29 Jul 2011 4 Comments
in Observations, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories) Tags: cooking, Dar Maghreb, food, Jili, kitchen, Michael's, Ricky Ricardo, Swanson's, Tatsu
I always enjoy hearing stories of what brought people to their passions for food. My grandfather cooked on a train during the Depression. That’s all I know of that story. Although it provides a good prelude to my own.
The author at 13
My journey into food began, I suppose, as so many do: at my mother’s apron. The house always smelled good, and the kitchen was warm and inviting. More
26 Jul 2011 9 Comments
in Recipes, Sensational Salads Tags: Cruise America, gazpacho, proscuitto, recipes, salad, scallops, summer, tequila, watermelon
One of the best and worst parts of summer is the watermelon. Sure, everyone loves watermelon, and nothing says summer like a cold, sweet slice on a hot afternoon. That’s the good part. The bad part is that even the “mini” ones are larger than a child’s head. And the big ones are the melon equivalent of a Cruise America RV.
By some point into the summer — usually early to mid July — I begin suffering from watermelon fatigue. My kids insist on watermelon, so I buy the smallest one I can find. And then people begin showing up with them. More
22 Jul 2011 5 Comments
in Cooking Tips, Observations, Pork, Recipes Tags: barbecue, brisket, Carmageddon, North Carolina, Pork, pork shoulder, Stubbs, Texas, vinegar, Watermans
My neighbor Chris, a man of noble appetite and impeccable palate, invited us over for a Sunday barbecue. It was the much-hyped, much-feared “Carmageddon” weekend, in which the busiest freeway in the country would be shut down for two days. No one was going anywhere. So the commute 50 or so feet to the Watermans’ house sounded perfect. And I took it as a good omen when I saw Chris out in his pajamas at 8 a.m. that morning, tending to his smoker.
The Man & his smoker, "R2D2"
Chris hails from Florida, close enough to the smoking belt of the Deep South to count. More
19 Jul 2011 5 Comments
in Observations Tags: Austria, Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Niko Alm, pasta, pastafarian, Vienna
I always enjoy good food-related humor. So when my mother forwarded me a link with the subject line, “Austrian Man Wins Right To Wear Pasta Strainer In License Photo,” I couldn’t resist taking a moment from my busy day and clicking through.
Niko Alm's driver's license photo
According to the story featured on the NPR website, a Viennese man named Niko Alm had been petitioning the Austrian government for three years for the right to wear a pasta strainer on his head in his driver’s license photo. More
15 Jul 2011 5 Comments
in Observations
I’m always curious how people get to my blog. So I often check my website metrics, which tells me which pages people visit, and in the event they were referred by Google or other search engines, what they were searching for that led them here.
Unhappy guests of the pasar ikan
And I’m often amazed, mystified and dumbfounded. Here’s a look at some of the recent search terms that brought people to my humble blog: More
