lemon and chard soup
Its been quiet around here lately, huh? Some days you probably thought this little project was going the tragic way of the blogs and projects of my past. Perhaps you whispered ‘failure to launch’ to yourself, or told a joke at the expense of my attention span and then...
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Apple and Cheddar Spelt Scones
There was recently an intervention in my kitchen. Though its not as dramatic as I make it sound, it was much needed. It wasn’t over the half dozen disks of pastry and cookie dough in the fridge, or the fact that other than milk, eggs, olives and cheese all we have in the...
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Buckwheat and Olive Shortbread
You guys, saltie has a cookbook. And it’s a really lovely cookbook at that. A month ago, when I first learned about this book, I was a little giddy about cooking from it in my Atlanta kitchen. I loved this little shop when I still lived in New York. Saltie was on the...
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Roasted Cauliflower and Celery Salad
“What IS that?” Asks oliver, pointing to my dark green stalks of celery. I can already see the little wheels in his head working on a plot to escape with a stalk or two to transform into a D-I-N-O. “That’s celery, it’s a very tasty vegetable,” I say. “Is it...
Read More"a heartsick new yorker seeks comfort in her new southern kitchen"
is there anything you can't fix with food?
Saffron-Scented Snickerdoodles
I don’t know about you, but when I first learned about these little guys I thought, saffron? In a cookie? Do I deserve that? Each time I went to the grocery store a debate would ensue, as I dragged out my stroll down the baking isle, lingering at the spice collections, scanning for the row of practically empty bottles, each full-sized jar standing as a monument to the preciousness of those few ochre colored strands tucked away at its base.
The first few times the saffron row was picked clean and I was relieved to have the decision made for me. But the surest way to make something more desirable is to tell someone no, even people without kids know that. So a week went by and I grew more curious with each passing day. How would it work? Would the saffron balance the sweetness of the snickerdoodle? Because honestly I’ve always found those blonde little cookies much too cloying. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve never been interested in whipping up a batch in my own kitchen. That is of course, until you put the word saffron in front of it, and then of all of sudden the word snickerdoodle never sounded so classy.
Pear Salad with Olives and Orange
I know what your thinking. Two salads in a row, it looks suspiciously like a trend. Lest you fear I’m getting boring, or this space is in danger of becoming a venue for raw green things only, I feel I must assure you that I’ve got a half dozen sweet treats in the works, pies and tarts and cookies. It is fall afterall! That means baking. And all this baking means one thing – salads for lunch.
Autumn Chard Salad
A few years ago I became obsessed with eating kale salads, lacinato kale salads to be precise. Nothing fancy, just kale, sliced thin, doused in meyer lemon juice and sprinkled with parmesan, maybe salt and pepper; later incarnations included fried almonds and sunflower seeds. I would pile it all in a big bowl, offer D a serving, which he would politely decline, and proceed to eat the entire bowl. Night and night, bite after bite, finishing always with an extra sweet and crunchy forkful, feeling completely satisfied and happy. All that lemon juice does a wonderful thing to your palate- it cleanses it.
Caramel Applesauce with Black Pepper
Two weeks ago when we were making the long drive home from Ohio, we took a slight detour through western Kentucky. As our drive twisted and turned through the Knobs of Kentucky, signs of autumn were all around us. Shades of rust were creeping into the rolling hills, the sun sank into the horizon a little earlier, and as it did, it bathed buttery yellow light on signs for caverns, distillery tours and the occasional junk shop that time forgot. Farmers’ markets stalls were overflowing with pumpkins and apples and cider. It was all really gorgeous – a perfect introduction to a southern fall.
While I’m a bit sad about the beautiful summer produce that has passed on, I couldn’t be more anxious for fall. For shorter days to be dressed up in soups and sweaters, pizzas and spiked ciders, to be capped with evening walks to marvel at the changing trees. Last weekend we decided to act quite fall-like and took Oliver to an apple orchard in northern Georgia. This far south the leaves haven’t quite changed yet, but that hasn’t stopped the apples from falling.
granola for going places
For the last month it seemed my finger was hovering above the pause button. Just about five weeks ago we were traipsing around the Iowa State Fair when my mom called to tell us my dad’s routine stress test had landed him on the operating table. We held our breaths, gripped things a bit tighter, and waited. We waited for the couple of updates that came during surgery, and then the day to day updates from the hospital while they tweaked his medication, monitored his heart rate and made him get up and walk the hospital halls. We chuckled at the updates on what he was eating, and how all the nurses loved him and how he was tired of the television options in his room.
When the update came that he was being released from the hospital, a week after his surgery, Oliver and I packed some bags and headed north to set up camp at my parents. We proceeded to cook and clean, then cook some more, dirty-ing the counters and stove and then started the process again. Oliver enlisted his help in walking the little dog, only to be distracted by the tall task of dinosaur-morphizing all the sticks and leaves in the front yard. Inevitably he invited them in for a bite to eat and a play, and then proceeded to scatter them, and every toy we brought, all over the house in which I grew up. More to clean.
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