Month: February 2013

Oven bacon

I’m a recent convert from skillet bacon to oven bacon.  The reason is that the oven makes multitasking easier.  Multitasking on the weekend means bonus Eggs Benedict, sourdough pancakes, or a Pullman loaf. The idea isn’t new, but there are…

Preventing Freezer Burn

Last weekend, my cousin Linda and I went to visit my good friends Mai and Roger who were introduced to me by another good friend Yuh-line, for a fun ski and snowboarding trip out in Mt. Baker. One of the…

Waste Not – Give Half

The issue of poverty and hunger is a big one in our society today. Food is important not just for its nutritional aspects, but also for personal, social, and community building. Fact is though, despite being one of the wealthiest…

Contraband Peanut Butter

How much do you love your food, and how far would you go to protect your precious cargo while traveling? Would you be willing to risk federal incarceration and also take on the TSA (the “jolly bunch of inept iPad-stealing…

Steel-cut oats in a rice cooker

Someone like me benefits the most from a thoughtfully planned breakfast.  The alternatives often are granola bars and cold cereal.  I never find those satisfying. Steel-cut oats are satisfying.  However, cooking them on the stove is impractical.  I don’t know…

Uses for a kitchen scale

Many exist.  For all those reasons I recommend home cooks buy a scale.  This holds for beginners especially. Some writers are passionate about scales to the point of posting a manifesto.  Instead I’ll provide a few examples and none of the…

The Arnold Palmer

I finally got around to watching a “30 for 30” short on the iconic drink.  It’s worth a few minutes. As I can’t get the video to embed, here’s the link.  My favorite parts are the Dave Arnold segments.  He’s…

Quick Tip: Regenerating Scallions

Scallions (aka green onions) are a great ingredient to add to your dishes either as a garnish, or a component of the recipe. If your recipe calls for onion, this could be a more subtle substitute. Vegetables are expensive though,…

Anise seed popcorn

I kicked off the blog with a post on thyme salt brussels sprout chips.  The trick was to grind the thyme to a powder so that it would be light enough to stick to the chips. I borrowed this solution from an…

Basics: Cooking with Water

What is water? We often take this odd substance for granted, and because we take it for granted, we rarely think of it as odd. Still though, it is one of the few substances that defies the consistency of physics…