Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The Divine Food List

Or, A Riff On Deliciousness

well-established:
wallaby maple yogurt
roast chicken with rosemary and garlic
banana bread with honey
butterscotch pots de crème
pear cake
soy-maple vinaigrette
mushroom risotto
the great unshrinkable sweet tart shell
alice waters' apple tart
mary jo's pecan pie
japanese pickles
chinese roast pork
salmon sashimi
rice in lotus leaf
seaweed salad
massaman curry
roasted brussel sprouts
french vinaigrette
penne carbonara
rigatoni bolognese
hell's kitchen lemon ricotta hotcakes
apples and brie
sweetened ricotta with fruit
soft polenta
homemade tomato sauce
three-layer peppermint bark
broccoli rabe with sausage (post coming soon!)
roasted vegetables

in the works, on my mind:
frisée aux lardons: warm curly endive with pancetta and egg
homemade challah
artichokes with warm butter

favorite ingredients:
brown sugar, brown butter
honey
avocado
shallots
pecans, pine nuts, walnuts
berries
scallops, salmon
chives, rosemary, basil, cilantro
eggs!
cinnamon
ricotta
vanilla beans

what are yours?

Monday, April 20, 2009

A new beginning

Today was a beautiful day: I finally felt (that queer, official feeling) that I'd embarked upon the next phase of my life.

And it's funny how unremarkable a day it was, really. It wasn't particularly sunny and gorgeous; on the contrary, the sky was slightly overcast and there was a damp chill in the air. I didn't have the day off from work, eat anything overly memorable, have any prophetic dreams. But I somehow awoke with a feeling of incipient goodness, promises of intellectual and personal nourishment afforded by graduate school, Philadelphia, a particular loved one nearer by than ever--and before all that, a glorious summer reading, being a yogi, and frequenting all the farmers' market stands I can find. (Oh, farmers' markets! I'm especially looking forward to those...)

I don't have too much for you tonight in terms of recipes and food-related anecdotes, but I do have a collection of photographs that, in looking back over the last month of travelling, showed me that while I mostly put culinary arts on the backburner, they were never too far from my mind. Enjoy.