"The only real stumbling block is the fear of failure. In cooking, you have got to have a what-the-hell attitude." ~ Julia Child

butter

The fancy stuff

Long ago, back when I started this blog, I vowed never to start a blogpost by apologizing for a lack of activity.

But dang. It’s been a month. It’s like I’ve been distracted or something.

Let’s give this distraction a name. Let’s call him…Chef San Diego.

The other day we made some kind of fish with diced red and yellow peppers in a cardamom papaya beurre blanc sauce. “Just something simple.”

Well. He made it. I just drank wine and watched.

Beurre blanc, I said. That’s simple? Isn’t that, like, French?

Well, yes, but it’s really not that fancy, he said. Think of it as butter sauce. And you can flavor it with different things. Next time, he told me, you’ll make it.

I started laughing.

Keep le reading..

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News I can use

News I can use

I’m not giving you five reasons for anything. That’s my virgin sacrifice to the SEO Gods.

Also there are more than five reasons why I’m so delighted with this book. Mostly because it validates what I’ve finally begun to figure out on my own.

Cooking. It’s not about recipes. It’s about techniques. Understand and gain mastery of the techniques, and you probably won’t have cooking disasters like this. Or this.

Digest more!

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First Time Irish: Corned Beef and Cabbage

March 18, 2013

On St. Patrick’s Day, I traditionally toast my grandmother, Florence, with a quick shot of Bushmill’s whiskey. She died this day more than 20 years ago, and I still miss her, God rest her soul. She taught me how to wink and how to pour a beer, and to this day, both skills have served [...]

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The Coldinator: Spanish Style Garlic Soup with Poached Egg

March 8, 2013

Basta. Enough. I never get sick. I have the immune system of an Irish peasant. And yet here is day 9 (!!) of this horrible, mother of all colds. I’m sleeping long hours. I’m pounding the orange juice. I even went and got the magic hot and sour soup at the Chinese Panda down the [...]

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