Socially Distant Cuisine

Hi everyone!  It's been awhile, so I thought I would pop in with some highlights from what we've cooked and eaten.   Tomatoes and peaches are a theme, for sure.  I feel like I've had many conversations this summer about how delicious peaches are-- apparently, we aren't the only ones that now have time for the patience required to wait for a perfectly ripe peach.  And we've been mainlining tomatoes.  We get some weekly at the Deep Roots farm stand, but also have had several beauties off of our patio.  With summer produce so beautiful, meals are more about composing than cooking.  Like this porch tomato with burrata that we had for breakfast earlier in the week. We have also upped our basic pantry ingredient game.  I'm convinced that high quality oils are key to a restaurant-quality meal.  As Ina Garten would say, use " good olive oil ."  For that matter, good butter also makes a difference.  Since March, we've tried lots of diff...

Hi everyone! I'm back to share some delicious things we've cooked recently, featuring fresh fruits and veggies from peak Farmer's Market season.  We even grew some of these ourselves! Time is flying here-- it's hard to believe we're coming up on five months of quarantine.  When I revisit blog posts from early on, it's amazing how much has changed since then.  It turns out, people are very adaptable.  But the feelings still come in waves.  I miss the casual ease of getting together with friends.  And meeting new people.  I've made a renewed effort to connect with folks outside of my routine circle, and it is helping some (If we haven't seen each other in awhile-- please do say hi!). On the other hand, we've already hit our summer average of days over 90 degrees, and we're only at the beginning of August.  It's seriously swampy out there, and not needing to commute means no longer doing the summer "how many layers should I wear?" danc...

Hello, all!  I hope this post finds you hanging in as best as you're able.  It feels like we're in a marathon, with no idea about the mile marker we're at, doesn't it?  I kind of can't believe that we're at day 124.  Life has reorganized to make sticking close to home seem more normal, and I am grateful for that. The other day, I took a quick trip to Lowes and it felt like I was driving in an unfamiliar city!  Even close to home, I am still discovering new things, despite the stripped back version of summer life we're living.  Greater appreciation of small pleasures is a decidedly positive side-effect of the pandemic.  We are doing a little  more take out than before-- usually one dinner a week.  That has taken a little pressure off of our kitchen, which is nice!  Over the past month, we had Ethiopian (from the inimitable Zenebech ); Afghan (from my favorite Kabob Palace ); Balkan (from Jeff's neighborhood favorite, Ambar ); and Szechuan...

This week was the first in a couple where we turned our attention back to cooking. The world we are living in, with all of the changes it's bringing--and that it desperately needs?  This is a marathon, not a sprint.  Things were up and down this week for a host of reasons, but we channeled some of the self-care into cooking delicious things. Officina is a beautiful restaurant on DC's revamped waterfront plaza, The Wharf.  We don't get down there often because parking is kind of a hassle and it can feel quite touristy.  But the food at Officina is really delicious.  Awhile back, I noticed they were offering a weekly Provisions box, which included vegetables, meats, breads, and snacks.  The ingredients supported two "cook at home" dishes, and the deal also included two ready-made dishes (moussaka and turkey clubs).  As we closed in on three months at home, it was time to try something new.  This week, the box was Greek themed, after a new restauran...

Rather than share the recipes we've cooked over these past 10 days, I'd like to share some food for thought.  Others have written far more eloquently than I can about what we've seen recent weeks. The inequalities of COVID-19 combined with outrageous acts of violence against Black people, caught on tape, present a powerful wake-up call about the state of racism in the United States.   I hope that as you reflect on the world we live in and what a better one might look like, you find nourishment for the road ahead.  A couple of suggestions: Historian Ibram X. Kendi offers powerful insights and concrete tools to help us have conversations about racism and antiracism in  How to Be an Antiracist .   He did a real service in this week's  discussion with  Brené  Brown on Unlocking Us, providing an accessible introduction.  If you want to talk about what you hear, I'm here. The Mutual Aid movement offers a basis for community organizing an...

I don't know about you, but today was hard.  Technology didn't cooperate, people were crabby, and, in DC at least, it was hot and humid, portending the summer haze to come.  This evening, though, the 9000th Zoom of the day was my niece, Emily's, 4th birthday party!  I didn't have time to bake, so I walked to a treat shop a few blocks over and picked up a couple of cupcakes.  Alice (our bulldog) even wore a party hat.  It added a little cheer to the day, and now Wednesday is a wrap.  Onward! Elote, Beans, and Carne Asada Tonight's dinner brought to you, courtesy of Trader Joe's.  I put the marinaded carne asada in to the immersion circulator, and it cooked at 129 for an hour, and finished with a pat dry and a quick sear.  I also seared some sliced green onions in a bit of vegetable oil, salt and pepper.  Frozen corn was dressed up with a bit of mayo, TJ's Everything but the Elote seasoning, a squeeze of lime, and some of our very persis...

Happy Memorial Day, everyone.  I hope you got some time to remember the sacrifices of others, and to kick off the summer in a safe and enjoyable way.  This weekend was a mix of puttering around the house doing errands and relaxation, as a long weekend should be.  Yesterday, we had socially distant cocktails in the back yard, 6+ feet away from friends Lindsay and Jay.  Baby steps into this new social world.  And we cooked and ate some delicious things. MONDAY My dad makes delicious lemon blueberry muffins. Blueberries from his backyard garden keep the freezer at the ready all year round. These days, I usually get them around Christmastime, with our annual holiday visit.  Today? I just felt like a muffin, and they came together nice and quickly.  I followed the cookbook's recipe with just one modification: adding the zest of one lemon and rubbing in to the sugar until the oils are released. Our oven is split into two parts, with a removable divide...

If one could get in the groove of this whole pandemic thing, this week would've counted.  Work was a busy buzz for both Jeff and myself, and the days flew by. Luckily, our food was taken care of and pretty low-key.  If previous weeks are any clue, there is unevenness sure to come. But I focused on enjoying feeling busy and engaged, and thoroughly did. Today, I decided to sit a couple of sessions of an online meditation retreat with Alexis Santos ,  It was really nice!  His teaching is calm and focused, and I found that I brought extra mindfulness to the chores I squeezed in between.  Pantry:  reorganized and mopped. Yard: weeded and vines trimmed.  Downstairs bathroom: cleaned and I repainted the baseboards (they look much better!).  Tonight?  I'm pooped.  We're settling in for a Movie Night and an early bedtime. I also squeezed in some kitchen adventures today around all the chores. Dim Sum The first time I had dim sum was the su...

This weekend, my sister Erin texted me that they tried something new: Afghan takeout.  My nephew was pleased to report that he didn't like it... he LOVED it.  It's always fun to discover new foods.  In a small world coincidence, we had its near neighbor, Pakistan, on the menu this week.   We were looking forward to this meal, so reserved it as an end to Monday. Lentil tacos for lunch, avocado on sourdough for breakfast. Seekh Kebab and Afghan Sabzi Oven  Seekh Kebab is in regular rotation here; we love the spicy and herb-filled meat and the tangy yogurt sauce, spiked with chili, cilantro, and mint.  I follow the recipe as written for ingredients, but with a few process changes that we think makes it perfect. I like these best after the flavors have melded for a day or even two.  Yesterday, we mixed everything together and set it in the fridge for easy going tonight.   The second note is about texture.  I ignore the instr...

Oof, friends.  I have a real backlog of meals here!  This weekend, we ate really well.  We did very little new cooking to make it happen. In this point, if it's from our kitchen, you've seen it all before. Sunday: Southwest Salad with Taco Lentils, Shrimp & Grits I had a different lentil recipe (Padma Lakshmi's wonderful Pondicherry Lentil Salad ) in mind for this week, but it turned out that I didn't have nearly enough beluga lentils to make it a reality.  So back to the pantry favorite, Post-Punk Kitchen Ancho Lentil Tacos .  Dinner was the warm lentils over TJ's Southwestern Chopped Salad.  The rest of the lentils will make delicious tacos for lunch this week. Jeff took care of brunch, punching up Thursday's Shrimp & Grits , and putting an egg on it.  A stellar start to the day. Saturday: Lobstah Roll! Our once-weekly takeout reflected the 80 degree weather and our desire to have a little adventure.  Defined here, ...