Friday, November 20th, 2009, 2:03 pm
What should you do for dinner tonight? You should do this:
Heat two or three tablespoons of butter or oil in a big pot over medium heat. Slice up the white and light green parts of three leeks, peel and cube three potatoes, and mince a few cloves of garlic. Dump it all in the pot and add salt, pepper, some thyme, and a bay leaf. Stir and cook for a few minutes, then pour in four cups of stock (or water) and simmer for half an hour. Remove from heat, puree with an immersion blender, normal blender, or food processor, return to heat, and stir in some cream (maybe 3/4 cup). Adjust seasonings, garnish with parsley or chives if you’re feeling fancy, and enjoy the warm, satisfied feeling in your tummy.
Thursday, November 19th, 2009, 6:16 pm
My best friend Maddy came to visit this past weekend. Our previous few visits had been fun but exhausting whirlwinds, so this time we stayed in and focused all our energy (of which we had plenty, since our second main activity was sleeping) on making and eating excellent food:
- macaroni & cheese with caramelized onions & goat cheese
- brussels sprouts (perfect when sautéed in butter over high heat)
- homemade peppermint ice cream
- sandwiches from Wan (best sandwiches in Boston!)
- waffles
- french bread smeared with roasted garlic
- homemade ravioli (spinach pasta, cheese filling) in tomato sauce
- salted brown butter crispy treats
- crepes and Nutella milkshakes from the Paris Creperie
Oh, and the drinks!
- apple cider with Southern Comfort
- grown-up eggnog
- gin & tonics with key limes
- champagne with grenadine & pomegranate arils
It was a very good weekend. I would like to do it again soon.
Friday, November 6th, 2009, 3:23 pm
Thanks to some encouragement from Bryan and Lisa, I am now officially the editor of the Blogcritics.org Tastes section.
My first piece there was an ode to macaroni and cheese including three recipes, two of which have been posted here in the past and one of which (pictured above) has not. I hope this will convince you to check out my new territory! (Phillip also wrote a rebuttal to my article, and it’s a lovely piece of writing though completely wrongheaded.)
I’d also like to encourage any of you who also write about food (or drink) to contribute to the site. Tastes currently gets the fewest articles of any section and I’d love to see it grow!
Thursday, November 5th, 2009, 10:59 pm
We’ve owned a slow-cooker for over a year and somehow managed not to use it until today. We’re usually very good about not letting appliances, even more specialized ones, gather dust, so it was really strange and inexcusable! I’m so glad we finally did it, and even gladder that it resulted in this delicious vegetable curry.
I will miss fresh tomatoes, but fall and winter food are really where it’s at.
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009, 10:15 pm
Beer float?
This was good! I don’t think it would’ve been as palatable with any other type of beer, though. Even with this, there’s a moment at the beginning that just tastes… wrong. But immediately after it tastes chocolaty and rich and sweet but also a little bitter and complex. Really nice.
Saturday, October 31st, 2009, 9:02 pm
Happy Halloween!
He’s mad ‘cause we cut out his rotten spot, but I love him still!
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009, 10:50 pm
“So make no mistake. For a few glorious days each October, New England is unquestionably the loveliest place on earth.”
-Bill Bryson
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009, 10:47 pm
"In autumn, as you will recall from your school biology classes (or, failing that, from “Mr. Wizard”), trees prepare for their long winter’s slumber by ceasing to manufacture chlorophyll, the chemical that makes their leaves green. The absence of chlorophyll allows other pigments, called carotenoids, which have been present in the leaves all along, to show off a bit. The carotenoids are what account for the yellow and gold of birches, hickories, beeches, and some oaks, among others. Now here is where it gets interesting. To allow-these golden colors to thrive, the trees must continue to feed the leaves even though the leaves are not actually doing anything useful except hanging there looking pretty. Just at a time when a tree ought to be storing up all its energy for use the following spring, it is instead expending a great deal of effort feeding a pigment that brings joy to the hearts of simple folk like me but doesn’t do anything for the tree.Bill Bryson, “Fall in New England”
What is even more mysterious is that some species of trees go a step further and, at considerable cost to themselves, manufacture another type of chemical called anthocycanins, which result in the spectacular oranges and scarlets that are so characteristic of New England. It isn’t that the trees of New England manufacture more of these anthocyanins, but rather that the New England climate and soil provide exactly the right conditions for these colors to bloom in style. In climates that are wetter or warmer, the trees still go to all this trouble-have done for years-but it doesn’t come to anything. No one knows why the trees make this immense effort when they get nothing evident in return."
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009, 10:49 pm
I figured out kind of a neat trick while making pizza tonight. I always have a difficult time stretching out the dough for the crust — it sticks, tears, folds in on itself, or all three as I try to transfer it to the baking stone. I have made some really lumpy pizzas.
So tonight I lightly sprayed the bottom of a mixing bowl with cooking spray and stretched the dough over that. Then I just flipped it over onto the stone and unpeeled the sides. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the closest I’ve come so far!
