morsels & sauces

I love morsels: hence the name of the blog. I love those little tiny bites to eat, those nibbles, canapés, hors d'oeuvres, appetizers, cocktail snacks—whatever you want to call them. Thus, it was almost written in the stars or the tea leaves or the cards (choose your divining practice) that tapas and I became such good friends. The very philosophy of tapas is morsels (sometimes coupled with sauces) is something I can get behind: a banquet of bites combined to make a meal. I am in! It’s true that I am thrilled with a life of tasting, sampling,  pausing, coming back for favorites. Sure, tapas can stand on their own to make a meal when combined with other tapas, yet they can easily be adapted into an appetizer for a main course. And that’s just what these two tapas did as openers to a larger, delicious spread put out by the in-laws on the night of the Oscars ( I know, I know -- I am late in posting this; however, I have been busy teaching a class on fiction writing and travelin...

Adapted from Cookbook #16:  Tapas:  Little Dishes of Spain (1985; there is a new updated version now in hardcover) Recipe:  Olive Paste and Blue Cheese Canape/ Creamed Blue Cheese with Brandy (Or as the Spanish say:  Canape de Pasta de Aceituna Negra y Queso Cabrales/ Crema de Cabrales al Conac) Quite simply, I want to go to Spain. I almost went once, many years ago.  I had elaborate plans for New Years Eve in Barcelona after Christmas in Chamonix where I was supposed to be after a week in Paris.  But then the train unions in France went on strike, and I couldn't imagine shuttling around France and eventually over to Spain any other way (I lacked imagination at 21).  I called the whole trip off, instead spending another week in London, where I made a fool of myself over some boy named Warwick (like you do at 21).  But I had plans, such wonderful, elaborate plans for Spain with its little dishes of salty foods. Instead, I have to recreat...