Rituals Enhance Flavor

Article

Jon Frankel

What a joy it is to buy a fresh whole fish from a fisherman on a dock in Maine, or rural New Zealand, or from a fish store in the Hamptons. Another, more urban joy, is heading down to Mott Street in New York and lining up before a small fish store with whole fish laid out on the ice, dripping slowly on the sidewalk, the fishmonger hosing down scales and blood, people talking, poking, calling their orders out in Cantonese. They pack a whole sea bass with a piece of ginger and a couple of scallions.
-Jon Frankel
read Jon's full blog post and recipe here.

Night Line

Last night I hung my clothes in the dark so the early morning sun would catch them while I was still asleep. I also mixed up a batch of bread dough before going to bed and refrigerated it overnight so the dough could sit out today and warm up slowly. It felt good to wake up with a head start on my chores.

Celebrate Breads

We need to celebrate breads that make your taste buds dance.
Read

Sheets of Rain

Today I washed my white sheets and hung them outside in the sun.
Then the skies opened. It was the hardest rainfall I had ever seen.
I went out to see how the clothesline was handling the weight of the wet.
The bed sheets were mud-splattered!
I laughed and tossed them back into the washing machine.

Buried Treasure

A few months ago I decided to defrost all of the unmarked food in my chest freezer. I came across a few things not worth keeping but then I found five containers which turned out to be a soup. I tasted it and it was very good so I saved it and refroze it. I think I originally made it last fall when I vaguely recall a neighbor giving us a boat load of leeks. I had added cubed bits of smoked ham, kale, corn and kidney beans ending up with a vat of soup. We happily rediscovered it this week and it feels like we've unearthed a buried treasure. Each night we defrost another container of soup and enjoy it for supper. I haven't gotten sick of it yet!

Cold Feet

Last night my neighbor Philomena told me a great tip for cooling down in the heat. Place your feet in a bucket of ice water. It works really fast!

French Fry Soup

Yesterday while I was working I thought of taking my last two cups of German potato salad and throwing them it the blender with a few ice cubes and a cup of my cooked chick pea broth to make an impromptu vichyssoise, minus the leeks. So that's exactly what I did, adding salt and freshly ground pepper. This was the right lunch on a hot day.

Later for dinner I ladled some leftover tomato vegetable soup in a bowl and combined it with a cup of the impromptu vichyssoise. I took a taste and said to my husband "This reminds me of something." I took another bite. "It tastes like ketchup on french fries!" I had him taste it and he said "You're right!" It made sense that the thick potato and tomato combo would trigger this taste association. We laughed at the surprise and I named it french fry soup.

Clean Sleep

Last night before going to bed I threw my dirty clothes in the washing machine and turned it on. When I got up this morning I hung the clean damp clothes on the line as my coffee was brewing. It was comforting to start the day with laundry already washed.

I am excited to know that a break in the heat wave is coming!

Quick Cooling

I hope you all are handling the crazy heat okay. I am looking forward to an end to this trend. At sunset, after a day confined to air-conditioning, I took Lily for a long walk. I felt like a prisoner on release!

My latest strategy for quick cooling:
Wet and wring out a dish-towel. Place it in the freezer for ten minutes. Place it on your neck. Ahhhhh. Don't do it too many times in a row or you'll get a stiff neck. But it's great for cooling down in a moment of heat freak out!

Surprise Summer Soup

I never know what I am doing in the kitchen. I think I cook the same way I make a painting. Yesterday the six hot Italian sausages my husband bought were speaking to me while I was working. "You better do something with me or throw me in the freezer." So I put them in the slow cooker and added three cans of pureed tomatoes, I chopped about seven ribs of celery, two large white onions, four carrots and let them simmer thinking "Am I really making spaghetti sauce in a heat wave?" Then, when I opened the fridge the quart of leftover potato stock from Saturday's 'cooked' potato salad spoke to me. "Throw me in!" So I did. The garlic said "Me too, or I'll go bad" So I chopped up a whole bulb of garlic, and added that in too. I also added a splash of red wine. After a few hours of simmering I poured the soup into a metal pot that I submerged in a bucket of cold water for rapid cool down before placing in the fridge. We ate it cold with an ice cube in each bowl. It was delicious and refreshing.

Toast

Bill rebuilt our toaster today. We replaced the broken parts from our last toaster which was the same model. Being pack-rats pays off. Now I am baking a gigantic sourdough loaf in the 12" skillet. A house of bread is a house of toast!

Baking Bread in a Heat Wave

I noticed my bread was done baking 5 minutes early during the past two weeks of super hot weather. I asked my husband Mr. Physics how could this be? He said "You're starting with a dough that is already 85 degrees, so it doesn't need to warm up." This makes total sense. It's not as crazy as it seems to bake bread in the summer because the hot oven dries out the humidity in the kitchen. My latest fun is is adding a little bit of coarsely-ground cornmeal to the dough.

Jon Frankel

Spicy Meat Patties
Read here.

Jon Frankel

Chinese Red Cooked Oxtails
Read here.

Amy Bloom

La Divina Commedia by Amy Bloom.
Read here.

Local Scramble

Our neighbors down the road gave us a few dozen eggs from their backyard chickens. Normally I am not a huge scrambled egg eater. I prefer to make fried eggs or omelets but Saturday morning I decided to scramble these and they were the best eggs I'd ever eaten. They were so tasty and bright yellow. I hope we can make backyard chickens legal here in the city, but first the city has other more pressing issues to contend with.

Sore Throat

Gargling with warm salt water really works! It took the pain away immediately.

Three Brothers

The Three Brothers Calhoun were here for the weekend to perform in our parade band and I wanted to make sure we celebrated the occasion by eating well. The first night we bought a slab of Cod from Wilfred's Seafood and broiled it and enjoyed it with home baked whole wheat oat bread and steamed broccoli. We went to Jamie Sullivan's store, Shaw's Meats on North Main Street in Woonsocket and bought 4 slabs of top round and he tenderized them for us, by hand, using a sharp knife tip, while telling us stories. He gave us his own bottled formula of marinade. We set up the meat and marinade and shook it in our Tupperware container and overnight the magic happened. We grilled the meat 4 minutes a side over hardwood charcoal, as he instructed and let it sit a moment and then sliced it into thin strips, against the grain. I made brown rice in my iron pot and a batch of kale, onions, mushrooms, and carrots, steamed then sautéed and seasoned with garlic, Adobo, olive oil, red wine, and soy sauce. It was the best meal of my life. The cold leftovers were even better. I loved the food but I loved the company and the table just as much. Conversation is always better at the table. We no longer eat meals at the kitchen counter. Eating is not just refueling, it is a time to reflect, savor and enjoy. Even the simplest of meals are elevated to a delightful ritual when eaten at the table.

Notebook

I keep a four inch chunky square spiral notebook and pen on my kitchen counter to jot down information about my eating and drinking. This is a tool to help me see the patterns or foods that might be causing my allergies and migraines. Try it. Don't judge, just write. See what the habit reveals over time.

Good News about Coffee

Here.

Adversity Soup and the Bread of Affliction

I think the great recession has made me a much better soup maker! I load the available ingredients into my slow cooker: water, cabbage, tomato puree, onions, garlic, carrots, celery, lentils, parsley, basil, olive oil, red wine, salt, black pepper, Adobo, and bay leaves. The magic happens after a day of simmering.

Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.

– William Shakespeare, As You Like It Act 2, scene 1, 12–17

Decision Fatigue

Article

What Good?

I don't think my siblings have ever had to forgo buying groceries, but what good is unlimited food when you can't stomach the family?

Cold Potato

Summer is the only time
I crave the potato
cold potatoes are perfect
in summer heat
full of water
they cool you off!