Food, Photography and Bons Mots
It’s ugly. There. I said it. This Artichoke and Mushroom Soup is not going to win any beauty prizes. It is sort of a drab grey brown. That said, looks aren’t everything. This creamy soup is delicious! My suggestion is to serve this soup on…
Humans have been consuming mushrooms for a very long time and for many reasons. Greek warriors were fed mushrooms to make them stronger. Mushrooms were used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years–many times for the purpose of enhancing the immune system. In the…
I finally got my hands on a copy of Melissa Clark’s Dinner In One cookbook. To say that the cookbook’s delivery was “delayed” is an understatement. Seems that in the crush of pandemic-delayed shipping, the original cargo container carrying Clark’s cookbook went plunging into the…
You can go home again! After a too long Covid-related hiatus and with a nudge from some good friends, I finally made it back to the Long Beach Marina Farmers Market. As I strolled through the trimmed-down market, I was reminded of the many reasons…
My good friend Carol gave me a delightful gift for my birthday— grow-your-own oyster mushrooms. As it turned out, the gift triggered my long-suppressed American Gothic. You know…the farm, the pitchfork, the Willie Nelson concert. There I was every day for a couple of…
Portobellos are gourmet mushrooms. Right? Actually…no. Portobellos are poseurs. They are just your common Agaricus bisporus (button) mushroom with good PR. Who knew? It turns out that until the 1980s, those big beefy mushrooms we now call portobellos were the overly-mature culls that more often…
Happy Year of the Pig. I’m a bit late cooking for Chinese New Year. Life got in the way. Here is a wonderful stir fry served with noodles that I’m pretty sure you will enjoy. No pigs here, though, just a great melange of…
Do Asian vegetables confuse you? Don’t know your bok choy from your choy sum? Neither do I, but when David Tanis, one of my favorite food writers, published this recipe for Glazed Shiitakes With Bok Choy in his New York Times column City Kitchen, I soon found…
It is the Christmas season here in Huntington Beach. I know that because my local Costco has Christmas trees for sale. Seems a tad early to me, but there is some research that holds that people who decorate early for the holidays lead happier…
“When I was born I was so ugly the doctor slapped my mother.” –Rodney Dangerfield Close your eyes and this soup is absolutely delicious. Stare at it in your bowl…not so much. How do you write about (let alone photograph) a…
