cook pot stories

Okay, so I don't live in New England anymore. But in a burst of sympathy for my New England friends, and in celebration of the easily accessible Mexican ingredients here in Kansas City, I made pork posole for dinner tonight. Warm, spicy enough, fragrant, comforting... just the thing to eat while holed up from a blizzard. Or while thinking about people you love in a blizzard. Or, really, anytime you want something rich, comforting, and have lovely tomatillos on hand. I added olive oil to a large pot, then sautéed a chopped onion 6 cloves of garlic I sprinkled all of this with about a tablespoon of oregano a few shakes of cinnamon and clove about a teaspoon of cumin and a few bay leaves for good measure After a few minutes I added a seeded, chopped green pepper 2 jalapeño peppers, seeds in, roughly chopped And a few minutes later I added 12 husked, rinsed and roughly chopped tomatillos. These were what prompted me to make posole in the first plac...

I love my new kitchen. It's an efficient space, not too big but with adequate counters and storage. As we settle into our new home I am becoming more and more enamored with cooking in this space. I'm (finally) using my cookbooks again and taking advantage of the riches around me. Tonight I pulled out the old, deep frying pan used by my grandmother who gave to my mother who gave it to me. It's the first time I've used this pan. I wanted to honor our Hungarian and Russian heritage, so I made chicken paprika. I modified a recipe from The World's Finest Chicken by Sonia Slyer and Janice Metcalfe. It's a nice cookbook, with easy recipes using stuff you'd generally have on hand, making very tasty food. Being who I am (and really, any decent home cook does this) I tweaked the recipe. Saute one large, chopped onion in olive oil. As I poured the oil in I couldn't help but wonder if my grandmother used anything other than schmaltz and Crisco. As the o...

Since landing in Kansas City last week (wow, only last week!) Kevin and I have been eating out a lot. Way more than usual. To a point where it's been a bit hard to get into the rhythm of cooking at home. What? I need to chop? Those dishes won't be whisked away? For all of then obvious economic and health reasons we're trying to cut back, but it's taking some time. Earlier this week we we went to Jimmy's Jigger/Jazz , a Louisiana style restaurant right here in our neighborhood. Jimmy's Jigger (a name to be careful with) is a Kansas City institution, a dive bar that was bought out by Jazz and expanded into a music venue. We sat in the bar and listened to the band from afar. The food was good. I got crawfish etoufee which had a rich roux base and a bit too much black pepper (though that may just be my palate). The rice was well seasoned and there was an ample serving of crawfish, with good consistency. Kevin got garlic seafood on tilapia which was delicious. ...

If you read my other blog then you already know I am relocating from Boston to Kansas City. It's a big move, one undertaken for all the right reasons but still scary. A move like this opens up all kinds of questions: Will I find friends? Will I find community? Will I find anything to eat? The first two questions will take more time to answer themselves (though I am quite hopeful) but the third, well, Kansas City is clearly a food town and I'm eating a space out for myself. If you follow me on foursquare then you know this already. If you don't, then please be patient. I don't want to recount every meal I've had in the last few days; I hope to revive this blog to include more of my eating adventures but, for now I want to think about what it means to be home, and to eat in a new home. When we decided to move to KC, one of my first questions was  Is there good food there, beyond BBQ? What I really meant was Will I be able to find comfort? Food carries such em...

Edible, adj.:  Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.   - Ambrose Bierce

“Tita knew through her own flesh how fire transforms the elements, how a lump of corn flour is changed into a tortilla, how a soul that hasn't been warmed by the fire of love is lifeless, like a useless ball of corn flour.” ― Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate

“Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.” ― Julia Child