Now that I’ve been cooking for a while, I’ve created a little stable of what I call my “go-to” dishes — dishes that are easy but delicious, suitable for serving to a guest. What I mean by go-to dishes is one step above the grilled cheese you make for yourself at midnight on Wednesday or [...]
Archive for March, 2008
Go-to Dish: Paprika-Cayenne Roast Chicken
Posted in Home Cooking, Recipe, tagged cayenne, chicken, paprika on March 30, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Mealy Tomatoes? Roast ‘em.
Posted in Cheap, Home Cooking, Quick, Raves, Recipe, Tips, Vegetarian, tagged tomatoes on March 26, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Mealy tomatoes are maybe the most disgusting things I can think of, food-wise, competing only with mealy apples. You should keep tomatoes out of the fridge until you cut them, which will keep them from going mealy as fast. But, however you keep them, tomatoes are going to get mealy after a week or so. [...]
Grow Your Own Seasoning(s)
Posted in Home Cooking, Tips, tagged growing your own food, herbs, seasoning on March 25, 2008 | 2 Comments »
One of the easiest ways to boost the flavor of anything you cook is to use fresh herbs. Unlike spices, which are meant to be dried (think curry powder, paprika, pepper or cinnamon), herbs should be eaten fresh for best flavor. Herbs contain aromatic compounds found in the natural oils of the [...]
Of Sriracha and Peas
Posted in Home Cooking, Raves on March 24, 2008 | 4 Comments »
My fried rice post was so brief that I neglected to elaborate on two ingredients about which I am very excited.
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Sriracha is a Thai hot sauce with chili and garlic. It is also awesome and should be eaten on just about everything. You will immediately recognize it from every cheap Asian restaurant of any persuasion [...]
This site is funnier than it deserves to be…
Posted in Links on March 20, 2008 | No Comments »
Apologies for the fuzzy graphic, but I am too lazy (anyone sensing a theme here) to get a better one. This site posts pretty hilarious reviews of bad candies, most of which appear to be Mexican. That’s about all the explanation it requires. Have a look.
Editorial Note: On deeper inspection, this site doesn’t appear to [...]
You Fry That Rice
Posted in Cheap, Home Cooking, Quick, Recipe, Vegetarian, tagged leftovers, rice on March 19, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Frying rice might be my new favorite leftover trick, primarily because it takes a leftover that almost immediately turns into cardboard and makes into a whole other meal. It is also cheap and easy. As promised, here’s my method:
Fry some sliced or diced onion in a pan (or wok if you have one, you overachiever) [...]
Brunch time? egg-cellent.
Posted in Philosophy, Raves, Restaurant Reviews on March 16, 2008 | 3 Comments »
I have to apologize for having been so remiss about posting lately. I haven’t been cooking as much as usual in the last week or so, mostly because I’ve been doing a lot of my eating this week at egg, the little restaurant-that-could. I am again somewhat reluctant to write anything that could be construed [...]
Sweet Potato “Fries”
Posted in Home Cooking, Vegetarian, tagged root vegetables, sweet potato on March 16, 2008 | No Comments »
There’s not a whole lot to choose from at the farmer’s market these days, but root vegetables (potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots, rutabagas, etc.) are always available, easy to prepare, and generally excellent.
If you have never roasted root vegetables before, try it. It couldn’t be simpler, it’s near foolproof, and the results tend to impress. [...]
Baby Steps - Brown Rice
Posted in Home Cooking, Recipe, tagged health, rice on March 10, 2008 | 3 Comments »
I believe that America, as a country, has a really shitty diet. I won’t enumerate the statistics about obesity and its human and economic costs in our country, firstly because you can read it in a million other places and secondly because I’m too lazy. Obesity is epidemic here, and I think that it is [...]
Why People Don’t Cook - Reason #1 of 45,524,233
Posted in Home Cooking, Philosophy, Rants on March 7, 2008 | 4 Comments »
I created a “Rants” category for posts as soon as we put this site together, because (1) a good, solid rant is one of my favorite activities and because (2) ranting is probably the number one reason why people start blogs. Commence rant now:
We hear plenty about how Americans are tempted into “convenience foods” and [...]
Pan-fried steak, an addendum
Posted in Tips, tagged steak on March 7, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Based on the incredible response to my post on steak, plenty of you must also consider it a food group onto itself — and one that generates a lot of opinions/curiosity/confusion. From reading everyone’s comments, and emails I’ve received (comment, friends, comment!), I think there are a few main variables to address: (more…)
This is getting ridiculous…
Posted in Links, tagged steak on March 7, 2008 | No Comments »
We’re onto you, Bittman.
Another Food Junta ripoff.
Mex-Italian Fusion? Ay Dios Mio.
Posted in Rants, Restaurant Reviews on March 5, 2008 | No Comments »
I am reluctant to even start talking about the New York restaurant scene in this blog, because it’s such an abyss and so many people are already writing about it so well, but I want to comment on this one trend that is apparently emerging here, which means that a year from now it will [...]
“Look good, taste good, smell good, IS good. SHAKA ZULU!!!!”
Posted in Links, Raves on March 5, 2008 | 2 Comments »
This is AMAZING. Like, make-my-week amazing.
Coolio now has a web-based cooking show.
In Episode 1, he promises that “if you’re girlfriend is one of those salad-eatin’ bitches,” that he will “show you how to make a salad that’ll get them panties right off,” and it only gets better from there.
The cooking is actually quite good, [...]
Kefir!
Posted in Raves, tagged health on March 3, 2008 | 8 Comments »
One of the boons of our globalized, interconnected world is that we get to enjoy all those tasty foods other countries were previously hogging for themselves. My most recent discovery in this category is kefir, the traditional fermented milk beverage of the Caucasus. According to Wikipedia, “Traditional kefir was made in skin bags that were [...]
