Compounding the problem: A bounty of herbs in butter

Compounding the problem: A bounty of herbs in butter

It’s early September. That tiny, cute sage plant you stuck in your garden three summers ago is now the size of a small ottoman, and gosh you feel like an asshole if you don’t use all those luscious, fresh herbs. Right? But one can only do so many summery dishes with sage, which you’re now […]

Kombucha

Kombucha

Kombucha was a “thing” before it achieved superfood status, gave hipsters another reason to carry drinks around in Ball jars, and provided a convenient out for Lindsay Lohan to say she wasn’t hitting the bottle again. This mysterious fermented tea first surfaced in China around 200 BC, made its way to Japan where mothers would […]

Grocery time machine: A 78-year-old circular

Grocery time machine: A 78-year-old circular

My mother-in-law recently found this newspaper circular from Danahy-Faxon grocery stores in Buffalo, NY. The date: August 6, 1936. The copy, illustrations, and prices: fascinating. From what I could find, the 130 Buffalo-area Danahy-Faxon stores were the result of a July 1929 merger of two local family enterprises – a series of meat packing plants and […]

The freeze and the thaw

The freeze and the thaw

This past weekend it snowed enough to soften the edges of the landscape into the easy lines that liken it to a plush, white, lumpy comforter. It’s 12 degrees outside. And I cooked with corn that I met and fell in love with in the sweaty, barefoot soil of August. How? Freezers. Yes, plural.   […]

Corn that has been popped

Corn that has been popped

I have had a popcorn problem for a long time. By problem, I mean two things. 1) I love it, and it’s my go-to snack whenever I’m not really hungry, just craving savory flavors and need something to mindlessly pick at while doing a task that makes me sit my ass in a chair for […]

Good food ain’t cheap

Good food ain’t cheap

Or if it is good and cheap, it ain’t easy. Or organic. Or good for you. Or from around here. That’s a giant blanket statement; let me revise. It’s exceedingly difficult to buy and prepare meals that satisfy most or all of the following important tenets: affordable, tasty, quick, healthy (which encompasses nutrition, saturated fats, […]