Salad Dressing of the Week: Fresh Oregano and Dijon Vinaigrette

For another step in my continued fight to close down the salad dressing aisle in grocery stores, I’ll offer you a homemade salad dressing recipe each week. Fresh oregano certainly has a pronounced flavor, but actually so much more mellow and herbal and complex than what dried drab green flecks and pizza restaurant shakers have… Continue reading Salad Dressing of the Week: Fresh Oregano and Dijon Vinaigrette

Scallions: Eating within a 10 foot radius

DIY Scallions: 10 days (background) and 36 hours (foreground) of growth.   Full disclosure:  in season or not, I use a lot of scallions.  I love their subtle oniony vibe, pop of color, and exotic feel.  I love their tubey shape and making thin cuts on an extreme angle for geometric garnishes.  I love that… Continue reading Scallions: Eating within a 10 foot radius

Technique Tuesday: DIY Herbal Tea

It always is the case that this time of year is when I finally start to think about drying and putting away some fresh herbs from the garden.  Maybe it is because I am so busy using them fresh in the previous months, or I’m subconsciously trying to put them away as late as possible… Continue reading Technique Tuesday: DIY Herbal Tea

Flower Adorned Ice Cubes

Remember those old lady knickknacks of the late 70s of a flower completely frozen in a globe of lucite?  There were a few geriatric abodes I visited during that era, and those stopped-in-their-tracks flowers were always a fascination.  So perfect and yet so bizarrely frozen. You can make your own, a bit more ephemeral, version… Continue reading Flower Adorned Ice Cubes

Homemade Butter

Ever since the first time I whipped my own fresh whipped cream, I have kept my gaze obcessively glued to it, in dreaded fear of over-whipping and having it turn into butter.  The horror!  Imagine!  And so to this day I anxiously sweat that critical make or break, stiff peak to useless butter, moment. But… Continue reading Homemade Butter

Olive Oil Everything Crackers

Here is another cracker recipe with which to send you off into the weekend! This recipe and the Cornmeal and Chive Cracker recipe from earlier this week contrast each other nicely, and would make a sublime little cracker basket assortment.  This cracker is a little more subtle in flavor and more tender in texture than… Continue reading Olive Oil Everything Crackers

Cornmeal and Chive Crackers

In my ongoing quest to eliminate store-bought processed foods from our kitchen and life, this week I tackled crackers.  There is a long and growing list food items that I no longer even think of not making myself, and yet almost weekly I think nothing of tossing (overpriced) box after box of these crisp vices… Continue reading Cornmeal and Chive Crackers

Lobster Stock recipe

Sweet, elegant, rosy, and full of the ocean, homemade lobster stock grabs my attention like little else.  Having a few quarts of this on hand in my freezer has allowed me, on more than one occasion, to pull a seafood risotto out of thin air for unexpected dinner guests.  I’ll repeat that–pull seafood risotto out… Continue reading Lobster Stock recipe

Blog-y’s first birthday!

My mother and grandmother, 1951. Just a year ago today I published my first blog post.  There have been a bunch of changes over the year (including the name and url), but I am so thrilled where I have landed and am so excited for all that is ahead. In the past twelve months I’ve… Continue reading Blog-y’s first birthday!

Flavored Salt

In honor of last week’s National Popcorn Day, I’ve done some tinkering in the kitchen with flavorings.  My favorite project was coming up with different flavored salts.  It is outrageous that I haven’t done this sooner, and even more outrageous the number of super costly little precious jars of flavored finishing salts that I have sitting… Continue reading Flavored Salt

Edible Gift Series: Make Your Own Cookie Cutters

I just saw this great tutorial on Instuctables.com on how to make your own cookie cutters. Genius idea.  Particularly for hard-to-shop-for-relatives-with-quirky-interests (you know who you are…).  Make a cutter that suits them, whip up a batch of cookies, bundle up said cookies, and tie their custom cutter on top with a big shiny bow for… Continue reading Edible Gift Series: Make Your Own Cookie Cutters