Archive for April, 2008

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Blog, interrupted

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Sorry for the long silence, mes amies. I unexpectedly started an intensive French class last week that meets M-F for five hours a day. Sadly, this leaves very little time for (a) cooking, and (b) blogging. Instead, I spend a lot of time pinching my nose to make nasal vowel sounds and generally bumbling my way [...]

Five items: Quinoa, ancient grain

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Welcome to another, long overdue edition of Five Items. Today’s dish, quinoa pilaf, is more of a starchy side, but it would be a terrific accompaniment to tofu steaks, either my version or Martha’s, for a fast, high-protein meal. But first, what is quinoa? Pronounced keen-wah, it’s an ancient grain from the Andes region that once played [...]

Wrapping up

Monday, April 21st, 2008

Before we say goodbye to The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics, I thought I’d offer a few final positives and negatives – + Offers lots of easy, healthy, low-fat, flavorful recipes that are great for everyday dinners. Many of these are labelled “fit to eat” and have nutritional information. + Recipes for ethnic [...]

Nonstop Top Chef

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

I’m on my way to So Cal this afternoon and won’t be able to post for a few days. But here’s a little interview I did for the Washingtonian with Top Chef contestant Spike, in which he discusses his new Capitol Hill burger joint, why Padma’s so calm, and where he keeps his secret ingredients. [...]

CtB goes DIY (and some unfortunate news about overdue library books)

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

Ta da! Here are the results of my very first DIY project! I inherited this particle board dresser from a friend six years ago. I forgot to take “before” photographs, but it started out an uninspiring “birch” color, with various stains, scratches and ugly nicks. I’d long wanted to paint it but was intimidated by the process, [...]

Olive

Monday, April 14th, 2008

I must confess that DIY took up most of my weekend, leaving not much time for cooking. My painted dresser looks very pretty, however, and I will post pictures of it when it’s dry and assembled (annoyingly, I forgot to take “before” shots — sorry). In the meantime, I wanted to post some pictures of [...]

Top Chef redux

Friday, April 11th, 2008

Between Top Chef and the Real Housewives of New York City (don’t even get me started on Alex & Simon!!) I can’t stop watching Bravo TV! I’ve started doing weekly Top Chef recaps for the Washingtonian. Check out my thoughts on Zoi’s crazy earrings, Dale’s bitter rant and Richard’s unclean salmon here. (Photo courtesy of [...]

Back again

Thursday, April 10th, 2008

Finally, we are happy to present another edition of Cooking the Books: The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics! Today’s dish is daube de boeuf provencal from the “meat” chapter, a classic French recipe that proved to be very easy and delicious, yet also a lengthy endeavor.

Ode to Sriracha

Friday, April 4th, 2008

  Oh, Sriracha How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee drizzled on scrambled eggs or squirted on a boca burger On pho, of course, but also on spaghetti In lentil soup, or any soup, really You could enliven any boring leftover Martha Stewart concoction (In fact you often have)… [...]

Hazards of Cooking the Books

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

Oh, mes amies. After my jaunty cooking bonanza over the weekend, I was shocked when that dull ache in my lower back suddenly turned into a giant, throbbing knot. It turns out that spending hours on one’s feet in a hunched position actually causes lingering pain — who knew? The good news is that the pain [...]

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