Long before Pop Tarts or Kellogg’s Rice Krispies were widely available, people breakfasted differently. Then as now, what you ate depended on your societal status. If you were a Tudor monarch, you ate very well indeed. If you haven’t heard of Queen Henrietta Maria, a quick history lesson. Born in…

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Long-Cooked Broccoli

October 25, 2022

Long-cooked broccoli comes to us from Paul Bertolli’s Chez Panisse Cooking. I cooked it for years, forgot about it, then recalled it when I began making Paula Wolfert’s green beans with tomato, another recipe calling for long cooking. “Long-cooked” isn’t a euphemism for pap. Prepared with attention and care, long-cooked…

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Soaring fuel prices are forcing many people, myself included, to reconsider everything we were taught about “good cooking.” Especially now, when we would normally be starting to prepare stews, bone-in roasts, and soups, dishes demanding hours of slow cooking. Gourds. Official harbinger of Fall. Well, these and pumpkin-spiced coffee drinks,…

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Braised Artichokes

September 29, 2022

In this Julia Child recipe, braised artichokes are slowly cooked in chicken broth seasoned with white wine and butter. Child uses a classic mirepoix of diced carrot, onion, and celery. I had no celery and am married to an onion hater. I therefore used carrot, leek, and a little garlic….

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Summer Squash Soup

September 17, 2022

I know, summer squash soup now? In September? Well, yes, summer squash soup now, in September. Because zucchini (courgettes to my English friends) are piled high in the markets, along with all manner of yellow summer squash. And my instagram feed is full of posts from my gardener friends, who…

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Niloufer’s Tomato Chutney

September 1, 2022

Chutney was the result of feeling in a cooking rut and wanting to make something different. Granted, this isn’t (fill in complicated recipe here), but it’s new to me. Yes, they need replacing. The original recipe comes from Niloufer Ichaporia King’s My Bombay Kitchen, a book that’s accessible even to…

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Covid 19

August 22, 2022

  I know, I promised a recipe, only to fall off the face of the earth. See below. John’s caregiver gave us both covid. Fortunately, John recently had a booster, so he was only mildly ill. Me? Not mildly ill. We are okay now, but the post was a summer…

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Pretty Pictures

August 11, 2022

But sadly no recipes. Two dishes I’d hoped to post weren’t good enough to share here. Another has passed muster, but putting a post together takes days, so here are some photographs in the interim. One of the failed recipes was an attempt to update a curry recipe. Below, dried…

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“Cheap” is a relative term, of course. At a time when the cost of living is soaring, and the price of food along with it, steak isn’t featuring in many diets. While porterhouse and prime rib are off the menu for the forseeable future, flap steak, a cut resembling skirt…

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Turkey Mini-Burgers

July 10, 2022

Turkey mini-burgers happened because I detest turkey. Doesn’t that make you want to dive right in? Seriously, we live in a divisive era. Everyone has an opinion, and few of us want to hear the opposing side. This extends to what we put in our mouths. So, in a miniscule…

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