13 Nov 2012 12 Comments
in Food, Humor, Recipes, Sensational Salads Tags: California Pizza Kitchen, Cheesecake Factory, chopped salad, Italian cuisine, pecorino romano, recipe, salads, salami
Lately when I’ve gone to the fridge feeling uninspired and not knowing what to make for dinner, I’ve often turned to something that was missing from my repertoire for years — the chopped salad.
While not codified in the same way as other great salads, the Caesar for example (romaine, anchovy, lemon, parmesan and garlic), or the Cobb (avocado, bacon, egg, chicken, etc.), it is precisely its flexibility that makes the chopped salad so great. More
09 Nov 2012 5 Comments
in Food, Humor, Recipes Tags: 2012 elections, bananas, Barack Obama, bread pudding, dessert, dulce de leche, Nutella, recipes, rum
Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. And I find this is often true in the kitchen — especially if one is going to a dinner party and needs to make something in a hurry.
The makings of a dessert
Election night: English friend Patricia down the street was having a disco birthday election bash which we, in the whirl of activity that is our lives, had forgotten about until our iCalendar gave us a cheerful little alert that same afternoon. More
06 Nov 2012 16 Comments
in Food, Humor, Observations Tags: Arles, bacon, food, fougasse, Malibu, popcorn, porkcorn, Topanga Vintage Market
My friend and fellow elementary school dad, Thad, approached one morning asking a favor. Some Topanga folk had started a monthly antique fair at a nearby mall recently, and the school had a fundraising bake sale table at the event. Would I consider baking something for the table? Of course, I said.
Porkcorn, ready for sale
A short time later, I received an email from the woman in charge of the fundraising table, thanking me for being a part of their “healthy bake sale.” More
02 Nov 2012 11 Comments
in Humor, Observations, Recipes Tags: food, Japanese cooking, macadamia nuts, potato chips, recipes, salmon, sashimi, snacks, Trader Joe's
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I have a relatively new habit: Macadamia nuts.
I’ve always loved these salty, buttery treats. But in the past limited my consumption to trips to Hawaii, or to the one or two canisters I would bring home from one of those visits — those usually saved for cooking. But I’m a snacker, and looking for a healthier alternative to salty potato chips, I thought I’d purchase a bag of the Australian dry roasted macs at Trader Joes. Surely the $8+ price tag would keep me from developing a habit, I thought. More
23 Oct 2012 1 Comment
in Food, Humor, Observations, Recipes Tags: drinks, japan, Japanese cuisine, Mansion of Dreams, Miyazaki, recipe, sake, spirits, sushi
When I was a lad, saké was something warm and exotic we drank at the local sushi bar that served underage kids. Not ones for moderation, we used to do something called a “saké bomb,” where we would drop the small ceramic cup of hot saké into our glass of beer, and then down the whole thing.
Saké Still Life (with Sushi Knife)
I remember once, several bombs in, I chucked a California roll at my friend Pat, sitting a few seats away. It hit him on the forehead and fell into his saké-and-beer. He lifted the glass, drank the bomb and ate the roll at the bottom in one epic gulp, and we all applauded. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 