The Hungry Engineer - Articles

Maya Cookies

Wed, 30 Mar 2016 00:00:00 -0500

My cooking life has changed quite a bit since having kids. I try to plan menus that minimize the number of hours I spend cooking while still providing a nutritious and flavorful array of foods. Some weeks this is easier than others.

Tentacles

Mon, 29 Feb 2016 00:00:00 -0600

Our three-year-old daughter Maya has a stuffed octopus named Oddipuddy that she’s carried around with her since she learned how to crawl. It is her comfort object. We cannot leave the house without hearing her exclaim, “Where’s Oddipuddy?” He goes everywhere with us.

No Common Pigs Here

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600

The day after Thanksgiving, a wonderful thing happened. The Noble Pig, a favorite local eatery of ours, opened their deli counter and began serving charcuterie. Shortly before that, we were fortunate to be invited to a preview event where we were able to sample a wide variety of these offerings for free.

London - The Eating Part

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0600

Everyone has heard time and again how awful British food once was and how it’s much better now. I cannot attest to the former, but I can say that we had no trouble finding a delicious meal during our stay in London.

Butcher's Box

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0500

In the middle of making an effort to write about some of the food and travel things that have been going on in our lives the past few months, we were interrupted by something wonderful that we just have to tell everyone about. It’s called the Butcher’s Box.

London - The Tourist Part - Part 2

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0500

I swore when I started writing about our trip, I wasn’t going to torture folks with a play-by-play of our vacation, but it seems I haven’t done a very good job. Unfortunately for you, I’m too far in to quit now! Luckily, in my weariness, my notes are much more sparse through the remainder of the trip.

London - The Tourist Part

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0500

In late May, early June of this year, Sean and I headed out to London for a couple weeks. We took a few side trips, but generally, we spent the majority of our two weeks hunkered down in London, taking in the sites and tooling around the town. We utilized the services of HomeAway and booked an apartment for the duration of our two week stay. The apartment was small, but functional and very conveniently located near the Elephant and Castle tube station. Amusingly, we were repeatedly told we were not staying in the nicest part of town. I will say, the crowd was young and the sounds of revelry often nudged their way in through our windows, but I never for a moment felt unsafe.

The Ass End of Behind

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Yeah, we’re totally still talking about things that happened in March. But no matter, this one is worth talking about. Second Bar + Kitchen. It’s part of a trio of what I’m certain are top notch eateries tucked into 200 Congress Ave, but this is the only one we’ve managed to visit. And we’ve visited it more than once. Part of our SXSW respite was to take a break in the afternoon to rest our weary feet and consume grown-up beverages. Second Bar + Kitchen proved to be a lovely oasis.

House Special

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500

There’s a place in north Austin where, for a few dollars (very few), you can get a beautifully constructed Vietnamese banh mi sandwich. The filling of choice, often some sort of meat, is topped with lightly pickled daikon radish and carrot and sprinkled liberally with fresh cilantro. All this is encased in some of the most perfect French bread I’ve ever had the pleasure to eat. Some mayonnaise ties it all together and slices of fresh jalapenos are offered on the side so the heat may be adjusted to your liking. It may not look like much from the outside, but Baguette House is well worth a visit.

Not Hipster Enough to Willingly Drink PBR

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500

I had been babbling about the opening of Haddingtons for a couple weeks before we finally made our way down to try it out. Sean and I had been deep in the throes of our new cocktail habit, and I tried to lure Sean downtown with the promise of “seeing how the professionals do it.” We were seated nowhere near the bar at the time, but we certainly enjoyed the fruits of the professionals’ efforts. The craft cocktails were the draw for me, but the food is every bit as enticing. We’ve been back repeatedly, at all hours of the day and night, and have yet to leave disappointed.

A Cocktail a Day

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500

We have a new hobby. Well, I guess it’s not actually new. We’ve dabbled off and on with the idea of making cocktails at home. Unfortunately Sean’s stubborn wife (me) was too dead-set against anything that smacked of being “too sweet.” Consequently, I didn’t venture much beyond an occasional Manhattan. Well, this past fall, we began delving in earnest into the delightful, if sometimes difficult to clearly recall world of cocktail mixing.

The Power of Imo's

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0600

It was only a matter of time before I talked about Imo’s Pizza on this blog. People love or hate this pizza; there’s rarely a middle ground. While I expect that some of you will never trust my taste buds again after this, I have to admit a love of this pizza that no span of time or leap toward adulthood can undo. Every year when we go back to see my family in Missouri over the holidays, we must, at least once, hit Imo’s to partake of a cracker-thin bacon pizza with a side of toasted ravioli.

Molecular Gastroburger

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0600

I didn’t catch on to Top Chef at the beginning of its life cycle, and I didn’t last beyond a couple of seasons before the drama seemed like it overtook the interesting cooking. In fact, the last season I watched was whichever one found Richard Blais and Stephanie Izard vying for the top spot. (I think there may have been others at the end, but for me, it was down to those two.) After watching them cook through that season, I’d happily try food that either of them had a hand in, and at least with Mr. Blais, I found my chance while traveling over the holidays. Turns out, there’s a Flip Burger Boutique in Birmingham, AL.

Definitely Not My Mama

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0600

It all started at a ham and bourbon party (the best things always do). We overheard someone talking about their friend’s new trailer. That he was serving Asian street food type items and that he was thinking of branching into molecular gastronomy techniques. All from his little trailer. Naturally, we were curious, so one fine weekend not long ago, we headed over to the east side to check out Not Your Mama’s Food Truck.

Misto Mare

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Our first night on our recent mini-vacation to Port Aransas, we snagged a reservation at Venetian Hot Plate. In doing my dab of pre-trip research, Venetian Hot Plate came up again and again and again as a recommendation. I was a little uncertain about a touch of Italy in coastal Texas, but figured, why not.

Spectrum Radio

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Back before I was gainfully employed, a nice lady emailed me and asked if I’d be interested in doing an interview for Spectrum Radio for their Geeks Cooking series. After some noncommittal emailing on my part, I found out the “Spectrum” in that title referred to the IEEE Spectrum magazine. IEEE, for those not in the know, is the professional organization for, basically, electrical engineers.

Port A

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0500

It’s been a while. A lot has happened. For one, I got a job. You’d think that with the gift of a solid two years to work out what I really wanted to be when I grew up, I’d have figured something out. But you’d be wrong. I’m back to doing the same kind of engineering job I’ve more or less always done. And because the group I joined had undergone some staffing issues in the recent past, I think I was part of the company for about five minutes before I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of work that had been assigned to me.

Am I a Daring Cook?

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500

I consider myself a reasonably adventurous cook, generally gung-ho to try out cuisine with unpronounceable ingredients (at least for me) or making some item that any sane person would normally purchase. But sometimes I get stuck in a rut, and outside influence can be helpful. To that end, I decided to join the Daring Cooks and take part in their monthly challenge (read more here).

New Menu Preview

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

About a month ago now, we were invited to Fleming’s downtown Austin location to check out their new menu additions. Sean and I have several times visited their north location for their very reasonably-priced happy hour, but hadn’t experienced their proper sit-down menu yet, so we jumped at the chance.

Healthy Cookies

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Ages ago, I decided to deal with my incurable cookie habit by trying to make a cookie that wasn’t pure sugar and flour and butter (though those are utterly lovely). The likely candidate was an oatmeal cookie, but my problem with most oatmeal cookies is the inclusion of raisins. Sure, they could be omitted, but that makes for a rather dull cookie. Eventually, we wound up at chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Santanaland

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Last month, we attended a media event at Maria Maria in downtown Austin. I had no real expectations going in. It’s a chain restaurant bearing the Carlos Santana name. One’s gut instinct might be to expect the worst: perhaps a highly focused Hard Rock situation. But the price was right for giving it a shot, and the menu sounded interesting, so away we went.

Homemade Buns

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Ever since we acquired the KitchenAid stand mixer, homemade bread has become a staple in our house. I’m perfectly fine with kneading bread; in fact, I even enjoy it. However, during the hot and sweaty central Texas summer, I have very little interest in toiling over a hunk of dough that’s hell-bent on sticking to everything it comes in contact with, especially when the dough itself is meant to be a bit on the sticky side.

Mystery-Free Meat

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

File homemade hot dogs in the “because I can” category. The truth of the matter is that Sean and I like hot dogs, so generally the fewer questions we ask about what they’re made of, the better. However, since I’ve gathered all the tools (grinder, stuffer, smoker), I’ve been itching to try to make them myself. In fact, hot dogs were second only to home-cured bacon on my DIY charcuterie wishlist.

Yeah, We Figured It'd Be Good

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

You’d think I’d have learned by now that sometimes my ingrained politeness gets in the way. I’d been dreaming of our dinner reservation at Uchiko for a solid week (and dreaming in a less time-dimensioned manner even before that). We walked in for our early evening reservation and were seated at an interior table. I glanced longingly at the light-drenched booths by the windows but didn’t want to ask for one them since they were all four-tops. I should have pushed for it. Instead, though Sean worked very hard, our pictures will likely not adequately convey the glory of the food we were able to try out during Uchiko’s pre-opening last week.

Summer CSA Boxes

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500

If you’re on the fence about whether to join a CSA, summer would definitely be a good time to find out. Gone are the dreary greens and root vegetables (generally anyway) which I had been struggling to use. Instead, our early June box was absolutely brimming with gorgeous spring and summer produce. I had fun showing Sean our bounty once I had returned from picking up our goodies. (Our CSA, Johnson’s Backyard Garden, is now on Twitter and Facebook, by the way.)

Medium Raw

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Anthony Bourdain, so it’ll come as no surprise that I’ve very much enjoyed reading his latest book, Medium Raw. In reading through my review of The Nasty Bits in 2008, I realize that a lot of what I could say about this book will sound the same. He’s older, wiser, still snarky, still humble. But this is the better work, and I’ll do my best to tell you why I loved it so.

No Need to Knead

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500

I really don’t mind kneading dough for bread. It’s interesting to feel the texture change as you work the dough, and for the longest time, I felt that it was the only way to get it right. However, once I got the KitchenAid (you know, for grinding sausage), I discovered that for very little effort at all, I can have freshly baked sandwich bread and hamburger buns. For even less effort (and no stand mixer to clean up), I can have a lovely “artisan” loaf using the no-knead method.

Getting Tongue

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Often, for Sean and I, eating out is an occasion. And especially since we’ve been watching our budget, it’s something we’ve saved for special occasions. But what if you just want really excellent food without all the fanfare and expense. For that, I would suggest Foreign and Domestic.

A Popsicle by Any Other Name

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500

I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me sooner. I bitch and moan about the heat here every summer, and yet I rarely make frozen desserts of any kind. It took my friendly neighborhood CSA and an excess of basil along with some suggestions from my Twitter friends to convince me that I needed to try my hand at popsicles.

Guilty Pleasures

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500

The definition of a guilty pleasure. That’s how I’ve been referring to the food at The Trailer at The Gibson Bar. And I refer to it often. We were recently invited to experience firsthand the wonder that is the Trailer Burger (a burger whose bun is a Round Rock dough-nut), but let me assure you, that wasn’t even the most decadent item consumed.

Texas Two-Sip

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500

When one thinks of wine country, one rarely thinks of Texas. However, according to the literature supplied by Go Texan, there are actually eight designated viticultural areas in the state, with the Hill Country area being the second largest in the United States. It was our recent good fortune to be invited to the Texas Two-Sip Dinner at Jack Allen’s Kitchen.

Optimistic Tomatoes

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500

It’s strange, but we actually don’t eat a lot of fresh tomatoes at our house. For one, Sean steadfastly despises them. For another, while I find them tasty enough, they’re rarely anything I seek out. Typically, I buy tomatoes to cook into sauce or as a cooked ingredient in something else, and consequently, I go for the paste tomatoes, typically Romas. Recently though, I got to taste the sort of tomatoes that I’d actually enjoy eating out of hand.

The Other Grilled Cheese

Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

I know you wind up seeing a lot of blather about curing bacon, grinding sausage, and cutting up meat, but Sean and I actually eat vegetarian meals more often than you might imagine. Among our favorites are saag paneer with naan and tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches, however a new love has entered our life, and curiously, it features another kind of grilled cheese. Well, grillable, anyway. Thanks to Lisa of Lisa is Cooking, I have been routinely making Braised Chickpeas with Greens and Haloumi Cheese for the past couple months.

Bites of Sunshine

Mon, 24 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

I was recently gifted with a bag full of the most delicate little yellow-orange mangos. Lindsay of Apron Adventures fame offered them up about a month ago, and I could not resist. The mangos came courtesy of the National Mango Board, whose website is an excellent resource for all manner of mango information, not the least of which is a rather large collection of recipes.

Tonight We Dine in Hell

Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

After a few beers to celebrate a friend’s birthday, we decided that what we wanted more than anything was pizza. We decided to hit one of the places we didn’t have stomach capacity to visit during the Tasty-Up Trailer Tour this past spring. Tucked away just this side of nowhere is one fantastic pizza joint: Spartan Pizza.

Our Meeting with the Green Fairy

Sun, 16 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500

I hate licorice. There, I said it. You’d think I’d be totally into the strange black rope-like candy that is, against all aesthetic evidence, edible, but I’m not. I do, however, find that I enjoy food items with licorice-like flavors. Fennel, for instance, is lovely. Star anise is an excellent flavoring. And it turns out that if the variety’s right, I even enjoy absinthe (beyond the tiny dab I use in my Sazaracs).

Surviving SXSW 2010

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0500

This is Sean’s and my eleventh year in Austin, and this is the first year we really did SXSW. South by Southwest is a couple weeks long film, interactive, and music extravaganza filled with conference activity, films, endless musical acts, and of course, parties. We’ve gone to a sprinkling of free shows in the past, but we’ve never really done the immersive, four-days-of-music-debauchery that we managed this year. Matt, a college friend and the fellow who officiated our wedding, came down to make sure we didn’t puss out and go home too early.

Good to the Grain

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

When the offer came for a review copy of a new cookbook about baking with whole grain flours, I could barely contain my excitement long enough to provide a professional-yet-adamantly-affirmative response. We’ve been working on reducing the amount of refined white flour we consume, but it hasn’t been easy. Luckily, we now have Good to the Grain to fall back on.

How Do I Love Thee? I Feed Thee.

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

When I was younger, I had nothing but scorn for Valentine’s Day. Pink and red were the predominant colors, and everything was fluffy and lacy – definitely not my speed. Even these days, I’m not sure you could pay me to go to a restaurant on the big day. However, I am more than happy to use it as an excuse to cook with fancy ingredients I wouldn’t normally indulge in.

CSA Box Number 5

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

Johnson’s Backyard Garden CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Box 5 brought us several new items. We received a couple bunches of mustard greens, an avocado, and a big fat rutabaga (a vegetable I haven’t tried before). This is part of why we decided to go the CSA route - to be forced to try veggies we wouldn’t ordinarily think to buy. With this post also, I’m going to shift from explaining every little thing I do, to just relaying the recipes that were most interesting.

Feet and Scales - Chicken Stock Revamped

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500

After reading The Making of a Chef, in which Michael Ruhlman reports on life as a student at the Culinary Institute of America, I’ve had a hankering to actually learn the fundamentals. My knife skills really suck, so that’s one thing I’m working on. But on the food side of things, I’ve also never managed to make a decent chicken stock. This time, I followed two suggestions: measure by weight instead of volume and use chicken feet.

The Making of a Chef

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0600

I’ve mentioned before that I didn’t even really start learning to cook till I was in college, and even then it was slow going as I was neck-deep in engineering coursework. Since then, I’ve cooked almost obsessively and loved every minute of it. Even before I left my job, I considered the notion of culinary school. After a fair amount of soul-searching, I expect I’ll never go that route (mostly because I doubt I’d use it for anything other than my own enjoyment, and it’s awfully expensive). However, I needn’t forgo the experience entirely. Michael Ruhlman in The Making of a Chef invites the reader to vicariously experience a cooking school education at none other than the Culinary Institute of America.

CSA Box Number 4

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0600

The only new vegetable our fourth CSA box brought was cabbage. The rest we had had before, and by this point, we’ve had way to much of some of them (cough … carrots … cough). But spring is just around the corner here in Central Texas, so I look forward to seeing what interesting things our next boxes bring.

Power of the Pig

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0600

I like pigs. They always seem to have a smile on their face, and not too long ago, I discovered that they wag those crazy tails of theirs. But I love more what pigs can become. Belly meat becomes bacon. Shoulder becomes tender carnitas. And now … skin becomes pork rinds.

CSA Box Number 3

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Sean in particular was excited about our third CSA box because it was meant to include Brussels sprouts – a particular favorite of his. Again I was pleased to note that in addition to our sprouts, the box offered several new items we’d not yet seen during our admittedly brief Johnson’s Backyard Garden CSA membership.

Tornado Magnet

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Trailer eating in Austin has only been picking up steam since the last time we went trailer touring. Recently, with our trailer buddies Jeff and Sharon in tow, we attended the Tasty Up Trailer Tour, a mash-up between Jodi’s Tasty Touring and Addie’s Eat-ups.

Pearls for Dinner

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0600

These are, bar none, the strangest dumplings I’ve ever had the pleasure to make or eat. A couple friends recently organized a Thai-food dinner, and I was stuck for what to bring. In digging through cookbooks for inspiration, I happened upon Thai Tapioca Pearl Dumplings.

Shrimp Etouffee

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Have I ever told you this? About a million years ago, I unwittingly captured Sean’s attention when I fed him homemade crawfish etouffee, made from crawfish I had caught during a float trip (I don’t know if this is true everywhere, but “float trip” in my corner of Missouri meant “canoe trip”). And so it was with equal parts interest and nostalgia that I prepared the etouffee recipe from the most recent issue of Saveur magazine.

Leg of Deer

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0600

One night, my friends Jeff and Sharon showed up at the house with a large item wrapped in a heavy-gauge trash bag, a highly entertained gleam in their eyes. They walked into the kitchen and thunked it on the counter and continued to grin at me, silently challenging me to open their strange parcel. I slowly peeled back the blanket of thick plastic and revealed the skinned but otherwise very recognizable hind leg of an animal – in fact there was still a bit of fur attached here and there. “It’s deer!” they exclaimed with obvious delight.

Dreaming of Beef Short Ribs

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0600

I’d been hearing about the Carillon off and on since December, it seems, and almost exclusively via Twitter. We were fortunate enough to be invited to a media event to celebrate the restaurant’s official launch this past Friday. I will not lie to you. It was a little tough to find the restaurant which is tucked neatly into the shiny new AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center, but after the food we sampled, I believe it’s well worth seeking out.

CSA Box Number 2

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0600

We picked up our second CSA box not long after the Hill Country had undergone a particularly vicious freeze (vicious for Texas, that is). To be honest, I figured it’d be a little light this week, and there was even an apology note from the supplier, Johnson’s Backyard Garden, to that affect tucked in amongst the produce. That said, I felt like we got every bit the content we did last time, and maybe even a little more. An added bonus – there was a pile of organic citrus from G and S Groves as well.

Two Pounds of Carrots

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0600

This is part of why I wanted to be a CSA member – to get random vegetables and have no immediate idea what I wanted to do with them, thereby forcing me to figure out new uses, new preparations. Part of our Box 2 offering was a big, beautiful 2-pound bunch of carrots. The weird freeze Austin experienced earlier this month managed to intensify their sweetness, and while we ate some of them as they were, I wanted to do something special with the rest. I picked up a random cookbook that I hadn’t opened in years and found a lovely recipe for Carrot Garlic Soup.

Soup Delivery

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0600

It all started with Eat Local Week this past December. It got me thinking that I often didn’t consider the bounty that central Texas has to offer – and that extends beyond organically grown produce and ethically raised meat. It includes talented people producing all manner of wonderful food items. So, in the spirit of Eat Local Week, we placed our very first order with The Soup Peddler.

CSA Box Number 1

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0600

We’ve decided to try a CSA membership for a while to see if it helps us eat more fruits and vegetables. CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is a system whereby individuals pre-pay for a share of a given farm’s bounty. The farm has a bumper crop, the CSA members get extra large shares. The farm suffers an unexpected hard freeze, members wind up with less. Through Johnson’s Backyard Garden (who is currently accepting new CSA members, by the way), we’ve opted for an every-other week ration of vegetables. The following is sort of a note-to-self on what produce we’ve received, what recipes we prepared (or preservation methods we employed), and what we didn’t manage to use in time.

A Spot of Tea

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0600

The seed was sown last Christmas when my husband’s parents gifted me with a lovely tin of tea called Earl Grey Creme from Mrsteas. The aroma was heavenly. I am generally a fan of Earl Grey tea anyway, but whatever they blend it with to give it that incredible sweet aroma and subtle “creme” flavor renders it unique. This holiday season, after begging to go back and refill my long-depleted stock of Earl Grey Creme, I found out they served food as well, and it turned out to be one of my favorite dining experiences of the trip.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Several months ago, I received a review copy of Ree Drummond’s new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I’ve been a fan of her lovely website and warm, self-effacing writing for a while and was excited for the chance to see her in print (I’m one of those awful tree-killing people who may never be able to let go of physical books in favor of e-readers). I’m pleased to report that the book doesn’t disappoint.

Sushi in Alabama

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0600

You know how Sean and I are shameless devotees of the Uchi restaurant here in Austin? The mastermind behind that restaurant, Tyson Cole, branched out and partnered with John Cassimus to open a fast-service sushi joint in the Birmingham, Alabama area called Maki Fresh. Well, it just so happens that during our recent holiday visit with Sean’s family, we had a chance to try it out … and now I’m sad that there isn’t one in Austin.

Gifts of Cookies and Meat

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Last year, we made cookie plates for our families, but due to poor planning on my part, I only managed three kinds of cookies. This year, I got an earlier start and did a little bit better job. But for whatever reason, that just wasn’t enough. Thanks to all the charcuterie fun I’ve had this past year, we decided to make gifts of meat for our families as well.

Move Over Peanut Butter

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0600

In hunting for and testing holiday cookie recipes, I stumbled across this understated gem in an old issue of Cooking Light. I personally love peanut butter cookies, but Sean is not a fan. We have found a happy medium in macadamia nut butter cookies.

Fluffy Pink Clouds

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0600

I love making things from scratch that seem like they should only be purchased. It was with particular pleasure that I made homemade marshmallows last year. This year for the holidays, we tried out some flavored marshmallows.

No Qualifiers Required

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0600

I have sort of a love/hate relationship with some of the new eco-friendly restaurants that have been opening around here. On one hand, I love what they’re trying to do. Energy-efficient appliances, green building materials, grass-fed meat, local produce – these are all things I can happily embrace. But when I tell people about the food, I catch myself adding qualifiers. Not bad … for low-fat, grass-fed beef. Pretty good … for healthy fries. I’m happy to report that Promise Pizza, a new “green” pizza joint up in Round Rock, is actually just good pizza – no qualifiers required (well, almost no qualifiers).

Pickled Shallots

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0600

I talk a lot about creating all manner of fun charcuterie projects. Things like sausage and confit and pate are lovely on their own, to be sure, but they’re raised to a new level with the inclusion of a few well-prepared condiments. One of my new favorites to serve with a succulent sausage or braised pork belly is Pickled Shallots.

Thanksgiving Recap 2009

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

I found it useful to refer back to my Thanksgiving post from last year when planning this year’s meal, so I figured I’d recap our Thanksgiving meal again this year … you know, for posterity. This year Sean and I had seven guests (though to be fair, the littlest one brought her own food) over to the house for a very pleasant feast. It was so pleasant, in fact, that we didn’t remember to take very many pictures.

Thanksgiving Turkey 2009

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Roast turkey is fine and all, but I won’t lie to you, it’s not my favorite thing to eat. The recipe we did last year for salted turkey was the best I’ve ever used, and I was tempted to do that again this year. At the end of the day though, I wanted to do something different. Since I’ve been having so much fun with all my charcuterie projects, I decided to go that route for the Thanksgiving turkey. I give you turkey-cranberry sausage and turkey leg confit.

Using the Kielbasa

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

It seems like ages ago now that I first subscribed to Gourmet. I wanted to learn how to be a better cook. I had graduated from college and learned a few basics, but at the time the Internet was kind of a sketchy resource, and I didn’t have the experience to tell a good recipe from a bad one. My solution was to subscribe to a cooking magazine. One of the few I had heard of at the time was Gourmet, so that’s the one I chose. From the first day, I was hooked.

Better than Jewelry

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Remember me whining about how I couldn’t case the sausages I was making? Well, that is a problem no longer. My indulgent husband went with me to our local Academy store “just to look” at the sausage stuffer they sell there. We examined it, decided it would work for what we wanted to do, then went home and researched it. Within a few days of me waffling around, he finally decided we were just going to buy it, and we had ourselves one shiny new 5-pound LEM sausage stuffer.

Enter the Entree Doughnut

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

We were recently sent on a treacherous errand, full of drudgery and malcontent. We were forced, practically at gunpoint, to go eat doughnuts for lunch earlier this week because our friend needed us to pick up a fancy doughnut for her husband for his birthday. Fine, who am I kidding. I’ve been lusting after these doughnuts since I heard about Gourdough’s and this week we finally had an excuse to try them out.

Back When We Were Hedonists

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

A couple years ago (back when we were a two-income household, I might add), we had the opportunity to spend an incredible evening consuming the most amazing food at the Inn at Little Washington. The traffic was murder and thanks to that and bad weather, we were over an hour late for ourreservation (I called en route and apologized). They accommodated us with grace, and we proceeded to eat the best meal of our lives thus far.

Asian Dumplings

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

I love dumplings. I don’t mean chicken and dumplings (though I love those dumplings too). I mean beautiful little meat or vegetable stuffed Asian dumplings that have been perfectly steamed or pan fried and are usually served with an extremely flavorful sauce. Andrea Nguyen’s new book, Asian Dumplings, makes these little bundles of goodness accessible to enthusiastic home cooks as well.

Pretty Dead Bread

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Dia de los Muertos has to be one of the more interesting holidays out there. Since it’s celebrated on November 1^st and 2^nd, I have to wonder why it’s not Dias de los Muertos, but who am I to quibble. The holiday is celebrated in Mexico as a way to honor family members and friends who’ve passed away. Custom holds that the dead are easier to communicate with at the this time, and to entice them to do so, offerings are made of favorite foods and drinks. Often, these offerings include Pan de Muertos.

Good Eats - The Early Years

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500

As promised, here’s my almost-certainly-not-objective review of Alton Brown’s latest book, Good Eats: The Early Years. But first, indulge my food-nerd glee (or maybe more nerd-who-cooks than food-nerd) and check this out.

In the Kitchen No Longer

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500

My husband’s family remembers Zoe’s Kitchen as a local restaurant in their home city of Birmingham, AL. Zoe was often in the kitchen, and the chocolate cake was moist and topped with fudgy icing. Well. Zoe’s Kitchen is all grown up and several locations now dot the southern United States (though as I understand it, Zoe is still heavily involved). And now, Zoe’s Kitchen has a location in Austin.

I'm Just Here for AB

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500

You remember when the Food Network was just plain old Food TV and you could learn how to cook by watching it? One of my absolute favorite cooking shows to watch was Good Eats and its crazy host Alton Brown. With AB’s help, I developed a hatred for uni-taskers (except for the fire extinguisher, of course), learned how to make chocolate syrup, and above all had gobs of fun.

Wine in a Box

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500

You remember how in college it was a funny joke to buy the box of wine from Wal-Mart and stick it in your fridge? And it was extra hilarious that it was dispensed via a spigot in its side? Well, now the joke’s on us. As it happens, our first experience with a more recent boxed wine offering was actually pretty positive.

La Dolce Vita

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500

An outdoor festival in October when Austin’s temperatures are at their finest – sounds good. A festival at which dozens of the area’s food and wine purveyors provide a wide range of samples – a food-lover’s dream. A festival that costs $100 a pop to attend – wait, what? But given the breadth and quality of culinary establishments present, it may well be worth it to attend La Dolce Vita, the Austin Museum of Art’s annual food and wine festival.

Snakes and Snails and Fancy Cocktails

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Several weeks ago, Austin saw its first Cupcake Smackdown. This past week, the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau held the 6th Annual Cocktail Throwdown. First, bars were invited to submit their version of the “official drink of Austin” (made with Austin’s own Titos Handmade Vodka). Then these were pared down to just the top five. And finally, on September 24th, we got to try out those top runners and vote for the one we felt best represented our fair city.

Tuscany by way of Wimberley

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Recently, we took advantage of a gorgeous weekend here in Texas and spent an afternoon in Wimberley. Our intention had been to head down to tour the olive orchard at the Bella Vista Ranch, but we wound up staying for a late lunch / early dinner at The Leaning Pear.

Best Little Hot Dog in Texas

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

This is mostly Sean’s post. I’m writing it, but he’s supplying all the information (just so you know who to blame later). Recently, a media event was held to kick off Flavors of Austin, a “52-Week Food Frenzy.” Each week a different local restaurant, caterer, or supper club will offer up a discounted multi-course meal. Austin gets to try out a variety of restaurants at a discounted rate, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Sustainable Food Center of Austin. The first restaurant in the Flavors lineup is Frank, a hot dog and artisan sausage restaurant-bar-market in the downtown area. Yeah, no need to wonder why Sean was so willing to attend the media event without me.

The Sausage Saga

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Ah, sausage. Ruhlman entitles the sausage chapter of Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing, “The Power and the Glory: Animal Fat, Salt, and the Pig Come Together in One of the Oldest, Divine-yet-humble Culinary Creations Known to Humankind.” And no, I don’t think there’s any misplaced glorification. Turns out though that making decent sausage is easier said than done (at least for me … at least so far).

How to Cook a Wolf

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

No, there’s no recipe for wolf. In How to Cook a Wolf by MFK Fisher, the metaphorical wolf is knocking at the World War II-era door as wartime shortages and financial hardship swept the country. This book is Ms. Fisher’s answer to handling the rationing and lack of money and general malaise of a country at war with not just economy, but also grace.

Bacon Bourbon Blondies

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The bacon brownies from last November were fantastic, and now that we’re curing our own bacon, I thought I would take another stab at using bacon as a dessert ingredient. I decided to go a different route this time. A very simple recipe for blondies can be found at the Smitten Kitchen site along with a laundry list of suggestions for flavorful additions to the base recipe. Two additions popped immediately to mind: bacon and bourbon.

Bacon - Round Two

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

As mentioned previously, I no longer have much interest in store-bought bacon, so naturally when the bacon supply in my freezer dwindled, it was time to buy another pork belly and start the curing process. Last time, I smoked the cured belly on our little Weber kettle grill and sliced it with a chef’s knife. This time, I got to try out more purpose-built tools for the job.

How Green is Your Burger?

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

When we heard about Terra Burger and Elevation Burger opening in the area, we were excited (well, half of us were anyway). Finally maybe there would be a couple tastier, healthier, more conscientious alternatives to our regular fast food burger chains. After an utterly wretched experience at Terra Burger (leathery fries, tasteless meat – I actually threw most of it away, and I abhor wasting food), I was hopeful but apprehensive about trying Elevation Burger.

Julie and Julia

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I bought Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1 last year after reading My Life in France and falling in love with Julia Child. I’ve confessed it before and I’ll do so again – before that, I paid very little attention to her. As a food blogger, I probably shouldn’t admit that, but it’s true nonetheless. Reading her incredible story prompted me to finally purchase the cookbook that by rights probably belongs on any serious home cook’s bookshelf. And then I proceeded to cook almost nothing from it. Silly me! With the Julie and Julia movie out and with family coming to visit, we decided to cook up a swank French feast from her cookbook and then go watch the movie.

In Defense of Food

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. These seven simple words are the first paragraph of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan. By elaborating on those words, he aims to “help us reclaim our health and happiness as eaters.”

Indian Comfort Food

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I have never liked creamed spinach. In fact, I’ve never had much use for cooked spinach at all, preferring instead to eat it fresh. I started to bridge the gap when Sean’s parents introduced me to wilted spinach. Then I had lightly sauteed spinach a few times and thought that was pretty good. But it wasn’t until I started visiting the Indian restaurants around town that I fully made my peace with cooked spinach. It was in visiting these restaurants that I discovered perhaps my favorite spinach dish: saag paneer.

Undercover Fine Dining

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500

In another case of (incorrectly) judging a book by its cover, I had watched as Cover 3 was built over by my beloved Alamo Drafthouse. As it developed into the very large, seemingly misplaced sports bar that I presumed it to be, I learned to simply not see it anymore as we drove past it to watch movies and drink beer. Recently, we were invited to experience Cover 3’s food. And I humbly admit, it’s some of the best food I’ve had the pleasure to eat recently.

South Austin Masala

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

We’ve eaten a variety of delicious Indian food all over town, but every time I’ve tried to prepare it at home, it’s been an unqualified failure. Imagine my delight at being invited to a trial-run Indian cooking class at the lovely home of Chaya Rao. That evening’s class ended with some of the best Indian food I’ve ever eaten. And now that I’ve had a few weeks now to try the recipes myself, I have to say, thanks to Chaya, I’ve come closer than ever before to producing acceptable Indian fare at home.

Beautiful Peaches

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Last weekend, I went to the Sunset Valley Farmers Market. I both love and hate going to the farmers markets in summer time. I love them because the variety of wonderful produce available is amazing. I hate them because they’re outdoors and it’s hot. I know. I’m a whiner. At any rate, one of my favorite finds at the market this weekend were ripe, fragrant, sweet freestone peaches. And the ones that made it past the eating-out-of-hand gauntlet were turned into a very simple, delicious peach galette.

An Image Thing

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I’m guilty. Guilty of discriminating based on appearance. Guilty of snap judgment stemming from misperception. Don’t get me wrong. I have room in my heart for strange divey little joints tucked into strip malls. Wouldn’t think twice about eating at a place whose staff didn’t speak English. Best burger is in the back of a biker bar? Bring it on. But for reasons I can’t fully explain, I had always thought of Kenichi as one of those trendier-than-thou, see-and-be-seen kind of places, and I wouldn’t go. From everything I’ve learned recently, that is not necessarily the case, or if it is, it doesn’t matter because the food they serve is incredible.

Pain or Comfort

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Nestled in the heart of the central-Texas Hill Country, about two-hours’ drive west of Austin, lies a small and unassuming winery that produces a most surprising libation. It could almost be mistaken for a light chardonnay, except the aroma is oddly vegetal and causes a slight sting in the nose. Billed for use in cooking and marinating, or for simply adventurous drinking, the wine is sampled by guests with equal parts curiosity and trepidation. The first wave of flavor is bright and fruity, but it quickly gives way to an escalating spicy heat. Incredibly, the essence of Texas’s favorite chili pepper is perfectly captured in this tiny glass of jalapeno wine.

Parkside

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

A shamefully long time ago now, we were invited to a food blogger happy hour at Parkside. It’s shameful in one respect because I had every intention of reviewing it and it’s now more than two months later. It’s downright unforgivable in another respect – the food was inventive and generally very well executed – I really should have told you all about it sooner.

Red Chile Rising

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I have lived in Austin for over ten years now. It’s been a pleasure to watch as the local food culture has developed, and this city and its surrounding environs are, in my mind, one of the finest culinary destinations in the states. Sometimes though, I have a hankering for simple, good Texas-meets-Mexico fare. Add beer, add napkins, subtract esoterica, subtract frills. This week’s experiment: Red Chile Enchiladas with Slow-simmered Pinto Beans.

Moveable Feast

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Every time I turn around, it seems I’m hearing about some fancy new trailer eatery that simply must be experienced. And darn it to heck if they aren’t all down in the city – not where a traffic-phobic, parking-inept, awful suburbanites like me would typically journey for lunch. In fact, until this past Saturday, the only trailer eatery I had tried was Flip Happy Crepes. What happened Saturday, you might be asking? (When is she going to get to the point, you might also be asking?) Jodi of Tasty Touring fame hosted the South Austin Food Trailer Tour.

Chorizo and Sweet Potatoes

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

This may come as a shock to you all, but at least here in Texas, it’s officially too hot to cook. I know I’m whining, and I’ll do my best to minimize it, but my interest n spending time in the kitchen has been pretty nonexistent for several weeks now. Last week, Chorizo and Sweet Potato Tacos came to my rescue. They come together quickly, and with minimal kitchen heating, and if you do it right, you’ll have plenty of delicious leftovers that require little more than microwaving.

Texas Culinary Academy Barbecue Cook-off

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

It was very early when we arrived - between 4 and 4:30 on the morning of May 2nd. The poorly lit parking lot was difficult to navigate, and smoke and sleep deprivation hung heavy in the air. We had just arrived at the early stages of the 5th annual Texas Culinary Academy barbecue cook-off.

Strawberries and Cream

Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I am notorious for trying out a new recipe, loving it, and then moving on to the next new recipe, never preparing the first one again. It drives Sean crazy. I’m constantly asking him what he wants for dinner, but because he rarely eats the same thing twice (I know, poor guy), he doesn’t have time to develop favorites. Well, I’ve encountered a dessert recipe that I just can’t quit baking – Strawberries and Cream cake.

Why the Hell Not?

Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500

“Upscale comfort food” seems to be a popular theme these days, and it often seems to come out more upscale than comfort. Last night though, I had the great pleasure of experiencing one of the best implementations I’ve seen thus far. Hailing from Houston, Max’s Wine Dive is officially opening their new Austin location on May 12th.

Garlic and Sapphires

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Since my departure from engineering almost a year ago, I’ve thought through several alternate career paths. For a split second, I even considered the notion of being a professional food critic. The odds of this ever being a realistic career path for me are slim to none, particularly given that I’m too much a fan of food to enjoy writing about something I didn’t like. For a highly entertaining vicarious look into the life of a food critic, though, Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl cannot be beaten.

Blinded by the Dark

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

We walked into the dark foyer of III Forks (three forks) from our sunny Austin afternoon stroll, and were temporarily blind as we waited for our pupils to adjust to the dim new surroundings. Even after a few minutes, we were still having some trouble, but gingerly made our way over to the happy hour festivities. Details unfolded as our eyes caught up with the dark room. Light paint and dark wood adorned the walls. Antler chandeliers hung from the ceiling. A big piano anchored one wall of the bar area. And a table full of appetizers and wine held center stage.

Pate for Potluck

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Can you think of a more intense situation? Preparing a potluck dish for a bunch of food bloggers, writers, and photographers? I was questioning the wisdom of even having suggested it. But eventually, I worked out in my head that this was the crowd on which to try out something that my regular crew may not really go for, something I may not be willing to make otherwise. And then, after a friend suggested I make pate, I remembered a recipe for Country Pate that I had been saving for the right opportunity.

Happy Pigs Make Happy Bacon

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

It’s hard to go wrong with bacon. Even the mass-produced stuff made from the bellies of horribly treated pigs in factory farms is pretty tasty. But I’m here to tell you, there’s a better way. And it’s so incredibly delicious, I may never buy bacon from the supermarket again. For the past 8-10 days, I’ve been in the process of curing pork belly using recipes and techniques from Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing.

Of Marrow and Peppercorns

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Since departing from my reasonably lucrative engineering career, Sean and I have been on a budget. One of the things that’s sadly taken a hit has been our ability to try out swanky new places to eat. Fortunately, for a few days in early March, we were able to take advantage of Austin Restaurant Week. During this period, various fine dining establishments around town are offering fixed-price multi-course meals for either $25 or $35. While we tried a couple of places, our favorite was Jeffrey’s.

The Story of Sushi

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

The Story of Sushi: An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice (P.S.), by Trevor Corson is one of the most well-researched food books I’ve read. The author clearly knows his subject well and delivers ridiculous amount of information in such a natural progression that I couldn’t help but tear though the book in large doses, scarfing down difficult-to-come-by knowledge like book-starved lunatic.

A Treehouse for Grown-ups

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

After a brief cold snap, the weather has returned to its early-spring-in-central-Texas glory. The sun is warm, but not yet blistering, and we still have the pleasure of a breeze stirring the air. The weather is back to being perfect, in fact, for hanging out on a restaurant patio nibbling on a pleasant array of tapas-style dishes and sipping some very intriguingly flavored cocktails. And that’s just what we did recently (before the cold snap) at FINO, a restaurant that is described (since it’s on the second story and occupies a corner) as having “a charming tree house feel.”

Duck Confit - Round 1

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Anyone who’s read this blog already knows how I feel about duck. And if you aren’t one of those people, know this - I’m kind of infatuated with it. That wonderfully flavorful dark meat surrounded by a thick layer of fat that, when properly prepared, becomes a crisp layer of duck crackin’ over a thin and lusciously smooth layer of interior fat is enough to make me order it anytime I see it on a restaurant menu. In the past I’ve seared it and cured it. This week, I decided to confit it.

The Voice of Bread Pudding

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I’m trying to find my voice – my writing voice, that is. I think it’s hiding in there, under years of engineering training and technical communication. But I don’t know how to dig it out. Even my husband has warned me that I “write like an engineer”. I know this has very little to do with food, but it’s been on my mind for the past couple weeks. Since I haven’t come up with a method for exposing the “voice”, I’ll cook instead. Twice this week, I’ve had the great pleasure of making Chocolate Chile Bread Pudding.

Beans, Beans, The Musical Fruit

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Lately, I’ve been really into beans. I know what you’re thinking. I don’t write for more than a week and when I finally do, I prattle on about the super sexy subject of beans. But hear me out! They’re extremely nutritious, filling in a way that few vegetables are, and really cost-effective.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600

With their crunchy exterior and chewy center, the 36-hour chocolate chip cookies (featured in NYTimes last summer) are tough to beat. Something happens during the prepared dough’s lengthy rest time that transforms to cookie from merely delicious to something transcendent, resplendent, glorious. I’m not saying that they’ve been beaten, but we did decide to experiment with additions other than the much-famed chocolate chips.

Attack of the Food Bloggers

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Earlier this week, I had the great fortune to attend a food blogger tasting event at Uchi, and while I’d like to make a joke about how all the food bloggers tasted fine, I won’t. Instead of indulging my wrong, wrong, wrong sense of humor, I’ll take yet another opportunity to gush about my favorite restaurant in Austin, and the wonderful people with whom I continue to have the opportunity to interact.

Best School Food Ever

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600

My husband and I aren’t big event celebrators. However, we are always on the lookout for an occasion to justify a nice restaurant meal, and one such occasion presented itself recently – my birthday. So we celebrated the fact that I’ve managed to survive another year by having a four-course meal at Ventana, one of the two student-run restaurants at the Texas Culinary Academy here in Austin.

Blood Orange Marmalade

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600

This may come as a huge shock given that I’m firmly seated in central Texas, but I don’t much care for winter. While snow is beautiful and ice-coated tree limbs are ethereal, the chill that takes you when the bitter mid-west winds cut through your coat and gloves and scarf is something that I simply do not miss. On the other hand, winter does bring a few of my favorite things to eat. It is a happy day for me, when I realize that the market is again carrying blood oranges.

The Gastronomical Me

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600

When you decide, as an appreciator of food and food-writing, that you’re going to read MFK Fisher, it can be very difficult to know where to start. She has a rather large body of worked scattered throughout various memoirs, anthologies, and publications. Fisher is infinitely quotable and (I’m sorry to say) until I had read this book, her quotes and a few articles about her were my only exposure. To help fill the void, I picked up what is considered by some to be her best book – The Gastronomical Me.

For Those About to Guac

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Here in central Texas, salsa is the tortilla chip dipper of choice. Occasionally folks will trade up and purchase some chile con queso as well. Guacamole doesn’t generally make an appearance till your meal shows up (if at all), and in the company I keep, it gets scraped unceremoniously onto an unused plate and ignored. All to my good fortune though, because I love the stuff.

Stars Fell on Alabama

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600

In any medium to large city, at least, here in the United States, you constantly hear about which restaurants are shutting down and which new ones are opening up. It’s a difficult business, to be sure. We are a fickle public, constantly interested in something new, and less than forgiving of an occasional bad experience. For that reason, I was fascinated to find that tucked away in Bessemer, Alabama (near Birmingham), is a restaurant that’s been around for more than a hundred years – The Bright Star.

Home of Throwed Rolls

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

I don’t know if the practice is now considered a tradition for us, or if our arrival in Missouri for the holidays simply provides a good excuse for the family to make the jaunt. But for the past several years (weather permitting), we’ve headed down Interstate 55 to Sikeston to eat at Lambert’s Cafe, where we happily duck the flying rolls and settle in to ingest ridiculous amounts of food.

Eric Ripert Cozy Winter Dinner Social

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and the same holds true of Chef Eric Ripert’s wonderful posted menus. For the past three months, it’s been fun to look forward to the menus coming online, hunting down the ingredients, and following the carefully constructed plan laid out for dinner party success. In November, we enjoyed kabocha soup and leg of lamb. December brought a wonderful cocktail party menu, resplendent in its easy-to-prepare finger-food glory. With the theoretical cold of winter upon us, January’s menu is filled with comfort-food delights to warm us up and bright flavors to remind us of warmer times.

Mea Culpa

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

It was recently suggested by my spouse that I should let everyone know why I haven’t been posting lately. Also, I’ve recently noticed that I’m woefully behind on my emails. Ordinarily, I’m a fairly considerate person. This time, I just didn’t handle things properly. For that, I apologize.

What Einstein Told His Cook

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Food and science go hand in hand. Chemistry and physics help explain what happens when heat (or cold, or acid, etc.) is applied to food. Biology helps describe the ingredients we consume. Nutritional science helps us understand how to meet the body’s needs. Yet so many folks, when they hear something that sounds vaguely scientific or technical, immediately tune it out assuming they won’t be able to understand it. For those people (as well as us devout food-nerds) I present What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained by Robert L. Wolke.

Holiday Tradition

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Some of us (probably most of us) were rebellious in our teenage years. In our young and rambunctious quest to find out who we are, we bucked convention and tradition and the letter of the law in an effort to determine our own and society’s limits. It all seems very romantic when we’re young, and many of use grow out of it. Sometimes though, we hang on to a bit of our rebellious streak. And sometimes our rebellion comes in the form of Christmas dinner.

Adventures in Sourdough

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

The next and most interesting step in my bread-baking education was to build my own sourdough starter. Given that I would be trying to create a breeding ground for bacteria, something ordinarily staunchly avoided in cooking, I have to admit to a bit of trepidation. But folks have been doing it for ages, and the process is really fairly easy, so before we left for the holidays, I set about building a sourdough starter following the steps laid out by Peter Reinhart in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

The Last of the Cookies

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

The last of the wrapping paper has been cleaned up. The punchbowl has had it’s last meager cup of eggnog extracted. The gifts are being quietly examined and enjoyed. And the cookies have all been distributed.

DIY Peppermint Bark

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

My undisputed favorite holiday treat is peppermint bark. I’m not a big chocolate-lover, but there’s something about the combination of chocolate and mint that just hits me in the right spot. After noticing that various purveyors have been jacking up their prices for peppermint bark, I set out to make some of my own.

Ingredient - Chocolate

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Ah, chocolate. The folks who love it, really love it, and it’s easy to see why. In its most readily available incarnation, it is silky smooth and intriguingly flavored, with seemingly endless variety. It melts at just below body temperature, so popping a piece in your mouth and letting it melt at its own pace allows you to experience the full breadth of its flavor and luxurious texture. It can be enjoyed on its own or incorporated (in solid or melted form) into any number of glorious confections.

Eric Ripert Cocktail Party Dinner Social

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

After the success we had in preparing the menu from the Market Table Dinner Social last month, we decided to partake of chef Eric Ripert’s Cocktail Party Dinner Social recipes as well. Just as it was last month, the planning steps, ingredient list, and recipes for both canapes and cocktails were obviously carefully thought out and supplied in easily-printable format from the chef’s website.

My Beloved Pignoli

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I’m a dyed-in-the-wool chocolate chip cookie lover. I know it seems strange for me to be fond of something so normal when my eating habits are often times so odd, but I love them. However, holding a steady second place is a cookie I fell in love with on a visit to Brooklyn a couple years ago. The friends we were visiting were on a grad student sleeping schedule (waking roughly at noon, staying up till 5am) while Sean and I were on a go to a regular job every day schedule. We’d fill those hours in between our waking and theirs by strolling around Brooklyn. We happened into a little bakery / cafe one morning and true to form, I picked out something I hadn’t eaten before. That something turned out to be pignoli.

Ingredient - Almond Paste

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Almond paste is a mixture of ground almonds, sugar, and liquid (the can said water, but I’ve seen plenty of recipes calling for egg white and Sharon Tyler Herbst in The New Food Lover’s Companion mentions glycerin). Sometimes the almond flavor is given a bump up in intensity with the addition of almond extract. Almond paste is different from marzipan, though it’s really tough to pin anyone down on a definition. Generally speaking, marzipan is smoother and sweeter than almond paste.

Would You Review the Same Restaurant Twice?

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I’m going to commit a blogger sin and write about the same restaurant twice. And I’m going to do so with relish. This past May, my husband Sean and I had our first experience with the wonder that is Uchi. He enjoyed it so much, that we visited again for his birthday last week – and this time, we brought our camera. Are any of you visiting central Texas anytime soon? If you’re food-lovers, this is the place to visit.

Ingredient - Eggplant

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Eggplant, also known as aubergine, is of the same plant family as tomatoes. Like tomatoes, while they are sold as a vegetable, botanically speaking, they are fruits (specifically berries). Most commonly found in the market are the large dark-purple skinned variety; however, more and more varieties are creeping in. There are white specimens, the long and thin Asian eggplants, and miniature varieties as well. Regardless of variety, choose eggplants that are tight-skinned and that feel heavy for their size. They are fairly perishable and taste best when eaten within a day or two of purchase.

Coconut Syrup

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Have you ever traveled to a new destination, sampled the food, and then come home with several dishes or food items that you’d really like to recreate? I have a hand full that I’m interesting in replicating from our trip to Hawaii this past summer, and one of those is Coconut Syrup. Our friends (who journeyed to Hawaii several years ago to get married) gushed about the coconut syrup, and once we tried it, we understood why. It’s incredibly sweet and intensely coconut flavored. And should be pretty easy to make … right?

The Punniest Restaurant in Town

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

It may seem like a gimmick, but Juan in a Million has been around for too long to be a flash in the pan. Offering up the Mac truck of the breakfast taco scene, the “Don Juan”, it would seem that this place is set up to be a mere Man vs. Ridiculous Amounts of Food showdown. But no, the food is actually pretty darn good.

Ingredient - Collards

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Collards (and probably greens in general) have an image problem to overcome. When people think of them, what generally comes to mind are tough leaves that have to be boiled for ages with salted pork fat of some kind. The most recent way we’ve been enjoying them is courtesy of Homesick Texan’s recipe for Not Your Grandma’s Collard Greens, as shown here.

Homemade Duck Prosciutto

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

If I keep this crap up, my spouse might disown me … but I can’t help myself. He dubiously accepted my homemade coconut extract. He’s been mildly suspicious of my icky looking bread starter. Home cured duck-breast was possibly the last thing he wanted to see whenever he looked in the refrigerator for the past two weeks. I don’t think it’s quite the final straw, but I bet I’m getting close.

Ingredient - Jicama

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I began consuming jicama several years ago when I moved from Missouri (where I had never seen them before) to Texas, where it was plentiful in the supermarkets. Native to Mexico and Central America, it is also known as Mexican Potato and Yam Bean. While I find it in the stores around here year-round, Diana Kennedy writes that they are at their best in late fall.

Thanksgiving Recap

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Several weeks ago, I had planned a pleasant little Thanksgiving meal for four – Sean and I plus our good friends Jeff and Sharon. On the years when we’re all in town for Thanksgiving, we’ll have lunch at their house and dinner at our house. It works out perfectly. Over the week or so preceding the holiday, the count climbed its way up to ten, and so I eagerly planned out a much more ambitious meal.

Housekeeping

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I knew it would happen eventually and that I would have to figure out what to do about it. But I’ve been chugging along safely for several months now, so I thought maybe it would pass me by. Alas, no such luck. I’ve been tagged with my first meme-type thing. The idea is nice – get to know your fellow bloggers. But broadcast sharing is rather difficult for me, and asking other folks to do something that I find so difficult is nearly impossible. However, it was Jo at The Adventures of Kitchen Girl who tagged me (and here’s a link to her post), and she’s just about the nicest person on the Internet, and that makes it very difficult to say No.

Marbled Rye

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I’ve been reading The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart. Last week, I tried out a bread with a somewhat lengthy pre-ferment (meant to enhance the flavor of the bread). This week, I just went for all out prettiness in my loaf. I decided to try the Marbled Rye.

Thanksgiving Pretest - Flaky Dinner Rolls

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

You’d think that since I’ve been trying to bake better bread here lately, that I’d want to have a nice loaf or two with our Thanksgiving dinner, and I may. But the table just wouldn’t be complete without some nice buttery rolls. I’ve tried making them before, but this year I have a recipe that produces roll that I like on their own, rather than just as a vehicle for sopping up gravy.

Ingredient - Brussels Sprouts

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

With their distinct flavor, Brussels sprouts are not everyone’s favorite vegetable. In fact, they’re not my favorite vegetable. My husband, on the other hand, loves them, and they are very nutritious, so I suck it up and eat them every once in a while. Most recently, we prepared a Cream-Braised Brussels Sprouts recipe posted a couple years ago on the Orangette blog. This is for the Brussels sprouts haters out there: Believe it or not, when braised in cream, the flavor of Brussels sprouts changes into something infinitely more tolerable.

It's Not Easy Eating Greens

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

We’ve been eating a lot of greens lately. There are gobs to choose from (kale, mustard, collard, etc.), and generally speaking they’re very nutritious and reasonably cost effective. They can be a bit of a challenge to enjoy however. It takes some time and effort to clean and prep them, and often a fair amount of time is required to cook them to their tender, flavorful best. However, when given enough time and some flavorful sidekicks, greens make for excellent vegetable dishes.

Ingredient - Acorn Squash

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

While considered a variety of winter squash, acorn squash actually belongs to the same species as summer squash (zucchini, for example). Acorn squashes are relatively small. My specimen was maybe a pound and a half, and roasted it yeilded about 2 ½ cups of flesh. The most common varieties are dark green and may or may not have an orange blaze, but there are also golden and even white varieties. Look for squashes that have no soft spots and that are heavy for their size (indicating they’re not old and dried out). Like most winter squashes, these will store for months if kept in a cool, dry place.

The Quest for Great Bread Continues

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Well, I finally did it. I purchased the bread baking book I had been considering. I have baked bread before, but have been clamoring for more information about the “why”. Without the “why”, the bread recipes read more like a list of strange actions designed merely to torture the would-be home baker. With the “why”, you understand what’s important and why all the effort is (or has the potential to be) worth it. With much glee this past week, I cracked into “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread” by Peter Reinhart.

Austin a la Grecque

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

The only Greek food Sean and I normally avail ourselves of is this semi-fast-food joint near our house that’s really pretty good for what it is – fast food. It scratches the itch in a pinch. However, with an out of town guest with us last weekend, we decided to venture into downtown for our Greek fix and tried out Athenian Grill.

Ingredient - Belgian Endive

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Before the chef Ripert feast this past weekend, I had only tried Belgian Endive once, and it didn’t go well. It was ages ago and I tried to braise it … and it turned into a bitter mushy mess. The Ripert dish was a simple and elegant appetizer that made use of raw endive leaves filled with blue cheese, prosciutto, and pomegranate seeds. The gentle bitterness melded nicely with the saltiness and sweet-fruity crunch of the other ingredients.

Fancy Barbecue

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I’ve been in Texas long enough now that barbecue means something very specific to me (and different than what it meant when I was growing up in Missouri). It means spicy rub on slow-cooked beef brisket, maybe an equally piquant sauce on the side, a super low-key venue, and often butcher paper for a plate. The folks at Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, on the other hand, have elected to give a fine dining touch to the otherwise humble fare.

Ingredient - Kabocha Squash

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Kabocha squash, also known as Japanese pumpkin, is a hard-shelled winter squash, not unlike the more familiar acorn and butternut squashes. I was introduced to this particular variety by way of a pumpkin soup recipe created by chef Eric Ripert as part of his Market Table Dinner Social - and though it was a lot of work to hack apart my squash, the soup was fantastic and completely worth it.

Eric Ripert Market Table Dinner Social

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

The concept: world-famous French chef provides a multi-course dinner’s worth of recipes on his website and invites us mere mortals to prepare the meal as well. We intrepid home cooks strike out into the world and throw our dinner parties, and then we all congregate back at the chef’s site to share our photos and experiences. This is what chef Eric Ripert is currently doing with the Market Table Dinner Social at his very elegant website, Avec Eric.

Bacon Brownies

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

After this incredibly inspirational post by the folks at Bacon Today, I really and truly had no choice but to make my own rendition of bacon brownies. If you’ve been reading for a while, you already know that our house loves the salty bacon + sweet chocolate combination, so this was required baking for us.

Ingredient - Purple Hull Peas

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

This past weekend at the farmers market, I had the good fortune to come across a man selling purple hull peas. Their hulls ranged from a deep dark purple to a sort of striated green and purple combination. Fascinating as they were, I purchased some. When I asked him how he prepared them, he began explaining to me how to shell them. A fellow shopper calmly interrupted him and explained that no, in fact you cooked them hulls and all. They were still arguing when I walked away, bounty in hand.

Todd and His Cauliflower

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I really don’t much care to write negative reviews. Generally speaking, if I like something, I write about it, and if I don’t, I won’t bother. But in the interest of honesty and fairness with my cookbook trials, I have to report on the recipes I try, even if they didn’t turn out so well. With that glowing introduction, I bring you Fall Potato Soup with Cauliflower, the most recent recipe test from The Figs Table, by Todd English.

Authors@Google

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I generally am not a huge fan of posts full of links, however, this is too good not to share with all of you. Google hosts a series of informal talks called Authors@Google. A wide-ranging variety of authors discuss their recently published works to some very lucky Google employees. Sean (my husband) showed me recently that Anthony Bourdain had spoken there about a year ago, and after watching it this weekend, I dug around on Youtube to see who else had come to speak. The range was incredible - Salman Rushdie, Cory Doctorow, both presidential candidates … and several chefs and other food-centric authors. While my geek-meter was pegging at some of the incredible authors presenting (did I mention Cory Doctorow??), you’ll be happy to know that the following list is (fairly) strictly food-focused.

More Awards

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Last week was kind of crazy. Over the space of four days, The Hungry Engineer site has been given awards three times by fellow bloggers. I’ve been since trying to come up to speed on blog reward etiquette, and I’m guessing part of that is not sitting on those awards for as long as I have. (Humble apologies, Internet!) The first one, The Excellent Blog award, was turned around pretty quickly. At long last, here are the other two.

My Life in France

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I have a confession to make – and I’m worried that I will offend the entire food blogging community by doing so. I’ve never really paid much attention to Julia Child. The few times I had seen her on television, she struck me as overly fussy and maybe even an tiny bit overbearing. On a whim (and possibly because I read the story about the 6'2" warbling chef being a spy), as an effort to balance out all the Bourdain I like to fill my head with, I decided to read her latest book, My Life in France.

Chocolate Mousse Pie

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The movie choice for the October edition of the movie food project was actually sort of an accident. My husband and I just happened to be flipping stations and caught it on cable a few weeks ago. October’s movie is Waitress, and from a culinary point of view, Waitress is all about pies.

Childhood Dessert

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I know it’s wrong of me, but I have to admit that sometimes I envy those fortunate folks who grew up in the kitchen–whose mothers or fathers or grandparents taught them to cook or whose great-aunt from the old country couldn’t speak a word of English but showed them immeasurable joys with their traditional cooking. I didn’t even really start to learn to cook till I was midway through college, and even then I learned most everything from cookbooks. There was one thing that Grandma showed me though.

My First Award

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Jo over at the Adventures of Kitchen Girl gave me an award yesterday - The Excellent Blog Award. I’m generally pretty tickled that anyone even reads my blog - the fact that someone likes it enough to give me an award has me beside myself. To do it justice and continue the chain of good karma, here are the etiquette / protocol rules I’m guessing at and the fine bloggers to whom I’m forwarding the award.

Roasting Pumpkin

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

A lot of us think of pumpkins as what you purchase once a year to carve up for Jack-o-lantern making. Some of us also consider the cans of puree for pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. But with a bit of forethought and effort, that Jack-o-lantern could be repurposed into nutritious and delicious foodstuffs.

Gnocchi of a Different Sort

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

In my world, gnocchi are luscious little dumplings of potato, egg, and flour that get boiled and mixed with any number of sauces and accompaniments. I have been re-educated. Apparently, gnocchi pop up in a variety of incarnations dependent on the region of Italy you happen to be in. Last night for dinner we had Gnocchi a la Romana, the second recipe tested from the Todd English cookbook, The Figs Table: More Than 100 Recipes for Pizzas, Pastas, Salads, and Desserts .

No Beans - A Texas Chili Cook Off

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Texans can be a passionate lot. Everything is bigger in Texas. When someone asks you where you’re from, and you tell them “Missouri”, they ask you what part of Texas that’s in. And don’t even try to talk about football unless you have a thick skin and 30 minutes to spare. Well, I’m here to tell you that Texans are passionate about their chili, specifically as it relates to the absence of what in my mind is a key ingredient.

Why You Need a Kitchen Scale

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

There are tons of measuring devices available for the kitchen, but most are volumetric - dry measuring cups, liquid measuring cups, measuring spoons. A great deal of the time, this method of ingredient measurement works just fine, but there are occasions where measuring by weight is more appropriate, and for that you need a kitchen scale.

Miss Piggy Would Not Be Impressed

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Miss Piggy would not be impressed with me right now. You remember the Muppets Christmas special where they’re singing “Bring us some figgy pudding” and Miss Piggy hears “piggy pudding” (you can find the quote here)? Well, I made figgy pizza and while Miss Piggy probably would’ve been fine with that, the beautiful prosciutto topping would have likely caused some consternation.

The Nasty Bits

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Love him or hate him, I can’t help but find Anthony Bourdain entertaining. He’s impassioned about food and travel but tempers it with a fair amount of snark. His view of his fellow chefs and cooks borders on hero-worship, but on the other hand, he reserves a special kind of ire for The Celebrity Chef. He can come across as over-inflated, but then curatively deflates his own celebrity and brings himself back down to regular-guy-who-got-lucky level. Add to this his skill as a writer, and you have (among many other things) The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones.

Chiles in Walnut Sauce

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

For the September issue of my movie food project, I decided to cook a dish from Like Water for Chocolate. Yeah, I know it’s actually October, but I have at least a dozen good excuses for being late. We’ll settle on my quest for candied citron to explain my tardiness. Turns out that candied citron is seasonal (Christmas time – fruitcake season). This point was driven home by the fact that not a single store I checked around town had them, and each store seemed to point me to one of the others I had already visited. Fortunately I had oranges and sugar, and with oranges and sugar, you can candy citrus peels. (Now you see why I’m late with my post.)

Tarte Tarte Tarte

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I can’t make a tarte without thinking of this. (Here it is in English as well.) There’s no reason to love these little videos, but I find myself strangely drawn in by them. And yes, I can feel myself losing whatever minimal credibility I might have as I’m typing this. What was I cooking as I daydreamed of my two egg-shaped heroes and the outlandish cast of characters they interact with? Belgian Leek Tarte with Aged Goat Cheese.

The Burn

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I guess anyone who spends any real time in their kitchen will eventually wind up with a few cuts and burns. We’re working with dangerous stuff here: sharp knives, heavy pots and pans, hot metal, and often open flame. Even the most cautious cook will eventually have a momentary lapse in judgement or a seemingly unavoidable slip or bump that causes an injury. I happen to not be the most cautious cook. Consequently, I am routinely recovering from (generally minor) cuts and second degree burns. After creating an ugly and very painful new welt on the underside of my left forearm, it occurred to me that it would be wise to have a better grasp on the appropriate first aid such a burn might require.

Tex-Mex for the Soul

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

By this past Friday, we needed a break … in a bad way. (Without belaboring the point - in addition to dealing with The Ongoing Medical Adventures of our Cancer Cat, our outside kitty has now been missing for nearly a week. It may not sound like much, but for us, these things are a big deal.) Generally around these parts “take a break” translates to something not unlike “seek Tex-Mex food and margaritas”.

Going Dutch - The Enameled Cast Iron Experience

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

For ages I lusted after the beautifully hued enameled cast iron dutch ovens from Le Creuset, but I could never quite make myself pay the price required. One day I noticed that Mario Batali had a line of similar product, and upon looking into it, realized his goods were available for a much smaller cash outlay. It was not long after that discovery that I had a shiny red 6-quart enameled cast iron dutch oven of my own.

My First Canning Project

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

When I think of canning, I think of my grandmothers. They had impossibly huge gardens and come harvest time, they set up jar upon jar of preserved goods. I am interested in this notion of eating fruits and veggies at the peak of perfection, and saving some for later when you know you can’t have them at the peak of perfection. (The fresh-picked strawberries of summer will always taste better than the shipped from a greenhouse somewhere strawberries of winter)

Kitchen Insanity

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

This weekend I went on sort of a cooking binge. I went grocery shopping on Friday morning and have been cooking like a madwoman ever since. Here’s a rundown with links to the recipes where relevant.

The Fiber of Our Being

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

As a general rule, we (here in America anyway) don’t get enough fiber in our diets. Dietary fiber is not a very sexy subject to talk about. Usually it’s thought of only in terms of keeping one’s digestive system … “regular”. But the benefits of adequate fiber consumption are much greater than that.

A Fall Garden

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I am considering a fall garden. Here in Texas we have a narrow window between the sweltering heat of summer and the first winter frost (which is usually very mild) in which we can grow a small garden. Here’s the thing – it probably won’t work, but I think I’m going to try it out anyway.

The Dreaded Vegan Dessert

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

When I initially reviewed Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook, I was honestly intending to use it to help perk up our vegetable and side dish routine. With the recipes I’ve tried so far, I now have faith that I will be able to find plenty of recipes in that book that will provide us with wonderfully flavored vegetable and whole grain dishes. The one thing I was still uncertain of however was how the vegans managed their desserts.

The Elements of Cooking

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

It wasn’t enough to simply acquire more cookbooks than anyone could ever possibly work through. I had to acquire other literature about food. This has taken the form of food memoirs, food reference books, subject specific texts, etc. The latest of these books that I’ve inhaled is The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef’s Craft for Every Kitchen by Michael Ruhlman.

My Magazine Subscriptions

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Those of us that like to cook often wind up being relentless hoarders of recipes and food information. I have shelves overflowing with cookbooks, huge stacks of clipped and printed out recipes here and there, and piles of magazines all over the house. I currently only maintain three magazine subscriptions, but I am constantly thumbing through others that look interesting as well.

Quest for Great Bread

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Check this out. I made a loaf of bread, and it is beautiful. In fact, this might very well be my first ~pretty~ loaf of bread. I am ordinarily very bad at choosing favorites. My lists of favorites are often riddled with qualifiers and “beyond this list” commentary. That aside, I can safely say that bread is one of my favorite foods. Simple, I know, but there are nearly infinite variations and when you get a good loaf of bread with wonderful texture and superb flavor, it is difficult to find anything more satisfying.

Gourmet Pizza

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

There’s a little pizza joint in a small shopping center in sort of a fancy-pants part of town. We don’t go there too often because it’s so far away (that was sarcasm – I think it takes less than 20 minutes to drive there). It is a family-owned business called Marye’s Gourmet Pizza, and it is certainly worth the drive.

I Cooked Crackers

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I know crackers are normally something folks think about buying, not cooking. Heck, you might even need them as an ingredient in something else that you’re cooking. Far be it from me to cook something that might just as well be bought (I’m grinning a little at this). Well, today I baked crackers, and you know what? They were really delicious.

Quinoa Stir-fry

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

As you may have noticed, last week I wrote up a review of Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook. Yesterday evening we tried our second recipe from the book. Not yet wanting to downplay the stunning success of the first recipe we tried, I chose something fairly nonthreatening for my next effort. Filed in the “One-Pot Meals” section of the cookbook, I found Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stir-Fry.

Grate Expectations

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

As promised, I will be writing up a few posts about some of the tools I find particularly useful in the kitchen. For this post, I’d like to talk about the various implements I rely on for grating and shredding. The two main tools I use for such a task are my microplane grater and my large box grater.

Galloping Falafel

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

How many of you remember The Galloping Gourmet? Graham Kerr was the star of The Galloping Gourmet, a food TV series that ran from 1969 to 1971. Mr. Kerr is often remembered for his on-screen wine-swilling, and his cooking featured such wonderful ingredients as butter and cream.

How to Cut up a Whole Pineapple

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The whole pineapples in the grocery store may look a little daunting, but they’re actually quite easy to cut up, and the taste of fresh pineapple is far superior to what you will find in a canned product. The method described below will yield pineapple cut into chunks (as opposed to rings).

Build an Easy Compost Bin

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I generate a lot of kitchen scraps when I’m cooking, especially with as much fresh food as we consume now that I am able to cook more regularly. Generally speaking, these scraps either go in the trash or down the garbage disposal. For some time now, I’ve wanted to put these items to better use, and that’s why I spent part of yesterday making a simple compost bin.

Top 5 Flavored Chocolate Bars

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Of the two of us, my husband Sean would certainly be the one to describe himself as a chocoholic. I enjoy the taste of chocolate, but it’s rarely something I actively seek out. He has agreed to help me compile a couple of Top 5 lists for chocolate bars that he loves. We’re starting today with chocolate bars that are flavored or have some sort of additive in addition to just the pure chocolate.

A Simple Dinner

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I have mentioned before that we don’t always take the time to cook dinner. However, to me that doesn’t mean we necessarily have to suffer with fast food. Yesterday evening, our chosen method to avoid cooking was to acquire fancy cheeses and cured meats and artisan bread – and wow were they ever tasty.

Veganomicon

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Vegans work to not consume or use animal products of any kind. Veganism can be thought of as a sort of extra-rigid subset of vegetarianism. Like many labels that we apply to groups of people, the words vegetarian or vegan illicit an immediate response or image for many people. Tell some folks you’re a vegan, and they may conjure in their minds an image of a “dirty hippie” with hemp curtains and a self-righteous air. Conversely, tell some vegans that you eat meat, and they may instantly have a Nugent-esque image of a rifle-rack in the rear window of your truck and blood dripping down your chin. It’s funny how that stuff works.

Kitchen Wish List

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

As a long-time consumer of kitchen items, I have a reasonably well-tooled kitchen. There are very few items in my kitchen that don’t get fairly regular use. But there is always room on my wish-list for a few cooking tools (and I won’t include cookbooks or general books about food, ‘cause that wish-list would make Santa cringe). Some of them are tools I already have that should be replaced with something more useful and others would be brand new additions.

My Tarte Runneth Over

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I still had most of a 5lb bag of Texas 1015 sweet onions left from my farmers market trip several weeks ago, so I began thinking through recipes that would work through those onions. Me and certain kinds of butter-heavy pastry dough have not gotten on too well in the past, but I figured a nice luxurious onion tarte might be just the thing to use up some of my sweet onion bounty.

My Vitamix

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Had you talked to me five years ago and told me that one day I would spend $400 on a blender, I would have calmly explained to you that you were out of your gourd. I wouldn’t even have been aware that there existed a $400 blender, much less had any interest at all in purchasing one. Here’s how it came to be that I’m the proud owner of just such a blender.

Who Doesn't Love Mac-n-Cheese?

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Now that I had newly roasted chiles in the refrigerator, my next mission was to figure out how to use them. I decided that I would commit them to a rendition of mac-n-cheese featuring chiles, heretofore known as Chile Mac.

How to Roast Chiles

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

While I love chiles in all their various forms, one of my favorite ways to enjoy them is to roast them. Roasting them imparts a lightly smoky flavor and allows me to rid them of their tough, sometimes bitter skins. While I’ve roasted chiles in a variety of ways, this is the method that I find the simplest and most consistent.

Cure for the Common Fish

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I was caught up in a conversation a few weekends ago about food and various methods of preservation and so forth, and we got on the topic of fish and that led to discussion of lox. I was all excited because I had a lox recipe that I was wanting to try out but was a little nervous about serving my own raw fish. My friend looked at me quizzically and explained that lox were smoked, and unless I had a smoker (which I don’t) I wouldn’t be making them at home. Turns out, the recipe I had in mind was for gravlax rather than lox, and that got me thinking.

Can't Judge a Book by its Cover

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

We first went to Andiamo a few years ago, not long after it opened, and we fell instantly in love. The place is in a strip mall near a Jack in the Box. It just doesn’t look like much. As you walk through the door though, a delicious transformation takes place as you leave the every-mall aesthetic of the parking lot behind and enter the warm, intimate world of Andiamo Ristorante. That first night, we had fantastic food that was reasonably priced and wonderful service from the staff, even Giovanni, the gregarious owner.

Lunch at the Liquor Store

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Well, to be fair, calling Grape Vine Market a liquor store may be the understatement of the century. Sure, their liquor selection is extensive, but they also have an incredible array of wine and beer, a neat little market area full of gourmet treats and a well-stocked deli counter, and a really delicious and cost-effective lunch menu. This is where a couple friends and I found ourselves for lunch late last week.

Inspired by Boobs

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Liz over at The Park Bench had a laugh-out-loud funny post yesterday lauding the magical power of her boobs. It totally cracked me up, and it turns out one her magical powers is the power to inspire. This evening, when trying to work out what to do with some leftover miso paste, I was moved to cook chicken boobs … er … breasts.

Italian ... Again

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

There were two things that drove me to cook what I cooked for Tuesday night’s dinner. The first was this post about burrata cheese by la stomach, and the second were these beautiful braised leeks Sean and I had once had at a local restaurant many months ago. Those leeks were like onion-y butter - they were unspeakably good. I tried a couple of times to recapture that goodness at home but to no avail. The texture was always … wrong. But the original dish lingered in my memory and I really wanted to re-create it at home.

For the Love of Farinata

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Last fall we vacationed in northern Italy. It was the first time I had been to Europe, and it was really an incredible experience. Of course, part of my interest in vacationing is sampling the local foods in as much variety as possible, and one of my favorite areas for eating during our trip was along the Ligurian coast. Naturally the seafood dishes were incredible, but one seemingly unassuming dish really stole my heart – Farinata.

Mambo Italiano

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I love movies and of course I love food, so isn’t it fantastic when they come together. On paper it may sound kinda nutty to love a movie that largely features the preparation and consumption of a single fantastic meal, but I do. Big Night is like movie comfort food for me. Watching it makes me smile. Naturally, it was my first choice in movies when I decided to embark on my new movie food project.

Seafood a la Mexicana

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

There are any number of Mexican restaurants around Austin, and Sean and I frequent several of them. One that I’m particularly fond of is Marisco Grill. What I love about this place is that it is primarily a Mexican seafood joint, which makes it sort of unique for the area.

Southern Style Cornbread Dressing

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

For many people, the food they remember most fondly is the food their mothers cooked. Without saying anything mean about my mother or the way she cooked when my brother and I were growing up, let’s just say that I can’t really share in this sentiment. My husband, on the other hand, falls comfortably into the no-one-cooks-like-Mom category.

To Market, To Market

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I have heard before that the secret to being a good cook is to get the very best ingredients that you can and then try not to screw them up. That’s what was going through my head as we browsed through the Sunset Valley Farmers Market this past weekend.

C is for Cookie

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I have said before that I’m not much of a dessert person, and that’s largely true. However, the one dessert sure to catch me off guard and inspire a craving for sweetness is cookies. I love them. As a kid, I even got to be Cookie Monster one year for Halloween. My particular weakness is for chocolate chip cookies, and I was thrilled to find a post about that very thing over at the Orangette blog that had been adapted from a recipe in the NY Times (that had been adapted from a recipe by Jacques Torres). These were some interesting cookies.

To Duck or Not to Duck

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Mirabelle, a self-described “eclectic American bistro”, is an Austin restaurant that fits in perfectly with the city’s casual-gourmet food personality. It offers up a variety of inventive menu items that pay homage to no particular ethnicity or cuisine, but instead present a range of tastes and sensibilities to suit a creative kitchen and a wide swath of the dining public. In breaks from cooking at home and dieting respectively, we found ourselves there yesterday evening with some friends of ours. (I feel it’s only fair to mention that the deal was sweetened by the generous coupons we were able to use.)

The Essence of Summer

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

There are a hand-full of foods that make us breath in deeply and think ‘ah summertime’. For me, one of those is corn, and my favorite method of consumption is lightly buttered corn-on-the-cob. Unfortunately, after recently indulging in some hot ears of white corn on the cob, my beloved explained to me that he really wasn’t fond of the mess and hassle of eating corn that way. In an effort to maintain marital bliss but still get what I wanted in the end, I decided to go to the other extreme and make a pureed corn soup instead.

The New Manhattan

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I’m not sure mixing a drink counts as cooking (and boy am I not much of a bartender, <ahem> mixologist), but here goes nothin’. Some time ago, a couple of friends vacationed in Portugal and brought us back a bottle of the favorite local liqueur - ginjinha. Ginjinha is made by fermenting ginja berries (which are similar to cherries) in brandy, and the accepted method of consumption, we are told, is straight-up. The flavor is sweet and dark - no cloying syrupy taste here. While I have thoroughly enjoyed the occasional glass of ginjinha, I decided I should look into other potential uses.

Lunch on the East Side

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I (sadly) don’t tend to venture too far from home for my dining out experiences. This is unfortunate because some of the more interesting venues and certainly food can be found away from the super-suburban cocoon in which my husband and I have unwittingly wound ourselves. Yesterday, I met a friend for lunch at Blue Dahlia Bistro.

Ceviche or Seviche?

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Ceviche (or seviche) is a mix of citrus juice, vegetables, seasonings and raw seafood that is allowed to marinate sufficiently long for the seafood to effectively “cook” in the acidic mixture. Naturally, without heat, it doesn’t really cook so extremely fresh and reliable seafood is a must for this dish.

Gourmet Popcorn

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Is your idea of ‘making popcorn’ taking the little plastic-wrapped, tri-fold bag out of the cabinet and chucking it into the microwave for a few minutes? Or is popcorn to you the butter-soaked mess you pay five dollars for at the movie theatre (to go along with your four dollar soda)? Well, it doesn’t have to be.

Last Day in Paradise

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

12 July 2008 – This was our last partial day in Hawaii, so we were intending to make it count. Sean and I woke up again very early to drive out to Diamond Head and climb to the top. It’s one of those things that’s considered a must-do while in Oahu, and we hadn’t managed to make it out there yet. So, we left the hotel and drove the short distance out to the park, arriving just a bit past 6am, when it was scheduled to open. There was no one at the gate to take our money (which at this point in our visit to Hawaii, we had come to almost expect), and we were on a tight schedule, so we worked our way in to the parking lot anyway. We were not alone. Apparently the Asian tourists are also early risers, and there was a tour bus full of them pulling into the parking lot behind us.

Hanauma and Chinatown

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

11 July 2008 – We woke up very early today to have a chance to enjoy the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve before it got overwhelmingly crowded. When we got there, just past the time it was to open, there was no one manning the booth to collect our parking money, so we drove on in. The bay is beautiful! It is a volcanic crater whose ocean side has been eroded away over time creating a relatively protected bay with high cliff walls.

Oahu and Serenity

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

10 July 2008 – Today was our stunning scenery / low activity day. Consequently, Darci hung back to sleep in a bit and do exciting things in Waikiki instead of riding in the car with us. We began our morning by driving out to the Valley of the Temples to check out the Byodo-In temple.

Hawaiian Fine Dining

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Up to this point, my fine dining experiences in the islands hadn’t been meeting up with my expectations. This was so true in fact, that I very nearly canceled our dinner reservation at Alan Wong’s. I am oh-so-glad that my wise spouse talked me out of it!

Oahu and the Hike to the Lighthouse

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

09 July 2008 – We got going relatively early today and stopped in to pick up breakfast malasadas at Leonard’s. Malasadas (sometimes spelled malassada) are dough-nut-like creatures that are coated in sugar, and Leonard’s is the place to get them. We got some that were filled (mine with lilikoi custard, Sean’s with chocolate) and some that were not, and they were incredible.

Aloooooohaaaa

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

08 July 2008 - Sean and Darci were off to surf lessons this morning. Harry and Helen were off to visit the Punchbowl. Your friendly neighborhood Hungry Engineer was left in blissful solitude to catch up on her blog. I opened the shutters wide and flooded our room with beautiful sunlight and spent several quiet hours happily writing and digging up photos and posting away.

Pearl Harbor

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

07 July 2008 - This morning we were Pearl Harbor bound. We got there a little later than we meant to and wound up waiting around for a while before we could tour the Arizona Memorial. We killed time by strolling around, walking through the museum and checking out the various displays around the grounds (among my favorite was a conning tower that you could climb up into and see all the instrumentation).

Maui to Oahu

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

06 July 2008 - We had purchased apple bananas back at the market near our lodge in Kula, and were advised to let them ripen for a few more days before we ate them. Since I didn’t think we’d be able to take them on the plane to Oahu that afternoon, we instead ate them our last morning in Maui.

Molokini

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

05 July 2008 – Today was the day for our Molokini snorkel trip. We got there just in the nick of time and boarded our boat. The captain and crew were efficient and funny, and they made the trip seem like an easy breezy island affair. It was fun to watch the Molokini Crater get ever larger in our view on the ride out from Ma'alaea Bay.

Maui and the Collar Bone

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

04 July 2008 - We woke up very early this morning to see sunrise. Harry, Darci, and Sean went down to Haiku for their bicycle adventure. One of the fun things to do on Maui is take a bicycle ride down the Haleakala Mountain. If you don’t have your own bike with you, several companies offer some variation on the ‘drive you to the top with a bike and let you ride down’ package. The company we went with drove you to the top of the mountain to watch the sun rise, toured you around the park for a bit, and then dropped you off just outside the park grounds and let you bicycle back to their facility at your own pace. In the mean time, Helen and I drove straight up to the visitors’ center at Haleakala National Park to climb the white mountain trail (in the dark) and park ourselves to watch the sun rise.

From Hana to Kula

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

03 July 2008 - Sean and I woke up early in the morning and went out to Venus Pool (known to the Hawaiians as Waikoa Pond). We had read that you could no longer take the trail to the pool because it was on private land and that instead you had to sort of walk down the stream bed till you reached the pool.

Ahh Maui

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

02 July 2008 - Our Big Island trip had been pretty hectic, so we took it easy the next morning and headed over to the Kona airport to hop our flight to Maui. I guess I hadn’t really thought about what sort of aircraft we’d be flying in, but it was a small propeller plane. I was again in the front row, so I got to see tons of neat stuff, not the least of which was the fun instrument panel. The flight was nice, and it was fun picking out the islands as you flew into Maui. We were treated to a very nice view of the Molokini crater (where we’d be snorkeling in a couple of days).

Go Go Go on the Big Island - Part 3

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

01 July 2008 - We woke up early in Hilo and went for our helicopter ride. Given our luck, of course, our flight was delayed (two passengers had showed up late).

Go Go Go on the Big Island - Part 2

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

30 June 2008 - It was pitch black and very voggy (not a typo) when we arrived at the Volcano House last night (just inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park), so we didn’t see the caldera of the Kilauea volcano till the next morning. Sean and I woke up early to go to the Jagger Museum to partake of their overlook at Halema'uma'u crater (within the Kilauea caldera). While it was belching smoke and looking sufficiently primeval, we had gotten there a little too late to see it glowing in the darkness. No worries though because as the sun rose, the far wall of the crater and the belching smoke were beautiful in the morning light.

Go Go Go on the Big Island - Part 1

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

29 June 2008 - After a night of fitful half-sleep, we woke up early to call the baggage number to see when we’d be getting our suitcases. Sean spoke with them at length (after making it through their hearing-impaired IVR), and the end result was that they had no earthly idea where our bags were. Our collective mood sank a little, but we were determined to enjoy our vacation so we bucked up and drove out to a Wal-mart we had spotted on our way in from the airport to acquire some clothes and a few toiletries that would make our vacationing lives more bearable.

The Adventure Begins

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

28 June 2008 - The long-awaited, much-planned Hawaiian vacation began. Getting to Hawaii wound up being ~interesting~ for us. It all started off smashingly enough. We left the house on time and arrived at the airport about an hour and a half before our flight was to depart. No sooner did we print out our boarding passes, however, than we noticed that our flight would be two hours delayed.

Hawaii-bound!!!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Beginning early tomorrow, I will be working my way through Hawaii for the next couple of weeks. My intention is to continue to post while I’m there, wi-fi gods willing, but just in case I can’t, please know that I’ll return with gobs of post material and hopefully some good stories and great pictures too (I’m looking at you, spouse of mine). Aloha!

Hawaii Food Research

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

At the end of this week, my husband and I will be heading to Hawaii with his parents and sister. In preparation for our trip, I’ve been doing some research to make sure we get a good sampling during the two weeks we’ll be there of the foods that make Hawaii … well, Hawaii. After all, it isn’t all spam, pineapple, and mai tais. There’s a rich culinary diversity in Hawaii that I cannot wait to explore. For starters, there’s the traditional luau food. Naturally given it’s proximity, there’s also a wide range of southeast Asian food. Evidently there’s a pretty significant Portuguese population and their food is fairly widespread as well. There is also Hawaii Regional Cuisine, a movement to use local ingredients in creative and beautiful preparations. Top that off with a variety of crazy local concoctions (loco moco anyone?), and how about the plethora of super-fresh seafood and interesting tropical fruits to field test. Supplement all that with the random food we stumble upon while we’re there, and I’m expecting to be well fed during this trip.

Eat at Dan's

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

When you hear the name Dan’s Hamburgers, you naturally think you should go there for the burgers. And that’s true, you should definitely go there for the burgers - they’re some of the best in Austin. However, Dan’s also serves up some lip-smacking good breakfast food, and every once in a while, I get a craving for their biscuits and gravy.

Fish and Eggs

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

If you’ve been reading here the past few weeks, you know that I have a new cookbook from which I’ve been trying various recipes. The book is called Fish Without a Doubt: The Cook’s Essential Companion, and for the latest installment, my husband and I chose a more interesting recipe. This evening, I made Oil-Poached Halibut with Gribiche and Poached Egg.

Enchiladas Verdes

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Mexican food makes me happy. The flavors can be spicy, but that spiciness is often merely the leading or trailing edge of some very interesting and intense flavors. One of my favorite examples of this is a good tomatillo-based salsa verde. In its mildest preparation, it is wonderfully bright and tart. On the other end of the spectrum though, thanks to the inclusion of serrano chiles (or similar), it can be a mouth searing delight. An iteration of salsa verde appears in the most recent edition (on my magazine, it says August 2008, online it says July 2008) of Cook’s Illustrated magazine as part of a recipe for Enchiladas Verdes. Given my nearly absolute faith in the folks at Cook’s Illustrated, I lost no time in gathering up the ingredients and getting into the kitchen.

In Praise of Whole Grains

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Most of us have had a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast at some point in our lives. Many of us may have even had some super-glitzy wild rice as a side dish. But not everyone has partaken of a big, steaming bowl of spelt. We haven’t all had the pleasure of tasting a delicately mushroom-flavored barley risotto. To me that is a shame.

Tea and Crumpets

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I have a particular friend that I eat lunch with every so often, and it has become our pattern to choose The Steeping Room for our midday meal and caffeine fix. We each say that it’s because the other is the only one who will go with us, but I’m pretty sure it is because we are both too lazy to try and find something else that we can mutually agree upon. (Plus, he truly is the only one who will go have tea with me!)

Two Easy Sauces

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I am firmly of the opinion that you can run yourself ragged trying to cook from scratch for every course of every meal you eat throughout a given week, and I don’t believe that kind of effort is necessary to put quality food on the table. One thing that I like to do for quick meals is prepare some kind of packaged filled pasta with a sauce of my choosing. Generally speaking, I get more satisfaction out of making these sauces myself, though even that can sometimes be a very drawn out affair. As an antidote to the tomato sauce that requires a two-hour simmer (save that one for the weekend!), here are a couple of quick and easy pasta sauces.

Crepe-tastic

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I had been wanting to eat at Flip Happy Crepes for a while. I don’t remember how I stumbled across the place exactly, but it always looked interesting. Sweet and savory crepes are made-to-order and served out of what is apparently an old Avion trailer (thanks Food Network, I thought it was an Airstream) to adoring fans that sit around outside on plastic chairs and picnic tables happily enjoying their food. This is the kind of place I love - low key, small menu, unpretentious. Despite the oppressive Texas heat, this is where we decided to go for lunch today.

Bombay the Easy Way

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Do you ever have find yourself in the middle of an evening after a long day of hard work, and it’s nearly dinner time and even though you have plenty of food to prepare in the refrigerator, you’re just too tired to care? On those evenings, do you sometimes also find that you don’t have the interest in devoting an hour or more to sitting in a restaurant, but also don’t feel like stomaching fast food? When situations such as that arise, we have a handful places from which we order reliably good takeout. Bombay Bistro is one of them.

Studio Closet

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

This week’s project was to refashion the clothes closet in my husband’s converted bedroom of a studio into functional shelf-based storage for his ever-growing assemblage of audio and photography equipment. To get ahead of the game, we procured most of the necessary items for the project over the weekend: paint, a few tools, wire shelves and the necessary infrastructure to mount them on the wall. On Monday, we began.

Marshmallows

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Today I made marshmallows. Yeah, like from scratch. The secret is, while time consuming, they’re really not all that difficult to make.

More Fish for Dinner

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

About a week ago, I wrote up my review of a new seafood cookbook I had just picked up called Fish Without a Doubt: The Cook’s Essential Companion and described a couple of the recipes I had prepared. Yesterday, I was at it again. There are several interesting recipes for fish burgers. I know, I know, it almost sounds off-putting, but the notion intrigued me. As my next test of this cookbook, for dinner yesterday evening, we had the Shrimp and Tilapia Burgers.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

It all started with buttermilk. I had leftover buttermilk in the refrigerator, and whenever that happens, it always makes me think of biscuits. I am an absolute freak for biscuits. A properly executed biscuit may be one of my top ten favorite things to eat. So it was settled - I’d make biscuits. Then it occurred to me that I had strawberries in the freezer, and that it really doesn’t take that long to whip up a small batch of jam. And that’s how lunch today became buttermilk biscuits and strawberry jam.

Front Porch Furniture

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

About two years ago, we purchased a pair of rocking chairs and a small table for our front porch. They were made of unfinished eucalyptus. At the time, to treat them and make them look nice, I had applied a couple coats of tung oil to the chairs. I have done nothing to maintain them since, and they were looking pretty rough.

Sundays with Jeff

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Every Sunday, I have coffee with my friend Jeff. Occasionally, we venture out beyond my front porch to sample some of the fine coffee shops around town. Usually this involves me getting into his car and ending up wherever he decides to take me. Today we wound up at Thunderbird Coffee.

Fish for Dinner

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I have been hunting around for a decent fish cookbook for a long time. I love well prepared fish dishes, but I have had difficulty making them myself (outside of grilled salmon) to my satisfaction. You can only imagine my glee in discovering in my June edition of Gourmet that not only is Gourmet starting a cookbook club but that the first book they’re suggesting is a fish cookbook!

The Celebration Meal

Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500

In an unassuming house on South Lamar, you will find culinary treats whose equal I have yet to find in Austin. Uchi is a restaurant that prides itself on using fresh local produce and for having a wide variety of seafood, at least some of which comes from the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo. I had been wanting to try Uchi for a long time. We finally decided to go to celebrate both our recent wedding anniversary and my recent departure from my miserable, soul-sucking job. It was meant to be sort of a culinary last-hurrah (at least for a little while).

Who's Afraid of Souffle

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I punked out and didn’t really cook too much for dinner tonight. Consequently, I figured I had enough energy to make dessert. I had eggs that I needed to use up before they went bad, so I figured I’d try a souffle recipe I have been wanting to make. So for dessert this evening, we had Hot Grand Marnier Soufflesfrom the December 2003 issue of Cooking Light.

Good Food Day

Mon, 26 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Have you ever had a day where you cook several different things, and they just all seem to turn out really well? In my mind, I count these as good food days. Yesterday was a good food day.

Food as Cure-all

Wed, 21 May 2008 00:00:00 -0500

With all the craziness around our house lately (largely revolving around my job and one of our pet cats), I forgot that I have cooked some over the past few days, and the meals have been more interesting than I’ve put together in quite a while.

The Cure

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Every once in a while, we indulge in a caloric splurge and have a plate full of wonderful cheeses and cured meats for our dinner. It reminds us of some of the most enjoyable meals we had in Italy last fall and gives us an excuse to sample a variety of food items without having to commit to figuring out how to use them in a recipe.

Cincinnati Chili

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I pride myself on being a DIY kind of cook. I like to start with basic ingredients and make things from scratch whenever possible. That said, with a demanding schedule, in an effort to cook at home more often, I sometimes resort to items of convenience. Enter Homemade in Minutes - Cincinnati Chili.

Pizza Salvation

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I was unhappy when Starlite moved locations. I feel the restaurant was better when it was in the little converted house on 34th street. However, the pizza joint that moved in instead, Salvation Pizza, is generally a winner, and I’m happy to report the pizza is delicious.

Beer Bread

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I happened to notice mention of making Beer Bread on a friend of mine’s blog. Fortunately, she was kind enough to send me a link to the recipe!

When a Cafeteria isn't a Cafeteria

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0600

We decided to try out Blue Star Cafeteria on a whim. The first surprise on entering the restaurant was that it wasn’t a cafeteria at all. The aesthetic was a blend of mid-century modern and reservedly industrial – the place looked nice.

"Concept" Italian

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Okay, so it’s a chain restaurant. And you’re right, it’s in the Domain. And to be perfectly blunt, as soon as I hear the word “concept” when applied to a restaurant, I start to squirm in my chair and forcibly fight down the urge to suggest something else. But despite all that, we decided to check out North for a weekday night out at a restaurant.

Argentina in Austin

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Buenos Aires Cafe is an Argentinean-style cafe that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Its unassuming storefront does little to reveal the quality of food that lies within.

The Hungry Engineer - Articles

Maya Cookies

Tentacles

No Common Pigs Here

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The Ass End of Behind

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A Cocktail a Day

The Power of Imo's

Molecular Gastroburger

Definitely Not My Mama

Misto Mare

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Am I a Daring Cook?

New Menu Preview

Healthy Cookies

Santanaland

Homemade Buns

Mystery-Free Meat

Yeah, We Figured It'd Be Good

Summer CSA Boxes

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No Need to Knead

Getting Tongue

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Texas Two-Sip

Optimistic Tomatoes

The Other Grilled Cheese

Bites of Sunshine

Tonight We Dine in Hell

Our Meeting with the Green Fairy

Surviving SXSW 2010

Good to the Grain

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CSA Box Number 5

Feet and Scales - Chicken Stock Revamped

The Making of a Chef

CSA Box Number 4

Power of the Pig

CSA Box Number 3

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Pearls for Dinner

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Leg of Deer

Dreaming of Beef Short Ribs

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Good Eats - The Early Years

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