Category: Food

Blue-ish Christmas

If anything, my mood this year about the holiday was even worse than it was last year. The continued claustrophobia of working from home and the pandemic wore on my psyche big time. Add to that the losses of my mom in January and Luka earlier in the week and you have a recipe for …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/12/29/blue-ish-christmas/

Spatchcock that Turkey

It’s been a while since I’ve made turkey on Thanksgiving. Last year we made duck, then for several years before that we went to friends’ houses for the holiday. This year we hosted two other couples and made the turkey. I’m not wedded to the Norman Rockwell idea of an intact turkey, perfectly browned, coming …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/12/03/spatchcock-that-turkey/

Cuban Bread

I admit that often I don’t have the foresight to make artisanal breads for every occasion. This week I’ve had to do some revisions for a quarterly submission and get ready for a course assignment that’s due next week. So when our former neighbor invited us to dinner last night and I offered to bring …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/11/13/cuban-bread/

Menu, Schmenu!

We do our weekly menu planning on Fridays. This menu greeted me on the refrigerator when I came down to breakfast Friday morning. Here’s my reply: Needless to say, we hammered out a more feasible and equitable menu plan at lunch.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/11/06/menu-schmenu/

Two Saturdays, Two Caribbean Restaurants

Last Saturday we had dinner at Mojito on our way to a symphony concert. It’s a tiny pan-Latinx restaurant just off Interstate 5. Mojito’s owner, Luam Wersom, started out as a dishwasher at the restaurant before he bought it several years ago. We’ve been going to the restaurant almost as long as it’s been open. …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/10/24/two-saturdays-two-caribbean-restaurants/

Pear Chocolate Cake

One of the few upsides of canceling the trip to Europe is that we’re able to see our friends Bruce and Laurie, who moved to Michigan six months ago and are in town this week. Bruce had hoped to accompany us on the trip, but he needed back surgery over the summer. We hosted them …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/09/22/pear-chocolate-cake/

Who Dumbed Down the Cheese?

I grew up in upstate New York. I like my cheddar cheese to bite back. One of the best bits of culinary advice my mother gave me was to use sharp cheddar in macaroni and cheese. Unfortunately, finding truly sharp cheddar here in Washington is nearly impossible. Julian decided to make patty melts for dinner …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/09/17/who-dumbed-down-the-cheese/

In Praise of Smaller Grocery Stores

I like to do our weekly shopping in larger supermarkets. They have the variety of produce and seafood I want. Some of them will cater to ethnic populations in their neighborhoods. But sometimes when I just need to get two or three items on the way home, smaller grocery stores will do the trick. Some …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/08/14/in-praise-of-smaller-grocery-stores/

Cookbook Critiques

I’ve done more than my share of cookbook-reading over the years and have developed strong opinions on the genre. I gave my strategy for adding a cookbook to the collection in this post. Even if the recipes and other content are first rate, some cookbooks have layout and other issues that reduce the chance that …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/07/20/cookbook-critiques/

Georgia on my Mind

One of the peak experiences of my adult life was accompanying a friend from college to the Republic of Georgia when she adopted a baby girl. In addition to seeing my friend realize her dream of being a mother, the breads of Georgia were a revelation. Some were flatbreads baked on the sides of giant …

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Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/07/06/georgia-on-my-mind/

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