Author Archives: Vanessa

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

By Vanessa | Published: April 5, 2011
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 [...]
Posted in DIY, Food and Drink, Latin American, from the market, hearty | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Will Cook for Art—Beth’s Ultimate Dinner

By Vanessa | Published: February 26, 2011
My friend Beth is an artist. I am a cook and food writer. I can’t afford art. At her last open studio event, I was admiring this piece portraying East Oakland. She suggested I cook her an “ultimate dinner” in trade for the piece. I gladly accepted. The deed went down a few weeks ago [...]
Posted in entertaining, hearty | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Pan-fried Tempeh with Lemongrass, Garlic, and Ginger

By Vanessa | Published: January 28, 2011
Trust me. This is better than you think tempeh can be. I’ve had plenty of bland, or just plain nasty tasting tempeh in health food restaurants over the years. But here it is January and we’re all trying to eat better after the holiday excess. I’ve eaten my share of dal, beans, and leafy greens, [...]
Posted in Asian, healthy | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Portuguese Pickled Pork Plus New Class Announcement

By Vanessa | Published: January 11, 2011
Every year, my brother-in-law’s family descends on my sister’s house the morning after Christmas to consume large amounts of pork, poached eggs, and bread fried in pork fat. Even the mostly vegetarians join in for what’s become known as Porkmas. My sister gets up early and arranges the house so as to fit the whole [...]
Posted in breakfast, entertaining, hearty, holidays | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Orevnitza—The Serbian Bread we eat at Christmas

By Vanessa | Published: December 24, 2010
This bread is something my mom’s Serbian family made for holidays. Even my mom, pretty much a non-cook, felt duty bound to make it at Christmas time. Strangely, there doesn’t seem to be much information on the Internet about the origins of this bread. I have no idea if it’s still made today in The [...]
Posted in breads and pizzas, breakfast, holidays | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Creamy Polenta with Spicy Crab

By Vanessa | Published: December 2, 2010
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 [...]
Posted in Food and Drink, entertaining, from the market, hearty, seafood | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

When Pigs Fly: Bacon Tasting

By Vanessa | Published: November 16, 2010
My friend Ellen’s underground restaurant took an interesting turn last week. Instead of dinner, the meal served was brunch and, instead of Ellen being the sole cook and bottle washer, we partnered up on the menu, with the invaluable help of Leila for shopping, prep and clean-up duties. The goal of the brunch was to [...]
Posted in Food and Drink, breakfast, community, entertaining, from the market | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Crazy for Curtido

By Vanessa | Published: October 25, 2010
My life and my kitchen have both been overtaken by fermenting cabbage lately. (Is there a support group for that?) Partially, it’s the season. I always want to make hearty, fattier foods when the weather turns cold and sauerkraut and curtido are the perfect accompaniments. Plus cabbage turns sweeter as the weather gets chillier, making [...]
Posted in Books, DIY, Latin American, book events, classes, from the market, healthy, hearty, pantry staples | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Home-brewed Sodas Live at 18 Reasons

By Vanessa | Published: October 15, 2010
Though it took place last month (how is that possible?) I wanted to take a moment to blog about the home-brewed soda class my pal Nishanga taught at 18 Reasons.  Nishanga showed class participants how to use ginger bug and whey to naturally ferment sodas. She discussed other starters and I brought along some homemade [...]
Posted in DIY, Food and Drink, book events, classes, community, healthy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 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.