10 Aug 2012
by scolgin
in Observations, On the Road
Tags: barbecue, blackberries, Ethiopian food, Food carts, Northwest, Oregon, Portland, Washington
It might be difficult for Northwesterners to believe that I once planted — intentionally! — a blackberry bush. It was small and anemic and cost $6. I found it a nice spot on the side of the chicken coop, dug a hole, settled it in, watered it lovingly… and forgot about it. A few months later I remembered and went to check on it, and all that was left was a little brittle stick.
Blackberries and cream for breakfast
I’m not sure why blackberries don’t do so well in Southern California. I suspect it has to do with the inherent dryness and lack of rainfall. They grow prolifically in Northern California. But in the Northwest, they are practically a plague. Indeed, I recall coming to my wife’s sister’s property more than a decade ago, before we were married, and nearly the entire four acres was one massive blackberry bramble. Delicious and romantic to the dusty Southern Californian, but a significant complication to the prospective home builder.
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17 Jul 2012
by scolgin
in Pork, Recipes, Video
Tags: barbecue, Bastille Day, french cooking, grilling, salade Nicoise, Sonoma, steak au poivre, wine, Wine Guerrilla
If you’re going to spend an afternoon with a guerrilla, what better occasion than Bastille Day — a holiday celebrating the storming of a symbol of monarchal oppression by the common man.
The “guerrilla” we would spend Bastille Day with would not be a camouflaged, gun-toting, beret-crowned rebel, but rather our family wine, Wine Guerrilla — and my mother’s long-time partner, Bruce, producer of the wine and himself often referred to as, “The Wine Guerrilla.” More
03 Jul 2012
by scolgin
in Pork, Recipes, World's Best Sandwiches
Tags: bacon, barbecue, BBQ, burgers, cooking, grill, marmalade, recipes, summer, Tabasco
There is a condiment unlike any other — a glistening concoction that will transform your burgers from fine to sublime, and that will have your summertime guests kneeling at your feet in reverence, O’ God of the Barbecue. And I will share it with you, here, now, just in time for the 4th!
Bacon onion marmalade
This is not a condiment for vegetarians or the tentative. I call it bacon onion marmalade. And it is the anecdote to mediocre summer burgers. You may even want to bring a little stash with you when someone invites you to their barbecue. More
01 Jun 2012
by scolgin
in Observations, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories)
Tags: barbecue, chickens, cooking, coyotes, food, hawks, Memorial Day, owls, pool
We returned Monday afternoon from the obligatory Memorial Day pool party/barbecue tired and sunbaked — a family sluggish in the hangover of four barbecues in four days, beginning with the optimistic pop of a pale ale bottle opening Friday afternoon and ending with the fizzle of a yawn 72 hours later.
It was as I was tending to my afternoon duties around the house that I first noticed an ominous sign out on the property: an explosion of white feathers down by the garden. More
01 May 2012
by scolgin
in Good Gadget, Bad Gadget
Tags: barbecue, cooking, food, gadgets, grilling, summer, Sur la Table
I have a bad habit of bringing my favorite cooking utensils places, and leaving them there. You may remember the sad saga of my favorite wooden spoon which got left in a ski cabin at Big Bear. Similarly, I left my favorite tongs at a cooking lesson I was giving for my friends’ gourmet girls group. And then I left my next-favorite tongs at the Steve McQueen beach house in Malibu.
A man cannot live long without tongs.
So it was that I was out at Target, shopping for a new pair of tongs amidst the long aisle of mostly useless cooking gadgets. The very same day, I received the first of what will undoubtedly be a “Summer is coming” onslaught of emails from Sur la Table, Williams-Sonoma, Cooks.com and other helpful sources touting this season’s newest and greatest tools and resources for the outdoor cook. More
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