This is borrowed and heavily adapted from an extremely hit-or-miss cookbook I've had for decades entitled The Practically Vegetarian Cookbook by Josceline Dimbleby.  If you read the user reviews on Amazon, you will understand why it's so hit or miss...she's British, making food for extremely British tastebuds. That means most of the dishes in this book lack any but the most miniscule bit of stingily doled out flavor. And her cooking methods for many of the recipes are anything but authentic (for example, for this Vietnamese curry, she substitutes salt for fish sauce. Yes. Salt.) No wonder she's been one of the UK's most beloved food authors forever.  :/

Anyway, as cookbooks go, it's worth owning if you are an intermediate or advanced home cook or chef, who can read a recipe and make the necessary ingredient and technique adjustments to have the dish come out delicious and flavorful. There are some good ideas in there, for sure. The pear tea cake is particularly lovely. But I digress! 
( On to the recipe at hand, which I made several times back in the day till my mother and bad ex both pleaded with me never to make it again because it was soooo bland. Decades later....I can fix that, easy:Collapse )

What are some of your favorite pizza toppings? I just had a wonderful dinner and felt compelled to share.
( shrimp and pesto pizza with tomatoes and bitter greensCollapse )

ahmad tea.

any body had it?

king arthur has a new cake flour.

xposted by request.

I don`t drink as much red wine in the summer....the combination of heat and red wine, especially in the afternoon, invariably makes me desperately in need of a nap. So, when it gets warmer, I find myself turning to sparkling white and rosé wines, rosé, and chilled cocktails. You won`t often hear me saying no to a margarita, caipirinha, sangria, or mojito....but I am getting really excited about some of the new liqueurs that are now available, and I have been playing with them recently....( Below the cut, pics and recipes for two delicious summer tipples!Collapse )

So....what are your favorite summer tipples? I am always looking for new recipes!

Hello fellow </a></b></a>food_fiends ! June gloom has finally cleared over our fair city, and our Southern California sun has returned. Consequently, the temperatures have gone up a good 15-20 degrees. I am scrambling for some good hot weather recipes: tasty and healthy (or not) dishes that require little to no cooking. How do you get through the summer, food fiends, when you still want good food but don't want to heat up the house?
     One of my favorite dinners in warm weather is a pile of salad greens, a balsamic vinaigrette, some salami and a nice crusty loaf.
     I also lovelove asparagus. I like to steam it until it is just bright green and still crisp and marinate it in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, lots of black pepper and a bit of dijon mustard. It isn't a complete meal, but it is one less thing to cook on a hot summer night.
     So what say you, food fiends? Give me some suggestions to help me avoid heat stroke this summer.

This is my favorite way to make fried chicken. It's practically foolproof and satisfies every time. This recipe is a little different every time I make it, but this is how I did it last night for dinner with epilady , chestertodd  & princessrugger .( buttermilk fried chickenCollapse )

Sorry for the spamming today - I have been cooking a ton lately because I know once school starts it`s likely back to living out of cans and takeout again. Last night I made two meyer lemon meringue pies, using exquisite lemons from my very own back yard tree. I would say these were easily the best pies I have ever made. ( This way for pies!Collapse )

I used a recipe from Cooks Illustrated pretty much to the letter, though obviously substituting meyers for regular lemons. I always add one regular lemon to this pie to make sure it is tart enough - meyers are soooo sweet. But the zest, of which I used significantly more than the recipe wanted, was 100% meyer. I also ran out of white sugar so there is a good amount of brown sugar in both the filling and the meringue. I was worried this would affect the color, but it merely added another dimension of flavor to the finished product. Pie shells graciously prepared by princessrugger.

I am still working on technique and playing with ingredients, but I think my sushi is slowly getting prettier. ( Glamour shot under the cut...Collapse )
From the top, an avocado-cucumber hand roll, a shiitake-scallion-lettuce hand roll, umeshiso maki, seaweed salad, spicy avocado lettuce maki, shiitake-scallion-lettice maki, and inari with ao-nori seasoned rice.

OK, we went to Surfa`s and got some proper paella pans to see if it would make a noticeable difference in the paella we have been craving nonstop lately. Oh my god, wow.
( Pic and details under the cut, as usual...Collapse )