Jaggery Syrup
Thursday, February 26th, 2009 Posted in Cooking ideas | 4 Comments »Another syrup that's made its way into a quasi-permanent slot in the fridge, next to the maple syrup and the ginger syrup. For those lucky few who have not yet met jaggery, are you in for a treat. It's raw, ...
The Allure of Shiso
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 Posted in Cooking ideas | 21 Comments »The shiso plant on the deck lasted surprisingly long this year. Maybe it was Minna the black cat's watchful eye. And, being a member of the mint family, it almost invites abuse and still thrives, even for those with the ...
Winter Salad of Persimmons, Anchovies, and Dates
Thursday, February 19th, 2009 Posted in Cooking ideas | 6 Comments »OK I realize that persimmon season is officially over. But I just can't seem to help running into them. They follow me around! I got the recent batch at Berkeley Bowl, that Mecca of all things breakaway. These came from ...
Why I Like Chopsticks, Even for Ice Cream
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 Posted in Cooking ideas | 16 Comments »I wrote the following a few years ago, someone remembered it, and requested that I reprint it here. So here it is. Plenty of hyperbole, yes, but what the hell. Does anyone else vastly prefer chopsticks for salads? * * * I've ...
The Breakaway Wordle!
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »I recently stumbled upon a very cool little applet called Wordle. You simply type or paste in a list of words, and it randomizes them into one highly customizable image; you can control font, colors, placement, and lots more. Check ...
Hot Chopped Salad
Monday, February 9th, 2009 Posted in Cooking ideas | 4 Comments »OK I know this looks fake, photoshopped to death. But it isn't! That's really what color it was, mainly because of the hallucinogenic quality of the calendula flowers, one of my favorite toppings for, well, just about everything salad related. ...
Orange “Bacon” “Jerky”
Thursday, February 5th, 2009 Posted in Cooking ideas | 3 Comments »Lots of quotation marks up there!My friend Lucelle came over recently bearing a beautiful jar of homemade orange marmalade, made mostly with blood oranges. My first thought was a dish I made frequently in Japan, because of the ubiquity of ...
A New Pickled Daikon
Monday, February 2nd, 2009 Posted in Cooking ideas | 5 Comments »I picked up two gorgeous daikon from the farmers market, one for a wacky yet delicious "lasagne" made of big sheets of daikon and plenty of red savinas (it had 16 layers of various vegetables in it as well), the ...
