Hungry Times Two

I'm loving Morning Edition' s Cook Your Cupboard Tumblr. Anyone with a pantry full of half-used or never touched items can relate and appreciate the genius of this project. In our pantry languishing right now: wheat bran, almond meal, half a bottle of rose water, pomegranate molasses, the middle eastern spices Sumac and Za'atar, and a huge bundle of buckwheat noodles. It's a lot of well-intentioned purchases, but Lord only knows how they'll wind up getting used. The pomegranate molasses is super concentrated - I've drizzled it over Greek yogurt with some chopped apple. The buckwheat noodles I want to love but I have yet to prepare them in a way that pleases me. Rosewater? Tastes pretty nice in a summery cocktail with gin and flavored seltzer. But I don't know what else to do with it. I can't wait to find some uses for these things, as I hate wasting food. What's in your pantry gathering dust?  

Holy heck, y'all. Who turned on the faucet of life and stole the nozzle? I'm ready for a slow down. I didn't get to blog last week but I managed to make some pretty nice stuff for an Easter meal with my mom. The main course was this tasty asparagus tart . You could scatter sawdust on puff pastry and it would taste good, right?  I subbed in some grated Gouda and Parm for the super-expensive Gruyere. (Besides, do you think my sad little Food Lion up the street carries fancy cheese? We're lucky it's not all Velveeta and Cheese-in-a-Can!) I ate asparagus every day last weekend (Fri-Sat-Sun) so I racked up on seasonal eats - thankyouverymuch BarbaraKingsolver . Served with the tart was a delicious chickpea & roasted red pepper salad , a green salad with a lovely Green Goddess dressing that made my mother reconsider her distaste for anchovies, a baguette from Your Dekalb Farmers Market , and a homemade pound cake. On Saturday eve, we visited Scott's...