And let us all say Amen.
If I might add one variant, sans viande, something a roommate made me: Butter and brie. A few of us went on a picnic to a local cemetery, very old, lots of wonderful headstones. Under the trees, we all read aloud from some romance novel we picked up. The sandwiches were so very decadent. All…

It has been quite a while since I flew anywhere, when I do fly again:
Be kind. To everyone.
Explain to the people behind me that I have a lower back problem, reclining the seat, even a little bit helps enormously. I hope it does not inconvenience you, I’m happy to move it if they need to get up.

The latest episode of America’s Test Kitchen has a recipe for Baci di Gama, a sweet hazelnut sandwich cookie with chocolate inside. It’s a shortbread type dough, very tender. They grind the hazelnuts very fine with the dry ingredients so the dough can be rolled. With a few tweaks, and substituting Rondele for the…

I missed the original post, this list is great. I’ve always tried to strike a balance between being an adult (adults “get to”) and being a grown-up (grown-ups “have to”).

I noticed that Trader Joe’s 3 cheese pasta sauce bears an eerie, albeit more refined resemblance to my childhood favorite, Chef Boyardee canned pasta. At $3.00 a jar, it’s much cheaper than other sauces. Anyhoo, I picked up a jar yesterday, along with a tub of their goat cheese crumbles. Dinner last night was magical.

A very timely post. I small bakery/cafe opened a couple of blocks away. I stopped by to see what’s on offer, a selection of cookies included oatmeal raisin (some kind of nut maybe pecan). Taking a break from my usual chocolate chip, let’s try that oatmeal one. Lots of caramel/butter, sweet raisins, crunch from the…

I would suggest an oven thermometer. The older the oven is, the more likely it isn’t as accurate. I do believe an instant read thermometer is basic kitchen equipment, it may not be necessary to temp the water for bread baking, it sure is useful for meat and fish.

Ghee spread on the bread, not melted in the pan. Changed my grilled cheese for ever. I picked up a jar that was marked down as Safeway. It’s shelf stable and has a different flavor than clarified butter. The crust it creates is so perfect. Wonderful stuff.

I’m dating myself, but I remember a jar of General Foods Maxim freeze dried coffee on the shelf in our pantry when I was little. The commercials touted that you couldn’t tell the difference from fresh brewed. 

For the sheer “Holy Shit, am I really here” La Soleil at the Port of Marseille. What I loved about it was it wasn’t once in a lifetime food. It was one of my favorite foods in a place I had always dreamed of seeing. We left Amsterdam in the morning, took the commuter train to Brussels. Switched to the TGV, whizzed…

I’ve been trying for years, I just can’t get this to work. I’m on a computer with an ethernet connection, logged into my VPN (Privado, but I’ve used others with no luck), connected to a UK server, whatsmyip says I’m in London. I’ve got a BBC login, I still get the dreaded “BBC iPlayer only works in the UK. Sorry, it’s…

Three cheers for iceberg! Shred it, wedge it, plank it, leaf it. The texture cannot be surpassed. Can’t wait for tomato season? bacon, lettuce and Cucina & Amore Sun-Dried Tomato Bruschetta Spread.

Since the days of Julia & Graham & Jeff & Delia to Jamie & Nigella & ATK, I’ve looked to cooking shows to learn techniques. I learned early on that handling a knife was the key to being a good cook. I have some recipes from them, but they taught me how to combine flavors and textures and experiment. In my recipe files:

Noble work, sir.

Isn’t it great how universal some food is? The filled doughnut: pączki, sufganiyah, bombolone, or pfannkuchen, the list is endless. We can all agree that if you fry dough and fill it, the world gets a little better.

I really appreciate the ideas, and the comment to check for invasive species. i would not have checked for that.

This sounds like very sound advice for everyone. Thank you for posting this.

Gazpacho! A big can of really good crushed tomatoes, finely diced cucumber, zucchini, yellow pepper, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and wow. I had it as a side dish with dinner or with a sandwich for lunch.

During the early days of the lockdown, National Theatre Live presented a number of their filmed plays on YouTube as a fundraiser. Everything they streamed was miraculous but a standout was A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I’ve seen many versions of this play, but the NT version soars above them all. I’ve never seen a cast…

My mom told me about the elongated spoons. I love them. I can’t use spoons on a ring, so I have my spoons in a rack I made at work. It’s a piece of aluminum with a slot cut in it and a strip of magnet stuck to the back. It’s on the side of my fridge. (I tried to upload a photo, but Kinja wouldn’t let it happen.) I…