27 Jan 2017 11 Comments
in Cooking Tips, Markets & Stores Tags: agemochi, cheese, condiments, dolls, humor, Japanese food, Kewpie, mayonnaise, senbei
Sometimes I think the Italians make the best things. And then I change my mind, and decide it’s actually the Mexicans who make the best things. Other times, I’m pretty darned sure it’s the Japanese.
This is one of those times.
Of course, it all depends on what you are talking about. If you’re discussing cheese, for example, it’s hard to make a case that anyone does it better than the French. More
13 Jan 2017 9 Comments
in Humor, Recipes Tags: bear's head mushroom, carnitas, Mexican food, Russian River Valley, Sonoma, tacos, vegan cooking, wild mushrooms
Bruce was having trouble posting a comment on my “Goodbye, Year of the Taco” post.
“What did you want to say?” I asked, being that I was now standing beside him in person and could simply accept the comment first-hand.
“I was going to ask why the Year of the Taco has to end.”
“Well,” I replied, “It doesn’t really end. That was more for the narrative and thematic purposes of my blog.”
He looked puzzled, but the answer seemed to comfort him.
The kids and I on the hunt — the prized bear’s head!
As it happened, we were at Bruce and my mother’s house deep in the forest of Sonoma’s Russian River Valley for our annual holiday visit, and there would be tacos on the menu. Our second evening there, we had a crab feast. The next day, the leftover crab made for a perfect lunch of one of my favorite tacos. More
23 Dec 2016 1 Comment
in Good Gadget, Bad Gadget, Humor Tags: Bellelay Abbey, chanterelles, cheese, Cowgirl Creamery, gadgets, girolles, raclette, Swiss food, Switzerland, tete de moine
The best obscure one-use gadgets come from Europe. My friend from Austria gave me a spaetzle maker. How often to YOU make spaetzle?? Probably less often than I, which is a couple times a year — often once around Oktoberfest. The spaetzle maker takes up almost one whole drawer all by itself. But when I make spaetzle, I sure am happy to have it.
The spaetzle maker
I also have a raclette stove, which takes up the better part of a whole cupboard shelf. Raclette is an Alpine French cheese that you melt on tiny skillets, and then mash together with boiled potatoes and cornichons. The last time we used it, George W. Bush was president. But boy, is it cool. More
16 Dec 2016 12 Comments
in American Series, Food, Humor, World's Best Sandwiches Tags: Belle Grove Plantation, Donald Trump, food, humor, Oaxacan mole, Obama, sandwiches, tacos, Vallarta Market
In the first weeks of January, I declared 2016 would be the “Year of the Taco” at Skinny Girls & Mayonnaise. And the year did not disappoint.
The last taco
I ate delicious tacos in East L.A., Mexico and Hawaii. I added six new taco recipes — including air-dried pork, Veracruz-style fish and Oaxacan turkey mole — to a blog that already boasted nearly a dozen. It was a good year. More
09 Dec 2016 5 Comments
in Food, Recipes Tags: boxty, globalization, Greek lasagna, humor, Irish cuisine, lindertorte, Obama, Russian cooking
Globalization is a bit of a loaded word these days. Obama likes it, but Trump sorta scrunches up his nose and waves his arms about it.
We celebrated the globalization of our own little coastal California canyon recently with “Heritage Day” in my 5th grader, Willa’s class.
The Heritage Feast
“Dad, what’s our heritage?” Willa asked about a week before her heritage presentation was due. Her mother and I cobbled together an approximate lineage. Between the two of us, she was probably close to 50% Irish, I contributed my 25% Swedish, plus some English and Welsh; my wife added German and Norwegian, plus a bit more English and Welsh. More
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