Allah Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Filed in Outside the Kitchen, June 3, 2008, 10:40 am
Woe to our age of lost innocence! Woe to the double-edged sword of technology that amplifies our voices to all, including to those who would punish us for those words! And woe to The Amazing Mumford, whose career eventually foundered due to the tragic coincidence of his choice of magic words and U.S. foreign policy goals! Am I next? I’ve recently been informed that the Pentagon has blocked my website from transmission to its employees.
Crumblin’ Herbs
Filed in Gardening, May 23, 2008, 2:09 pmSome of my readership - that is, friends and family who’ll be receiving gifts this holiday season - has asked me when I’m going to put up another post. The gap between posts is only partially due to laziness. The other more substantial reason has been technical issues.
My computer recently died. My friend Adam - without whose help this website wouldn’t exist - miraculously brought my computer back to life (thanks, Adam). And then my power cord stopped working. Also, my oscillating fan’s motor wore out. I know I don’t have much money, I don’t need my electronic equipment to remind me.
In the meantime, I’ve been getting in touch with my agricultural side by tilling the soil of my back yard.
Salt: Not just for throwing in the eyes of your enemies
Filed in Useful Things, May 7, 2008, 9:23 amFrom time to time I come across a piece of information that greatly improves my knowledge of food and cooking. For example, I recently learned that I’d been grabbing my knives incorrectly.
Barefoot Contessa’s Curry Chicken Salad
Filed in Dishes, May 1, 2008, 3:29 pmEarlier this week I turned 27, the same age that such luminaries as Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix met the end of their chaotic existences. I, on the other hand, celebrated this new year by calling in sick to my law firm job and making chicken salad.
Continue reading this entry »
Chicago Con: Please, sir, may I have some corn?
Filed in Chicago Cons, April 30, 2008, 11:06 amFor 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 train five minutes behind the doomed one. Mercifully, my train got stopped in a station, allowing me to easily get up to street level. The people on the stalled train were not so lucky and eventually embarked on a Goonies-like adventure on foot through the tunnels. Point is, but for the grace of my lack of punctuality, it would’ve been me.
- There was an earthquake downstate. I didn’t feel it, but still - quakes and hurricanes were the only natural disasters I felt safe from in Chicago.
- A 150-pound cougar found its way into the Roscoe Village neighborhood. If this weren’t bad enough, the Chicago Police on the scene emptied their guns on the cat, I guess because, within city limits, a cougar technically is a minority.
Therefore, I’ve decided to document the various reasons I might want to remain in or leave Chicago.
Continue reading this entry »
A Visit from the Future
Filed in Outside the Kitchen, April 23, 2008, 3:23 pmThe 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.
Chimichurri, Marinade-Style
Filed in Dishes, April 19, 2008, 8:03 pmAs 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. Continue reading this entry »
Tofu with Chimichurri and Minted Peas Under Oil
Filed in Dishes, April 17, 2008, 8:14 pmI 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 in an inevitably doomed confrontation with stronger, meat-fed federal employees.
In the meantime, here’s some more frigging tofu. Continue reading this entry »
Grapefruit and Avocado Salad
Filed in Dishes, April 16, 2008, 10:43 pmI 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. When I see those two lovebirds in the same place, I just shake my head because I know exactly what’s going to happen. And then thyme “accidentally” walks into the room, one thing leads to another, the footage finds it way all over the Internet, and now none of them can get a legitimate job. Continue reading this entry »
Alice Waters’s Luscious Grilled Cheese and Minestrone
Filed in Dishes, April 13, 2008, 9:34 pmIn 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 cheddar cheese, and the soup would be canned. It’s not a bad meal, but certainly not one I looked forward to.
This winter has been the worst Chicago has seen in almost thirty years, so if you know how bad Chicago weather normally is, maybe you can imagine the soul-devouring frozen hellscape I’ve been dealing with for the past five months.
If you can’t picture it, here’s a photo I took out my front door earlier today: Continue reading this entry »
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