Welcome! Come on in. I’m still fixing the place up, but it’s fit for visiting. There will be more bits and pieces added in the near future, but for now please enjoy the light, space, and functionality of my new cyber-kitchen. It’s almost as satisfying as the renovation of our actual kitchen that I did back in February. Many thanks are due to Claudia for relentlessly pestering me about how ugly the old blog was, and when was I going to do something about it, and why couldn’t I have become a doctor or a lawyer or maybe a pharmacist–it’s a good job, after all, and it’s not as hard as being a doctor but still respectable and a decent living.
I finally got fed up with Blogger’s limitations, especially when it comes to templates, and the annoying way it has of placing photos within each post. I had to go back and re-format nearly all of the 877 posts after I imported them to WordPress–which sucked, and took forever–so while I was back there I also added categories. I didn’t bother with the first year, because nobody read this and the photography is abhorrent. There are a few good posts back in there, but it’s safe to say that I’m a much better cook, writer, and photographer (and with a decent camera now) than I was when I started this.
There’s a kiln cooling down as I write this, and tomorrow I’ll go unstack it and bring home the latest pieces, but in the meantime here’s one from the last firing (though it’s actually back in this one with another layer of glaze on it to get better opacity and color saturation). In it is a salad of our very own yellow brandywine tomatoes, tossed with nothing more than pesto whisked with a little extra olive oil and a drop of the monk’s raspberry vinegar. It’s raining hard right now, for the second day in a row, and the garden is visibly turgid with excitement, putting on a growth spurt so all of my late plantings can get big before the frost shuts it all down. I canned a ton of tomato sauce, so these late arrivals just get eaten super simply–as salsas, quick sauces, sliced and salted, or like this. This year has been wonderful, weather-wise; winter lasted exactly three months, and spring and summer were both splendid, though it’s been pretty dry lately. With the expansion fully finished, I’m optimistic that next year will be the one in which I have a garden that looks the way I’ve wanted for so long.
And at least now I have the blog to match. Thanks for reading.
congrats on the new site/move to wordpress, Peter! best of luck on the new platform. self-hosting has its own little joys and frustrations but, in my humble opinion, it’s a positive step. Hell, if Heather can do it…
You coulda had captions at the old joint, too, y’know.
This is pretty, though. I love that photo of the flame so much.
I am mit sauce! Almost as nice as mit schlag.
Show of support…but, just for future reference..how does one get drunk and trash a blog? I’d love to try, but you’d have to give me admin privs.
Oh, yeah – about the Confit thing…shit, you molested that duck for hours, you mean you could’t find a few minutes to add salt and herbs, render fat, and let the oven do the work? Paula Wolfert’s is the best, BTW.
I spent three weeks over the summer agonizing over whether I could switch to WordPress or not, I decided I didn’t have the skills. So, congrats to you!
Lovely new place to call home! And: in the tradition of blog post content stealing, I am going to knock off your petal bowl, as I start my ceramics class tonight. I will give you due credit however.
Thankfully you haven’t crapped up your blog with ads. Nothing turns me off faster. How much can a blogger make with them, really, I always think, and it’s so much damned visual noise: craven is the word that comes to mind. I would rather the noise come from the blogger. And I know you can make a lot of noise all by your own self, so…hopefully cb shall remain streamlined. My 2c.
Love your blue flames and I’m glad you’re pleased with the outcome after what sounded like a royal pain in the ass to convert. Smooth sailing ahead.
El! Make me one of those plates.
Peter. Cool! Pretty.
Jonny: Props for finding this before I told anyone about it. I promise not to bitch incessantly about it like Heather does.
Blanche: Blogger was a pain in the ass, especially photos and their captions.
Mike: I couldn’t. Gastric discomfort and duck fat do not mix. But the next one, for sure.
Pam: It was actually remarkably easy. You could try it and then not bother switching if it doesn’t work.
El: I hate ads. But I’ll gladly accept royalties.
Zoomie: It was more the tedium of reformatting; the conversion wasn’t bad at all.
CC: This one’s for sale, actually. You want?
No, I ain’t buyin’! El will give me one for free; she owes me. Ick.
I love it! So clean and pretty. I hate blogger, also, but thought it was too much time to invest, at least now, to move to WP. But maybe I’ll try it like you said to Pam. I’m so lazy.
CC: Ick?
Julia: It’s really quite easy.
Yuh. Ick. I’m all 2.0.