There is the same tension with fresh bread as there is with fresh vegetables—one romantic window of time where all is perfection—the now of flavor— on the other fragile side of which looms certain decay. When with my bread the rose window begins to fog, I consider two end-games: bread pudding, or toast. This recipe […]
Category: Dinner
West Texas Chili on Cornbread Waffles for Voldemort
I started using a new mascara recently which apparently turns to ash and rains onto the gutters under my eyes, so that each time I find a mirror throughout the day I startle at the face of Voldemort who also happens to be me. Or maybe I really am that tired. This is a morbid […]
Chicken Meatball Yakitori
If I learned anything from the 12+ romantic comedies I watched during my last bout of the flu, it’s that one can never have too much romance. Especially between two professionals with full-time jobs. Romance up your life as much as possible, because life is short and love is in shortage (as evidenced by the […]
Drunken Noodles with Tofu and Jalapeno
Lately, I’ve been riding the lightning, which is how a consultant perfectly described the experience of being a doctor in training. And thanks to having taught public high school, it just so happens that I appear very nonchalant while thousands of volts pass between my limbs. Several times I’ve been with delirious patients in accelerated […]
Five Lentil Stew, Panch Dal for a Doll
In yoga today, the guru asked us to breathe in and out a dedication to a person in our lives who is like a fresh breath of air. This beautiful blonde, Lindsey Willis Hays, immediately came to my mind. We met in the nerd society at SPU (GO UScholars!) and shared a dorm floor together […]
Wasabi Salmon with Bok Choy, Green Cabbage, and Shiitakes
Happy Anniversary to me and KP, seven years! We went on a dinner cruise on the Mississippi River, which is a tad full, shall we say? We had hoped to sit on the bench pictured below to look at the boat before we boarded. Gorgeous evening, our Independence Day this year in the Midwest. Back […]
Spicy Sauteed Kale at a Pig Roast
Okay, how easy is this? Who doesn’t have time to be healthy now? Here is dinner for under 5 bucks and less than 20 minutes. And, if you live in Minnesota right now, you might have this growing in your yard or showing up in your CSA box this week. There is something so beautiful […]
Tunisian Chicken Kebabs with Currants and Olives
Every now and then I have the strange experience of looking at the possessions I own, unable to recall why I ever wanted them in the first place; usually this experience transpires after I spend time with people for whom I would trade everything in, no questions asked. Everything for a few more seconds of […]
Cod with Potatoes and Salsa Verde
This is a recipe from the Basque region of Spain. When I studied at Salamanca in college, I recall meeting a boy my age on a country bus who, after drinking half of a 2-Liter of Coca Cola, opened a bottle of red table wine and poured it into the remaining Coke. He offered me […]
Booya Posole Community Stew
What I love about internal medicine happens also to be what I love about this stew—Everything is included. Wide variety. When you tire of the taste of carrots, have a tomato. When you’re sick of chicken, grab a piece of pork; when you’ve heard enough heart sounds, there are bowels. When you’ve stared at chest […]