turkey chili with zucchini and corn

Turkey chili with zucchini and corn

16 May 2013

I may have finally convinced my mom that I can cook. This year we’re sharing her kitchen, as I’ve temporarily invaded her house with my family of six. Here she cooks far more than I do, and I’m respectful of her domain. Despite being an admirably easygoing personality, my mom is very particular about her food. So mostly I contribute as directed: salads, vegetables, sweets and the occasional meal.

But even though my mom likes to cook what she wants to eat, she enjoys a break too. Her refrain used to be that my older brother was a better cook than I, even though none of us had ever witnessed him cooking – “He has credentials!” (credentials being junior high cooking class). But I think she’s finally over that.

My mom was born in China and grew up in Korea, but surprisingly, chili is one of her favorite meals. So this year I’ve made a lot of variations on my regular turkey chili. I’ve always been too much of a veggie lover for the all-meat Texas variety, and lately I like substituting vegetables for half the beans. In the winter, we fell for the soft sweetness of butternut squash in the spicy mix, but now that it’s late spring, we’re digging the freshness of zucchini.

Of course, it’s a little early for zucchini, but in the heat of August a steaming bowl of chili won’t make sense. So we’re enjoying it now. read on…

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steelhead trout

The future of restaurant food: Silicon Valley cafeterias?

9 May 2013

What would restaurant food look like if chefs actually cared about your long-term health? The restaurant standard of today, in which chefs don’t think twice about melting a stick of butter over your steak, worked in a time when dining out was reserved for special occasions. But in today’s world, where many eat out daily, it’s a desperately outdated model that is contributing to our collective obesity and chronic illness.

The real luxury food of today is a home-cooked meal – fresh, simple cooking made with a focus on both taste and health. But there aren’t too many people you can count on for that: maybe your mom, maybe your grandma, maybe just yourself. I can’t find food like that in restaurants. But I’ve found it in an unlikely place: Silicon Valley’s corporate cafeterias.

No mystery meat or mushy peas, the best Silicon Valley cafeterias offer local produce, sustainable seafood, grass-fed beef and hormone-free dairy, all prepared by professionally trained chefs. It’s restaurant-quality food but vastly better – because the chefs are given a mission to look after the long-term health of their diners, not simply to produce over-the-top single meals. read on…

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red potato asparagus salad

New potato and asparagus salad with lemon-dijon dressing

3 May 2013

We’re having a heat wave in northern California, and it’s got me thinking about summer food. This potato salad, which I love warm or cold, is a dish you will want to remember for summertime entertaining. No mayonnaise or dairy involved, it’s a fresher take on potato salad that can endure the heat. And when spring asparagus season is over, it’s also wonderful with summer’s fresh green beans.

I first had this salad with green beans at my sister-in-law’s last summer, and I made a pretty big dent in her giant bowl of it. The original recipe makes a party size, but I scaled it down for a family dinner. Easy enough to double for a crowd.

This is a really simple preparation: asparagus and potatoes cooked in boiling water, tossed with a lemony dressing and a handful of chives. Fast and easy, as summer cooking should be. read on…

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big traveling potluck btp1

Discovery Wednesday

1 May 2013

My blogging life is usually just me and my glowing laptop screen in the 2 a.m. darkness. This weekend was a happy change. I left my computer at home (which caused me even more separation anxiety than leaving my kids) to attend The Big Potluck, a community-oriented gathering of food bloggers in sunny southern California.

At first it was like attending someone else’s reunion – many people knew each other or came with friends – but I soon found that food bloggers deserve their reputation as a warm and welcoming bunch. Writing is a solitary activity, but this was a generous crowd that celebrates good company as much as good food. This weekend had both in abundance.

The Big Summer Potluck was created three years ago by Pam Anderson, bestselling cookbook writer formerly of Cooks Illustrated magazine, her daughter Maggy, who with her mom blogs at Three Many Cooks, and their friend Erika of Ivory Hut. This weekend’s gathering of 75 bloggers in Murrieta, CA, dubbed The Big Traveling Potluck, was their first event outside the Andersons’ home turf of Bucks County, PA.

When an event is planned with care and good intent – whether it be a party, a wedding, a reunion, or a conference – it’s an entirely different experience than events planned primarily with logistics in mind. Though the logistics of this weekend were flawless – the food, the incredible hilltop settings, the thoughtful agenda – the really amazing thing about the conference was the atmosphere. No business cards were exchanged, or rehearsed elevator speeches. People talked much more about who they are than what they do.

That kind of environment doesn’t happen naturally – it comes from a warm, honest tone, set from the top, that allows everyone below to relax and disarm. Huge props to Pam, Maggy and Erika for creating such a safe haven.

And now for my discoveries…

A smart map app

How did I live without Waze, a mobile phone app that provides real-time, traffic-informed navigation? Not just a map, Waze tells you based on current conditions, the fastest way to get from A to B. Waze gets its information, including drive times, traffic accidents and roadwork, from its user base (34 million at the end of 2012 and growing rapidly). Waze also tells you where the cops are, where the closest gas stations are and what the price per gallon is at each one. read on…

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stovetop asparagus

Stovetop asparagus

25 April 2013

It must be the inner grandma in me that has a thing for unfancy food. I love people’s enthusiasm for ingredient discoveries – smoked paprika! za’atar! pomegranate molasses! – but at heart I’m more of a basics girl than an accessories girl. Fresh ingredients don’t need a lot of dressing up, and my favorite preparations are the simplest ones.

Take this stovetop asparagus, for example. When I make asparagus for a crowd, it’s easiest to roast pounds of asparagus on big baking trays in the oven. But when I make a single bunch, it’s faster and easier to cook it on the stovetop, where I can combine the flavor of a saute with the tenderness of steam cooking.

I start by giving the asparagus a quick turn in hot olive oil, then add a bit of water to make steam. Cover the skillet, and in a couple of minutes the asparagus is bright green and gently tender. To finish, a good seasoning of salt, pepper and a wee touch of soy sauce bring out the full sweetness and flavor of these spring favorites. This saute-steam technique works equally well for other firm vegetables, such as broccoli or cauliflower.

It did occur to me that “stovetop asparagus” is not the most compelling name for a recipe. But unlike the wonderfully creative Deb of Smitten Kitchen, who wants to inspire people beyond the mundane food of daily life, I don’t want food here to be aspirational. The last thing I want is for people to come here and think, “Wow, it’s great that she can make such awesome food.” If people come here and think, “For Pete’s sake, I can do that.” and then actually do it – that for me is success. read on…

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mickey ketchup

Sailing with Mickey

18 April 2013

A week on board taught me why even adult travelers without kids go on Disney cruises and why Disney cruises are so much more expensive: it’s a real luxury travel experience. Who’d have thought? It’s not a natural assumption to think that a boat packed with amped-up kids would demand a Four Seasons-like focus on quality. But the service was incredible, and every inch of the ship impeccably maintained 24 hours a day. Even the bathrooms were sparkly and pristine.

Disney is known as a demanding employer, and there’s no slacking off by the 1500 crew members, who work seven days a week on contracts of up to seven months at a time. Cruise companies register ships in countries with lax employment regulations, and very few Disney crew members (who wear their country of origin on their nametags) hail from the United States. We had huge admiration for the hardworking crew members assigned to our dinner table and cabins – our dining room server, Edward, has three kids under 7 at home in the Dominican Republic, our assistant server, Joy, has a 5-year-old son at home in the Philippines, and our cabin server, Elmer, has an 8-year-old and a pregnant wife at home (when his child is born, he’ll get two weeks to go back).

For crew without kids, life working on a cruise can be a lifestyle choice. Dining room and housekeeping staff work the longest contracts, but higher-ranking employees may work for only four month contracts, with six to eight weeks off in between. Pay is moderate, but with room and board provided and few opportunities to spend any money, it’s not hard to save what they earn. During their long breaks, they can travel home or elsewhere for longer stays than normal jobs would allow for.

The design of the ship – thoughtfully developed over years by a team of Disney’s famed “imagineers” – is impressive too, both an homage to classic luxury liners (curved wood cabinetry, enormous chandeliers, handmade rugs) and a delight of modern technology (there are 22 pieces of artwork on board that can break into Hogwarts-like animation, and cabins without real portholes have video portholes that project a lifelike ocean image). read on…

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Unplugging for a week (and roasted butternut squash)

6 April 2013 Food
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Heaven help me, I’m about to get on a Disney cruise. It’s about the last vacation I would have chosen – I’m deathly motion sensitive and the whole idea of being on a boat for a week makes me feel trapped. When I travel, I want to chart my path, explore new places, eat different [...]

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Maple vanilla Greek yogurt

2 April 2013 Breakfast
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Winter’s apples and oranges are languishing in my fruit bowl now that strawberries are back. We’ve been celebrating early-season berries with strawberry oatmeal shortcakes with maple vanilla sour cream. But lately I’m using Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, which has broadened the concept from a dessert topping to an anytime indulgence. Even when the [...]

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House update

26 March 2013 House
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It’s been five months since the hole in the ground. We had a few exciting weeks after we discovered the basement was a foot too short (a calculation error by the civil engineers, who will have to fix the problem later with a whole lot of dirt). But we’ve been lucky with weather and are [...]

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Hurricane popcorn

18 March 2013 Asian
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I’d forgotten about hurricane popcorn, a ridiculously addictive Asian-fusion snack from Hawaii, until I saw the words “nori popcorn” online recently. And then it all came back – hot buttery popcorn, toasted sesame seeds, crisp bits of roasted seaweed and a bit of sugar – and I had to make it immediately. In college, I [...]

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