Fruit salad? I know. But once I realized I’d been doing it wrong and started doing it right, I can’t get enough of it–especially this weekend since it’s MUCH hotter than it should be out, and my friend Cassandra brought over the most beautiful assortment of candy-stripe figs, berries, and yellow-doll watermelon…. Here’s the thingContinue reading “Letter of Recommendation: Fruit Salad”
Category Archives: blackbird
You Can Take the Girl Out of New Mexico….
Spent the day seeding/peeling and freezing quart bags of green chiles from Snake Ranch in San Antonio, NM (Big Jims and Sandias, saved 2 dozen whole for rellenos!), while listening to metal and feeling blessed to have grown up where I did. Speaking of rellenos, I can’t find a recipe online that’s like the oneContinue reading “You Can Take the Girl Out of New Mexico….”
Letter of Recommendation: Package Recipes
I suppose I went through a short phase, while I was learning to cook, of pooh-poohing any recipe that didn’t come from a glossy food magazine or a chef-y cookbook. But it was a pretty short phase…because I come from a place where Junior League and utility company cookbooks are the bibles of cooking. MaybeContinue reading “Letter of Recommendation: Package Recipes”
Frankenbreakfast Sandwich
Basically this happened because I was craving 3 different things for brunch and decided to see if I could smoosh them all together. Turns out, yep. The first thing I was craving was gyeran-jjim. Specifically, Maangchi’s amazing, amazing spicy version with gochugaru and ground sesame seeds. The second thing was a BLAT, or actually BAT—I’veContinue reading “Frankenbreakfast Sandwich”
Letter of Recommendation: Snack-Dinner
A snack-dinner is something you shouldn’t be eating for dinner but is nonetheless exactly what you need for dinner. Snack-dinners I have loved include Cheez-its and wine, popcorn, chips and salsa, any form of breakfast-for-dinner, and anything in the Korean yasik category (translates roughly “midnight snack”). Buldak (“fire chicken”) is my favorite yasik: it’s riceContinue reading “Letter of Recommendation: Snack-Dinner”
Wright’s Beach 2022
I’ve given up taking pictures at the coast: a two-dimensional image captures so little of the depth and sparkle and whoosh and roar and glow that it feels almost insulting. I like doing watercolors because it’s agreed from the get-go that you’re cropping out most of the experience and presenting an approximation of it–or, you’reContinue reading “Wright’s Beach 2022”
The Kimchi Index
So I just put up a new batch of kimchi, and I felt so ridiculously happy I figured I’d best ponder that for a minute. Here’s the answer: Making kimchi requires enough time and specific resources—ingredients, containers, etc.—that if I can pull it off, it’s a good indicator that I feel settled. That’s why myContinue reading “The Kimchi Index”
“It’s not bad! It’s not good, either….”
I’m still getting settled in back Stateside and trying to get United to give me back my bags that they “mishandled”…. In the meantime, enjoy my new favorite YouTube buddy (spoiler alert, the fish involved is neither poisonous nor particularly ridiculous):
Grateful Eating
This isn’t the same thing as mindful eating, though they’re related. I’m talking about something more specific and at the same time broader–a way of eating that engages me with the bigger picture of how and why I eat. I think if you were brought up in relatively mainstream America, as I was, grateful eatingContinue reading “Grateful Eating”
Berlin is Awesome, Exhibit F: Karl’s Erdbeerhof
So, in May sometime, these adorable little strawberry-shaped kiosks popped up all over Berlin overnight. In the morning, the one down the block from me propped open its awning (even though mine is not strawberry-shaped, alas), and a friendly lady in a strawberry-printed apron started dealing out several really delicious regional varieties, in 500g packagesContinue reading “Berlin is Awesome, Exhibit F: Karl’s Erdbeerhof”
The Rookery 