Richard Brautigan

It was a dish of ice cream
tasting like an operating table
with the patient staring
up at the ceiling.
-Richard Brautigan, Lay the Marble Tea


I always wanted to write a book that ended with the word mayonnaise.
-Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America

Laurie Colwin

The old days were slower. People buttered their bread without guilt and sat down to dinner en famille.
-Laurie Colwin, Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen

Marion Cunningham

Eating food that strangers cook is vastly different than eating what's cooked at home. The real key is sharing food at that table and, believe me, we know we're not born civilized. We're small savages, so you have to be taught the table is the place where you learn who you are and where you're from, understanding that a lot of people just do nothing but fight at the table. Nonetheless, you come to know one another. The result is you know who you are.
-Marion Cunningham

Comfort Food

I woke up at three thirty AM and stayed in bed thinking about what I will cook today. I got up and rinsed and simmered a batch of lentils and then I decided to make a pot of oatmeal with raisins.

Simple and Delicious

I am not always excited about food and at these times I just try to cook one thing each day so there's something good on hand to eat. Last night I soaked a pound of chick peas. This morning they had plumped-up. So I put them in my crock pot with the soaking water about an inch higher than the beans, and added a tablespoon of olive oil. I put the lid on the pot and set it to cook at 225 degrees. I went upstairs to my office and closed the door. I forgot about the beans. An hour or so later I opened the door and the hallway smelled great. Then I remembered the beans. I tasted them. They were done. I added kosher salt and Adobo seasoning. They were so delicious I ate a bowl of them for breakfast with toast.

Anthony Bourdain

We know, for instance, that there is a direct, inverse relationship between frequency of family meals and social problems. Bluntly stated, members of families who eat together regularly are statistically less likely to stick up liquor stores, blow up meth labs, give birth to crack babies, commit suicide, or make donkey porn. If Little Timmy had just had more meatloaf, he might not have grown up to fill chest freezers with Cub Scout parts.
-Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

PETA doesn't want stressed animals to be cruelly crowded into sheds, ankle-deep in their own crap, because they don't want any animals to die-ever-and basically think chickens should, in time, gain the right to vote. I don't want animals stressed or crowded or treated cruelly or inhumanely because that makes them probably less delicious.
-Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Few things are more beautiful to me than a bunch of thuggish, heavily tattooed line cooks moving around each other like ballerinas on a busy Saturday night. Seeing two guys who'd just as soon cut each other's throats in their off hours moving in unison with grace and ease can be as uplifting as any chemical stimulant or organized religion.
-Anthony Bourdain

Cheese Wit

Read.

Tuesday

It's a windy 25 degrees out so I am keeping the living room curtains closed for fear of losing the precious bit of 50 degree warmth inside. I wonder if it is still considered solitude when the radio is on and Lily-dog is on the couch in the next room. Is it solitude when the voices in my head are chattering like a tree full of starlings? No matter, it's time to shower and put on warm dry socks. I put together a batch of bread dough. While that was incubating I chopped up celery, black olives, carrots and garlic. I warmed up three cans worth of diced tomatoes then I added in my home-grown and dried basil, two bay leaves and oregano. I drizzled in olive oil. The sauce is simmering now, bringing a scented hope to my home.

Cheerful Bowl of Corn

Today I heated a few cups of frozen corn and added olive oil and salt and pepper. It made a cheerful bowl of yellow, for lunch.

E.B. White

Countries are ransacked, valleys drenched with blood. Though it seems untimely I still publish my belief in the egg, the contents of the egg, the warm coal, and the necessity for pursuing whatever fire delights and sustains you.
-E.B. White, from The Story of Charlotte's Web by Michael Sims (page 142)

Eggplant Guilt

I felt guilty each time I looked at the three eggplants sitting in a basket on my table. I bought them in a moment of exuberance, because they were beautiful, my husband reminded me. They were beginning to age and I didn't have a plan. Last night I sliced them in 1/4 inch rounds, salted them, and placed them in my large colander to drain in the sink. I went to bed. This morning I rinsed them and squeezed stacks of the eggplant rounds between my palms. Then I cubed the stacks, slicing them on my cutting board. I still had no idea where I was going. I placed the eggplant in my slow cooker and added a jar of leftover vegetable stock, a container of chopped black olives that were looking for a job, along with two large cans of crushed tomatoes. I added chopped fresh garlic, olive oil, two bay leaves, dried oregano, basil, Adobo and salt. I tasted it and liked where it was headed. I let it simmer while Lily and I took a long walk. When we got home the kitchen smelled fabulous. Bill and I ate bowls of this eggplant-guilt stew with grated Parmesan on top and toast on the side.

Festive Kale

I tried a different approach to making my greens this Christmas by baking the garlic in oil separately and adding it to the greens after both were cooked. Here's what I did:

I rinsed three bunches of kale in a tub of water in the sink, and then chopped them on my cutting board. I loaded the greens into my big stock pot and steamed them in some leftover vegetable stock and water. At the same time my oven was up to 350 degrees so I peeled a whole bulbs worth of garlic cloves and halved and cored them and dropped them into my Pyrex measuring cup. Then I added olive oil to cover the cloves and I added red chili flakes and baked it. When the greens were done the oil baked garlic was also golden and crispy. I fished out the greens from the remaining stock and put them into another pot (I saved the stock). Then I poured the baked olive oil garlic red chili flakes mixture over the greens and added more olive oil. I shook a bunch of kosher salt on the whole mess and started adding some sweetness. I added dried sweetened cranberries and raisins, then I decided yellow would be a cheerful addition so I added a bunch of frozen corn. I tasted it and added more salt. Then I heated the greens mixture up to serving temperature.

You can use sugar or wine to sweeten if you don't feel like using raisins and cranberries. The salt-sweet-oil triad supports the greens, and the red pepper is a fun kick. You can also add roasted almonds in place of corn.

Harbor Spice

Every year during the holiday season the fish swim in an excess of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Researchers have found spices, caffeine, cocaine, and pharmaceuticals when testing harbor waters in Seattle, Boston, and other cities.

See here.

Eggnog Cows

Local eggnog from local cows. Wright's Dairy has special eggnog cows!

City Horse

Lily and I walked to Wilfred's Seafood this morning to get another slab of fish. The horse behind Honey Dew Donuts was out grazing so we said hello on the way home.

Wilfred's Seafood

Wilfred's Seafood is a perfect destination because they have a great in-view tie up for my horse, Lily-dog. I walked the miles and bought great looking cod. Lily waited. The fish guys came out to see her. Did you know that there's a real live horse that lives behind Honeydew Donuts? The city doesn't allow horses, but he was grandfathered-in by the Pepin Lumber family. He wasn't out today.

Cruciferous Cravings and Pie

Steamed cauliflower dipped in homemade hummus is a terrific hot lunch for working at home. And for desert an isosceles triangle of home baked pumpkin pie with piping-hot coffee. Had I been taught math in relation to pie baking I'd have enjoyed it.

Easy Wholesome Pie Crust

I make this pie dough right in the pie pan for my bottom crust. Remember to cover edges with aluminum foil to avoid burning.

1 heaping cup of whole wheat flour
1/4 cup corn oil
1/4 cup water
1/4 sugar (don't skip) it acts as the glue
hefty pinches of salt to taste

Mix with fingers and press into pie pan. Then add whatever you want for your pie guts.

Poor Man's Hummus

I just made another batch of poor man's hummus. Chick peas cooked all morning then I drained them saving the liquid for other things. Then I added smooth natural peanut butter, salt, red wine vinegar, cumin, red pepper, and garlic to the chick peas and blended them. Fabulous!

Stage Set

I grew up on a stage set and all the actors recited their lines each day and night. The bored, angry, mentally ill queen had the starring role with red lipstick and many tricks up her sleeve. Nobody suspected the drama was invented to satisfy her alone. Even the family deerhound got gallstones.

Myopia

I feel so virtuous when my wash is swishing around while I putz trying to accomplish things at my desk. I am not a multi-tasker by any means and each time I try to be I forget the other thing I am doing. If I am baking breads, simmering soup or reheating my tea, I forget.

Last week I was on my way to the diner in the neighborhood and I was halfway down the street when I realized there was no need for the red and black leash clutched tightly in my hand because I deliberately didn't bring my dog this time. This is why I don't drive! I forget to do things like close the doors or turn on the car's lights at night. Why are all these people shouting and waving?

Toast is Biscotti!

A few weeks ago it dawned on me, toast is biscotti! I love biscotti. Even my super deluxe Mercedes Benz of toasters needs two rounds to toast my bread thereby making it thrice baked, triscotti!

Crackers and Glasses

Last night I made crackers or was it hard tack, now I think it was the bread of affliction, to go with my home made chicken soup. My husband, after the first bite, was worried about cracking his teeth. What recipe did you use? How to make kitchen tiles from home ingredients, I said.

I suggested he drop the crackers which looked exactly like unmarked wooden scrabble pieces, into the soup. Surprisingly they were even more delicious this way. After supper we ran off to get coffee and cauliflower at our temple to food: Price Rite and I ran into my friends standing at the red pyramid of Folger's. On the way out I decided to buy two religious candles, the kind in tall glass jars with illustrations of saints. As a child of no religion I am crazy over all religious art schlocky or not.

I was lucky when my lens fell out, it landed on the carpet like last time and I found the bacteria sized screw. AMAZING You'd think THAT would be the hard part. I put on my magnifying glasses that made my fingers the size of Cuban cigars. Maybe this is the problem I thought and got my old glasses from 20 years ago which were only vaguely magnifying. No this isn't good. I went back to the Cuban cigars. After the first hour and a half of struggling I took a shower to think. Then I consulted the genie box and the advice suggested using needle nose pliers to repair glasses so I got that far, holding the screw with the needle nose and thought, great, I've attached it, I was done--but I couldn't attach it to the bottom piece of the frame!

After another fifty rounds of struggling to do my repair-- and a foggy finger-printy lens which was really bothering me, I stopped. I wanted to polish the glass but imagined dropping it on the tile bathroom floor and having it shatter. Then to wait six weeks until delivery of a new one. C'mon now can't we fix this? We've done this before! With multiple stress induced hot flashes and magnifying glass induced headache I decided to get help.

I called Duquette Family Eye Care and explained my plight. They were lovely and said "C'mon in, we'll be happy to fix it" I brought Lily since she needed her walk anyway and I remembered they have a railing in view where I could tie her up momentarily. Perfect. Duquette is right downtown on Pond Street next to the Dept of Motor Vehicles House of Brides and the Roaster House and is virtually around the corner.

They fixed my eyeglasses for free and Lily waited outside charming the patients waiting for their eye exams. The lovely Ms. Duquette appeared and said Merry Christmas and fixed them in her laboratory upstairs. She smiled returning them to me all repaired and clean! Thank god for kindness in this world. Now I see I was trying to put the screw in from the top of the glasses facing down - but it was supposed to be attached from the bottom facing up. It's okay to ask for help.

I did always want glasses as a kid and faked the eye exam in grade school to try to get them. I also faked all standard achievement tests. . . filling in random holes. I even recited the alphabet out of order for my third grade teacher. By that time I already had shrinks and doctors galore -- my attitude was bring 'em on. Take me to school on a stretcher!

Leonard Cohen

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.
-Leonard Cohen

Crackers

I am making oat-wheat crackers and they are delicious. Stay tuned. I have a feeling there will be many more experiments.