I have a little piece up at Culinate about how mushroom hunting saved my health during grad school. It was fun to write, hope you enjoy it.
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When I was in LA last week, Nina and I managed to sneak away to Sushi Nozawa for a quick lunch. If you Google Sushi Nozawa, you’ll find all sorts of posts about how Nozawa-san is known as the “sushi nazi” and that he’s thrown all sorts of famous people out of the restaurant. It’s a completely unassuming little restaurant in a strip mall in Studio City — when you walk in there are perhaps ten little tables — two- and four-tops and a small bar that seats maybe eight people. We were worried we’d be too late to sit…
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Here at LivingSmall we’re closing up shop for the week — I’m heading south to stay with my friends the striking screenwriters (if I make it to the picket lines, I’ll be sure to get a photo). We completely support the striking screenwriters here at LivingSmall (for what it’s worth). I’ve got a hunk of pancetta and some dried morels to contribute to the feast, and then on Friday, the big event is that the miracle babies are turning three! They’re big girls now — talking to one another and singing songs and generally getting into all sorts of trouble.…
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Well, now that we’ve explored the strange and wonderful world of bizarre holiday foods — let’s talk about tips and tricks for getting that big ceremonial meal on the table … My mother just called and my cousin Denise wants to know how I did the turkey last year because apparently she remembers it as being especially good — honestly, I can’t really remember. I’m pretty sure I bought an organic bird because those frozen ones shot full of stuff freak me out — and really, if you can get a nice fresh organic turkey, it’s worth the hassle and…
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Okay, I’ll admit it — I think Thanksgiving is the most boring holiday meal of the year. Perhaps it’s the residue of the Turkey Years, when Mom fed us on a couple of turkeys a month because it was a lot of meat for the dollar, or perhaps it’s just because it *is* the most boring meal of the year — but snore snore snore. Turkey. Stuffing. Mashed potatoes. A couple of sides — brussell sprouts or green beans. Cranberry sauce. Pie. It’s inviolable. There are variations, sure — every year the magazines plop into my box full of variations,…
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Over at Wooly Pig, Heath wrote a whole post in response to this question that a reader raised in the comments, and it’s been stuck in my head for the past few days: How can you reconcile the relationship you develop with these animals with the act of slaughtering them for food? Do you own pets? I’m not trying to insult you but merely trying to understand what I, as a vegan, see as the cognitive dissonance of people like you who are intimately connected with both the raising and slaughtering of food animals. Heath wrote a great post answering…
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My friend Robert-the-painter came for dinner last night — like many painters, Robert is also a wonderful cook, and is really invested in local and organic food issues. I made country pork spareribs braised in milk with lots of garlic, thyme, rosemary, sage and a little hot pepper and lemon. Everything except the pork and the lemon was local in that dish — I’m on the list next year for one of my Milk Lady’s pigs, but for now, I’m stuck with what I can get. I also made Clothilde’s yogurt cake with the spiced cherries I put up this…
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Thanks everyone for chiming in this week — I think this has been the liveliest discussion yet here at LivingSmall and I’m just thrilled. So often, I feel like the lone crank in the wilderness bleating on about how food in boxes is terrible for you and it tastes bad. My cry of despair: Just cook something! In light of that, I thought some practical links might be an appropriate way to close out the week. Here’s a terrific site all about home cooking: Simply Recipes It looks like the kind of place where you could find a solid recipe…
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In the comments thread for yesterday’s post on frozen dinners, Maryn made a great comment about why the whole “cooking from scratch” concept might seem so overwhelming to people who are just getting started cooking real food: I think it’s really important for people who are starting to cook (or cook more, or more healthfully) to hear that the freezer can be your friend. Learning to integrate real cooking into your life seems so huge, if you’re not used to it – OMG I have to cook every dish from scratch every night for the rest of my life??? –…
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In the comments thread on Monday , the topic of frozen dinners came up. Although I relied heavily on the small-size frozen mac-and-cheese and frozen lasagnes that winter after my brother died, for the most part, the weird gumminess of frozen dinners freaks me out. Yesterday was one of those days — I had a couple of appointments over in Bozeman in the morning and then I just never really caught up. So at six, I found myself staring into the fridge wondering what I was going to eat. I didn’t want leftover lamb and white bean stew, and although…