About



Oh, hi.  Hello there. 

Nice to have you around this here blog.  Let me tell you a story...

Why this blog:
This blog came about in January of 2010 because I loved to cook, but I had grown tired of cooking. So, I began the blog to document the ways I have been re-inspired: I cooked page 210, once a week (day of the week variable), for a year. Why 210? Because it was the closest I could get to 2010 without having very thick cookbooks. The next year, I cooked everything in my CSA box from Full Belly Farm and I experienced the heady rush of freedom to cook from whatever page I wanted.

Then, in 2015, I went back to the gimmick of a page number (not surprisingly 215) in order to celebrate the 5th birthday of the blog. From chicken giblets and blood sausage, to eclairs, and lamb shawarma, I cooked things I don't normally cook, but I also included some family favorites (including potato pizza and bolognese sauce).

For 2017 (and possibly beyond?), I have some plans. I took on a new job in 2015, and I (still!) haven't quite figured out my rhythm. So I am cooking when I can, which is mostly the weekend. I pack a lot of lunches. But I have committed myself to a new series here: Cook Your Books.  Here, I am reading at least 15 books with some arbitrarily chosen categories. My hunch in that all of them will connect to food in a meaningful way. Join me. Let's see if my theory is bogus.

My main concerns:
Some highlights include cooking what's in my cookbooks, with lots of nods to the true chefs who came up with these wonderful ideas, eating with the family in a little side project we call "Family Dinner" once a month, and thinking about how food connects to literature (a little addiction I cannot help) and culture and history. With my new series, I have devoted some time and space to cooking what shows up in the books I read. And then there's my CSA box. There's a lot to cook each week. 

Why this blog name:
The blog has also undergone a little overhaul. We used to be "cooking inside the box," but there is another lovely blog out there by this name. Don't be confused. Everything here is still the same, except now I have a real domain name. I am all fancy now. 

And I love morsels and sauces. Given the opportunity to graze on canapes, I jump on it.  I love little bites of this and that. A sense that you can choose from so much bounty. Given a choice of sauces to drizzle atop said canapes--well, that is heaven. I also like the idea of something holding all of that variety together.

Why the photographs:
I am slowly learning to become a better photographer. And lord knows I have a long way to go. However, I am leaving my old photographs from early posts up, in part to honor the journey my cooking and my photography have taken these past seven years. So be kind when looking at those early photographs. 

Other information about me
Well, I am an educator by day, a runner by night (and sometimes very early morning). I am a Midwesterner by birth, but a Westerner at truest heart.

I sometimes eat (just) pickles for dinner. And I am learning how to make small batch kombucha.

By Popular Demand

Ottolenghi's Semolina, Coconut and Marmalade Cake

Classic Frisée Salad (Salade Lyonnaise)

Ottolenghi's Lemon and Eggplant Risotto

Ottolenghi's Thai Red Lentil Soup with Aromatic Chile Oil

Whole Roasted Celery Root from NOPI