I haven’t written about my home cooking in many months, and probably won’t again for a while (since I won’t be home till January, but that’s another story). But as you’ll see, this doughnut thing—I need to write about it for closure. Years ago, I wrote a couple of posts about how I learned to …
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How I learned to cook, part 2–or, I heart/hate Cairo
You already know about my troubled relationship with Cairo. But I do have to admit that if I hadn’t spent the better part of a year whimpering on the bathroom floor there, I wouldn’t be half the cook I am today. I couldn’t eat in a restaurant there. It was just too risky–who knew where …
How I learned to cook, part 1–or, I heart Madhur Jaffrey
Two Amazing Cookbooks from Gaza and Iraq
“Heh, that’s not a very thick book,” a visitor to my house wisecracked when he saw my copy of The Gaza Kitchen laying out. Woe to he who utters the untutored statement in my house! The guy got an earful of all the amazing things I had learned from this truly wonderful book: Gazans cook …
Morocco #5: Cookbooks
I try to collect a cookbook from wherever I go, sometimes in the local language, sometimes not. I prefer older and traditional, maybe with a picture of a granny on the cover. (My favorite so far: Cocinando con mi abuela, from Campeche, Mexico.) For anyone who thinks in the same vein, may I recommend two …
Back in the Saddle: Weeknight Improv Cooking
I got back from Mexico almost a month ago. My suitcase is still not unpacked. The fridge is stocked only with hummus and some moldy mushrooms. I had an anxiety dream where I was trying to keep up with someone dancing salsa in double time. Things are not going very smoothly right now. But when …
Au Revoir, Cook’s Illustrated
So Peter rearranged the kitchen with nifty new Metro shelving, and in the process made me acutely conscious of how many issues of Cook’s Illustrated I’ve got piled up. They seem sort of redundant now, because I bought access to the recipe database on the Cook’s website, and I can’t remember when I last sat …
My 7 Links: Selective Best of Roving Gastronome
Ah, blog tagging! I’d forgotten about such a thing, paddling way over here in my little Queens tidal pool. But the excellent Conner of Here Is Havana just reached out and tagged me for this 7 Links round-robin. (Here are her selected links–all pretty great reading if you’re curious about Cuba.) So hop into the …
#Egypt #Egypt #Egypt!
I’m always surprised when I see a picture of Cairo and it isn’t sepia-toned. Not from some nostalgic glow, but from the dirt. The city, in my memory, is an even dull beige. That’s because it’s freshly coated every spring with a layer of dust from the khamsin wind, and never fully scrubbed clean. Sand …
Book News
Oh, hello there. I briefly forgot I had a blog! But the electronic record must show some exciting developments in the realm of words printed on paper. 1) The Crimson Sofa All Strangers Are Kin is delivered and accepted, as they say in the biz. (In the biz, this also means I finally got PAID …