Author Archives: Tasha

A good read

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  • Tuesday, May 24, 2011
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You all know that I love Mark Bittman, the cookbook author. Or at least, I hope you do, given how much he shows up in my posts. I’ve not met him, and can’t imagine I ever will, but he’s been pretty influential on how I’m learning to cook. So it was with much delight that I stumbled upon this salon “life story”.

“How Cooking Gave Me Purpose.”:http://www.salon.com/life/life_stories/index.html?story=/food/feature/2011/05/21/mark_bittman_cooking_excerpt

Man, I identify with a lot of that. Minus the kids and going on to be a famous author and cook! But, still, it rings a bell with me, and I thought I’d share.… Continue reading →

Dallas coffee

So much for posting every day on this trip. I apologize for that. I simply didn’t anticipate GOING so much that I was only checking my email on my phone, and otherwise not touching a computer.

However, I’ve finally settled down for a bit in Dallas, and I wanted to say something about our previous and current visit here. Namely, about some of the restaurants & little spots we’ve encountered here in the DFW area. This entry will just be about coffee, as I try to formulate my thoughts on the restaurants I wanted to point people to.

So, Bill is suffering. He’s suffering mightily. Just horribly. Bill, you see, is a coffee snob. A weird one, I suspect, because he takes coffee at the brewer’s stated or implied claims.… Continue reading →

Visiting Dallas and then on to New Mexico

There are two things going on recently that have taken a bunch of my energy, and made April a poor month for posting. By now, I am wondering if I have any readers left. I sure hope so! I’ll keep writing even if I don’t have confirmation, though, as I think it’s good for me.

Indeed, I suspect I’d have felt less insane if I’d worked on keeping SOMETHING posted to this blog over the past month.

To be quick, the two things are that I agreed to be the market manager for a local community/farmers market in Chicago. So, starting in June, I’ll be out every Sunday running a market. That should be fun and exhausting. I look forward to that part. Right now, it entails a lot of meeting people and trying to figure out what we need to do to get it all up and running.… Continue reading →

The morning after, and other reasons cooking is an easy habit to fall out of.

I mentioned in the last post that I haven’t been cooking much. This hasn’t changed, but I’m digging myself out and back into the game. Or trying to. It turns out that, no matter how much I enjoy cooking, it’s an extremely easy habit for me to fall out of. A natural born chef, I am not.

The simplest reason, of three I shall list, for why I revert to old, non-cooking habits, is that Bill and I are really bad at following a plan, especially in the throes of “spring fever”. The other day I had a dinner plan, had started a small amount of prep for it, and then walked to Bill’s work to pick him up. And then we said, “Let’s take a walk!”… Continue reading →

Beans tonight

Well. I seem to have let the blog go for awhile. My apologies. To be perfectly honest, life has gotten very much in the way, and I dropped the ball.

Which is part of why the plan for tonight is beans. Specifically “this bean recipe”:http://www.ranchogordo.com/html/rg_cook_beans_primer.htm with cannellini beans (from Rancho Gordo). The beans were a gift from a woman I met at Edible Institute, “Jill Richardson”:http://www.lavidalocavore.org/ who raved about them. I’m excited to be trying them, I have to admit. The founder of Rancho Gordo, Steve Samdo, made me more interested in beans than anyone else ever has, back when he spoke at Edible Institute.

What does this have to do with life getting in the way, and my dropping the ball? Mostly that it’s a really simple thing to make, and it doesn’t take a lot of ingredients.… Continue reading →