Category Archives: Food and Drink

7 Simple, Seasonal, (Nearly) One-Pot Meals

After a flurry of inspiration and posts over the cooking holidays, I’ve been remiss about updating my blog lately. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating (and cooking!), it just means I haven’t been cooking anything I’d consider to be necessarily ground-breaking. But yeah, I cook and eat every day, as we all have [...]
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A Christmas Food Story: Father’s Nuts

Last Christmas I posted about orevnitza, the Serbian bread we eat at Christmas…What I didn’t mention was that there’s a back story to orevnitza from my childhood. A story about foraging (or stealing), mortification, and class difference. I wrote it down about ten years ago and never published it. When I finally went public with [...]
Also posted in DIY, breads and pizzas, foraging, holidays | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Albacore Ceviche with Pumpkin Seeds and Persimmon

I’ve been on a ceviche kick lately. It’s the perfect appetizer…satisfying, yet light. And it perfectly suits my way of cooking…invent as you go. Every weekend I’ve been picking up some type of fish (sustainable only) and experimenting with different ceviche flavor profiles. Eventually I plan to go around the word with my ceviche experiments, [...]
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Homemade harissa d’espelette—a many splendored condiment

Lately I’ve been into making harissas and sambals and other fiery chile-based condiments. I think the attraction is that they provide a quick and easy way for a busy cook to make rather ordinary soups, seasonal salads, and baked chicken or fish a lot more interesting. Less than an hour in the kitchen on a [...]
Also posted in DIY, entertaining, from the market, healthy, pantry staples | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Jammin’ Summer: Wild Blackberries and Feral Plums

There are two summer themes this year—gathering free fruit to make jam, and seeing how little sugar we can get away with using and still call it jam. Ok, sometimes its sauce. But I’m ok with that. I’ve been obsessed with making low sugar jam ever since I served as a judge in the Good [...]
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Plum Gorgeous & Cherries Galore

If you’re a person who reads cookbooks as much for stories as recipes, and aspires to an elegantly rural, abundant lifestyle, then Plum Gorgeous by Romney (Nani) Steele will speak to you. If you swoon over gorgeous photos of seasonal fruits set in dreamy tableaux, Plum Gorgeous, with photos by Sara Remington, will send you [...]
Also posted in Books, dessert, entertaining, from the market, fruit | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Kitchen Hacker: Cowboy Stovetop Buttermilk Biscuits & Sorghum Syrup

I enjoy a kitchen challenge. My favorite variety of challenge is when I don’t have the necessary equipment for what I want to accomplish and I have to make do with what’s on hand. I think problem solving in the kitchen makes us smarter cooks. Recently a special someone and I had a hankering for [...]
Also posted in DIY, breads and pizzas, breakfast | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

DIY All-Purpose Red Chili Sauce, Posole, and a Little Appreciation

A couple of months ago I was gifted a lovely chile ristra by Annabelle Lenderink of La Tercera Farm. That same day, my friend Ellen came by and I shared some chiles with her. The next thing you know we’re scheming up dishes to make with dried chiles. It’s funny how one really special ingredient [...]
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Creamy Polenta with Spicy Crab

It’s funny how recipes are developed. At least in my house. This one came out of the fateful collision between the opening of crab season and a few scenes in a bad Woody Allen movie. Let me explain. Crab season always opens just before Thanksgiving when everyone is busy with turkey, stuffing, gravy and mashed [...]
Also posted in entertaining, from the market, hearty, seafood | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments
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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.