liquid smoke v. EU
i made this bbq sauce to go with the pulled pork i was making last week, and along with the pork, it’s quite a winner. it’s mild in your mouth with a bit of a fiery kick at the end, and pairs well with pulled […]
Tag: garlic
chicken – not frog, shark, or snake – tastes like chicken
when top chef first started airing, i was one of the skeptics. without willy wonka’s magical tv, i reasoned, it’s just not possible to be able to live vicariously through chefs in competition the way that one can with fashion in project runway. whereas in […]
gettin’ my mojo back
for the entirety of this summer, i have been trying to convince myself and my health that i am on vacation, and that life is normal again. for about a year – since june 2008 – i haven’t had a real break, one where i puttered around the house doing nothing but maintaining the rituals of daily life, and thinking about cooking. and by the rituals of daily life, i mean really mundane things: doing laundry, making my bed, putting away clothes, vaccuming the carpet, cleaning the kitchen counters. every now and then, given the privations of grad school and employment, i need at least a week of doing nothing – waking up whenever, doing whatever.
i expected to get a break this summer, but apparently it wasn’t meant to be. there were trips to lowell for work, a site visit for thesis, training sessions for my teaching job, teaching at the bac, then more work at lowell and an attempt to work on thesis…you get the point. and although these commitments don’t come close to those that i maintain during the school year, they were enough to deprive me of any chance to really get back up to speed and feel like i was motivated to do anything. and i do mean anything – it has taken two and a half months, but i am finally motivated to cook regularly again. i haven’t done very much thesis work in the past two days, even though our first review is in a few weeks, but i have woken up late and cooked a lot, and i feel vastly better right now than i have since that happy time of rejuvenation in june 2008. (more…)
chicken and rice
i have never really understood the point of arraying things on a plate in separate areas, only to turn around and stuff it all into your mouth at the same time anyway. why not save your guests the trouble of cutting everything up? of course, […]
chicken cacciatore
i was disgruntled because i hadn’t cooked all week; if you know me, i get kind of grumpy and unsettled when this is the case. so since i had no plans for the weekend, i decided to make chicken cacciatore. i had made the joy […]
potato chip heaven
mmm…i had potato chips yesterday, for the first time in months. potato chips are wonderfully satisfying when you have a craving, if potentially artery-clogging. when i was a kid, my parents used to buy “krunchers” brand potato chips when they went on sale; though they weren’t particularly crunchier than other brands of potato chips, i suppose psychologically there was a difference, just because of the name. we also bought them for the flavors: regular, bbq, and jalapeno. after eating a handful of those jalapeno chips, you were doomed: your mouth was literally on fire, but you couldn’t stop eating them. and eating them. you see how this is a vicious cycle…
i haven’t made much of anything this week, due to apathy. actually, i just keep on scheduling things to do that don’t involve cooking (shame on me!). i fully plan to cook for 2 weeks solid once my summer internship is concluded. living 10 minutes away from star market, harvest, and whole foods is a blessing and a curse. in the works: the beaumes-de-venise cake on epicurious.com, a nanaimo bar fest (only viable when mika comes back), blintzes, and various dinner foods (including coq au vin with a real rooster, beef goulash, stovetop mac + cheese, moroccan chicken pie, saag paneer…). oh, and indian pudding. hmm, let’s add chocolate angel food cake to that list, too. next week i will have three opportunities to embark on new adventures, with dinner planned for tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. rats. i just remembered that the menu is set for two of those three days. ah, well, i will sneak some surprises in there somewhere. (more…)