British Scones * with a hint of America

Making scones is a weekend tradition for us. I’m a big fan of the British scone. Cooks Illustrated has the nerve to say this: The British original is lean, dry, and barely sweetened. Spoonfuls of jam and clotted cream are a must. Bollocks! I know I’ve mentioned before how Cooks Illustrated recipes annoy me with [...]

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Headline of the day: Vegetarians who eat meat

Okay.

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The easiest holiday pot luck item

Not only are roasted chestnuts perfect for the holiday season, but you’ll get a lot of accolades for bringing them to your holiday party despite the fact that they are easier than pie to make. Cut a an X in each chestnut. Roast in the oven at 425 degrees F for a half of an [...]

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Smoked Turkey Day

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we decided to smoke our turkey instead of bake it for our Thanksgiving feast. I was responsible for preparing the turkey which included injecting it with a butter marinade and brushing it with butter. It was by far the easiest preparation I’ve ever had for a turkey. Jake took everything from there [...]

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“Washington businesses break ties to industrial-food chain”

I can’t remember the last time that I truly experienced fabulous journalism in The Seattle Times, but here it is. Rebekah Denn details the story of a local energy bar maker who finds how difficult it is to control his product in, to borrow Denn’s vernacular, the industrial-food chain. After salmonella contamination was found in [...]

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Organic Chickens

I really enjoyed this column from food writer Nancy Leson. What did I learn? Heritage turkeys = bad. Organic chickens = good.

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The Explainer answers a question by yours truly

Reading the New York Times article about a woman who was paralyzed by ecoli, I was struck by the following passage: The frozen hamburgers that the Smiths ate, which were made by the food giant Cargill, were labeled “American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties.” Yet confidential grinding logs and other Cargill records show that the [...]

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Dan Ackroyd as Julia Child

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Bye bye gourmet

I am very saddened to hear that Conde Nast is getting rid of Gourmet magazine. I have so many favorite recipes from Gourmet. Some of my favorites include tarte tatin, chicken liver mousse and fondue. I used to get both Bon Appetit and Gourmet. While the recipes in Bon Appetit were always nice, the writing [...]

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Foie Gras Burger

On our recent trip to France, foie gras was ubiquitous. I doubt there was one menu where it didn’t make an appearance. Asking the French to give up foie gras is like asking Americans to stop driving. While it may be the right thing to do, it’s not going to happen. Jake ordered this foie [...]

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Random thoughts about returning home

Jake is having some withdrawal symptoms from not having his daily pan aux raisin. I, on the other hand, am having difficulty reading anything to do with politics. All of it makes me angry right now and I don’t feel like getting into the details. On a local level though, I was pleased to see [...]

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Why I don’t shop at Whole Foods

Some lefties (BTW, I’m a proud lefty) are boycotting Whole Foods because of the politics of the CEO. I have long felt that John Mackey is certainly a bit nutty. You need just check out this article from 2007 here. But is that enough reason to boycott the store? I don’t shop at Whole Foods [...]

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Selling coffee by the 12 oz bag

I usually try to buy locally roasted coffee. This is Seattle after all so we have a lot of choice. For a very long time I was buying Pegasus which is hands down my favorite, but unfortunately my office moved and now Pegasus is completely inconvenient. Thus began my quest for a local replacement. I [...]

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This man is Jake’s worst nightmare

You wouldn’t think it to look at him, but on some level Jake is afraid of this man. Who is he? The owner of Gorgeous George’s Mediterranean Restaurant in Greenwood. We had heard good things about this restaurant, and so had planned to go sometime in that way where you say to yourself “we should [...]

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What does “churned” mean in ice cream?

You know you want to know.

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Paw-licking good

Danton has some sort of liver disease. We don’t know what has caused it, but he is jaundiced right now. It’s been a rough week trying to figure out how this young cat got sick and it’s possible we’ll never know. Since he won’t eat or drink at all, part of taking care of him [...]

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Grade-A Crap

I was amused to see this billboard across from the Jolly Roger Taproom in Ballard. Luckily MyBallard got a photo of it.

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Cafe au whey

I think I’m now officially a part of hippydom. I used the leftover whey from our goat cheese curds in my latte this morning. It was interesting. Very whey-like which I suppose was predictable. Photo via CheeseSlave.

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The best poutine ever

Jake and I made cheese curds out of some raw goat milk yesterday. What better excuse to make poutine? I made a herb gravy with butter, fresh herbs and wine. I then added sauteed morels (thank you Ballard Farmer’s market) and voila. Oven fries topped with cheese curds and with some herb and morel gravy [...]

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My foodie guide to making homemade Italian pizzas

Right now in Seattle, Italian pizzas are all the rage. If you’ve had an Italian pizza, you know that the crust is very very thin and is portioned for one person. 1. Roll out the pizza dough very very thin. Almost every pizza dough recipe is virtually the same. So choose your favorite. Each batch [...]

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Mixed Berry Pie

I like recipes that are really simple. 5 ingredients or less is a good thing. This mixed berry pie is just that. I made an all butter pie crust with a bit of almond flour thrown in for good measure. The filling is 4 cups berries, 1/2 sugar, 1/4 flour and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. That’s [...]

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Roasted Beet and Avocado Salad

I made this at home with a nice citrusy vinaigrette.

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High Fructose Corn Syrup Spoof

I just found this great spoof on the high fructose corn syrup commericals starring Jackie Beat. The original commercial is first for those of you who haven’t seen it.

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Random thoughts

It’s been really hard posting lately. Work has been somewhat difficult and then there is the fact that I am once again moving. The third time in less than 2 years. What have I read lately that I like? Well this was a great Explainer article at Slate about preventing flu. On the same topic [...]

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“Screw that” cooking advice: the ceramic glass stove top

Why “screw that?” Because sometimes you read something so ridiculous in recipe that you have to curse. We will be signing a lease on a new house that has a ceramic glass stove top. I have heard anecdotaly that you cannot cook using a cast iron pan on one of these stove tops. So of [...]

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