25 Jan 2013
by scolgin
in Cooking Tips, Pork
Tags: beurre manié, Bolognese, cooking, food, gravy, grocery shopping, Korean short ribs, risotto, tips
During my adventures in the kitchen, I discover various tips and shortcuts — usually by accident — that make my cooking easier or more effective. I could probably do a whole blog just on handy cooking tips, except that’s not really my thing and I’m sure someone else is already doing a good job of it.
Applewood smoked bacon from the clearance aisle
For now, here are some recent epiphanies that I hope will benefit your cooking, too!
Flavor & the Passing of Time
I was preparing an Italian roasted green pepper salad the other day when I was reminded of a simple truth in cooking. That often, when ingredients are allowed to sit idly integrating together, the flavors meld and the sum is greater than the individual components. More
22 Jan 2013
by scolgin
in Beverages, Food, Humor, On the Road, Pork
Tags: Fisker, food, Iberico bellota pork, La Quercia, Lindsay Buckingham, Malibu, Nobu Matsuhisa, salmon, sashimi, Steve McQueen
Hot on the heels of the coldest weekend of the Southern California winter (see Jimmy Kimmel’s segment on just how cold it got), came the warmest weekend of the Southern California winter. So we were pleased and more than ready when we got the invitation to go stay with our friends, Nadine and Andrew, at their family’s beach house in Malibu.
Immy digging in the sand, Malibu
I like writing blog posts about our weekends at the Steve McQueen beach house, not so much because I’m enamored with Steve McQueen — he was undeniably cool, but so were lots of other guys. It’s because we usually eat lots of good food and imbibe good drinks. More
18 Jan 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Humor, Observations
Tags: Calbee, Lay's, Maui Kitch'n Cook'd, potato chips, Rusty's Island Chips, Saveur 100, snacks, Target, Tim's Cascade, Walker's chips
My name is Sean, and I’m a snackoholic.
There, I got it off my chest. And I feel much better.
My wife and kids would say, “Oh yeah… like that’s news.”
I notice I most often snack when I am either bored or procrastinating, which is how I know I have a problem. Also, I eat small meal portions, so I wind up hungry between meals. Fortunately I’m not one of those people who eats a gallon of ice cream or family-size bag of chips when I’m depressed. I don’t eat anything when I’m depressed. Which might counterbalance my snacking habit, were it not that I’m hardly ever depressed. More
13 Jan 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Humor, Recipes, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories), Video
Tags: citrus, fish, hamachi, Hass avocado, Japanese cuisine, Ponzu, sashimi, sushi, yuzu
About seven or eight years ago, I was making Japanese food at our previous home in West Los Angeles. I had a rare delicacy — a yuzu fruit, a small Japanese citrus that, on the odd occasion you can find it, sells for about $3-$4 a fruit. Yellow and wrinkly, about the size of a lime, it is filled with seeds, and you’re lucky if you get a few drops of the pungent, floral juice from within. More useful is the aromatic zest, which the Japanese will shave over tempura, use to brighten sauces and fold into dishes both savory and sweet.
Koi pond, bamboo, afternoon sun & yuzu tree
I have no recollection what I did with the yuzu that evening. But what I do remember is planting several of the seeds in a pot outside in the garden the next morning. A couple weeks later, I had a few bright green seedlings which somehow over time became reduced to one gawky, spindly little yuzu tree. More
11 Jan 2013
by scolgin
in Food, Good Gadget, Bad Gadget, Humor
Tags: Big Lots!, corn, eggs, kitchen gadgets, Kiwi, Kubrick, New Zealand pies, tongs
I’ve written so much about kitchen gadgets that I always find myself surprised when I find new ones to talk about, or new things to say about them.
In the past, I’ve mostly compared the virtues of good gadgets with the folly of the bad. For Christmas this year, I received two gadgets both of which, I think, fall into the general realm of the latter.
The first arrived in my Christmas stocking, and I was immediately fond of it — not so much because I imagined ever using it, but because a.) it came from Santa, b.) it had French writing on it, and c.) it had a cute little egg with a face on it.
This is the kind of gadget children love — like heart-shaped cookie cutters or the circus animal waffle press I got my one of my kids for Christmas last year. More
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