Monthly Archives: November 2011
One From The Vault: Cranberry Relish
Fifty-nine. Fifty-nine Thanksgiving food baskets went out to needy families on Saturday morning. That was the official count as we wrapped up around 10:30 on a frosty, clear morning and I went home to scald myself in a hot shower until I was back from the brink of hypothermia and ready to collapse for a few hours, which of course was not to be, because it’s the holiday season and there are always more things that need doing than time to do them. Continue reading
Filed under Feeding the Hungry, Food, Holidays, Recipes
Vegan Mashed Potatoes
Here we are, only a week away from Thanksgiving. Only a week away from a feast celebrated with family, friends, and lot of food. We’ve made a few preparations already: this year’s heritage breed, free-range turkey, aka Mr. Cluck-Cluck, is safely reposing in the freezer. Sissy has promised to bring dessert. And I’ve at least given passing thought to the rest of the menu. Continue reading
Chocolate Almond Buttercrunch Toffee
On Saturday morning, I participated in Will Bake For Food, a food blogger’s bake sale organized by bloggers Jenny M. and Jenny R. to benefit the Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle/King County.
Food bloggers making treats to provide food for the needy? It was just crazy enough to work. Continue reading
Filed under Feeding the Hungry, Food, Recipes
The Sorcerer’s Apprentices
Book Review: The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adria’s elBulli, by Lisa Abend.
In The Sorcerer’s Apprentices, Lisa Abend chronicles the experiences of thirty-five stagiaires, unpaid apprenticechefs who have beaten out thousands of other applicants to spend a season in the kitchen at elBulli, Ferran Adria’s world renowned avant-garde restaurant insouthern Spain. Continue reading
Filed under Book Review, Books, Food, Restaurants
A Tomato Story
Some years I have a bumper crop of tomatoes, growing in a tangle of vines straight up their eight-foot trellis to touch the eaves on the south side of my house. The summer heat radiates off the bricks and bathes the tomatoes hanging in heavy clusters of red, orange, and yellow. The scent envelops me as I walk by, earthy and green and fecund. I gather baskets of them, and make sauces and sandwiches and give the rest away to friends.
Other years, like this one, the thin vines seem to shiver all of the cold, damp summer. I wait anxiously for a few ripe tomatoes in late August or early September. But whether a bumper year or a disappointing one, there are always plenty of green tomatoes left on the vines when the chill of late fall hits. Continue reading
Mushroom Lemongrass Soup
One of my coworkers enjoys foraging for wild mushrooms. The other day, he was showing us pictures of some really spectacular mushrooms that he had found. I especially liked the one that was approximately the size of his head. Like any good forager, he was enthusiastic and specific about the mushroom specimens, their characteristics, and their scientific names, but vague about the exact locations where he finds these beauties.
My mushroom foraging takes place at the farmer’s market, or at the Asian produce market. Continue reading
