The Smoking Kitchen

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Chicago Con: Please, sir, may I have some corn?

For the past year or so, I’ve contemplated moving from Chicago. Winter in Chicago is never a treat, but this one happened to be the worst in almost thirty years. Also, there was recently a week and a half span that included the following events:

A Blue Line train got stuck underground for two hours. I was on a […]

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A Visit from the Future

The following occurred a little over a year ago. I didn’t tell anyone about it at the time because I didn’t want to sound crazy. But certain events have transpired lately that make this incident chilling in its relevance.

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Chimichurri, Marinade-Style

As promised in my post on chimichurri, I used my leftovers to try this out as a marinade. Let’s see what Señor McCurry’s invention tasted like tonight.

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Tofu with Chimichurri and Minted Peas Under Oil

I swear to God I cook meat.
This is now my fifth post without one morsel of flesh involved, and I’d like to assure everyone that this website isn’t the first step in a process that includes such things as leaving informational pamphlets around and prompting “philosophical talks” that are thinly-veiled conversion attempts, and which ends […]

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Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

I have a hard time picturing how things will taste when combined. I’m sure this skill will develop as I cook more, but in the meantime, part of what I find so enjoyable about cooking is that it’s a discovery process. For example, that’s how I now know what leeks and bacon are all about. […]

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Alice Waters’s Luscious Grilled Cheese and Minestrone

In my previous life as a lazy cook, I would have grilled cheese and soup somewhere in the neighborhood of once every couple weeks. Generally, this was my fallback meal if I was low on supplies or needed to eat a quick dinner. The grilled cheese would be Brownberry whole wheat bread with muenster and […]

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Tofu with Thai Curry Sauce

I almost always have tofu in my fridge for three main reasons:
1. It’s inexpensive.
2. I’ve been brainwashed by Big Protein.
3. I don’t have to take it out to thaw, thereby making it a contingency plan of sorts if I forget to take meat out during my pre-caffeinated haze before work.
Also, I kind of like it, and by “it” […]

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The Greatest Carrots in the History of All Known Carrotdom

So my first substantive blog post is about carrots. I don’t even like carrots.
I made a cannellini bean dish last week that required 1/4 cup worth of diced carrots. I went to a different Whole Foods than I normally do, the Gold Coast location. Here’s the charming little market below. Obviously I didn’t take the […]

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Step 1

I’ve started this website documenting my foray into cooking for one simple purpose:
To become unbelievably rich.