Before the coming Season of Birth commences on Monday (aka, my OB rotation), I made salmon cakes for a fancy kiss-KP-and-freetime-goodbye breakfast. Plus, the dish seemed a thematic bridge between the recent holidays spent in the Pacific Northwest, a hotbed of superior salmon cuisine, and the study of brave female spawning which I shall presently […]
I am so done with cookies. Now that I’ve written that, and stared at it for a few seconds to reconcile what’s written with what holds true, I immediately disagree with myself. BUT. For the time being, I feel like taking a break from cookies—the holidays cookied me out. Whole grains and a palette of […]
I recently read somewhere that eating black-eyed peas and greens on New Years is good luck. The greens represent dollar bills and the black-eyed peas represent coins that swell when cooked—both signs of prosperity. Beyond totems, these ingredients are cheap and good for you—easy on the wallet and on the metabolism after the season of […]
Love being home where I can learn Mom’s latest recipes—this dish a particular new fave. Fermented garlic is her savory additive of the hour—and despite its necrotic appearance, I concur—it is a vegetarian’s dream. Notably, I tried to tout myself at the family dinner table as a reformed flexitarian, someone who eats mainly vegetarian dishes […]
I made my bucket list today while sitting through a class on palliative care. I’m not sure what this says about me, but half of the activities I included on the list were things that could be accomplished within an hour or two of leaving class. And so I did. Just in case. Making this […]
If you have been having a hard time cutting Big Macs out of your life, consider trying to fake yourself out with one of these… The resemblance is uncanny. The taste is beyond compare. Trust me—I am not a health nut—several months ago I wouldn’t go near an eggplant because I thought they looked more […]
Winter is about attitude. If Minnesota has taught me anything, it’s that. I was showering to Sheryl Crow this morning (not routine), and she sang a truth that prompted me to visit my refrigerator with fresh eyes, and with a towel, of course. See, I had been under the impression we had nothing to eat. […]
Negative ten degrees. Six now that the sun is up. It is time for some serious soup. And poetry. “One has to keep looking for poetry as Renoir looked for colors in old walls,” wrote Wallace Stevens. This, I think, is an apt motto for those facing Minnesota winters. A poetic sensibility can turn misery […]
Could you please keep your voice down? I’m currently in an intense love affair with pancetta. I’ve used it twice in dinners this last week and I just have to tell someone. I find it incredible that it has taken me 28 years to meet pancetta, but now, everything is different. Pancetta is bacon, basically, […]
On our last day in Berkeley, our dear friends the Warrens took us out to eat for vegan cuisine at Café Gratitude. In the foyer to the restaurant, there were numerous books championing attitude as the key to a positive life experience. I would tend to agree, but to a point. I do not think […]