Yesterday John and I went over to Gerard’s for lunch; he busted out a brilliant array of tapas and we brought some good wine. I can’t think of a nicer way to spend a cold Tuesday afternoon than eating and drinking like this.
Category: Lunch
I’ve always been a fan of viewing mistakes as an integral part of creativity. Sometimes they just plain ruin the thing, but often they’re like positive mutations in the DNA of the process, allowing us insights or improvements that would have otherwise never come. I was making bread the other day–now that it’s cooler, I’m back to making 2-3 loaves a week–and as I mixed the wet into the dry, the dough came together into a much tighter, dryer ball than normal. I scratched my head for a second, and then figured out what happened: I used a plastic container for the flours and a metal bowl for the water and starter, and didn’t zero the scale when I switched. The metal bowl weighs 125 grams more than the plastic tub, so the scale read 600 grams of water when I had only poured in 475. Rather than add in the missing water and make a no-knead loaf in the Dutch oven, instead I dumped out the dough and gave it a good hard knead on the counter and then put it in an oiled bowl to rise.
We got 8.5″ of snow last night, so school was cancelled. I still had to schlep over to the garage and have the power steering belt replaced, but at least everyone else with an appointment that morning was still at home shoveling out so the guys got it done very quickly. I love all-wheel drive. So with a kid to entertain, and after making a couple of snowmen (one had a homegrown carrot nose and…
I threw some beans in water to soak, then put them on a very low simmer about 2 hours before dinner. Once tender, I added onion, chili powder, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, lemon juice, salt and pepper and let it bubble for a bit to marry all the flavors. Before serving, I took about half out and gave it a good blast with the stick blender, then stirred it back in to thicken the whole. I…
First off, it’s warm here for a few days. Really warm- flirting with 60˚ today. So yesterday afternoon I grabbed the scissors and headed out to the garden. Here’s the result: about a dozen different kinds of greens, all happily defying the winter under the plastic covers (with Milo helping to wash them.) And to further illustrate the inspiration that the warmth has brought, here’s a quick summary of all three meals today. For breakfast,…