tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-128435 2012-10-11T22:44:46-04:00 TypePad tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452350869e2017ee41c8601970d 2012-10-11T22:44:46-04:00 2012-10-11T22:44:46-04:00

This is a shaved fennel, apple and gorgonzola salad. It's tossed with a white Balsamic vinaigrette for a piquant and refreshing dish. I'd eat it except for one problem. I hate the taste of licorice. Apparently it's a trait I share in common with my siblings. Twizzlers = the devil. As pretty as it is, as much as I want to love the idea of it and eat it... this is really food art rather than a meal for me. But in the event you don't have problems with licorice, I'm told by friends I've made this dish for that...

Cath tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452350869e20177431b21fd970d 2012-07-07T00:34:42-04:00 2012-07-07T01:25:40-04:00

If you are a regular in the food blogosphere, you likely knew Barbara. You've either read her blog, Winos and Foodies, or you've seen her comments as she visited other food blogs. You might have known her as the founder of Hay Hay It's Donna Day, or A Taste of Yellow, her annual food event to raise awareness for cancer which coincided with LiveStrong Day. You may have even known her as a photography enthusiast. If you didn't know Barbara, I envy you and I pity you. May I tell you about my friend? We began writing our blogs at...

Cath tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452350869e2015434cbc917970c 2011-08-24T22:34:49-04:00 2011-08-24T22:48:02-04:00

John Milton had a great second act. He wrote "Paradise Lost" after he went blind. He also wrote a poem that at once lamented the loss of his sight, and celebrated the wideness of the inner world he determined and discovered in the aftermath of blindness. When first informed that gluten, soy and casein needed to be expunged from my younger son's diet, my first reaction was to curl up in a tight ball and ponder how on earth to feed my child. At that time, his pickiness and fussiness regarding food were despair inducing and I was afraid that...

Cath tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452350869e2014e8997142e970d 2011-07-18T22:09:58-04:00 2011-07-18T22:23:29-04:00

Popovers are a favored weekend treat to which all the boys look forward; but in light of our younger son's recent gluten, dairy and soy-free diet, it seemed that the weekend tradition had come to an end. In recalibrating all of Baby's favorite foods, I've been challenged because soy is often used as a dairy substitute. Nowadays, finding gluten-free products is relatively easy; dairy-free substitutes abound; and soy-free is also easy - but finding something gluten, casein AND soy free is a bit more difficult. The culprit in dairy that affects Baby is casein, a protein found in most mammalian...

Cath tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452350869e2014e8952640e970d 2011-06-23T01:04:02-04:00 2011-06-23T08:40:16-04:00

Years and years ago, I made a deliberate decision to get lost. It came about after a strange "A ha!" moment of realization that until then, I'd spent most of my life in rigid self-control and structure; and thus, had likely missed a life enriched by unexpected adventure and opportunistic flights. So I began to get lost. And I was always rewarded with the new experiences and the unique things that emerged because I travelled without a compass. For the last fifteen months, I've been pretty lost, mostly without choice. So lost I had no idea how to document the...

Cath tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452350869e20147e3d08854970b 2011-04-07T18:25:50-04:00 2011-04-07T18:25:50-04:00

You want this book and you want it NOW.

Cath tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452350869e2014e86e184bb970d 2011-03-22T14:40:15-04:00 2011-03-22T14:39:41-04:00

HSN's Cooks Spring Weekend Event, presented by Bon Appétit takes place March 26-27. The event will feature chefs including Wolfgang Puck, Ken Horn, and the Lee Bros. (whom I adore!). HSN gave me a $10 gift card, good for any item on HSN, which I'm giving away to a reader. Send me an email to: ablithepalate (AT) gmail (DOT) com if you want to be entered in the giveaway; a random drawing will be held April 1 (no, really). Be sure to include your name and snail mail address. Pug or Hoss will pick the winner.

Cath tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452350869e2014e86bcfaf6970d 2011-03-16T01:38:24-04:00 2011-03-16T21:01:59-04:00

It was on the menu at a restaurant I've been frequenting recently: braised pork and pappardelle. How do you go wrong with that combination? Twice I ordered it. And twice I was disappointed. The meat was cooked well enough; but the sauce in which it was entrenched was...off. Not bad per se; just...not right. The mushroom cream sauce was the wrong flavor base for the rich, hearty pork; I wanted, and missed, the acidity of a tomato sauce, the comfort of a rustic ragù featuring carrots, onions and the like. I'm a sucker for slow cooked, braised dishes where the...

Cath tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452350869e2014e5f797f25970c 2011-02-25T23:01:11-05:00 2011-02-25T23:00:25-05:00

I wish I had had time to send his chocolate chip cookies to our friend in DC, who brought this frame to Arlington National Cemetary the same day his son was born. But it was more important to us that on his son's first day of life, the two of them were together in spirit if not in letter. When we go to visit him in a few months, we'll have his cookies; and a bottle of Scotch to toast the baby he knew about before he left for war; the baby he named in hopes it would be a...

Cath tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452350869e20148c7d48945970c 2011-01-20T21:34:58-05:00 2011-01-21T08:05:16-05:00

Members of my family dream about dead people. No, really, we do. We dream about our loved ones, and in almost all cases, we dream about the fathers who have passed. They used to come to us when there was a pending death in the family; we think they came to escort those on their way out. The first time I became aware of this phenomena was ten years ago, when my grandfather was dying; in the days before he slipped away, he told my aunt that her husband had come to help him "change shirts" and to teach him...

Cath