Appalachian Wild Leeks

The lovely green spearhead-shaped leaves are ramps–a wild cousin to leeks. The stalk is white fading into cerise down near the roots: both stalk and leaves are eaten. As most folks know, I grew up in West Virginia, in the heart of Appalachia. This time of year, in the early spring, my heart instinctively yearns […]

Keema Sookh: North Indian Home Cooking

A finished pan of keema sookh; this version has green beans and cilantro, but there are many other possible additions to the recipe. My very first personal chef clients were a young couple of computer programmers, one from Bangladesh, and the other from Pakistan. I came about them as clients in a weird way, which […]

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere

And so, it is like this, you see. In two weeks, we are moving. And before we move, we have to do stuff like pack, distasteful though it is. And we have to do about eighty-eleven other things, like order our new sofa and chairs for the living room (the current couch is too large […]

Split Pea Soup: It’s Ugly

There is no way around it: split pea soup is frightfully unattractive. However, it tastes divine, and is a frugal dish that anyone can make. But it sure does taste good. It seems I am making a lot of soups recently. I think it started with Zak and I having the flu. This fomented the […]

What the Hell Does Authentic Mean, Anyway?

While eating leftover hot and sour soup for breakfast this morning, (it really is good, you should try it) I mused over something I read while researching soup recipes the other day. I was looking at various hot and sour soup recipes, trying to see if any chefs used Sichuan peppercorns, galangal and lemongrass in […]

Powered by WordPress. Graphics by Zak Kramer.
Design update by Daniel Trout.
Entries and comments feeds.