This afternoon my counterpart asked me why I was fascinated with small game birds. He then proceeded to answer this question by preparing roast pheasant for our annual pre-Christmas dinner. This has become a tradition of ours over the years. The day or two before Christmas are hectic and harried, filled with forgotten tasks and last-minute cleaning. You need more than cookies to get through. How much better we are at these preparations when we feel well loved and appreciated. And nothing does this quite as well as a special quiet dinner between me and my spouse.
Read MoreHoliday Baking: Fig and Date Pinwheels
Last weekend's Holiday Baking Marathon resulted in some lovely cookie baskets, including a couple for the office. The baskets included my traditional shortbread and my mother's butterscotch brownies, plus cocoa chocolate chip, honey ginger, Chinese Five Spice, and my first attempt at pinwheel cookies - anise-scented fig and date swirls. It was this last variety that inspired a comment from a coworker that captures the spirit of holiday baking. He said that his grandmother had made those cookies, and he remembered eating them every Christmas when we was a kid. And that's really really the reason for the holiday baking season - to summon cherished childhood memories from years long gone and recapture a little of that magic.
Read MoreSurviving the Holiday Baking Marathon
Despite my optimism back in September and the very best of intentions, I did not start my holiday baking until about four days ago. This is late, even for me. I usually get going shortly after Thanksgiving. This gives me sufficient time to try out new recipes and to just start over if I need to. I manage to produce two successful varieties of cookies a weekend for about three weeks and end up with a nice variety of offerings that I package up and deliver to work and friends. This year, I had a bunch of new recipes and just a single weekend to make everything work out. This weekend, I executed my first Holiday Baking Marathon.
Read MoreHoliday Gifts
During the latter years of my grandmother's life, after I had moved out to Maryland, my counterpart always made sure I made it back to her doorstep for Christmas. This is not out of any love for winters in Wisconsin, but out of genuine love and fondness for both me and her. To hear him tell it, she made him promise to do just that as a condition to agreeing to my moving so far away to begin with. I like to believe this as it fits with my concept of being her favorite grand-daughter. We shared a birthday, me and her, and I always felt that this set me apart from my siblings and cousins. When my grandmother met the man who would become my husband, I felt as if she let him into our special relationship.
Read MoreShwarma, Charm City Style
This has been a long, hard work week for me. When Friday lunch rolled around, I wanted something that would put a smile on my face. And what better food choice than shwarma. Shwarma is a happy word. Just saying it make me smile.
Read MoreForcemeat Quiche, or What to Do with Your Leftover Gizzards
According to Le Gastronomique, forcemeat is "a seasoned mixture of raw and cooked ingredients, chopped or minced (ground)... Forcemeats are the basis for several pates, meat pies, terrines, and ballottines..." etc. etc. Faced with a Sunday all to himself while I was working a software deployment, my counterpart found inspiration in the concept of forcemeat and decided to prepare a quiche.
Read MoreRabbit Dinner After Hurricane Sandy, and the Secret to Perfect Squash
We survived Superstorm Sandy, and (even with the power outage) so did all our frozen meat. This is not as surprising as it sounds when you remember that what made Sandy a superstorm was the unlikely combination of a hurricane and a cold front. Which means (at least in my area) once the center of the storm blew through, the temperature dropped. By the time the lights went out, it was in the low 40's - not much warmer than the inside of the fridge. It dropped just below freezing that night and stayed in the 40's the following day. Nothing went bad, and all the frozen food stayed frozen.
Read MoreCharm City Gourmet Delivers
Food is an essential part of our lives. It is nourishment to fuel us through our day. It is social as we often seek out friends to dine with. We build our lives around it, from grand traditions to daily routines. And some meals are so enjoyable that we shape our week around them, going out of our way for the unique satisfaction of a well-crafted dish. And then something changes, and that much loved meal is out of reach.
Read MoreWhat to Do With a Dozen Guinea Fowl Legs
When I purchased the Game Bird Fun Pack from D'Artagnan, I was so excited that I failed to notice an important detail regarding the 5 lbs of guinea fowl. At the time of purchase, I thought I was getting a 5 lb bird. What I actually got was a 5 lb bag of legs. My counterpart looked at them and said "What the hell am I supposed to do with that?"
Read MoreSquab: You Never Know Until You Try It
Honestly, one of the best parts of my life is being able to share it with someone who punctuates it with really good food. Because I live with a cook, I can actually get away with doing things like spending the weekly grocery budget on a medley of game birds ordered off the internet. What we got for our $100 (including shipping) was:
- 1 pheasant
- 4 quail
- 1 guinea hen
- 2 squab
Autumn Equinox
The day was a perfect balance of summer's warmth and fall's dry, crisp air. While my counterpart put a pot of chicken thighs on to stock, I paid a visit to my local pumpkin patch. I found one of those rare, perfectly round pumpkins that seemed to call out to me, whispering "Hey, hey, over here" as I wandered through. And it turned out to be a real beauty.
Read MoreA Mabon Meal
The days are getting shorter. The farmer's markets are winding down. The shadows grow long in the afternoon as the air cools and summer's brightness wanes. When we were still an agrarian culture and lived among our food, this was the middle of the harvest, and the very end of the growing season. We began preparing for winter, when our diets inevitably, necessarily changed from fresh produce to dried and preserved fruits, pickled and stewed vegetables, nuts and legumes and other foods that store well for months at a time.
Read MoreIf the Stores are Already Planning for Christmas, Why Shouldn't I?
Last night was the first really cool night of the season. I slept with the windows open and awoke cocooned in the comforter, my counterpart similarly wrapped in a blanket he pulled off the bed in the guest bedroom. Despite the 90-degree weather we saw yesterday, it was a bracing 55 when I got up this morning.
Read MoreLunch Will Never Be the Same
Though it was a four-day work week, by the time I woke up this morning, I felt as if I had already worked a full week. When lunch time rolled around, I knew in my heart that the only way I would make it through to the end was with a Bistro Burger from Bagby's TenTen and an IcedGems cupcake. It was a lunch reminiscent of former bad dietary habits and unfortunate weight fluctuations. But dammit I earned it.
Read MoreThe Honey Pig
When my mom comes to visit, we try to show her a good time. We let her relax. We feed her well. And we take her someplace local for an experience she can't get at home. This year, we took her to The Honey Pig in Ellicott City.
The Honey Pig is a 24-hour Korean barbecue restaurant located on Route 40. It has a sparse, warehouse look inside with corrugated steel siding and posters for other Korean businesses. It is such a cultural experience that walking through their front door feels a bit like leaving the U.S. As near as I can tell, they are always busy. And why wouldn't they be?
Read MoreThrowing in the Towel
There are few things I enjoy more for lunch than a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. The grilled cheese is indeed a classic lunch, and one that is so popular that the Whole Foods down in my part of the city has started grilling them up to order during the Tuesday lunch rush. So I was baffled and disappointed when the GrrChe truck made a special trip to Harbor East and never drew a crowd. At least, not when I was looking. Which is truly disappointing because these guys offer something unique albeit off the beaten path.
Read MoreIf You Get Your Spices Cheap You Can Use Them Like They're Free
Kheema is an Indian dish made of spicy ground meat, potatoes, and peas. This afternoon my counter part made a very successful variation. He created a flavorful layered dish that, while not necessarily traditional, was certainly very satisfying.
Read MorePenuche Follow Up
I discussed yesterday's penuche episode with my counterpart, the real cook in the house. I have the follow addendum to yesterday's post:
Read MoreMary Cooks: Penuche
Fudge recipes are written by optimists. The typical fudge recipe is deceptively simple. I am going to write the truth about fudge.
Read MoreA Return to the Food Truck Scene
It's been some time since I've seen a food truck in my work neighborhood. The Curbside Cafe was sold off so its owners could embrace a new opportunity. The Silver Platter, who dominated the area last summer, revamped their menu, relocated to the county, and has since run out of steam. The GrrChe truck made an isolated appearance back in the spring. Even IcedGems, a regular Friday lunchtime fixture, has been scarce.
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