The Culinary Hug

14 Oct 2016 14 Comments

by scolgin in Humor, Observations

My wife will, on occasion, get on my case about coddling my 13-year-old son, Flynn, with food. He’ll ask me to fix him a bowl of cereal, or put the butter on his waffles and cut them into bite-size pieces.

“He’s old enough to be doing that himself,” she’ll say. “When Kristen’s boys were that age….”

Teaching the boy about eating at the bar

Teaching the boy about eating at the bar

Her point of reference is inevitably her sister, Kristen’s, boys: “When Kristen’s boys were that age, they could [INSERT REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT HERE].” It would seem as if Kristen’s kids could build themselves log cabins and kill and skin their dinner before they could crawl.

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Breakfast with the Luthier

07 Oct 2016 5 Comments

by scolgin in Humor, Recipes Tags: , , , , , , , ,

My uncle, Ernie, arrived with aunt Deb for an overnight stay. Our beers were hardly poured before he announced his new profession:

“I’m now a luthier!”

The Luthier

The Luthier

For those of you who, like I, had no idea what that means:

A luthier (/ˈluːtiər/ LOO-ti-ər) is someone who builds or repairs string instruments generally consisting of a neck and a sound box. The word “luthier” comes from the French word luth, which means lute. More

Oktoberfest Eve (Sort of…)

30 Sep 2016 2 Comments

by scolgin in Beverages, Recipes Tags: , , , , , , , ,

My pal, Steve, was in Luxembourg — close to the German border — a couple weeks ago, and sent me a photo of the very large beer he was drinking.

“I’m celebrating Oktoberfest!” he said.

“It’s only mid-September!” I pointed out.

Don Schneider and his boar beard

Don Schneider and his boar beard

“I guess they start early.”

So it seemed reasonable when our pals, the Schneiders, invited us for an Oktoberfest dinner on September 28. More

Quite Possibly the World’s Best Sandwich

23 Sep 2016 9 Comments

by scolgin in Pork, Recipes Tags: , , , , , , ,

I wasn’t much of a bologna — baloney — kid when I was young. While my friends pined for white bread with bologna and mayo, I found it rather bland and uninteresting.

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In my teen years, working at an Italian deli, I would discover that the origins of this pale, flaccid meatstuff was actually a salumi called mortadella (the American version was named after the central-Italian city from whence mortadella originates, Bologna). And my opinion would change. More

Tacos, Foiled!

16 Sep 2016 5 Comments

by scolgin in Humor, Recipes Tags: , , , , , , ,

I was trying to make tacos, a simple enough goal.

And yet, I was being foiled.

Veracruz-style fish tacos

Veracruz-style fish tacos

Whilst in Seattle, my pal Bob reminded me that it was the “Year of the Taco” at Skinny Girls & Mayo. I hadn’t exactly forgotten, per se — but I clearly hadn’t been focusing any of my narrative attention lately to the recording of taco adventures in the kitchen. More

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