morsels & sauces

So, I was sitting at Kirala , one of my favorite sushi places, eating lunch, which happens to be across the street from the Berkeley Bowl , and I thought, "Hmm, I should make dinner tonight."* Such is my life. While eating one meal, I am often contemplating the next one. This was the result.  *Full disclaimer, that day was not today, as I am laid up in bed because I broke my tailbone (I fell). But I was recently  sitting in my favorite sushi place having these thoughts. Because I am in an admitting mood, I am going to reveal a few things here: 1.) This is a lazy, lazy dinner. The amount of work here is almost miniscule, and it makes me wonder why I have evenings where I cannot bring myself to cook (enter popcorn and pickles. Again, don't judge. I like salt.) 2.) What sets this apart from other lazy dinners I normally make is the the chile and pumpkin seed combo tossed in with the sweet potatoes. Yep. This launches this little puff pastry concoction i...

It's no secret that I love Christmas (warning, if you go to that link you will receive a shocking display of how my photography has improved in four years).  I love the music, the tree, the candles, the cards. I even love the hustle and bustle.  While I do miss my family during the holidays, I don't miss the snow or the cramped flight or the hours in the car (often with snow) as we drive from Chicago or St. Louis to my small hometown in central Illinois. I admit, I have forgotten how to drive in snow. But I really do miss Christmas morning at my mom's. My mom would often make cinnamon rolls while we lounged in the living room among wrapping paper detritus and too many presents. It was a matter of time before I would be curled beneath the Christmas tree, usually with my cat (who was the most glorious cat that every existed ®  --Juj ube ), looking up at the lights and then falling asleep. Her cinnamon rolls were classic--Pillsbury, of course. From time t...

Sure, pumpkin pie is often trotted out this time of year, but let's not forget sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie's (usually) less-sweetened, less-spiced Southern cousin.  Simpler to make from scratch (no hassles of cutting a pumpkin in half), this velvety custard pie  makes no apologies for itself and does not try to cover up its tuber origins.  Generally, the spice profile in a sweet potato pie is a little bit toned down from pumpkin pie, which is usually just a vehicle for spice as it is. That said, I will admit, this particular recipe is a little more spiced than you'll usually find, but the spice note here is not ubiquitous "pumpkin pie" spice to be found in every latte in America right now.  Instead, it is heavy on the mace,  which is the sheath that covers a nutmeg kernel , and it is quite luscious and rich (blame the heavy cream in place of condensed milk). Fully ensconced in African-American culinary history, swee...

Oh, what a lovely meal for a late, rainy Sunday afternoon. Coconut milk, curry leaves, sweet potatoes, red lentils, all mixed up with the warm cinnamon and ginger, red chiles and turmeric. Anna Jones, you are welcome to recommend a recipe to me any day of the week. Back in July , I got Anna Jones' cookbook,  A Modern Way to Eat , and immediately fell in love with her sensible cooking that embraces a simple mantra that we are merely stewards of the land. Our maximalist lifestyles often forget the simple pleasures and become the catalyst for some pretty destructive tendencies. The cookbook calms us down, gives us sustainable food, and guarantees we won't want for anything, even as we let go of unhealthy eating. This beautiful dal (dhal) recipe seems to have a long list of ingredients, but most of them are spices; everything else you just might have on hand, including the lentils.  Back in 2015, I wrote  about the different types of lentils, and this r...