Rice dreams…
On a recent trip to Anchorage, I tried coconut rice for the first time. Tender, creamy, coconuty but in an elusive sort of way. Don't know why I came so late to THAT table. I had to go to Alaska to taste coconut rice??? Next stop in my what-to-blog-about brain: My...
Scary signs: Is cooking over?
A few years ago, I wrote a column in The Honolulu Advertiser of sainted memory on "the dividing line between civilization and savagery" in hotels. The column annoyed some readers no end. They mistook my humor for hubris. Who was I to lay down the law about what...
Moose and bear
My Alaskan vacation was narrated rather oddly in the stilted accent of the Russian spy, Boris, from TV's old "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoon. But instead of "Moose and Squirrel," he kept talking about "Moose and Bear." After a week in Anchorage, I do not think there...
Freezing but fine, especially foodwise
Sorry about the lack of recent postings. I'm not dead, just traveling. And freezing. I'm in Anchorage, where my husband keeps telling me the temperature and I keep going, Huh?, because it's in single digits and I'm just not used to the concept that a temperature can...
Cookbook and me and Jaysha make three
My feet are on the coffee table. Throbbing. My bottom is on the sofa, where it's going to stay. At 2 o'clock today, there was nothing to eat in my kitchen. By 4:30, there was Chinese chicken salad, Shanghai-style gau, banana poi, lu'au leaf dip with taro chips, halo...
‘Moonstruck’ in the morning
We had a "Moonstruck" breakfast Saturday morning — a dish I saw in that 1987 Norman Jewison romantic comedy. You fry some bread, break an egg in the center and pair it with a sliver of stewed tomato. I've since learned there are as many versions of this combination...
Food news to make your teeth grind
I heard some food news on National Public Radio that had me grinding my teeth: The food industry is introducing new front-of-the packaging nutritional labeling: little boxes that show calories, salt, fat, sugar, sodium and fiber per serving. The more detailed food...
An apple-mincemeat . . . mess
Every year at holiday time, I shop the holiday ingredient remainder sales as diligently as many people shop the half-price sales for decorations, gift wrap and such. I buy up all the citron and candied orange peel I can find, because they're my favorites, useful for...
A love affair with leftovers . . . and my cat
"I don't find it tiresome to eat the same dinner four or five nights in a row, and I happen to believe that one of the tastiest things in the entire world is homemade leftover anything." — Farmgirlfare.com Tell it, farmgirl! I haven't cooked a thing except rice since...
Fantastic foxy cookies . . . and more . . .
I'm always a few months in arrears on movies because, years ago, my husband and I decided we'd spend our movie money on HBO and interactive cable. We only go to the movies when one of us just...can't...wait. Not often. So the other night, my husband and I stumbled...