As I discussed in the first installment of The Crispy Chicken Chronicles, I have been craving all kinds of crispy, crunchy, spicy, sticky chicken lately. But the one preparation that I keep coming across, that haunts me, that I just cannot keep out of my mind – that is KFC. No, not that KFC – I…
Homemade Napa Cabbage Kimchi
I love Korean food. I only know of two places to get it in Albuquerque: Korean BBQ House and Soo Bak Foods, the local Korean food truck. Both are very tasty. But of course, if I love a food I need to be able to make it myself. And if you want to make Korean…
Tangy Thai Salad with Canned Tuna? It’s Delicious!
I adore Pok Pok, the Thai street food restaurant in Portland that has now expanded to NYC. When I saw that its chef Andy Ricker was putting out a cookbook, I was excited, but cautious. I was concerned that it might be excessively “chefy” – that is, full of brilliant ideas, but terribly complicated…
Singapore Crab Cakes with Sweet and Tangy Red Chile Sauce
I am a sucker for the words “street food.” They call to mind the most exciting and delectable experiences: sizzling fish tacos handed down from the window of a brightly painted truck; smoky grilled meat sticky with spicy lemongrass-chile sauce; colorful drinks in plastic bags, skewered with straws for sipping; steaming bowls of soup slurped…
Burritos at Santa Fe’s El Parasol
Arne and I spent this 4th of July in Woodland Park, CO, with his parents. We try to get up there every summer. It was a lovely trip, with cool weather, beautiful thunderstorms, a trip to glorious Eleven Mile Canyon, and lots of hanging out. And a little bit of work. Arne’s parents own a…
Sweet-Hot Black Pepper Tofu
Back around Christmas I fell in love with the cookbook Plenty at my favorite local beautiful-things store, Hey Jhonny. (Yes, it’s meant to be spelled that way.) I was desperate to own the beautiful, pillowy-covered, extravagantly photographed object. But I didn’t know if it was a good cookbook, and besides, I was supposed to be shopping…
Sticky, Spicy Beer BBQ Sauce with bonus recipe: Perfect Baby Back Ribs
I’m sort of a barbecue sauce fanatic. Though we skipped it this year because last year’s entry line was hours long, we love to attend the annual Fiery Foods Show, paying special attention to barbecue sauces. And that’s a lot of barbecue sauces – enough that the official name of the event is “National Fiery…
Green Peas in Indian Cream Sauce with bonus recipe – Golden Basmati Rice
I received an unexpected holiday gift this year. A friend of mine from work left a copy of Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick & Easy Indian Cooking on my desk. When I protested that he didn’t need to do that – we don’t exchange gifts at my workplace, except for the annual holiday party gift steal –…
Curried Winter Vegetable Soup
This recipe wasn’t meant to be delicious. That was an accident. What it was meant to be was simple, speedy, and vegetarian. You see, it was Vegetarian Week. Arne and I had competing meetings that would prevent us from having dinner together, and my first thought was just to grab a bite out or eat…
Three Bean, Three Chile Chili
When you move to New Mexico from the Midwest, things get confusing with the word “chili.” Suddenly a word that’s always had one simple meaning – a comforting, mildly spicy stew of ground beef, tomatoes, and beans – gains another spelling and several new meanings. “Chili” can be the aforementioned stew, or the spicier Texas…