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Posts Tagged ‘food’

Stuffed spaghetti squash

Posted in Eating in season, Main dish, tagged , , , , on October 28, 2011| 8 Comments »

Sometimes squash can be intimidating. They are weird looking, require a huge knife to hack them open, and then take hours in the oven to roast and soften. Spaghetti squash are the smoothest of the squash family. Their flesh, when cooked, breaks apart in strings not unlike angel hair pasta. But don’t be fooled. It is still a squash.

I just learned a great squash trick. You can soften a squash in 8 minutes in the microwave. Yes. Just halve it, scoop out the seeds, cover it in plastic wrap and nuke for 8 minutes. You’ll want to let it rest a bit so you don’t scald your fingers when you remove the plastic wrap.

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Mushroom broccoli risotto

Posted in Main dish, Side dish, tagged , , , , on September 30, 2011| 4 Comments »

I wish I had a picture of risotto to share with you. If I had a picture you’d see soft pillowy mounds of arborio rice, with flecks of green broccoli, and earthy mushrooms held together with Grana Padano cheese but I don’t. Because I ate it before I could take a picture. All of it. It was that good.

So here is an autumn Valentine for you instead.

It’s almost as good, right?

I felt like I had gotten a Valentine the night my friends came over to eat risotto in heaping bowlfuls. My friends are all single urbanites, charging in a million different directions. I wan’t sure who would show up at the dinner table. In the end, there were five of us – just kind of “coming home” together after a week of hectic schedules, new jobs, and surviving the ordinary. (more…)

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Are you an urban homesteader?

Posted in Food musings, tagged , , , , on September 21, 2011| 11 Comments »

This past summer I visited my college friend Enicia who is a “homesteader” in Wildomar, Calif. What makes my soft-spoken, gentle friend a homesteader? Maybe it is the 14 variety of heirloom tomatoes she grows, the flock of heritage breed chickens that scratch around her porch, and the .22 handgun that she used to blow away a squirrel who was ” thinking that we have been growing everything for him!”

Foolish squirrel.

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Zucchini walnut bread @ The Boston Food Swap

Posted in Baked goods, Eating in season, tagged , , , , , on September 18, 2011| 2 Comments »

Sometime in August my friend Monica forwarded me an e-mail with the note: “Why haven’t we heard about this?”

Zukebread3

It was an invitation to the Boston Food Swap. Essentially, it’s a silent bidding auction where you bring something you made or grew and use it to bid on items from other people. It’s low-key, fun, and a nice way to meet other people who are interested in making and sharing their own food.

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Ginger peach compote on oatmeal pancakes

Posted in Breakfast, Sauces, tagged , , , , , , on September 15, 2011| 9 Comments »

I started riding my bike again this summer. The last time I really rode my bike was in the summer of 2006. I was training for the Chicago Triathlon. I was supposed to race with my dad, but he passed away that winter. So I prepared for  the starting line in Chicago anyway, as a kind of tribute to him. I trained really hard and finished strong. When I found out I placed 7th in my age group, I wept. And then I stopped riding my bike. Until now.

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Pink and red currant pie

Posted in Dessert, Eating in season, tagged , , , , , on July 18, 2011| 75 Comments »

I vote to change the spelling of July. Let’s spell it “Jewel-eye.”

“Jeweled” describes the color of the sky that was Saturday morning – deep, deep blue with tiny clouds that posed no threat to the early light. These kinds of days last just a few weeks in New England and I always walk around pinching myself a bit when I realize that, for once, the weather has been tamed into something lovely.

After a swim across Walden Pond that morning, I stopped by Allendale Farm searching for a breakfast scone. I feel incredibly fortunate to live in the heart of one of Boston’s neighborhoods and still have access to a farm stand just a few minutes from my house with its own locally grown produce.

That’s when these beauties caught my eye: pink and red currants.

The pinks glowed like pearls and the reds were so bright they looked dangerous. Most people know currants as tiny dried fruit that resemble raisins used in baked goods or salads. Tangy and tart, fresh currants are usually part of a garnish, topping a sorbet-filled melon, for instance, or in a sauce to complement a roasted meat. But I wanted my currants to star in the center ring.

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Foodie Nation

Posted in Food musings, News Buzz, tagged , , , , , on July 10, 2011| 6 Comments »

Update: This cover story just got nominated for a James Beard Award!!

Do you know what amuse bouche means? Do you know how to emulsify? Do you cheer on chefs while watching the Food Network as you eat handfuls of popcorn seasoned with nutritional yeast? Do you chase food trucks on Twitter?

You know who you are, you foodie you.

Check out my cover story for The Christian Science Monitor on our nation of foodies (and yes, it’s OK to hate that word): “America’s new culinary renaissance”

There’s also a fun photo gallery.

Happy summer!

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Kale chips

Posted in Appetizers, Eating in season, Side dish, tagged , , , , on July 7, 2011| 6 Comments »

The next time you get a crunchy, salty craving you might try making kale chips.

They are so easy to make and tasty it’s almost ridiculous. You simply tear a bunch of kale into bite sized pieces, coat in oil and seasoning, and bake for about 15 minutes. If you’ve signed up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) share this summer you’ll thank me in a few weeks when kale starts to arrive by the bagful.

The great thing about kale chips is you can play around with flavorings. Try adding a dash of cumin or garlic salt. Or you can use a seasoned oil. I have some Australian macadamia nut oil in my cupboard and this ended up being a delicious choice. I also toasted some sesame seeds and sprinkled them on top. I recommend a crunchy salt like sea salt or kosher salt for added texture. (more…)

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A real English breakfast for a royal wedding

Posted in Food musings, Travel, tagged , , , , on April 28, 2011| 6 Comments »

When Prince William and Kate Middleton exchange vows on April 29 in Westminster Abbey there will be millions of pajama-clad Americans tuning in to watch and I am not ashamed to admit that I will be one of them.

I am not a huge Royal follower. But I was a Diana follower. As a fifth grader in 1981 a Royal Wedding was the Most Important Event Ever. Diana and her 25-foot-long train was the real deal – a living, breathing combination of Cinderella (whose wedding we never got to see) and Maria from “The Sound of Music.” The purpose of Diana’s long walk down the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral was not, in my eyes, to become Charles’s wife. It was to become a Princess.

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Taste Test at Perkins School for the Blind

Posted in Food musings, tagged , , , on October 8, 2010| 11 Comments »

It goes without saying that a dish of food may smell good but if it doesn’t look good, you don’t really want to eat it. Decadent, delicious photos of food have captured the public’s attention to the point that this kind visual stimulation has spawned two 24-hour food networks, more than 11,000 food blogs (ahem), and countless cookbooks. It’s kind of crazy if you stop and think about it.

But what if you couldn’t see? Would you care that much about food? Would you still want to eat it?

It’s something I think about almost every day because my nephew, Sawyer, doesn’t see. He is 6 years old and teaching him about the world even as he tries to figure out where he is in space takes patience, great skill, and enormous amounts of love. It’s kind of like hanging out without someone who doesn’t speak the same language. We are all trying to crack Sawyer’s special code. I am in awe of my sister-in-law  and my brother who are his parents, and even his younger sister. He is really lucky to have them as his family. And they – we – are really lucky to have him because he teaches us things.

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