Author Archives: Tasha

The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld

Cover of The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld

Poor Bill. He’s going to find out the same way the rest of you do about this. This?

This falls in the category of, “Well it was bound to happen, and one night it did. Papa came home and it was just us kids…”

Wait, no. That’s just the song that got stuck in my head when I saw this wonderful present from my parents this evening. Why? Because it was bound to happen.

Bill and I have been given another cookbook. This one. Possibly two others; I have to take a closer look at the other book I got and see if it’s a cookbook or something else. I requested the other one thinking it was a book with some recipes in it, but the back cover is making me think I actually asked for a cookbook.… Continue reading →

[80] Mushroom Stroganoff with Pasta

Cover of The Complete Book of Italian Cooking, edited by Anne Hildyard

This is the only recipe out of this book I’d ever made before this challenge. I’ve held onto these books (this one and the similar looking cookie cookbook) out of a deep affection for the people who gave them to me more than out of a feeling that they’re fantastic cookbooks.

You know what, though? They’re growing on me as cookbooks as well. The cookie book has had a few good ones and some poor ones. The previous recipe on this blog from here was stellar, and this stroganoff recipe was even better than I remembered it being.

So, so good.

I don’t tend to think of stroganoff as an Italian dish. If someone asked me to guess, I’d guess German. I don’t actually know that either one of those perceptions is in any way correct, but there you have it.… Continue reading →

[79] Seared Salmon with Orange Glaze

Cover of The Healthy Kitchen, by Andrew Weil and Rosie Daley

I generally love fish. I love everything about them, from watching them swim to knowing there’s some creepy fish out there to the way many of them taste.

Fish rule, basically. That’s what I’m saying. I’m also saying I wish I had the contents of my friend Claire’s freezer after she gets back from a trip to Alaska. Her husband and her father go out fishing. And, apparently, “fishing” isn’t code for “gettin’ away from the wimmin folk & drinkin’” the way so many of those trips are, but it actually means “fishing”, because she ends up with a big ol’ pile of halibut.

Halibut that her husband’s not a big fan of, because he disagrees with me on the “fish rule” thing. Oh well. Can’t win ’em all.… Continue reading →

We’re back! Just in time for the year’s end.

Hello, all! Just a quick note here before I (hopefully) start bombarding your RSS readers with posts.

As you can see, there’s a pile of recipes in the queue. I apologize for not getting more of them up sooner, but I’m on to tackling them now. Upon our return from New Mexico, I fell ill basically until the holidays hit. So the holidays were spent being happy and merry, respectively, and yesterday was spent getting the house back in order after traveling, being ill, and being happy and merry.

We have barely cooked upon our return. We cooked a boneless rib roast and mashed potatoes for Christmas dinner, and Bill stepped into the kitchen yesterday to turn the leftovers into a tasty meal. I am incredibly lucky to have such a good cook living with me.… Continue reading →

[78] Pork with Dried Apples and Prosciutto

Cover of Eating Well Serves Two

Also known as, “Pork with Dried Apples and Pork.”

At least, that’s how I saw it. Take your pork and season it with pork! YUM. If Nancy ever has Porkapallooza again, I’m finding a way to scale this recipe up to party size. That and do the pork liver wrapped in bacon thing I heard about in Kenya. But she knows about that pork + pork plan already. This is a new one.

Anyway, this is another pre-Thanksgiving meal. I think it’s even the last one. Like others (at least one other), a large part of the motivation was in having a meal that wouldn’t leave a lot of leftovers. However, and this is happening more and more (thankfully), it was also that I had almost all of the ingredients on hand.… Continue reading →