Len’s 50th

the time has come the walrus said to talk of many things . . . and Marg has been avoiding the party planning. are we doing the lobster bake? fireworks and picnic friday, is everyone working hard on their limericks? It’s Len’s Life in Limericks. Marg, you must comment, what are we eating saturday?

Trying to go natural

I have a great recipe for turkey meatballs which is a good standby weekday meal with spaghetti and jarred sauce; however, after reading “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” I was motivated to buy the “all-natural” ground turkey.  After the first bite, it was clear that something was missing.  Maybe the meat is too lean? Maybe we are [...]

Bagel Variables

Last week’s bagels tasted great but were strangley flattened.  Both times we tried the overnight cold retardation step, the bagels went in looking good, but came out a bit deflated.  (This time it actually looked as though someone put a dish of something on top of them while they were resting in the ‘fridge, but [...]

Local eating

I’ve been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  While I don’t like it as well as Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the message is the same:  our eating habits are a problem.  Kingsolver’s description of her family’s yearlong attempt to eat only local food personalizes the issue and makes one ponder a similar lifestyle [...]

New bagel plan

So, we decided to complicate the simple and successful King Arthur flour recipe by starting the day before and using the overnight refrigeration method.  We also used the old tin bread mixer that attaches to the kitchen counter.  This is fun to do and helped a lot with the initial mixing stage, but the stiff [...]

Back to bagels

We are planning another bagel adventure.  After the less than stellar reviews of the bagels that we made on Memorial Day weekend, we were not planning to try again, but then B inquired whether we were making bagels again.  Apparently the band really liked the bagels, so with that encouragement we dived in again.  This time there [...]

Rib wrap-up

The second night, I did the honey/hot water glaze, refreshed the ribs on the grill and made the dipping sauce with the full 1/2 cup lime juice (but moderate amounts of cracked red pepper flakes) separately, including some cilantro (not my favorite flavor) and they were much better.  The third night, B had them and [...]

New rib recipe

So, J made some Asian inspired ribs from Food and Wine for Memorial Day.  Rib afficianados were later heard to admit that these ribs rocked and when the Texas friends arrived for the weekend, we dared to try this recipe on them.  Granted, the Texas friends are just happy that there is meat on the menu, [...]