I’m dreaming of pigs these days — over the holidays, a friend and I got talking about starting a pig business. We’d see if we can get my butter-and-egg lady to raise them for us (she raises great pigs) and then we’d do charcuterie — prosciutto, guanciale, lard (leaf lard! from good pigs!), sausages — or as my friend said in an email: “We’ll smoke’em, dry’em, stuff’em, hang’em, and sell’em.” Our original plan was to get some investors and just go for it, but I think approaching it like a grown up 4H project might make more sense. Get a…
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I haven’t figured out how to embed a YouTube video on my page yet (must go learn that) but check out this clip of Barack Obama’s victory speech in Iowa last night. It’s long, but it’s worth watching the whole thing. I think either Hillary or Edwards would be perfectly good presidents, and certainly better than that man who currently resides in the White House — but neither of them inspires me in the least (and I’m really not crazy about putting all the old Clinton folks back in — in general, I believe life should go forward, not backward.)…
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The New York Times ran a piece in it’s travel section over the holidays about Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon. Buffon was, along with Linnaeus, one of the great early botanists and naturalists. Among other things, Buffon built the Jardins des Plantes — that enormous garden on the banks of the Seine. I’d never been there until my last trip to Paris when I stayed down in the 5th arrondissement — it was my last day in Paris and the sun was shining and I was getting a little lonely for green spaces and nature, so I went off…
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In the NY Times Magazine’s 2007 roundup, the food page did a tribute to Peg Bracken — and they ran the Braised-Chicken-and-Artichoke Casserole. This was one of the first party dishes I ever made — I was fifteen or sixteen and my mother was very fond of the I Hate to Cook CookBook. I was so psyched to find this recipe — I remember it so vividly! Sauteeing off the chicken, then making the simple veloute with the mushrooms and sherry and chicken broth. Tucking the artichoke hearts in between the chicken pieces and pouring the sauce over — and…
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Inspired by this article in the Times of London, I holed up and took a lovely, restorative vacation at home after Christmas. Christmas was lovely — we all had a great time. There was lots of food and wine and by ten that night we had six kids under five doing the Toddler Disco in the middle of the living room floor. Perfect. Look into Alpenglow rentals if you are planning a relaxing vacation. I woke up on the 26th a tiny bit hung over, and decided the tree was coming down. It was a pretty tree and we had…
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I got all the boxes in the mail — granted, the last two, to my aunt and my grandmother (who live together) didn’t go out until yesterday — but they celebrate Christmas on whichever day next week is most convenient — and well, my grandmother is 96, and while she still has most of her marbles, she’s old enough not to care if her chocolate truffles get there a day late. I love making food presents for everyone — but next year I have to remember that it does actually take some time, and perhaps I should start sooner than…
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I managed to get the last packaged in the mail this afternoon and I’m swamped putting out some last-minute fires at my Corporate Job. In the meantime — check out this five-part investigative piece on the Ameya Preserve that New West is publishing. I’ve only read part one thus far, but seems like a cogent discussion of the issues.
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It’s been a weekend of cooking cooking cooking … with a couple of small breaks for tree trimming and kids’ recitals … So if you’re on my Christmas list — stop reading now. Go away. Come back after your box arrives. For the rest of you — here’s the weekend: I made truffles for my grandmother. I made chocolate hazelnut cookies, pfeffernussen (I can’t find the recipe online — but it was a good one — with grated lemon rind and some candied citron and orange and ginger — they came out chewy and delicious, not powdery and terrible like…
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Because too many of the people on my Christmas list read my blog, I can’t be too specific — but let’s say that this weekend is all about baking — cookies, cake, pate (well, it’s baked anyhow) and chocolate-chile truffles for my grandmother — I have a hunch that it might be another lost weekend as far as writing goes, since there’s so much to do, and my favorite children are back in town. It’s the holiday rush! And although it sounds a little hectic — I’m looking forward to a house full of cinnamon and cardamon and cloves. I’m…
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The least interesting part of Doris Lessing’s Nobel Prize speech has been getting a lot of attention this week — the part where she claims that the speed by which the internet has been developed has led to a sort of mesmerism by screen, and has subsequently caused a serious devaluation of the book and of reading and of education and expertise. I don’t think she’s entirely wrong, nor do I think the online reaction, that this is the part of her speech where she sounds most like a cranky old woman, is invalid either. But that was not the…