Vegetables

Vegetable Soup with Spinach and Farro

        I found this soup recipe on the Washington Post site and the ideas of pureeing some of the chickpeas as a technique to increase the creaminess of the soup broth and of adding farro to give the soup substance intrigued me. In…

Cauliflower Gratin

Cauliflower Gratin

    It is overcast, drizzly and gloomy in Huntington Beach today. Cooking weather! My good friend Sarah is an Ina Garten devotee. Well, actually, she is an “Ina ♥ Jeffrey” devotee. Show Sarah a good romance and she’s hooked. Connect the romance to good food…

Juliet, Halloween, and Corn

The plan was for Juliet, a scary and wicked witch last year, to be Juliet Sparrow, the brave pirate, this year, but, blimey!, we had to scuttle that plan. All the pirate hats were way too big. Halloween Plan B: Here’s Juliet, the Sweet Sea…

Pad Thai

  My good friend Sarah and I have been taking cooking classes at Sur La Table in Costa Mesa. (Sarah is the pretty lady in the middle holding what is left of a tray of  minced chicken lettuce cups). What fun! Our most recent class…

Fresh and Wild Mushroom Stew (for the good times)

The vocabulary word for today is umami. Now don’t go getting all “low energy” on me. I really don’t want to see any of you putting your heads down on your desks and hyperventilating like this is just too hard.          …

Persian Eggplant Sandwich and A Serious Cookbook Addiction

Is there a support group for compulsive cookbook buyers? Hundreds of cookbooks share my office bookshelves with my collection of history and political science books from my thirty-two year teaching career and my growing collection of photography books. My history books are sacred possessions but I’m…

Creamy Garlic Mushrooms (Almost too yummy.)

There is a vendor at the farmers market I frequent who stands in front of his stand every week and sings “almost too yummy” about his produce in a scratchy tenor voice. On more than one occasion, I have heard the nearby vendors good-naturedly (and…

Roasted Sweet Onion Salad Dressing and Musings about Weetabix and Cobb Salad

Do you get the dreaded “midnight munchies?” Me, too. Here’s a photo. OK. Maybe that isn’t me. But, alas, my refrigerator raids seldom get more inventive than a bowl of Weetabix and just enough cold milk to keep the Weetabix crispy. I’ve had many a…

Pasta with marinated cherry tomatoes

Did you forget? This is National Lasagna Awareness Month. Funny choice of words, I think. Who isn’t “aware” of lasagna? Speaking of funny (well…sort of funny), this made me laugh. Reminds me of those wonderful classic Steven Wright jokes. If you want to celebrate lasagna…

Potato Salad with Goat Cheese

“Found a little patched-up inn in the village of Bulson. Proprietor had nothing but potatoes; but what a feast he laid before me. Served them in five different courses-potato soup, potato fricassee, potatoes creamed, potato salad and finished with potato pie. It may be because…