LivingSmall

I got a little carried away at Lowe’s last weekend and bought this ginormous pile of bulbs. There are 80 King Arthur daffodils (the really big ones), 160 mixed tulips, 100 scilla and almost 100 crocus bulbs. Oh, and some narcissus — most of which I’ll put away for winter because I like to […]

I stopped by to get some moose liver yesterday and look what’s hanging in the garage — a moose in quarters! It’ll be there for about ten days or two weeks while the MH is in Michigan hunting grouse with a client.
I know a lot of people are grossed out by this part, but […]

Fall has arrived here in Montana — the trees are turning gold, there’s snow on the peaks, and I found an 18-inch zucchini hiding on the backside of one of my feral zucchini plants the other day.
We’re a tiny big behind the ball here at LivingSmall at the moment, so go look at the […]

“Do you want some moose liver?” the MH asked this weekend. “I’ve got 30 pounds of it.”
“Sure,” I answered. “I’ll take some — I’ll probably just make paté though.”  I mean, I was game for antelope liver last fall, but moose? Moose are enormous — the one that the MH’s son shot this weekend was […]

They’ve made a movie of Ron Hansen’s brilliant novel, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford — and it’s reviewed in today’s New York Times. It’s a brilliant novel, and so, I have mixed feelings about the movie version. On the one hand, it’s great that Ron Hansen, a novelist I […]

I don’t think my point-and-shoot does justice to the glory of these beans. These are runner cannelini beans that I grew from the package I ordered from Steve Sando at Rancho Gordo back last spring when we were all discussing Carlo Petrini’s ill-advised and ill-considered remarks about the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market.
I’ve had terrible […]

Just called to order a pork belly and it’s going to be a week or so — Matt’s Meats, my local butcher, is making bacon in 2 weeks, so they’re putting in an order for pork belly and are going to set one aside for me.
Stay tuned — since Ruhlman himself has ordered me to […]

I’ve been in a frenzy of food preservation here at LivingSmall. Saturday I pulled and washed and cut and blanched and drained two six-gallon trash cans full of endive. I then wrapped the blanched endive in towels to squeeze out the water and sealed it in bags using my vaccuum sealer and froze them for […]

Because it’s Friday, and because we ate and drank just a tiny bit too much last night at Patrick’s Posthumous Birthday party (which was delightful and jolly and because our friend Jim hung Patrick’s picture on the restaurant wall, it sort of felt like he was among us) — this morning LivingSmall brings you that […]

Patrick would be 42 today — it’s always a bittersweet day, to say the least. But even though he’s no longer with us, I like to celebrate his memory on his birthday. Like the Day of the Dead when we decorate graves with flowers and take our dead relatives their favorite foods and drinks as […]