A Time for Everything

It’s a snow day here in Portland, Oregon. We got somewhere between six and nine inches of snow last night. Maybe even more, but given how bad I am at estimating sizes of things1, I won’t try harder to be sure.

It’s not the first snow day we’ve had, but somehow it feels more like a snow day than any other. Maybe it’s how damn much snow is out there, or maybe it’s how quiet it is inside. I’m not sure. Nor am I sure if I care to figure out the “why” rather than just experience things as they are. In this case, it’s a snow day kind of day. I have tea. I have an urge to write. My tea is in a new, fabulous mug from the fantastic Deb Cooperman, and it’s encouraging my tea-ing and writing.… Continue reading →

On Recipe Development

Though it was a footnote, I’ve mentioned once before that I don’t understand how other food bloggers develop recipes, in part due to the repetition. And in part due to the fact that sometimes perfection happens out of accident.

I never did manage to replicate that pasta sauce. And, post-move, we no longer have the base to compare it to. In some ways, that’s good. It means I can just start from scratch and say, “I want to make a smoked pasta sauce.” In some ways, though, it’s bad. I can’t compare to perfection. I think of this because I’ve recently been working on a squash custard recipe.

The very first time I tasted delicata squash earlier this year, I immediately thought “dessert.” I wanted to make a pie.… Continue reading →

Things we made this weekend & I forgot to take pictures of.

I make myself really busy sometimes. So much so that I forget how nice it is to just be at home. Which means that, when I finally am home, I end up doing one or both of two things. Most likely, I stop and do a lot of quiet hanging out with Bill and a lot of reading. Or I cook a lot.

This weekend was a long one for Bill, and a quiet one. We ran just a few errands, had a very nice meal out, learned about a bocce ball league, had a guest over, and I read a lot. And then I cooked everything. We also played a bunch of games.

It wasn’t really intentional to cook everything. It happened because it was a really nice weekend and because we had a lot of time and because we ran errands.… Continue reading →