All posts filed under: recipe

Tagliatelle with Caramelized Orange and Almonds, plus Seared Duck Breast

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I’m beginning to think that there’s some literal truth to this March Madness thing. After a month of family bulls%&t, food failures, photography failures and fights with The Husband I’m really ready to throw in the towel on the month of March. And to think, the month started with so much promise! The weather has been perfect. Absolutely beautiful. It hasn’t even been windy, which is really weird. For once, I had written out a calendar of ideas and recipes to post. And then, as if on cue by a Soothsayer, the Ides of March brought with it a firestorm of crazy. I’ve had quite enough, thank you. Last year in March it was the same thing.  Are any of you having a rough month as well or is it just me? This recipe is probably the one good thing that came out of this lousy month. I was driving to work one day, listening to The Splendid Table podcast, completely engrossed by Lynn Rosetto Kasper’s soothing voice as she coached violinist Joshua Bell through this recipe …

Easy Avgolemono Soup: Greek Chicken Soup with Lemon and Egg

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I live in the desert, where we get less than 4 inches of rain per year, so anytime it rains it feels like an event. When the forecast calls for rain, I immediately go through the five stages of a desert dweller: First, there’s Doubt. I simply cannot believe that it’s going to rain any time soon because the sky is blue right over my house and it is sunny. Hope. A raindrop falls. Then two, then three. Sometimes the rain evaporates before it hits the ground. Yes, this is actually a thing and it has a name: virga. I cloak myself in cautious optimism in hopes that this little bit of moisture will coalesce and become precipitation. When the rain actually starts to hit the ground and the drops come in fast succession I feel myself getting a little excited, which leads to…   Collaboration. This is usually characterized by rapid fire text messages to family and friends: “Is it raining at your house?” “No?” Words of encouragement are sent in reply: “I think the clouds are moving your way!” I check …

The Best Vanilla Tapioca Pudding

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This was supposed to be a recipe for scones. I had all of the right ingredients: the good organic milk, the heavy cream, fresh blueberries, buttermilk and sweet cream butter. In case you’re curious, I had planned to make either this beauty from Tartine or this one from Sally’s Baking Addiction.  I couldn’t go wrong with either one. Bright and early Saturday morning, I stood in front of the refrigerator and the urge to bake just left me. We both had a laundry list of chores for the day–I was still on my wild decluttering tear (still am!) and The Husband had his own list of honey-do’s to accomplish. Hauling out flour and grating butter was a little more than I could fathom so I declared scones a Sunday project because time was ticking and there is no shorter day of the week than Saturday…Sunday being a very close second. Sunday morning came and went and I still hadn’t made the scones. To me, Sunday breakfast requires bacon and eggs, toast and orange juice (I’ve never been able to get …

This Orderly Conduct: Reorganizing my Closet, plus A Stellar Grain Bowl

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I recently came to the realization that my house is completely out of order. It all started a couple of weeks ago when I completely forgot about a pair of tickets to see Ira Glass performing at the Smith Center. Those tickets weren’t cheap and I’d been looking forward to the show for months. The day of the show came and I spent the day baking cakes and making bolognese, totally oblivious to the date. Ten minutes before the show was to start, I found myself standing in the kitchen, dressed in flour-dusted sweats, staring in shock at the reminder on my phone. I have never completely forgotten an event like that! I felt like I was going to be sick. The next clue came when I found a long-forgotten medical bill under a pile of papers on my desk that I had set aside to investigate. But the straw that broke the horses’s back, was the Thing I Found in the Pantry. It was an unidentifiable mass in the bottom of the box where I keep the potatoes and …

Elk Kofta B’siniyah with Tahini Sauce

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  If you’ve read my About page, you might remember that I told a little story about eating squirrel. I was born in North Carolina, and though I wouldn’t call my hometown “the country”, my grandmother’s house, where I spent most of my time, butted up against a woodsy area that I don’t think was owned by anyone. It was just “the woods” and it was where I would pick blackberries in the summer and where my teenaged uncle would hunt. On Saturdays he would take his BB gun and venture out to the woods and come back a few hours later with a rabbit or two. My grandmother would clean his catch and cook them up, usually in a simple fricassee. In fact, she actually called it “fricassee” (the first food term I learned) and it must have been her signature dish because it’s the only thing I ever remember her making. The day my uncle brought home the squirrel was forever seared in my memory because I saw it in my grandmother’s 1970s avocado-green sink, skinned and looking very much …

Molly Wizenberg’s “Winning Hearts and Minds Cake”

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This week, I decided to bake a cake. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I am not a big dessert lover, but this is a special occasion because next week, The Husband and I are getting married! It probably looks funny that I just said that, but he has been my husband all along. We have been a couple for nearly a decade, although we’ve known each other for even longer. We met way back in the early 1990’s when both of us were fresh out of college. We bonded over our shared love of books. He wanted to be a writer; I had dreams of working in museums and restoring art. Fast forward 20 years and we’ve been through thick and thin; richer and poorer. Through my weird and terrifying illnesses, he’s been by my side. Through his very stressful job that took him all over the country every week for years, I’ve held down the fort. We’ve been through the fire so often our molecules have fused and we are made stronger for it. He knows me better …

Ottolenghi’s Stuffed Grape Leaves and The Importance of Suckitude

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  I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching lately. I recently saw this video of NPR host and producer Ira Glass, wherein he is speaking about storytelling and sharing about how long it takes to become good at something. It really got me thinking about how I approach my writing and my photography. First let me back up. I would be remiss if I didn’t first explain that I feel like I’ve had a little bit of a breakdown over here at Salty Sweet Life.  I mean, it’s kind of been the elephant in the room, so to speak, or at least that is how I perceive things. It all started in May when I went to a photography workshop with Todd and Diane of White on Rice Couple. The workshop was really amazing. Almost three full days of intensive photography work learning from a couple who really are the best in the business. I took some of the best photos of my life during that workshop and I learned a lot. I came home, ready …