January 2011
8 posts
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WatchHappy New Year!
December 2010
1 post
1 tag
October 2010
2 posts
6 tags
Magic gulag soup
So, I’ve fallen off the wagon a bit. To be honest, I’ve been swamped and haven’t been cooking much. Bear with me. Fortunately for you and me, it’s finally feeling like fall; it’s generally cool, but crisp, a great relief from the seemingly interminable sticky, hot summer. Best yet, it’s perfect soup weather — and I couldn’t be happier. There are...
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a humble offering
Hello, my dears! It has been far too long. I’m not going to offer any excuses for my absence; instead, I am going to offer you some cake (as a sniveling apology?!). This was my birthday cake, for way back in August, so I’m not going to tell too many stories.
This cake has been in my bookmarks folder for ages. It’s fairly simple to make and not terribly fussy, but the inclusion of a whole...
September 2010
5 posts
6 tags
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fancy slaw
Folks, summer is officially over here in New York. The other day, I think I caught a cool breeze, an yesterday, I actually put on a sweater. It’s been a crazy hot summer here — the hottest on record, to be precise — and I’m a bit grateful for the cooler weather. It’s hit us a bit quicker than I’d hoped, but I’d been just aching for a fall wardrobe (oh,...
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Ultimate pickles
The farmers’ markets are at their glorious peak, lush and overflowing with gorgeous, vibrant produce — tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, corn, leafy greens, stone fruits, melons, berries. But I’m here to talk about onions. Yes, onions. Pickled red onions, to be precise. Hear me out.
I’ve talked pickles before, but these are the ne plus ultra of pickles. No surprise, then, that once...
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August 2010
6 posts
7 tags
a different kind of toast
There are few things in life as simple and utterly delightful as avocado toast. Maybe it’s because I’m from California—and we all know, in cooking, “California” is synonymous with “avocado”—but I could eat avocado everyday and with just about everything. In fact, I will try and find just about any excuse to add a bit of avocado into any dish. However, not until...
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a toast
My birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and to celebrate, I threw a small dinner party. By small, I mean six to eight. I like to be able to talk to everyone. It’s also a manageable size to cook for, especially on a weeknight. Another constricting factor — my dining room table only fits six comfortably, eight if we squeeze. So, on a Tuesday night, around eight, I packed a couple...
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traveling treats
My recent trip upstate was, selfishly, an escape from the city, but it was also a celebration of a dear friend’s birthday. Knowing that we’d be in a cabin in the woods, if not truly camping, I was skeptical about making a cake upstate. Even from a mix, cake baking requires adequate tools, pans, and even eggs and oil, which were not necessarily a given. So, in advance of our trip, I asked my...
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July 2010
4 posts
9 tags
it is really too hot
All of my mental energies of late have been focused on: keeping cool; thinking of places with air conditioning; and determining the most direct route from one air conditioned place to another. Forget productivity. I can barely think, let alone think about eating or cooking. Frankly, just the thought of turning on the stove nearly makes me overheat. So, I’m sorry for being neglectful, but there’s...
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Watchtoday: work day 8 of 12 in a row.
dinner tonight: oatmeal (made stovetop!) with maple syrup (from vermont!), greenmarket blueberries, dried cranberries, slivered almonds.
be back soon with a recipe.
in the meantime, go see this movie.
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hot hot heat
Oy, is it hot here in New York. Being in the middle of a concrete jungle, with heat radiating off the asphalt and trapped by the towering buildings, does us no favors, either. In this oppressive humidity and sweltering heat, I’m barely hungry, let alone want to turn on the stove. I’m loath to admit, but recent meals have included: chips and salsa (from a jar!), and a pile of almonds, eaten...
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Drink of summer (ed. 2010)
Everyone needs a good drinking buddy, and my friend Ian is one of mine. Most important, we share the same taste in liquor: we drink like old men. Namely, we like whiskey. So, periodically, we have whiskey nights. We brave inclement weather and rat parades and trek over to our favorite Alphabet City bar. There, we plop ourselves on two bar stools and bunker down in front of our capable bartender,...
June 2010
5 posts
8 tags
marathon cake
Hi, Guys. Sorry I’ve been a little M.I.A. I’ve been on vacation in San Francisco — but now I’m back. And I bring cake! Chocolate cake!
So, apparently, everyone is training for and/or has run a half marathon but me. It’s seriously an epidemic. My cousin just informed me she’s training for a half, and everyone in my department at work other than me ran the...
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Kids these days
Scene: It’s Saturday evening and I’m babysitting. My two charges, a girl Jane, age 10, and her younger sister, Isabella, age 7, are eating their dinner: pasta, baby carrots, edamame. The Go-Go’s’ “We Got the Beat” is playing in the background.
Isabella: Ugh. I hate this song. It’s … it’s, it’s so … I’m going to change it....
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on life lessons and things you can eat with one...
Joe Jennings would be so proud. {Sidebar/background: I grew up as a classically trained singer. I sang with the San Francisco Girls Chorus from age 8 to 18. I have not sung formally since I left — except for a short stint as a tambourine girl/backup singer in a dirty garage band … okay?} Joe is the charisimatic, brilliant former artistic director of the San Francisco-based, male...
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May 2010
8 posts
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Easy peasy
Guys! They’re heeerre! The strawberries are here! The plump little juicy buggers have arrived in the markets, my trusty sign that spring has arrived. They’re nothing like those ramps. These I can get excited about. When they’re good, I like to just eat them fresh, whole and plain. If a little tart, I prefer to macerate them in brown sugar and balsamic. But best yet, I am...
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Eggs for dinner
Most Americans think of eggs as breakfast food, but I usually crave them for dinner. Omelettes are a go-to, quick and easy, weeknight dinner. I think this is a cultural thing; it’s certainly how I was raised. To that end, I would be perfectly happy subsisting on a bowl of steaming, long grain jasmine rice, topped with a fried egg, and a sprinkling of soy sauce. Particularly as a...
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Kris's carrot cake
My friend Kris is very bossy — persuasively, deceptively bossy. He can bully you into doing anything (usually, drinking), and I am just too nice to refuse. His birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and he pestered me for about 10 months about what I should make him. (Key word: should.) He settled on two cakes. I made one, but one of his choice: carrot cake. Now, carrot cake can be...
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WatchEek! I meant to post a recipe today, but got distracted by some Cinco de Mayo festivities and an art opening tonight, but in the meantime, here’s a video of Obama killing it at the White House Correspondents Dinner to tide you over. Man, my Obama crush just quadrupled. (I can’t speak to Jay Leno’s half because I got bored after the first 30 seconds and stopped watching …)...
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April 2010
8 posts
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So, some tortelli walk into a salad ...
Spring has finally sprung in New York. I wish it would stop raining. I’d like it to be about 10 degrees warmer; I’d even take 5. Of course, I’m counting my blessings that it’s not still snowing (as it did this past weekend in the Northeast), and frankly just glad I survived the miserable, horrible winter. In the Greenmarket, it’s ramp-mania; I like ramps, but...
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Watchcurrently loving: florence + the machine. girl. can. howl.
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... and one more.
And now for the third cake — can you bear it? I promise something savory coming soon. Until then, I forge on with more cake. In fairness, this is a quick bread, which I tend to define as “cake I can eat for breakfast,” but this loaf is much closer to a dense, nutty bread than a buttery loaf cake.
My introduction to Bill Granger (think Australian counterpart to the ...
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Thank you, man-friend no. 2
As I mentioned, I made three cakes the other night, so here is the second thank you cake. I am currently taking a course in STATA data analysis and statistics. (Stay with me; don’t fall asleep.) I am a little over my head. Namely, I am to do a multivariate analysis of survey data, with the goal of submitting an article to academic, health policy journals — by the end of June....
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Thank you, man-friend no. 1
After work, the next best resource on which for me to pawn off baked goods is man-friends. They don’t tend to refuse spontaneous offers of baked goods, but I usually dole out cakes and cookies in return for favors. As a rather wimpy girl living alone, sometime I borrow their power tools and muscles … and sometimes their statistics books. On a recent rainy evening, I was...
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The most underrated vegetable
Cabbage is possibly the most underrated vegetable. It gets a bad rap, and yet, it makes so many delicious things: the slaws! kimchi! sauerkraut! It is also dirt cheap, and with April 15th coming up quickly — and the resulting fretting over finances — that is a huge asset. Moreover, cabbages sport a forgotten amount of variety. There are little baby Brussels spouts, ruffly Savoys...
March 2010
8 posts
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Welcome, fake spring
Well, folks, we’ve reached fake spring. We had a week of glorious weather, but it was all a trick. It’s cold again, fake cold. You see, it looks nice out, but it still feels freezing. I think it just might snow again. It is still only March, after all. Warm weather seems dreadfully far away, and yet this tricky, tricky, stupid week of nice weather gave me a false sense of hope...
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[sidebar: this is what change looks like]
This blog is not about my work, nor is it about politics. This blog is about my stories. It is about things I like. For the most part, I think I’ve done a fair job of keeping this distinction — but I thought this was important. So, please pardon me while I climb up onto my soapbox for a minute.
In my day job, I work in health policy. I work to improve U.S. health policy and the...