Chicken Tikka Masala

January 1, 2017

We’ve been lagging in the post department round here. Sorry about that. The holidays, the news, all the usual reasons a blog goes dark. Never mind. It’s 2017. We’re back, bearing news of Chicken Tikka Masala. (A fair copy of a shot the IK took with her cell phone. This…

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As Christmas and Chanukah are but days off, the IK seriously doubts you want or need another recipe right now. If you’re doing the cooking, the menu is likely set. Or perhaps the food is being served to you. Either way, having consulted deeply with herself on the life-shattering question of…

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FYI:  Cuisinart is recalling millions of faulty blades for their food processors. If your machine has a riveted blade, please check the link below, as it can break into your food while processing. I don’t need to tell you how dangerous this is. Cuisinart will replace your blade. Please check here. …

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Three-Cup Chicken

December 10, 2016

A few weeks ago the IK attended a literary event sponsored by the San Francisco Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier. There numerous Bay Area authors–and a few non-Bay Area folk–gathered to meet, greet, and share nibbles the authors had prepared from their cookbooks, conveniently for sale on nearby tables. Said event…

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December 1 and the madness has begun. Well, we knew that, didn’t we? That the madness was well underway? (Technically, December 2 now.) The questions is this: what with Brexit and the looming inauguration of persons no better equipped to be president than the IK is to perform neurosurgery (there’s a…

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Quail with Israeli Couscous

November 30, 2016

As a writer, even as a child, long before what I wrote began to be published, I developed a sense that meaning itself was resident in the rhythms of words and sentences and paragraphs, a technique for witholding whatever it was I thought or believed behind an increasingly impenetrable polish….

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So, if you’re American, on American soil, chances are good you’ve come through Thanksgiving. Congratulations. So, this migraine. There are migraines, and migraines. If you are a migraineur, you’re like, if she’s typing, it cannot be that bad. And you’re right: some migraines, it’s puke your way to the ER,…

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“There is nothing like a visitor from another continent to confuse you about your own homeland…One night an Indian friend came to dinner…He asked me to help him figure out American cooking, at which point I drew a blank. He said: “I would like to cook some American dishes, but…

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No one understands and appreciates the American Dream of hard work leading to material rewards better than a non-American. The Ecuadorian, Mexican, Dominican, and Salvadorian cooks I’ve worked with over the years make most CIA-educated white boys look like clumsy, sniveling little punks. Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential Dishwashers are God’s…

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On October 24th I wrote:  After a terrible year marked by personal ill health, widespread international suffering, and the loss of numerous beloved public figures, we at the IK are weary. We intend to have a little fun over the holidays, which will be spent à deux. To this end,…

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