In the cold winter months, nothing beats a hearty molasses cookie. These cookies are comparable to ginger snaps, but are a little more crunchy, with a hint of molasses. I took the recipe …
Apps and Sides
Pecan Shortbread
The march of progress often seems inexorable, with each passing step of time yielding new ground in our scientific and technical fields.
The digital age is the embodiment of this phenomenon. With the advent of computers, we’ve watched our lives become longer, our automobiles become safer, and our world become closer.
In the world of photography, the digital age has made film obsolete and our cameras smaller and faster. We’ve gone from the Polaroid to the point and shoot, and from carrying buckets of film to squeezing thousands of images onto a single photo card, no larger than the size of a half-dollar. We’ve traded film development for image software; our darkroom for a computer.
All of which makes the technical and artistic expertise of an Ansel Adams that much more compelling….
Garlic and Cheese Naan
The Cincinnati football team is named the Bengals, and takes, as its logo, an image of a leaping Royal Bengal tiger. The Bengal tiger is native to India and Bangladesh, and can be found in the aptly named Bengal region. With a population of close to 250 million people, the region is one of the densest and most populous regions in the entire world.
This is not the only link between the city of Cincinnati and the Indian sub-continent. Despite the city’s German roots, the city is home to a thriving Indian community, particularly given the relative size of Cincinnati. The public library’s collection includes a significant number of Bollywood videos and books in Bengali. The Clifton area boasts an Indian grocery, and the city itself is home to about a dozen excellent Indian restaurants.
When Caitlin first visited Cincinnati, we went Ambar India, which is now …
Grape Leaves
There is a certain joy to the art of discovery.
Four years ago, I rarely, if ever cooked. But then I discovered that it was something I really enjoyed, and that it could bring me pleasure. I found cooking to be fun and relaxing, irrespective of the process or outcome.
And cooking is only one example. We all have those moments of individual discovery, of learning of a new love or skill, place or interest. Scanning the radio and stumbling upon an artist that inspires. Picking up a paint brush and finding an innate command of the canvas. Walking along the street and feeling the vivacity and charms of a heretofore undiscovered neighborhood.
Most recently, I discovered books on tape. I have always enjoyed fiction and reading. I have pleasant memories of lying awake, in bed, reading – at various times …
Pumpkin Crepe Cake
Caitlin arrived in Cincinnati last Saturday, partly for work, and partly to celebrate her 27th birthday (that Monday).
After picking her up at the airport, we headed to dinner. After dinner, we returned to my apartment, where – as is her custom – Caitlin examined the contents of my refrigerator. After sampling the almond butter and my homemade tzatziki sauce, she concentrated her sights on the large, domed item, carefully wrapped in foil.
It was, obviously, her cake. But what kind of cake, she wondered. Alas, I could not answer the question; it was not yet her birthday.
After a small amount of pleading (it was, after all, her birthday weekend), I agreed to give her a series of hints.
It had pumpkin, I told her, knowing …
Salty Oat Cookies
When I find a cooking blog that I like, I enjoy taking a moment to read the author’s “About Me” page. Some of the pages include vast descriptions of the blogger’s life. Others include only a few passing phrases, sometimes leaving the reader with more questions than answered. Some pages have yet to even change the default setting from wordpress.
One of the things that I’ve noticed, in looking over the “About Me” pages, is that there seems to be a much larger number of lawyers with cooking blogs than say doctors or businessmen. It amazes me how often I find a lawyer behind a food blog or a cooking show or a burgeoning cupcake business. The Zagats, the couple behind the restaurant surveys, started their professional careers in large law firms. And most recently, one of my good friends quit his law firm job of a few years to start his own restaurant business.
Which begs the question: is there any particular reason lawyers seem more attracted to cooking than their confreres in medicine and business?
Being a lawyer…
Chai Concentrate
I don’t have a coffee habit. In fact, I don’t even like it. Which, I suppose, is good for me, given the relative cost of feeding a daily Starbucks-addiction.
Instead of coffee, my tastes run towards tea. And lately, as the Fall weather has turned gray and cool, I’ve turned towards the friendly spices of a chai tea latte. Unfortunately, the cost of a chai tea latte can rival the cost of any quadruple-hyphenated drink at the coffee shop. And sometimes, the drink isn’t even that good.
One solution is the packaged chai mixes found in the grocery store. The mixes are pretty good and will make about eight cups of chai, depending on what kind of milk to chai ratio suits your tastes. I’ve found the mixes in almost every large grocery store.
Another solution, a better solution, is …
Simple Roasted Sweet Potato Fries
It’s no secret that I love sweet potatoes. I’ve featured them mashed, baked, and grilled. I’ve also folded them into phyllo dough, and into a bundt cake.
Out of all these variations, one of my favorite ways to prepare sweet potatoes happens to be one of the simplest: sliced and roasted.
As the days start to darker and the weather cooler, these sweet potato fries are a quick remedy. Simple and quick to make, these warm and healthy fries are the quintessential comfort food, a sizzling side, and an awesome appetizer.
Last week, I …
Cincinnati Chili
Every city it seems, has its signature dish. In Boston, it’s that eponymous Cream Pie; in Baltimore, it’s crab cakes. For Philadelphia, it’s cheese steak, and in Saint Louis, toasted ravioli. In my home town, rich in culinary traditions, it could be any number of dishes, from gumbo to jambalaya, to po’boys and muffulettas, to beignets and pralines.
Here in Cincinnati, chili carries the day, with residents swearing their allegiance to one of two local brands. Just as I-75 divides the city into East Cincinnati and West, chili divides the city between Gold Star and Skyline.
But after two months living here, I still had not tried either of the nearly ubiquitous chili shops. So when Caitlin came to Cincinnati …
Easy Lemon Squares
Optimism can be over-rated. Optimism is hard-work, often requiring an ability to overlook the obvious or turn a blind-eye to the reality staring you straight on. Optimism demands unnecessary devotion and adherence, a sunny disposition in the face of an oncoming hail storm.
Pessimism, as George Will has triumphed, is the ultimate solution. You are either constantly being vindicated or, on the other hand, pleasantly surprised.
For those sour moments, those hail storms of bad news and despair, I…