Monthly Archives: July 2011
Because It Is Summer
Some lazy summer afternoons, my interest in a full meal fragments into a mosaic of inchoate cravings, farmer’s market finds, and refrigerator foraging. It starts like this: “What do you want for dinner?” “Huh?”
Eventually, I start rummaging. Continue reading
Fennel and Greens
I am currently obsessed with this salad. I keep finishing off a batch of it, then turning right around and making another. Every time I go to the grocery store I find I simply cannot leave without another fennel bulb in my bag. The thing is, it’s darn near the perfect summer salad. Here’s why: Continue reading
White Bean Hummus
What’s the best way to enjoy a sunny day in Seattle? Go outside, immediately. Now. Even better, get yourself to a restaurant with outdoor seating without delay. Do not procrastinate. Pause only long enough to put on some sandals and short sleeves. Because if you tell yourself that you’ll enjoy the sunshine later, after you’ve finished checking your email, or tomorrow because it will be Saturday, you will miss out. The fickle sun and the ephemeral warmth will be gone and grey skies will be back and you’ll only have yourself to blame. Just a friendly warning. Continue reading
Filed under Food, Friends, Recipes, Restaurants
Pickled Radishes
This may very well turn out to be the summer of pickles. It seems like everyone is pickling. Recipes are springing up all over the place, providing instant inspiration. The question I’m asking these days is, “What can’t I pickle?” On long summer evenings, that tangy, cool crunch is the oh, so necessary accompaniment to grilled meats and pasta salads, and a palate-pleasing topper for a lunchtime green salad. Continue reading
Happy Bastille Day!
July 14 is Bastille Day, the French holiday commemorating the storming of the Bastille to begin the French Revolution in 1789.
While the French are celebrating with parades, dances, and fireworks, I considered commemorating the day with a cake, a la Marie Antoinette. Although that notion has a certain humorous appeal, the reality is that I’m not very good at baking cakes. But my thoughts having turned in the direction of French cooking, who better to look to for inspiration than the incomparable Dorie Greenspan? So I flipped through my copy of Around My French Table, pausing here and there on the many recipes that I have marked with paper tabs.
Caprese Pasta Salad
Even here in Seattle, I think it is actually summer at last. The farmer’s market is full to bursting with a kaleidoscope of produce. I haven’t worn socks in two days. The cat stretches out in the shade and watches … Continue reading
The Best Ramen in Vancouver
We are sitting at the counter at Benkei Ramen in Vancouver, BC. As we wait for our lunch we watch the cook hustle. He grabs portions of fresh ramen noodles and submerges them in boiling water. He drops a double handful of bean sprouts into a steamer, arranges thin slices of pork in another steamer basket, ladles broth into a saucepan, then turns, just as the timer goes off, to pull the ramen from the water with a practiced shake, placing it in two big bowls—then the sprouts, meat, broth, other toppings, and he shoots a quick, staccato burst of Japanese at the waitress as he places the two perfectly arranged bowls in the pass-through and turns to begin this sequence again. As he spins, he bumps into a plastic bin of noodles with a mild thump, and all of a sudden he breaks the fourth wall, catching my eye and laughing at himself without missing a beat. Continue reading
