December 2016 archive

Good Riddance!

Judging from the cards and letters I’ve received this holiday season, 2016 was a uniformly bad year. My friend Carolyn said it best: “Goodbye 2016 – You sucked!” Her father died and her husband was diagnosed with leukemia. Another friend lost her husband. One of my longest-term friends was in a bad auto accident and …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/12/31/good-riddance/

Christmas at Casa Sammamish

Our Christmases over the years here have evolved into a pattern: Christmas Eve with our friends for food and the white elephant exchange; A quiet Christmas à deux (actually à quatre, including the cats); followed by “Jewish Christmas” dinner with friends. I had the morning and early afternoon to myself, given Julian’s propensity to sleep …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/12/26/christmas-at-casa-sammamish/

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/12/26/rebuilding-bothell/

Macaroons et Macarons

This year for the annual Christmas Eve dinner and white elephant extravaganza, I wanted to make something that the maximum number of attendees could eat. The vegetarians weren’t there, but the gluten- and allium-phobes were. Hence, I made macaroons and macarons. Both of these cookies use beaten egg whites as structure and leavening. Macaroons are …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/12/25/macaroons-et-macarons/

One Hit, One Miss

I’d thawed some boneless pork loin chops for dinner earlier in the week. We also had leftover sauerkraut and fresh cabbage. These ingredients whispered in my ear: Eastern Europe. Off I went to the cookbooks. I found a recipe for pork chops with mustard and cornichon pan sauce from Pierre Franey’s More 60-Minute Gourmet. I …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/12/22/one-hit-one-miss/

Snowflake Freakout

As I said earlier this year, the Seattle area doesn’t do well with snow. Neither do the drivers. This is a source of amusement to my family in the Snow Belt, and a source of frustration to us. The forecast was for snow today. I opted to take the bus to and from work, since …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/12/05/snowflake-freakout/

Pinky’s Progress

Some of you will recall that I dislocated the pinky finger on my left hand while we were in France. After I got home, my primary care doc referred me to a hand surgeon. The MRI confirmed the X-ray findings: no fracture. For the last month I’ve been working with a hand therapist at the …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/12/01/pinkys-progress/