18 Oct 2013 20 Comments
in Food, Recipes Tags: ama ebi, cooking, humor, Japanese food, Otter Pops, sashimi, sushi, toro, unagi
Immy digs in
The other day, I was having some tuna toro sashimi for a snack before dinner. As I sat at the dining room table daintily dipping thin slices of fish into soy sauce and wasabi, my 3-year-old daughter, Imogen, approached.
“I have some?” she said. More
15 Oct 2013 2 Comments
in Observations, Pork Tags: Attempts in Domesticity, Doves Today, Erica's Recipes, Frank's Red Hot, Japanese cooking, Jim Lahey, lobster roll, Old Bay, Pork, Taste of Japan
I appreciate it when people tell me they’ve made something I featured on the blog and enjoyed it. (Likewise, I’m mortified when people making something and it doesn’t turn out well … which I think has only happened once when a friend tried to make my bagna cauda.)
The food blog world is a unique universe. I subscribe to a variety of food blogs which I enjoy reading, and every so often read a recipe that I know I will have to try myself. And I thought it only fair to share a few of my favorites.
Erica’s crab dip
11 Oct 2013 5 Comments
in American Series, Pork, Recipes
When our friends, Donna and Markian, told me they were moving into trailers on a big piece of property on the last mountain before you get to the sea, my mind immediately went in one direction: chuckwagon!
The compound (“chuckwagon” cooking area at center)
While not the height of culinary sophistication, chuckwagon cooking has always had some appeal to me. There’s something undeniably romantic about the image of sitting around a campfire in the open air, a steak sizzling in a pan, beans simmering, a kettle of crummy cowboy coffee burning. I like the elemental quality of the cuisine, where a slice of grilled cow counts as a vegetable. Plus, I wanted people to call me “Cookie,” even if just for a day. More
08 Oct 2013 14 Comments
in On the Road, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories), Video Tags: Boca de Tomatlan, Casa Tres Coronitas, Mario's Fishing & Snorkeling Tours, Mexican cooking, Mexico, Playa Las Animas, Puerto Vallarta
Still aglow from having caught a shimmering silver bonito on a troll line with a neon Tokyo-pop squid lure during our snorkel trip, my pal Nat decided he needed to go fishing proper.
Mario and Flynn hauling in a bonito
It was our last full day in Mexico, and we awoke before sunrise to drive south to Boca de Tomatlan and meet Mario, our amigo and boat captain, for a morning of sailing. The plan was to be just Nat, myself and our two older boys, Flynn and Nat Wes. But the esposas were intrigued and some of the younger kids wanted to go, so we packed all nine of us into the Nissan compact rental, clown-style, and headed out. More
04 Oct 2013 10 Comments
in On the Road, Recipes, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories) Tags: Boca de Tomatlan, bonito, Casa Tres Coronitas, crudo, Jalisco, Mario's Fishing & Snorkeling Tours, Mexican cooking, Mexico, Puerto Vallarta, Yelapa
El pescado y yo
“What would you like for dinner?” the house chef, Marilu, asked us in Spanish. And we stood puzzling at her, since our Spanish is not that good.
Eventually we figured it out, and I suggested carne asada — grilled steak. It had clearly been sometime since any houseguests had requested this, since the grill was in an advanced state of rust decomposition, and much of the staff’s time that afternoon was spent scrubbing, soaking and scouring it. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 