pictures practically speak for themselves. The food was a triumph! The only problem now is that since I know how very easy it is to make perfect fried chicken at home, I’ll want it all the time. I made a few adjustments to the recipes that were new to me (I can never resist). Keep reading for notes on how I made the perfectly fried chicken, sweet potato wedges and corn pudding.
Continue Reading »
Tags: dairy, eggs, fried, hearty, main, poultry, sides
Posted in Food Features, Menus, Recipes, Technique | 2 Comments »
Earlier this year, I got an ice cream maker attachment for our stand mixer and I’ve been having fun making different frozen desserts with it. I find that it is more fun to experiment with sorbet rather than ice cream as the results are more reliably edible, due to the simplicity of sorbet chemistry: adding together sugar, fruit and water creates a freezable mixture with a velvety smooth texture. Continue Reading »
Tags: desserts, flourless, frozen, non-dairy, vegan, vegetarian
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This may be premature, but tonight, after over 3 months of a very gripping sinus infection that took my senses of smell and taste captive (which you may remember me mentioning a few posts ago), I inhaled and I could smell! Then, I made a gravy for a chicken pot pie, and not only could I smell it, but, upon putting a little dab on my tongue, I could taste it too!
I almost shouted Hallelujah!
I’m not making any promises, but if my returned senses decide to stick around, we’ll probably be able to get back to our regularly scheduled programming without me oversalting, overspicing, or undercooking anything else for the time being.
Along with the sense of taste has come a pretty ravenous appetite, so I think that despite the unseasonably warm weather in New York this week, it’s time for me to get back into the kitchen and fire up the stove!
One year ago: Picnicking under the cherry blossoms
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Now that warmer weather has finally come our way, I find myself craving fresh bright salads for dinner. I don’t know about you, but I can’t often satisfy myself with just greens. I’d have to eat a mountain to be full and it wouldn’t really be a nutritionally complete meal. That’s why I’ve been toying with mixing grains into my salads. Continue Reading »
Tags: main, salad, sides, vegan, vegetarian
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