As I started to share this recipe I realized I’ve exclusively shared semi-offbeat vegetable soup recipes this week. Then I realized we’ve exclusively eaten meals with spoons this week. And I realized I’ve put us on the world’s least effective, most delicious liquid diet. You should not go on a liquid diet, but you should…
Read more Oh My God. Have I Accidentally Put Us On A Liquid (Soup) Diet?
Back in August I found myself with a veritable truckload of asparagus and an impending road trip, which was a terrible combination. Rather than come home to limp or rotted asparagus, I blanched all of it and froze it in a few quart-sized gallon bags. Since then, those bags of asparagus have called to me…
Read more Post-Thanksgiving Asparagus Soup That Isn’t Depressing But Is Really Ugly
We’re having a very subdued Thanksgiving this year, as are, I’m sure, nearly all of you. Except for those 1 million travelers yesterday that went through TSA at airports nationwide. Who are they? Where are they going? My heart wants to ask for an invite to their party, my head wants to know who they…
Read more Pre-Thanksgiving Light Lentil Soup That Isn’t Depressing
We are Airbnb hosts. I feel like I should caveat that, or apologize for it. Why does it make me feel a little icky to write? I think perhaps because we have some of the most judgmental neighbors who make me feel like a criminal and make my guests feel unwelcome, but perhaps those neighbors…
Read more If You Give an Airbnb Guest a $75 Apartment…
This old article caught my eye today. In The Why Of Cooking, Atlantic writer Joe Pinsker posits that the fabulous book, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, is a “Valuable user’s manual for recipes, letting even the greenest cooks disassemble them to see how their parts fit together.” He writes at some length about trying to find…
Read more Everyone Can Cook (Or, Why This Hobby Seems Less Cool Than Your Hobby)
We celebrated my mother-in-law’s birthday last night with a soup and bread buffet. Yes, my anxiety-baking has now turned into a habit, and it’s really great to have fresh bread on the table with every meal. This is definitely not on the “No Excuses November” body satisfaction plan. But I digress. I made two soups,…
Read more Caramelized Onion Creamy Potato Soup – Or, “Why Doesn’t Everyone Use Leftovers Like This?”
My No Excuses November “Conscious eating” column has no check marks so far, because I think like many people, I’m answering my anxiety and sadness with food. For Halloween I made this terrific Food52 recipe for “fondue” in a pumpkin. It looked even cooler in real life than these pictures, and tasted just as good.…
Read more Comfort Food: Pumpkin Fondue
So it’s about 6:30 a.m. on Election Day and I just fussed with my bread. Yesterday I put together Mark Bittman’s No Knead Dough which takes 18 hours to rise, thinking this would be a welcome distraction on a day where I could really use a welcome distraction. I also made about 12 lists, updated…
Read more Hoping and Baking
You might notice a trend by now: Carbs are comfort in my family. Whether it’s biscuits for breakfast or five pounds of potatoes for four people, I rely heavily on carbs. I’m not good with tears. I offer carbs. Leaving aside the merits of this, or the long-term viability for my waistline, I proffer this…
Read more Sunday Night Comfort Pasta
This weekend we had two friends in town, they’re COVID nomads and for seven months have been hunkering down with family in near isolation. They’re giving up on Washington for a while, and making a go of life in Richmond instead. But they came to visit for a few days, and it was wonderful. Sarah…
Read more Gratitude – An American Celebrates Canadian Thanksgiving