Category Archives: Blather

A fun read to plan for your New Year’s Eve celebrations!

I just wanted to share a link with you, as you plan your NYE celebrations.

NPR’s food blog The Salt is always good for some interesting food news and ideas. I’m glad I stumbled on it a month or so ago.

I found this post, on New Years Eve traditions around the world, particularly delightful. Possibly because I have both lentils and sausage in my house, and the ethnicity I can most lay claim to is Italian. (Or maybe I just like the idea of throwing things, and I think throwing them off my 6th floor balcony sounds more fun than at my neighbor’s front door.)

I possibly ought to be looking for a Hoppin’ John recipe (which I know I have, as I think on it, in No Red Meat), since I am, far more than I am Italian, American.… Continue reading →

Merry Christmas

I love Christmas. I can’t lie. I think Christmas lights are the best thing ever, and I love the stories that go along with the ornaments that hang on our tree. Even the unremarkable “we totally bought them at Macy’s for our first Christmas together” ornaments. They’re remarkable to us.

Our tree has very few ornaments that are just there for filler. There’s one or two, purchased years ago when we weren’t together or that first year we were together. (Of course, those ones, over the few Christmases since, have been upgraded.) Mostly the ornaments on our tree tell the story of us. Mostly, to be honest, the story of Bill or the story of Tasha before we were Bill plus Tasha. I love it. I love that we are blending our histories together via history, Christmas ornaments & holiday traditions.… Continue reading →

Food blogs

What food-related blogs do you guys, my readers, also read (or write)? Or my husband. He can comment too. I know he reads a bunch of good ones, but I end up failing to remember the ones he mentions.

I have been feeling, recently, that I don’t read enough food-related blogs. Then, of course, I wonder if I am sublimating my desire to buy a cookbook into feeling as if I should read more food blogs. The fact that I probably will never buy a cookbook again in my life may have a little something to do with this concern.

In any case, I’m curious what I’m missing out on, and so I’m asking here for links you write and/or like. And how many food(-related) blogs you read.… Continue reading →

This year is just not what I expected in food.

A few years ago, I discovered I actually like tomatoes. It took me a few years to totally come around on them (for awhile I thought it was just “orange” ones I liked), and the moment I did is totally my friend Corrine’s fault. (Thanks, Corrine!)

On Tuesday I’ll be taking a class on how to can tomatoes. I’m actually not sure I really need it, since my handy “Ball Book of Preserving”:http://www.metacookbook.com/permalink/ball-book-of-home-preserving.html makes it seem pretty damn easy. However, the class is fairly inexpensive, I’ll get a chance to see Logan Square Kitchen in person, and I’ll get to meet some people who are also interested in canning. So, why not?

Putting up tomatoes was a big goal for me this year, earlier in the year.… Continue reading →

14 August 2011 Market Report

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  • Monday, August 15, 2011
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The weather report said yesterday was going to be a nice “partly cloudy” day in the mid-70s. There was a 10% chance of rain[1].

The skies out our window, admittedly at about 5:30am when neither of us is at our best, were lovely. So, we got ready, but on shorts & t-shirts, hauled out our water bottles & food to be composted & we walked to the bus stop.

As we walked, the dark, dark clouds rolled in. The skies stopped being lovely. Drizzle started happening. We were not terribly thrilled with this turn of events.

We were pretty thrilled, though, that we caught our bus. That early on a Sunday morning, the buses only run about every 20 – 30 minutes, which means that we’re more often better off walking than waiting for a bus.… Continue reading →