October 2018 archive

Time to Vote

Washington is a vote by mail state. The ballots arrived last week. While Julian was making dinner Wednesday night, I filled out my ballot and put it in the mailbox. He completed his ballot and sent it the next day. The beauty of voting by mail is that you can fill out your ballot in …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/26/time-to-vote/

[Insert Ethnicity Here] Beef Salad

When we grill steak, we usually have leftovers for the following night. One of our go-to preps is Thai Beef Salad. Put sliced beef and any stray fruit (mango, pineapple) and vegetables (cucumber, carrots, tomato) on hand atop a bed of lettuce. Make a dressing with fish sauce, lime juice, and a little water and …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/21/insert-ethnicity-here-beef-salad/

Sunset for the Garden

The padron peppers have pooped out. The basil was becoming brown, as was the red shiso. It was time for these plants to go the way of all things – the compostable can. I’m having to do the composting in installments, since our can needs to hold yard waste and kitchen scraps. One pot of …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/20/sunset-for-the-garden/

Words of the Week

I learned a new word from a New York Times article this week. Tsundoku is a Japanese term for the stack of books that you’ve bought but have yet to read. I’m sure Julian would have a corollary term to tsundoku. So, in a pre-emptive strike, I’ll coin it for him. Tsuncooku is the shelves …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/18/words-of-the-week/

Pumpkin Spice Plague

I have nothing against pumpkin in its appropriate role. We make a mean pumpkin pie. I also enjoy pumpkin bread and cookies. However, I draw the line at pumpkin spice everything else. For example, a garage on Sand Point Way in Seattle was hawking pumpkin spice oil changes. One assumes that the garage owner had …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/15/pumpkin-spice-plague/

Now That’s Offal!

The mere thought of cooking and eating organ meats causes a visceral (pun intended) reaction in many people, including my sister. “EEEEUW, innards!” You may have been served a leathery piece of liver by your mother as a child. Or you may have  had a traumatic experience dissecting a frog in high school. [I could …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/13/now-thats-offal/

Another Collector

The oak tree doesn’t fall far from the acorn. Several years ago my mother started collecting cookbooks “with the names in them”, i.e., fundraising cookbooks. Most of them are from churches, Junior Leagues, or ladies’ auxiliaries. However, one of them completely caught me off guard. It was from a group of British women in East …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/06/another-collector/

The Bookcase Build

Finding, buying, and taking delivery of our new bookcases were easy. The next tasks were as follows: Empty the old bookcases; Move said old  bookcases to the upstairs storage room; Assemble the new bookcases; Move the new bookcases into place; Anchor both old and new bookcases against the walls (we do live in earthquake country); …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/04/the-bookcase-build/