it occurred to me that there are phrases that make recipes sound better to me (or to other people). for example, i always am attracted to recipes that include the word “icebox” in their titles: i get an image of a white refrigerator a la […]
the day before i had my last paper due, i decided i needed a break, and sent myself off to miriam’s and josh’s pre-hannukah party with the bottle of champagne that lauren dropped off. said bottle of champagne, incidentally, went to toast the impending end […]
alright, i’ve been staring at my computer since 6:30am, trying to make my portfolio reach that mythical land of completeness; i need a break. oddly enough, not one from the computer, but at least one from the portfolio because i’m falling asleep.
i shouldn’t have done it, but yesterday careen and i made dinner for 44 and assorted friends. hm. i really did know it was going to be bad for me, and it will mean that i will sleep much less this week, but i did it anyway. i guess i don’t really know about moderation. it was quite wonderful…quite an orgy of cooking. i’m still learning which one to use when; for example, the wusthof for chopping chocolate; the mac is really just for vegetables. i’ve started to be able to feel the differences in the knives when i use them – i can actually feel the brittleness in the mac, whereas the i feel that i could use the wusthof forever and it would always be the same.
i also got to make pie crusts; i could make pie crusts all day. i used a slightly different recipe (less butter, essentially) because i was blind-baking them for pumpkin pie. brushing them after they came out of the oven with a beaten egg white did the trick again for keeping the crust from getting soggy. i do like soggy crust in a way, but not leaden crust. it’s not a surprise that the egg white works, but it’s something that i never would have thought of. good ol’ saveur… (more…)
it’s finally getting cold, and i can’t say how thrilled i am. i was going to go to studio all day today, but since carrien is home, we’re going to make chicken pot pie – we’re roasting the chicken right now. today’s chicken has rosemary-thyme […]
central kitchen / 567 massachusetts avenue / cambridge ma / 617-491-5599 / sun-wed 5:30-1am, thu-sat 5:30-2am / reservations accepted for parties of 6+ (recommended) / entrees moderately expensive ($18-25) i have no wish to tackle my thesis at the moment, so instead i’ll write about […]
one could not possibly call this trifle a “fall trifle;” it requires the british-accent, hunting-dogs-and-trumpets air that “autumn” lends to the phrase. specifically, this is an autumn trifle with roasted apples and pears, and a pumpkin-caramel sauce. carrien sent me the recipe a while back when we had just gotten apples and pears in our organic foodbox, and as we still had them, and i finally wasn’t closeted in studio, it got made. it was a relief to cook again, and wonderful to use my santoku. i’m afraid i’ve been neglecting my wusthof chef’s knife in favor of the wonderful balance of my santoku. the wusthof is great for heavy-duty work, but i haven’t had to do any lately. and the santoku just cuts through things as if they’re butter. it’s simply amazing. have i mentioned that i love my santoku? i really believe that i own the most beautiful knives in the world. or, at least, in the world of people i know. i bow down in awe of my knives. and hope that i won’t cut myself with them, as i am wont to do from forgetting that i own sharp knives. no testing the edge on my finger for these babies.
we started off the evening coercing miriam and v to abandon their plans to go to grendel’s, and come over to cook with us as we had food to cook – an unnaturally large “jewel yam” (more plump than anything else) and cauliflower. i had seen a disgustingly beautiful (if that makes any sense) photograph of a cauliflower gratin in my bouchon cookbook, and jumped at the opportunity to make something from it for the first time. (more…)
this is a photo of our delicata squash, a type of squash that has a hard rind that makes it feel like a gourd, but that’s also edible. we cut it up (with my gorgeous, wonderful santoku that i keep nicking myself with by accident) […]
pigalle / 75 charles street south (in the theater district, not in beacon hill) / 617-423-4944 /tue-thu 5:30-10pm, fri-sat 5:30-10:30pm, sun 5-9:30pm /reservations accepted (and recommended) / entrees expensive ($22-30) for some reason, i had never noticed before that pigalle is a small restaurant. luis, […]
i think nora’s intention with the blackbird gift certificate she sent to me was that i use it on my scheduled trip there the first time i went, but it arrived just a day later than that. at any rate, i was very happy to have tried the restaurant again. upon returning, i found it much better than the first time, for a variety of reasons.
i was by myself again; i had made a reservation for 7pm on a tuesday night. blackbird is always full, it seems, and tuesday was no exception – i arrived in time to see the first seating leave and the second seating start eating. i was seated in a better place this time, just in terms of my preference – in the back half of the room, facing a bunch of other tables, and with a view of the kitchen. it was probably the ideal location, actually. dining solo gives one unprecedented license to stare – because it’s “observing,” in this case, not staring. i was slightly neglected while i looked at the menu, but the service besides that was great. the waitstaff was much less silent this time. i think that i have also settled into being a solo diner, in terms of being comfortable by myself, and my boldness in staring (because, after all, it really is staring). (more…)
the french laundry / 6640 washington street / yountville ca / 707-944-2380 / dinner 5:30-9pm daily, lunch f-sun 11-1pm / reservations accepted up to 2 months in advance (recommended, and be prepared to call continuously exactly at the moment when you can call for a […]