I first made this meal a few weeks ago when I came home from running errands to a living room filled with three friends (including my boyfriend). I was starving. But I tried to play it cool, pouring myself a whiskey on ice like they were all drinking, and calmly bringing out a tray of toasted squash seeds to munch on — a side project from an earlier experiment I had been doing with a roasted spaghetti squash. Of course, … Read More
Want to give a gift that counts as a tax write-off? Sick of seeing Old Navy commercials and glossy DeBeers ads? Just because nonprofits can’t buy ad spaces in major magazines or prime-time commercial slots doesn’t mean you can’t throw your money at them this holiday season, too. I know, I know – if your mailbox looks anything like mine these days, charity solicitations are coming in by the bundle. All the papery mess can get overwhelming. How many organizations … Read More
“Was that banana?” Went the first question from everyone who’d tried these, once they unglued their mouths enough to ask. Next: “I’m getting caramel… nuttiness… chocolate…” Sounds almost like we were tasting vintage wines. To their credit, it was dark in the bar where we sat. Half turtle bar, partly inspired by the chocolate monkey drink, these lovable turtle monkey bars have the best of both animal kingdoms, in my opinion. Like a well-aged wine, the flavors also seemed to … Read More
You know what time of the month it is? No? Reason for Not Eating Out rant time?… Well, that’s okay. I don’t even know when the correct time of the month to post one of these things is myself, and I think I may have skipped a month altogether sometime in the summer. But hey — that’s okay. Because I make up the rules. This is exactly what my Reason for Not Eating Out #14 is all about. In the … Read More
A few weeks ago my friend Sam decided she could no longer take care of her yogurt cultures and kombucha colony. So she offered them to me. When I went to her apartment, she was bent over a pad of stationery writing down step-by-step care instructions for each group of live microorganisms, which were bundled away in tight-lidded plastic containers next to sheets of cheesecloth and other paraphernalia on her counter. After a few demonstrations of these steps, Sam packed … Read More
This post goes out to Jennifer of one of my latest favorite food blogs, Slices of Me. Jennifer asked me point-blank in an email just how I manage not eating out, every day. Of particular interest was how I maintained a social life when I couldn’t eat out with friends. So, just a few random habits I’ve picked up from winging it in this neck of the food world: 1. Buy fresh veggies often, and many different types. I go … Read More
the Ugliest Gourmet winning dish (albeit with parsley), Aubergines in Spicy Honey Sauce Food is everything about the holidays to me, and I’m thankful this Thanksgiving for having a family who understands that. This year’s feast in New Jersey was a smaller production than previous years but you wouldn’t have known it from the type of emphasis placed on every aspect of the meal.
So, nobody was exactly clamoring for me to remake a traditional British Christmas mincemeat pie this year at Thanksgiving. Blended dried fruits and the word “meat” in its name doesn’t conjure the most appetizing dessert (even though today, meat is commonly left out). It certainly never did for me, especially since I’ve only had mincemeat once before as a straight-out-of-the-can pie filling. This was at a Thanksgiving long ago, and I recall reading the ingredients on the can: It was … Read More
Spicy Honey Aubergines! And that’s our official theme song for the finale of the Ugliest Gourmet blogging contest. Huzzah to The Blog That Ate Manhattan for creating what this blog’s readers have deemed the ugliest delicious food of the bunch. All told, the results were nail-bitingly close to a four-way tie, with three votes each for the Gnocchi, Corned Beef and Tomato Pie, Kitty Box Cake and Maraq Molokheyia bil Dajaj. Some of these recipes sound so good I still … Read More
Judgment is upon us for The Ugliest Gourmet! Let’s have a big round of imaginary applause for everyone who bravely cooked, photographed and blogged about all the treats below. This home-cooking event was devised to prove that, despite the visual ostentation that professional cooks strive for, great food doesn’t always look so great. So for once, the pressure of beauty is off — and in fact, turned on its head. What will these bloggers have the freedom to cook up … Read More