morsels & sauces

We have been away--I have gone back to Illinois and then the husband and I went up to Mt. Shasta to see a volcano and to hike around. But we still need to eat.   Is it Tuesday? (Okay, truth here, it's Saturday, but this dish will do anytime during the week.) Do you, too, need something to eat? Are you willing to put in 30 minutes? Do you need a revelation in broth? Well here's the little soup for  you, no matter if you're traveling or hanging out at home. The meatballs are a snap. As many of you know, I am huge fan of Diana Henry , in part because she takes ordinary ingredients and whips them into fine flavor combinations. More importantly, though, she does so without a lot of fuss and fanfare. Just make a meatball. Then put it in a broth.  But before you do that, why don't you make your broth a little more flavorful? Don't have time?  Let's not talk nonsense. All you need is 10 minutes, some ginger and some chiles. If you have homemade bro...

Fifteen years ago, I came to the Bay Area for the first time. The husband and I lived in two different states (Utah and Colorado, respectively), and he invited me to California for what would be my first of many Thanksgiving dinners with his family. Of course, at the time, I didn't know that. I was a bundle of nerves, wanting to impress his family. I spoke little, was so polite I did not ask to eat any breakfast or lunch on Thanksgiving day. I minded all of my manners. I even sent a thank you note to his parents for their hospitality. And for years, his parents were concerned that I was "too nice." Nope.  Just terrified. During that first trip (ever!) to San Francisco and the East Bay, the then boyfriend and I did many of the requisite tourist activities, including but not limited to the Golden Gate Bridge, Baker Beach, and the Cliff House. It also included cat-sitting a 21 year-old-feline, driving around in a borrowed black Volkswagen beetle, attending a con...

Friends, there was rain. Oh, just the right amount of rain, and my great fear in writing about the rain is that I made it go away. I am superstitious like that.  (My superstitious streak was solidified this week as I watched my beloved Cubs win the World Series.  I won't tell you about my good luck charm for fear of messing it up, but let's just say she knows who she is, and she better be watching next year as well!) And in the rain, the husband and I have been north, to wine country to sip on some reds in the Rhone style. Didn't that sound pretentious? (I have no  idea what that means, by the way.) I would like to pretend that I know anything  about wine, but the reality is--and one might argue rightfully so--I only know what I like. And it ain't in any particular style that I can discern. Sometimes it's big and fruity and other times it is lip-smackingly dry.  But the husband I went to Sonoma last weekend and sipped ...

Oh, people, this dish is just a fancy way to say "Chicken with Mushrooms" (and cream).  Forestière means "of the forest" or "in the forest manner." Or in a more vernacular manner, "This has got mushrooms in it." And there is no one I would rather trust with chicken and mushrooms than food writer and journalist Diana Henry . From  her traditional English pea soup to a Japanese-inspired chicken  and her warm duck salad , Henry has been a hit on this here blog. In part because of her commitment to a wide range of flavors and the other part because of her gentle peroration on the foods she loves, I just cannot get enough of her work. Lucky for me, she has a plethora of cookbooks.  This recipe comes from her cookbook,  A Bird in Hand , a book entirely devoted to the bird. Because we eat so much chicken ( according to this website , the US meat and poultry industry processed 38.4 billion pounds of chicken in 2015), ...

I am a big fan of Diana Henry (and have written about her here  and here ). She is cheeky yet thoughtful, sophisticated yet simple. This cookbook ( A Change of Appetite ),  one I turn to time and again to up my salad game, is her gander at healthy eating .   Her take is simple:  More veggies, less meat. Heavy on freshness, light on processed foods.  And Henry takes us on a whirlwind tour of healthy food from across the world. From Scandinavia to Cambodia, North Africa to Peru, this cookbook opens up a world of possibilities for the healthy palate.  I have been thinking about my diet more these days.  One of the most important people in my whole life is in the midst of a health crisis, and we have been talking a lot about food that is good for you. There's a lot of misinformation out there. A lot of advice that contradicts itself. I just want something that is simple and easy to follow. Enter Diana Henry. She ju...

In 2008, I had the opportunity to go to China--a trip I never really imagined possible. My father is the only one of my parents who had ever travelled abroad, a trip he took with his school when he was 18. And while I had been to Europe, I had not really imagined that I would be lucky enough to travel to Asia.  Thus, when the opportunity presented itself, I snapped it up.  In a whirlwind 10 days, I travelled to China with a colleague and set out on an adventure to some of the cultural hot spots of central and northern China. While there, I wandered among the food vendors in the  night market  with my colleague in  Kaifeng , ate fermented vegetables for breakfast outside of  Houjia village , sampled noodles in a noodle house in  Xi'an , grabbed Chinese pastries in  Zhengzhou  before my colleague dragged me into the red light district (he was the more adventurous of us both), and ate  lychees  at the f...