Hummus
A month of silence, and your hostess returns with a recipe that’s simultaneously controversial and lacking in originality. Like you’ve never made hummus before. Seriously, recent events have left me speechless. What was I going to do? Hop online, write a few trite sentences about Black Lives Matter, and start…
Green Beans With Fresh and Preserved Lemon
Let me tell you about blogging during a pandemic. It’s very challenging. There’s the question of tone. When people are dying left and right, one doesn’t want to appear flip. Then again, gloom isn’t good, either. People visiting your site want to be entertained. Then there’s the food question. Thank…
On Risotto
Certain foods carry a mystique around their preparation. Whipped cream, souffles, mayonnaise, pie crusts: all are imbued with advice, caveats, admonishments. Your batterie de cuisine must be immaculate, your hands chilly, your heart resolute. Or you must stir until your arm falls off–this exact wording frequently used. Stir until your arm…
Pistachio Garlic Sauce
I’ve been racking my brains to for a recipe that isn’t pasta. That this took the better part of two weeks bespeaks a profound lack of creativity on my part. A pandemic will do that to a person. The news changes hourly; now we’re told we should wear masks. My…
Potato Knishes
So, hi. Here we are on day whatever, depending on where you live. I haven’t kept count, myself. I’ve been out exactly once in the past ten days. I tried shopping at the local market–a corner shop that stocks vegetables, wine, and some dry goods. The shelves were literally bare….
Pandemic Cooking with Pantry Items
Social media is awash in titles like the above. They’re decidedly grim, but no sense messing around, is there? Unrelated pretty picture. I’m sorry if you’re sick of these kinds of posts. Who could blame you? By now you’re probably sick of just about everything. You long to go outside….
Lamb chops in tomato sauce
As I write, coronavirus is making its way across the world. People are frightened, and nobody knows what to do. Living in earthquake country means we always keep nonperishables on hand, along with plenty of water. This, coupled with my fondness for cooking, means our cupboards are always full, even…
Chicken with Water Chestnuts
When I was a child, we had a neighbor who was into what was then called “gourmet cooking.” Said neighbor also subscribed to Gourmet Magazine, which he shared with our household. This was during the Gail Zweigenthal years. I admit to finding the magazine dull, but I was a child–under…
Little Lemon Cakes
Too many lemons is a first world problem, but there you are. We have a lemon tree in our yard, but so do lots of other Bay Area inhabitants. Free lemons aren’t always met with appreciation. Searching for a productive way to use up my lemon glut, I turned to…
Cabbage Soup
Pity the poor cabbage. It gets a bad rap. Too many people are scarred by bad cabbage experiences: boiled beyond recognition….or the cabbage soup diet. Lacking illustrative photos of overboiled cabbage or the soup diet, I give you San Francisco’s Union Square. More accurately, a street near Union Square. Handled…