Pork-Shiitake Niku Dango

Niku dango are Japanese meatballs, and are the perfect accompaniment to beer and noodles (two of my favorite things). Meatballs, in general are huge right now – Bon Appetit magazine recently had a whole issue devoted to them. Shit, 20% of all my (granted, now …

Feijoadas grandes

Last summer I was totally knocked up and not good for much. Thank god I still had the presence of mind to a) grow a vegetable garden that included scarlet runner beans and b) utilize some of October’s nesting instinct to harvest all of the …

Pork tenderloin and warm succotash with heirloom tomatoes and bacon

Damn, I’m rusty. I’ve almost completely forgotten how to use my camera. I should probably just restore it to its factory settings and start over. Stupid blurry corn. Sigh. Hey, I cooked! The week of 105 degree temperatures followed by the week of 90+ degree …

Pig Roast 2009

After two weekends in a row hosting parties at our house (and all the fretting and prepping and feverish house-cleaning that it entails), I needed a few days’ recovery to revel in inactivity. This quickly descends into crippling laziness, as is its wont, until I …

Don’t Call it a Comeback

Yay! I’m over the (first) hump and can eat real food again. I can cook it too, without being too tired or tummy-achy to stand or smell food aromas hitting my face. But I’ve had to start out slow. I’ve sort of lost my groove, …

Orecchiette with pancetta, asparagus, peas and lemon balm

It’s so good to be back in my kitchen, I can’t even tell you. After the nettle dinner (those 24 things are so much work!) I was in the dry, dusty field for a week (botanical surveys in the western Central Valley, California), and spent …

Sweet potato salad with green tomato pickle relish

This is supposed to be about the sweet potato salad, but I really want to talk about the sandwich. Is it even okay to blog about a sandwich when I didn’t bake the bread or cure my own charcuterie? Is that allowed? We paid a …

Tallarines con guasanas y carnitas

Don’t be afraid – it’s just pasta with fresh chickpeas and shredded pork. I threw in some calabacitas (a small, rounded zuke relative), too, just ‘cuz. I also found out that there is a Spanish word for pasta, and decided to use it instead of …

Bacon-Grilled Cheese Egg-in-the-Hole

Less may be more, but so is more. I thought it would be a great idea to make a egg-in-the-hole for breakfast awhile ago, but instead of the usual toast with an egg fried into the middle of it, why not use a grilled cheese …

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Celebrating Black History Month – African Contributions to American Cuisine

February is Black History Month. Last year, to celebrate, I introduced myself to blogger Courtney Nzeribe from Coco Cooks and interviewed her about her cultural identity, her cooking style and her favorite childhood foods. This year, I chatted a bit with my buddy Donald Orphanidys …