Search results

As opposed to eating, that is. While well prepared foods are certainly enjoyable and healthful, I believe the "ambience" of the meal is equally important for both pleasure and health. Anyone can grab a burger - and some of them a darned good, too. Devoured at a sporting event, the beach, or...

We met, purely by chance, in a tiny, out-of-the-way village in Mexico some 40 years ago. It was our first venture into Mexico - a camping trip. Gergiabelle and her husband, Ismael, were Chilean, also on a camping vacation from their present residence in California. Ismael turned out to have...

The potato is probably my favorite vegetable - no matter how it is prepared. Heck, I even like 'em raw! For a nice lunch, a bowl of potato soup satisfies both taste and tummy. And, by tossing in onion and chilling, you approach that most famous of classy soups, vichyssoise. O.K., I know...

Today's paper had an article stating nutritionists had determined we consume too much salt, which can lead to hypertension (high blood pressure). It recommended "not more than a teaspoonful per day". For starters, a few years ago the "experts" determined that salt had little effect on...

I've been unsuccessful lately in making sourdough starter, so I referred back to Fleischmann's Yeast website to consult the "authority" on the subject. I halved their suggested recipe, using 1 3/4 cups AP flour, 1/2 pkg active dry yeast, and 1 cup warm water, mixed to a smooth cream. Well...

As promised, I made a whole wheat loaf using the windmill stone ground bread flour. water, salt, and yeast, letting a sponge stand overnight as before with my home grown wheat. Came out nicely - a normal 1 lb loaf. But, darn it, it didn't taste nearly as flavorful. Howcum!! (Not my...

On the thread relating to the appropriate use of stainless steel, cast iron seemed to be given a bum rap by some. The indication being that foods – particularly eggs – often stick, that it rusts, and that it is somehow difficult to maintain. As one who retains, and uses regularly, the...

Boy, do I have a new respect for our ancestors! Last fall I planted a big 2 ft. square plot of….wheat! I’d brought the wheat back from a visit with my son in Iowa. A couple of weeks ago I harvested the stalks with their heads of wheat. Made ‘em into a sheaf like the ones you see in pictures...

Most of this life we suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, but occasionally we have a momentary glimpse of heaven. Such was my lot tonight. B/W bought some spring lamb chops, and, although she hates lamb (!!), she prepared them perfectly, and I all but swooned, they were so...

On the recent Parsley subject, we discussed and bemoaned the tendency for home-grown cilantro (chinese parsley, coriander) to bolt: flower and go to seed too quickly. Minutes ago I made a personal discovery that may change some minds about that. My cilantro has been in bloom for several...

Someone gave my Mother -in-law a Rhubarb plant some 40 years ago, which she planted and then ignored. I got it about 15 years ago and did much the same until B/W came up with a couple of great recipes. Far from the overrcooked tan slime my Mother used to serve as rhubarb when I was a kid, these...

The Parsleys I'm familiar with three types of parsley, and enjoy each. First, there's Chinese parsley, aka Coriander or Cilantro. Very pungent, very unique flavor. Then there's the old standby, Curled leaf parsley. Often thought of merely as a garnish, personally it is my favorite parsley...

Last nite I put a pkg of Red Star Active Dry Yeast, a cup of AP flour, and a cup of 115-120 F water in a medium sized bowl and stirred until smooth and creamy, then set aside overnight. This morning that sponge had a slightly sour aroma - ready to go! Added 2 Tbsp Olive oil, a tsp table salt...

This "al dente" (to he tooth) thing has been rather overdone by many, including too many restauants. I recall dinner at my niece's a year or so ago, when she served green beans, "al dente" : tough, raw, flavorless. But yesterday turned out to be an absolutely perfect day for this old coot...

Last evening I made a batter for sourdough to test a new yeast called "Rise". One cup water, one cup AP flour, one package yeast, blended quickly using an immersion blender ("boat motor" as Emeril would say) in a bowl, then covered with a plate. (Room temp - low 70's) By mid morning today it...

Last year, as you may recall, I went on at great length about "my" method for sourdough. You know: cup of water, cup of flour, package of active dry yeast, mix and set aside three days. Worked perfectly for me every time. The mix developed a pleasant, sour aroma in 60 to 72 hours, and made as...

Perhaaps you will too... ORANGE PIE 1 cup sugar 1/3 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups orange juice 2 tablespoons lemon juice 3 egg yolks, beaten 2 tablespoons butter G rated rind 1 orange 1 Vanilla Wafer Pie Shell 1 recipe Marshmallow Meringue Sift dry ingredients...

Keep It Simple. Stupid is applicalbe to much of life, and particularly to the making of a simple bread like Foccaccia, as the following demonstrates: Ingredients: About a tsp of dry yeast and as much sugar. About half a cup of quite warm water. (Not hot!) Around a cup and a half of...

Fried mush is a breakfast treat generally forgotten except in the South. Simply boil yellow cornmeal (stirring constantly!) with a little salt and 3-4 times as much water until a thick mush forms. Then ladle it into a mold of some sort - an empty soup can works well. Chill in the fridge...

Combine a variety of fruits and berries in a chilled goblet with a scoop of vaniilla ice cream. Serve with the meal - by the time diner's get to it, the ice cream will have partially melted, forming a heavy cream over the fruit mixture. Delicious and wonderfully refreshing. Not to mention...

My B/W combines diced apple, chopped walnut, sliced banana with a (Hellman's) mayonaise dressing for a delightfully different flavor of the traditional Waldorf Salad. Chopped celery is optional. Served well chilled on a crisp iceberg lettuce leaf cup.

It's my guess few of us knew grapes had flowers, much less had ever seen them. So, all you winos out there, here's a snap I took a few minutes ago of my Thompson Seedless vine in riotous bloom. [Magnified a whole bunch: the flowers are actually little bigger than the head of a pin.]

I am ever amused - and more than a litle disgusted - by people who believe themselves true connoisuers of fine wines. Certainly there are those out there who really do have a true appreciation of the nuances of flavors among wines, but those are few and far between. Too many are self styled...

A raw recruit back in 1945 at Shephard Field in Witchita Falls, Texas, I had a 4 hour pass. Hopped a bus into "town", and happened on a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Being broke and hungry, I ordered, for two bits, something this L.A. cityboy had never heard of: Catfish Flakes! Boy...

I've been busy with other things for a few months - now that I came back, I sse few familiar names! What happened to Kitchen Elf? And Carnivore. CoCo. et al?? Anybody know? They don't appear on the members list.:sad: