This blog is about good times – delicious food, breezy work, sharing with the ones you love. Happy, simple times. But food and eating are not simple. They are complicated by all sorts of things – social pressures, money issues, environmental concerns (local vs organic, anyone?), and all manner of health concerns ranging from managing…
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…
Ricotta-Stuffed Fried Squash Blossoms
This is the culmination of a dream. I don’t even remember where it is that I once tasted a battered, fried zucchini blossom. But ever since, I’ve wanted to make them myself. They’re so elegant, so unexpected, even kind of crazy. I mean, we do eat flowers – broccoli, for instance, or artichokes – but…
Sweet and Tangy Plum Frozen Yogurt with Lemon
Well, friends, there’s no denying it – summer is here. And though that means great things for my garden, I find it less friendly to me personally. I hate to be hot, I hate to sweat… so, let’s face it, I’m not a huge fan of summer. But the season has its upsides, and one…
Baby Lettuce Salad with Lemon and Olive Oil
When I was a kid, “salad” meant one thing to me: iceberg lettuce drenched in fluorescent orange Kraft Creamy French Dressing. Catalina, a red French and my mother’s favorite, would do in a pinch, or maybe Italian. But I was devoted to the slightly chemical tang of my orange dressing. In restaurants, before choosing between…
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…
Orange-Scented Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp
The first time I tasted rhubarb, I hated it. I can’t remember exactly why. The dish was a Rhubarb Brown Betty. I can’t remember the flavor well enough to be sure why I disliked it so much – it’s entirely possible it was just the unfamiliarity of it. Or maybe it was really badly made….
Spring Bounty: Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Radishes and Braised Turnips with Sugar Snaps
Ah, spring in Albuquerque. Daffodils, irises, wild temperature shifts, sand blowing in your eyes… it’s not all perfect, for sure, but the lengthening days and the tiny seedlings poking their heads up from the garden soil make my heart light. Very little local produce is available yet, but we do have some beautiful local radishes…
Springtime Lemon Risotto with Asparagus
It is now officially spring. How do I know? There’s asparagus everywhere. Not just off-season, $9 a pound asparagus with dried-up ends, but the beautifully fresh stuff: short, chubby spears at Whole Foods, long skinny spears at Smith’s, medium ones at the Co-op, and yummy ones in my CSA box. (If you’ve heard that skinny…
Warm Kale Salad with Farro and Feta
I know, I promised you pictures and stories about my trip to La Paz. And you will get them. But first (and while I’m getting that image-heavy post ready), I want to share a delicious salad for when you’ve over-indulged. Maybe you’ve eaten too many cheeseburgers lately, or had a crazy night out on the…