All Purls. No Swine.
If I'm doing the math right (always a dodgy proposition) about one in every five posts here has to do with food or recipes. Stuff I've eaten, stuff I've cooked, or stuff I've thought about cooking. And a few of them even have to do with the gorgeous Thai food experience and my attempts to… Continue reading Say What? No, Sai Oua!
I originally published this post (which I've since very lightly edited) almost two years ago, in June 2021. I'm reposting it today because, when I went looking for inspiration on the web, I discovered that April 21, 2023 is the 241st anniversary of the founding of the city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok. … Continue reading Kap He Chom Khrueang Khao Wan 2023–กาพย์เห่ชมเครื่องคาวหวาน
Well, that was fun. I've just returned from a day in Pittsburgh with friends, and lunch at the African Cuisine Restaurant in the Squirrel Hill section of the city. It's a small, informal, place featuring Nigerian food, the first of its kind in the Steel City, and which opened in March 2021, when things were… Continue reading Restaurant Review: African Cuisine in Pittsburgh, PA
I've not made any secret, over the years, of the fact that I love Thai food. Or of the marvelous opportunity--almost five years ago now--that I enjoyed an actual cooking class in actual Thailand. But I sometimes suffer the consequences of living in the northeastern United States, far away from some of those luscious and… Continue reading Thai Basil Hack
The word "for" is not a pronoun. That's a fruitcake. Herewith, my dad's much-loved recipe for mince pies--one which I have shared many times, both online and in-person--from the Farmhouse Fare cookbook: Plum Mincemeat 4 lbs plums 2 lemons 1 cup water 8 large cooking apples 4 oz currants 4 oz raisins 4 oz sultanas… Continue reading Post #582
So. Today's "Google Doodle" is (God knows why) on the subject of "Jollof Rice." Jollof Rice is a staple of West African (particularly Nigerian) cuisine, and it is--along with such stuff as fried plantains and groundnut chop, that with which I grew up. I've never found a recipe since, which approximated my hazy memories of… Continue reading Jollof Rice!
So here I am, the day before my Queen's funeral, trying to figure out what to do to celebrate her life and my own Britishness (not a bit of the overabundance of which takes away a whit of my love for my adopted country, I assure you). Some of my family in the UK will… Continue reading In Praise of Afternoon Tea
I don’t really like olives all that much. But I adore the idea of olives. And olive groves. And the Mediterranean. The stories by Peter Mayle and Carol Drinkwater. The presence of olive trees, olive oil, olive wood, and of course “olive branches” in our mythological, literary and cultural traditions. And the history of an ancient industry that has… Continue reading Food and Drink Post: Olive Me
It's almost time to send another hot, muggy, and sometimes problematic, July into the memory banks forever. After the last two rather miserable locked-down ones, I'll have some fond remembrances of this 2022 version, including a very enjoyable dinner with friends from out-of-town, random acts of kindness from strangers and family, the completion of bathrooms,… Continue reading Goodbye July: Keep Calm and Picnic On
It's been exactly four years since a day I remember with great affection, the day on which my friend and I attended a full-day cooking school in Chiang Rai, Thailand and--with a lot of effort, hard work, and a great sense of fun--made some of the loveliest and most delicious food I've ever eaten. A… Continue reading Suwanee’s Cooking School, Chiang Rai, Thailand: Revisited