The Kitchn’s Cooking School Lesson 13: Sauces I would love to learn to make the mother sauces like the bechamel and the hollandaise, but the weather’s been so warm and humid that I haven’t been in the mood for something rich. I’ve made mayonnaise and currently have a store-bought jar in my fridge. I’ve made…
Tag: Cooking
One Week and Two Pots of Beans
The Kitchn’s Cooking School Lesson 11: Beans I always feel a huge sense of accomplishment when I have spent a few hours cooking something that I can eat or use as a base for other dishes for the rest of the week. Last week, it was red kidney beans. I really went back to the…
The Season of Mush
The Kitchn’s Cooking School Lesson 10: Rice and Grains It is cold now in Bangkok, at 23 degrees Celsius (74 degrees Fahrenheit). But I made risotto on Saturday when it was 10 degrees warmer. I already had a dirt-cheap bottle of white wine with a respectable-looking label design sitting on the table and the second…
Another Kind of Cook
I haven’t cooked anything complicated in my kitchen or for this blog. But I’ve definitely made recipes that require me to use a pot, a pan, and sometimes maybe the oven tray—recipes that take an hour or more to prep and execute. Sure, they are simple recipes, but not all of them are quick to…
Perfection Found, Almost
The Kitchn’s Cooking School Lesson 5 Little by little, I’m getting back to my usual way. First work, then cooking, then exercising, then meditation, and now, finally, The Kitchn’s Cooking School. Where did we leave off? Ah, yes, the lesson on poultry. I’m just so glad that I’ve finally found the perfect way to cook…
On First Drafts
It’s been difficult to get words on the page lately. I’ve mostly been composing in my head, but for whatever reason, my thoughts, words, and sentences are accompanied by a nagging sense of fear and guilt. I did punch out two theatre reviews a few weeks ago. But I’m also working on a story that…
A Loving Food Memoir
I just finished reading Molly Wizenberg’s first book A Homemade Life. And what’s not to love about it? Most of us with a food obsession probably know Wizenberg. I first heard of her blog Orangette back in the mid- or late-2000s. I checked it out briefly, without bothering to find out who the blogger was….
My Father’s Salad Dressing
My father didn’t grow up cooking. And this salad dressing is his one and only culinary legacy. His one and only recipe. It has been in our family for almost three decades. And since his death almost eight years ago, it’s become a reminder not only of the level of his culinary skills, but also…
Braver With Beans
Last evening, I came home from grocery shopping and almost immediately began to cook my dinner. A very simple one of boiled broccoli, flattened with a spatula and tossed in a pan with spaghetti, olive oil, and garlic, and sprinkled with Parmesan. This morning, just to put something in my stomach before my morning workout…
How I Cook
Before we go any further, I think you should know how I cook, where I am at in my cooking, and how I grew up cooking, or not cooking. So here we go… 1. I am not a good cook. Yet. But I’m working toward becoming a great home cook, not necessarily MasterChef-level great, because…
Long Way Down
My family used to drive everywhere like there were no other modes of transportation. When my siblings and I went to boarding school in Quebec, Canada, we stuffed the back of our car with suitcases and drove up from our home in Maryland semester after semester. When I went to college in Boston, we drove….
Eat, Read, Record 