Rourke was out of town for a few days, so I was on my own for dinner. Left to my own devices, I generally do one of two things:
Experiment. Sometimes this has led to tasty things, and sometimes this has led to awful things that immediately needed to be thrown out.
Scavenge. It is amazing what [...]
Hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s Day!
Whenever I think of Valentine’s Day and food, I inevitably think of ragu. The thought process goes something like this (bear with me, here): Valentine’s Day -> a day when I’m pampered -> Rourke cooks for me -> Rourke likes pasta -> the first pasta dish Rourke ever made [...]
I have quasi-fond memories of making dumplings. Fond in that it was quality time spent with my mom and I loved having a freezer full of dumplings for the coming weeks. Quasi in that it was basically child labor. My tired little fingers folding dumplings for hours on end, with only meager sips of tea [...]
Chinese New Year is February 14 this year. The same as Valentine’s Day. How doubly auspicious!
As a kid, Chinese New Year held a special place in my heart because my parents let me stay home from school. It was my first foray into playing hookey (is it hookey if your parents consent?) and I [...]
Valentine’s Day is less than two weeks away. Do you know what you’re getting for your honey?
I hate to be a stereotype, but I do like my chocolate. And if your honey does, too, drinking chocolate might be something worth considering. It’s not that expensive — typically less than $20 for 8 oz., which will [...]
I had been eyeing an oxtail recipe in Judy Rodgers’ The Zuni Cafe Cookbook for a while now, so when Prather Ranch was having a sale on oxtail the other week I gleefully bought a 3 lb. bag. Yes, gleefully. Oxtail might be my favorite cut for braising. With far more gelatin than, say, short ribs [...]
Look at what I got for Christmas!
I guess since we started this food blog people think I’m into cooking or something. Craziness! So I’ve been perusing these lovely tomes, marveling at the pretty photos and just how heavy these books are. Together, they weigh 16 pounds. For a few days I had left them in [...]
2009 was the year of the cupcake. Cupcakes on a stick, mini cupcakes, deep fried cupcakes, it just went on and on. Everywhere you looked — cupcake this, cupcake that. Ah, 2009 was a fine year.
So why do I have cupcake on the brain now? In 2010? Which is supposed to be the year of the [...]
Another year, another set of resolutions. Many of the food blogs are buzzing with food resolutions for the new year: try new cuisines, tackle that certain cookbook, cook more veggies,etc. I haven’t made any for the year because let’s be honest, I won’t keep any of them. If you’re in the market for recipes that’ll [...]
Most cookbooks I own have the same format: a list of recipes organized by protein, starch, or vegetable. Sometimes there might be a section dedicated to breakfast or dessert, but by and large it’s very straightforward. The one cookbook I own that doesn’t follow this format, however, is A Platter of Figs by David Tanis. [...]