Hungry Times Two

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...

T to the G to the I to the F, y'all. Such a long week and lots of funky vibes & feelings. It's brutal. Kind of like these stabby-looking beauties: We acquired these rustic knives as Scott's dad's side of the family preps for the settling of two family estates. They may have survived Hurricane Hugo in 1989 down at the family's "Goat House" on Sullivan's Island, SC. Rather than tuck the tough old things into a drawer, we thought maybe they could add some interest to our kitchen walls. So, that's something. If you think it's more Fatal Attraction than Shabby Chic, please say the word. We don't want to be those weirdo folks taking a false stab (how puntastic!) at decorating. The only thing saving this deadly week: killer cookbooks borrowed from my local library . - Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi - Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights by Sophie Dahl The first has tons of delicious Mediterranean & Middle Eastern-influenced dish...

A sandwich may seem like a humble everyday food, but it's the Walt Whitman of the kitchen: it contains multitudes. The options for what you can slap, press, and spread between two slices of bread are endless -- and they're all compiled in the entertaining, comprehensive, and mouth-wateringly-photographed The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches by food blogger Susan Russo .   The 299-page book features "recipes, history, and trivia for everything between sliced bread" -- and includes a handy ingredient index so you can plan the perfect sandwich with Nutella, cucumbers, cookies, pears, Halibut, and whatever else you might have on hand in the fridge, larder, pantry or bread box. There's a sandwich for every meal - from breakfast to dessert - and from a variety of food cultures, from the Bahn Mi of Vietnam to the Chip Butty of Britain, the Hot Brown of Kentucky, the Torta of Mexico, and Tuna Nicoise of France. And the good ol' USA is represented with the Ham Sandwi...

Working on a new feature: book reviews! I borrowed the following copy from Goodreads, a fun little app I use on Facebook. This book review is short and sweet... coming soon: a cookbook (of sorts) review! The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir by Josh Kilmer-Purcell My rating: 3 of 5 stars A fun commute read...didn't want to get off the Metro, so you know it's entertaining. Love Kilmer-Purcell's humor - he peppers his accounts of farming and homesteading with remembrances of his drag queen days. It overkills in the topics of he and his partners' financial situation, the Martha Stewart connection, and their need for perfectionism. I would have rather him go into more detail on the farming, gardening, and soap making. But all in all, a nice light read about taking on a big-ass farm, baby goats, zombie flies, and all! View all my reviews