Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Technical Difficulties

Posted on January 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

This past week, my computer completely blew out on me.  The motherboard died, putting on hold any new recipes.  I’m hopeful that I can recover the photos that I had uploaded in anticipation of some new posts.  In the mean time, please bear with me.

JP

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Remembering what the Storm Washed Away

Posted on August 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

This is not a food post.  Just this once, I’ve decided to stray from the general theme of the blog.

This past Sunday marked the Fifth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall near the city of New Orleans.  A few days before the anniversary, I sat down at my computer, and wrote out my thoughts on the subject.  On a whim, I decided to submit the essay to several newspapers and magazines around the country.  This past Sunday, the essay appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer.  You can also read it in my alumni magazine.

I was so excited about its publication, that I wanted to share the article with my readers.  You can click here for a link to the article as it appeared in the Enquirer, or simply read it below. Continue reading →

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Hand-Dyed Eggs

Posted on April 11, 2010 | 6 Comments

One of the things I most admire about man, is his ability to create art – his penchant for creativity.  Art is, of course, a loose term, as anyone who has visited a modern gallery knows.  One man’s junk will always be another man’s treasure.  A piece of art will always be undervalued to one and overpriced to another.  But that’s not really the point, at least as I see it.

For me, the point is to discover what I consider to be art, to stumble upon a work and to declare it, by my fiat alone, some thing of genius.  In the world of architecture, I throw that label on Santiago Calatrava, whose sweeping shapes and arcs on the Milwaukee Art Museum take the viewer from one work of art into another.

In the world of literature, I favor From Paris to the Moon, a work of non-fiction that captures Continue reading →

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Tzatziki Sauce

Posted on September 28, 2009 | 1 Comment

This yogurt and cucumber sauce is a staple of Mediterranean cuisine.  It can be served with pita bread, as an appetizer, or accompany falafel or meat, as part of hearty meal.  To reduce the water content, tzatziki sauce is traditionally made with strained yogurt.  Fortunately, most grocery stores now sell Greek-style yogurt, which is already strained, meaning you can prepare homemade tzatziki sauce Continue reading →

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Vanilla Sugar

Posted on August 20, 2009 | 1 Comment

Adding some vanilla-sugar is one of my favorite ways to spice up a recipe.  Where ordinary sugar might seem dull and uninspired, the simple addition of vanilla-sugar gives any dish an extra sense of wow!  Best of all, Continue reading →

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Homemade Vinaigrette

Posted on July 26, 2009 | 2 Comments

Vinaigrette

A simple vinaigrette requires no more than four ingredients and can be whisked up in a matter of seconds.  The simple rule for a vinaigrette is vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil, with the olive oil to vinegar ratio at 2:1.  A little Dijon mustard helps emulsify the combination.

But since you’re making this at home, there’s no reason to settle for simplicity.  You can add diced shallots, roasted garlic, grated ginger, dried oregano, or wild honey to your vinaigrette, tailoring it to the tastes and dishes before you.  A homemade vinaigrette will typically Continue reading →

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Mornay Sauce

Posted on May 30, 2009 | Leave a comment

Mornay Sauce

To make a croque monsieur – or in this case – a croque norvegien, you need to make a mornay sauce.  And to make a mornay sauce, you need to trace through two of the most basic sauces: the roux and the béchamel.

Together with hollandaise, velouté, tomato sauce, and espagnole, béchamel is considered one of the five “mother sauces,” – so named, because these five sauces form Continue reading →

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Almond Butter

Posted on May 24, 2009 | 1 Comment

Almond Butter

When I made my Chinese Chicken Salad, I had to find a substitute for the peanut butter – the result of a peanut allergy.  The substitution was hardly a problem; Whole Foods carried freshly ground cashew butter and almond butter in its bulk section.  After sampling each, I decided to go with the almond butter.  The rest of the recipe went according to plan.

After sampling the chicken salad, Caitlin suggested that I should make my own almond butter.  I was skeptical.  Just a few weeks earlier, I had made Almond-Stuffed Baked Apples, and after several seconds of grinding almonds, no such butter had appeared.

Almond Butter Collage

But sure enough, Continue reading →

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Homemade Bread Crumbs

Posted on March 29, 2009 | 1 Comment

Seasoned Bread Crumbs: Awaiting Processing

Bread crumbs are one of those indispensable ingredients.   They give gratins and casseroles their attractive topping, they give meatloaf its consistent texture, and they give fried chicken its trademark crunch.  To accommodate these various roles, bread crumbs come in two styles: fresh (soft) or dried.

As the name implies, fresh, or soft, bread crumbs are fluffier and softer than their dried counterparts.  Because of their consistency, they are frequently used as a binder in meatloaf and dumplings, or as a topping for gratins and casseroles.  Dried bread crumbs, on the other hand, are finer and crisper than the fresh variety.  Their crisp texture makes them perfect for breading meat and seafood.  With the addition of herbs and spices, each variety can be transformed into seasoned bread crumbs.

Any good bread can serve as the raw material Continue reading →

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The Grim Peeper

Posted on March 16, 2009 | 8 Comments

grim-peeper-panorama

For the past three years, the Washington Post has invited its readers to participate in its Peeps Diorama Contest.  The rules for the contest are simple – create a scene, concept, or event, in which the characters in the diorama are played by Peeps, “those marshmallowy chicks and rabbits plaguing checkout lines in every convenience store this season.”  Throw a clever pun into the mix, and the Post promises the possibility of extra-credit.

Our first thought was an ode to Obama – “The Peeple’s Choice” – in which a throng of marshmallow figures crowded the Washington Mall in witness of an historic Inauguration.  But, we worried, the Obama idea would hardly be original.  Indeed, even the paper warned that it was “tired of the campaigns.”

collage-top-level

The other major theme of this year, of course, has been the economic crises.  And the more we thought about it -  industries collapsing, banks failing, unemployment rising, stocks plummeting, and savings disappearing – we knew that some larger force had to be lurking behind the nation’s financial calamities.  Our diorama, submitted last night, reveals Continue reading →

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