29 Apr 2014 7 Comments
in Humor, Pork Tags: gazpacho, humor, Irish potato famine, Pork, potatoes, Sprouts market, Topanga, Topanga Elementary Charter School, wood burning oven
I’ve begun sourcing for the massive auction dinner I will be preparing on Saturday night. While I was out shopping one day, I saw a 50 lb. bag of potatoes, and bought it.
“So I guess you’re doing a baked potato bar?” my friend Katy asked.
“Yes, with no condiments,” I replied. “Just baked potatoes. People will ask, ‘Do you have any sour cream or butter?’ And we’ll say, ‘No, just potatoes. And beer.'”
“I like it.” More
25 Apr 2014 15 Comments
in Eating Out, Food, Pork Tags: buffet, food, humor, silent auction, The 1909, Topanga, Topanga Elementary Charter School, Topanga Hustle, wood burning pizza oven
They first approached me about cooking for the elementary school’s silent auction a couple years back. This year, they meant it. And being that it was for the good of the kids, I agreed!
Glass candle baubles dangle from the oaks at 1909
I don’t often do large events — when I cook for others, it’s usually private dinners — and the logistics would be a challenge. The event, 200 or so people gathered to eat, drink, bid on things they really didn’t need, would have a 1970s “Topanga Hustle” theme. More
18 Apr 2014 16 Comments
in Humor, Observations Tags: food, Haruki Murakami, humor, Ivan Ramen, Mariana Trench, Mark Kurlansky, salt, What I Talk to Myself About Running When I Run
It was with a great deal of amusement and some wonder at the irony of things that I noticed, for the first time really, that the two books on my bed stand were called “Salt” and “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.”
Both were given to me by friends. “Salt” (full title: “Salt: A World History”) came from my friend Brian, he of 90/60 blood pressure about whom I previously wrote, who also brought me a small container of Japanese salt from the depths of the Mariana Trench — the deepest spot in the Pacific Ocean. (Brian’s doctor actually told him he needs to eat more salt and more fat. More
10 Apr 2014 7 Comments
in Markets & Stores, Recipes Tags: abelskivers, food, humor, Ikea, lingonberries, recipes, rosti, Scandinavian cooking, shrimp, Sweden
We’d been putting it off and putting it off — the family trip to Ikea.
Not because we don’t like Ikea — we love it. But it’s nearly an hour away, and there never seems to be a good time. But late Sunday morning, a bit hungover from too much tequila the night before, we had no excuses to put it off any longer. And a big plate of Ikea Swedish meatballs sounded like just the Rx for the hangover.
Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes, gravy and lingonberries
My wife can spend hours at Ikea. We were going to go the previous weekend, until I told her we’d probably be able to stay 90 minutes, which was going to be sorely inadequate. It seemed like plenty to me. I’m more of a strategic strike sort of shopper — 30 minutes would be plenty for me. I guess it’s probably a male/female thing. More
08 Apr 2014 17 Comments
in Cooking Tips, Humor Tags: chiles, cooking, food, humor, kitchen gadgets, knives, lists, mandoline
Even as long as I’ve been cooking, I’m still guilty on a regular basis of stupid kitchen injuries and snafus. I try to tell my children, when they cook with me, to learn from my mistakes. I show them the assortment of current cuts and burns on my hands as a cautionary tale. Perhaps they’ll learn the lessons of their father, or perhaps they’ll learn the hard way.
Don’t let a tiny kitchen shark bite off the tip of your nose!
Here is a list of culinary “Don’t”s — dumb kitchen mistakes that I find myself repeating over and over. I share them with you in the hopes you might have more common sense than I and avoid them. Or at least get a laugh at my misfortune. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 