Spicy chicken soup with kale
This weekend brought perfect fake spring weather. By that I mean that it felt exactly like those beautiful late March days I remember from growing up on the East Coast, when an almost-warm sun would pop open the violets and daffodils, a shot of color amid bare maples—the sign that the snow was almost surely gone for good. Read More…
Bourbon-Caramel Chocolate Truffles
It’s become somewhat of a tradition to make cookies at Christmastime with my friend Katie, who I’ve known since kindergarten, and her dad, who also happened to be my fifth grade teacher. Perhaps “tradition” is a bit premature, since we’ve really only done this two years in a row, but I suspect it may become one. That is, if I don’t accidentally feed Katie a maggot-covered truffle ever again.
Creamed onions and a happy Thanksgiving
My mother called Thursday night just as my friends and I were about to sit down to a huge Thanksgiving feast. In New York, three hours ahead of us, her meal was long over.
“How was it?” I asked.
“Delicious! But we forgot the green beans in the microwave, and the creamed onions on the stove. I didn’t even realize it until we were done eating,” she confessed. “Can you believe that?”
Yes, I could. This happened once before on Thanksgiving—my mother reheated the turnips at the last second when she realized they’d gotten cold. We proceeded to stuff our faces with the rest of the 7,452 sides on the table and didn’t discover the turnips in the microwave until it was time for dessert.
I got off the phone and told everyone about what just happened to my mother’s creamed onions. That’s when I realized… Read More…
Lemon thyme ice cream
I’m baaaaack! With no excuse for my absence. All I can say is: Here’s to hoping that with the summer and all of its frenzy winding to a close, I can make this a more regular activity. But we’ll see. I know better by now to make a blog promise I can’t keep.
For now: Lemon thyme ice cream.
Let me start by saying: It is HOT in Portland right now (which, for us, is in the mid-90s). It rained like winter all throughout July and now here we are in the fall wondering if time has rolled back a few months.
Thanks to the arrival of Summtember, cold treats are now in high demand. In the last two weeks alone, Martin and I plowed through all 30 popsicles I made after developing a crush on THIS AMAZING COOKBOOK (which, side note, I highly recommend). So last night, with a distinct lack of popsicles in the freezer—and zero fresh fruit on hand for new ones—I decided: WE NEED ICE CREAM. Read More…
Spicy carrot ginger soup
Martin and I made a pact to give up meat for Lent. Not that either of us is a religious person, but both of us have, you know, plumped up quite a bit over the last two years and we figured we might as well give the meatless thing a try.
We also tossed in a “no alcohol” challenge for good measure, but quickly dialed it back to “nothing but homebrew,” because I mean, really, how could we let the best beer in Portland go to waste? Read More…
Bacon jalapeño corn risotto—and pancakes with the leftovers
Much like Picasso had his Blue Period, my mother had a Risotto Phase. Every Saturday for what felt like a year, we ate risotto.
“Risotto, again?!” I can still hear my 13-year-old ungrateful self whining about my mother’s menu planning choices. I hated it. Shrimp risotto. Squash risotto. Who-knows-what risotto. If it was in the fridge, it eventually became risotto. “I hate risotto! It’s gross!”
Of course, now that I am in the process of becoming my mother, I love risotto and I make it damn near weekly (I guess this is Risotto Phase II?). I can see why it was her go-to meal: it’s easy, fast and you can make it with almost anything you might happen to have on hand, as long as you’ve got arborio rice, stock of some variety and Parmesan cheese. A little dry white wine doesn’t hurt, either. To make a risotto, essentially, is to prolong the inevitable trip to the supermarket. Read More…
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