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The recipes and images on this site belong to Vanessa Barrington. Feel free to link here and if you’d like to use a recipe or image, please ask permission first. Thank you.Twitter Updates
- Chickpea and Salmon salad with spring vegetables...portable, easy, #healthy, and fast http://t.co/DlOlj7Rm 2012/05/15
- @cookingwithamy so happy you were inspired to make tortillas. It's definitely a craft, and so worth it. 2012/05/15
- @StrausOrganic cream makes the best #DIY creme fraiche. thanks for sharing my recipes in your newsletter http://t.co/AwAqs6Yh 2012/05/14
- My Latest RT @ecosalon: RT @amytropolis: What the Foie? California's Ban on Force Feeding Ducks: http://t.co/dl5oBIDq #foiegras #ban 2012/05/09
Category Archives: entertaining
A Really Underground Restaurant
The term “underground” as it relates to food had come to sound ridiculous. These days it’s code for places where droves of in-the-know people in a certain age range and from certain segments of the population gather to wait hours in line for homemade, DIY, fermented, foraged, bartered, guerilla gardened, dumpster plucked, or street vended [...]
Also posted in DIY, Food and Drink Tagged DIY, foraged food, local food, neighborhood food, underground food 2 Comments
What I Finally Did with my Massa Organics Duck
Last fall, Greg tweeted that he’d be selling rice-paddy raised ducks at the Berkeley market if folks wanted to order ahead. I did. I picked mine up on a bright day in September or October. I have no idea which. It was frozen so I put it in the freezer thinking I’d cook it within [...]
Also posted in Asian, Books, Food and Drink, from the market 3 Comments
On Smuggling, Renaissance Men & Chile Baked Beans with Nopales and Queso Fresco
I found these beans back in January while wandering around the big market in Cuernavaca Mexico. Like almost all markets in Latin America, there’s so much to look at it was a little hard to take it all in. At one vendor’s stall I looked down and there, among the usual plastic woven bags filled [...]
Also posted in Food and Drink, Latin American, from the market, healthy, hearty Leave a comment
A Sort of Persian, Mostly Vegetarian Passover
I finally wrangled an invitation to a Seder. For years I’ve only heard about the ceremony and the food, and finally this year I got to experience both. I also had the opportunity to help cook this one, so I was really excited. Our hostess, Haven Bourque, decided on a Persian menu. There were [...]
Also posted in Food and Drink, community, from the market, healthy, holidays 1 Comment
Delicious Spiced Lamb Patties
Last month when I was working my shift at The Cog, I happily discovered a rancher selling lamb out of a refrigerator in the back of a truck parked just up the street. How exciting is that? I couldn’t help but wonder how many other illicit direct-from- farmer-to-consumer meat purchases were happening all over the [...]
Also posted in from the market, holidays Leave a comment
Turning Sunburned Persimmons into Persimmon Butter
Blackened organic persimmons for 75 cents a pound vs. around $3 a pound? Sign me up because I’m making persimmon butter. Bought these from Kaki at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market. They told me the alarming-looking sooty skin wouldn’t affect the fruit and they were right. This and the galette I’m using it for are the [...]
Also posted in DIY, dessert, from the market, fruit, holidays, pantry staples 5 Comments
The ever-giving gift of squash: Squash Souffle for Thanksgiving
The squash from the last post that I used to make the pasta with chanterelles got quite a workout last week. The parts of the squash that I hadn't diced got roasted that same night in wedges until tender. So there was all this squash flesh in my refrigerator. On my bike ride home, where [...]
Also posted in from the market Leave a comment
Something to Relish
I'm rarely compelled to blog about a product, but here's an exception. I found this at The Pasta Shop in Berkeley just as they were building the new display. They found it at the Unfancy Food Show in Brooklyn. I was smitten by the packaging first and that's about as far as it would have [...]
Also posted in Books, Current Affairs, Film, breads and pizzas, breakfast, community, from the market, pantry staples Leave a comment
Chicken Empanadas with a Spicy-Smooth Green Salsa
I’ll be teaching a hands-on Mexican snack class at Kitchen on Fire in Berkeley on May 3 for Cinco de Mayo. This is one of the recipes I developed for the class. The recipe requires quite a few steps, but they are all easy and relatively quick. This dough is an adaptation of the empanada [...]
Also posted in Latin American Leave a comment
DIY Delicious at Jimtown—ajvar, crackers, cheese, yogurt cake, sauerkraut canapés and more!