Food, cooking, and travel
Isn’t it funny how you can stumble across the same thing in completely different ways at more or less the same time? A couple of weeks ago, while preparing for my annual St. Patrick’s Day feast, I went on a detour about potatoes in Ireland …
Anyone who has ever read this blog knows that I approach a recipe more as a set of suggestions than a script to be followed. Ingredients, techniques, timings – all are subject to improvisation. There are some occasions, though, in which the details really count. …
Over the past week I’ve written about Irish food in anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day (here and here), which was yesterday. I now feel obligated to let you know how things turned out. In a word – great! I decided to make coddle the main …
A few days ago I wrote a post about the distinction between Irish heritage and Irish-American heritage through the lens of corned beef and cabbage. I said I was, at least for now, more interested in exploring Irish culinary traditions than Irish-American ones. In the …
Yesterday I had a great dinner. It wasn’t perfect because I was dining by myself, my true love being in the wilds of Yorkshire. It was, however, very flavorful, healthy, and simple. In fact, this meal was so simple it only took about 17 minutes …
It’s getting close to St. Patrick’s Day and I’m beginning to plan my menu. In the US, the obvious choice is corned beef and cabbage, the traditional centerpiece of any good St. Patrick’s Day feast in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, or the rest of …
Supermarkets are light years ahead of where they were twenty years ago, but they still aren’t able to provide everything that an adventurous cook wants to use. For a cook, I live in one of the most amazing places possible – South Philadelphia. To start …
I listen to a lot of podcasts. If you don’t know what a podcast is, it’s a bit like a radio show that you can listen to on demand – the equivalent of streaming video but without pictures. My interests are pretty broad ranging in …