This afternoon we bought some lamb chops at the farmer's market. I've eaten lamb many times but never cooked it, so I was fearful of ruining an expensive cut of meat. (I am always this way when cooking something for the first time ( Read more... )

It's good to get back in the habit of cooking from scratch. Having fresh veggies coming from the backyard is a good goad to get me to do it, too. Having made it to the big East Liberty farmer's market yesterday also means the fridge is full of wonderful but perishable things, and it would be a crying shame to let them spoil ( Read more... )

... at least a bit ( Read more... )

Making chili this morning ... on a whim, and since it's coincidentally the right point of the year to do such a thing, I decided to try starting seeds from the whole dried guajillo peppers I like using in chili. If the peppers are truly just air-dried, then the seeds ought to be viable (although who knows). What the heck: it's free to try. ^_^

Is it strange that I dislike coffee-as-a-beverage but love coffee substitutes like chicory?

Indulge my curiosity!

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I made a lovely soup tonight, red lentils with roasted pumpkin and roasted red pepper, pureed into a smooth soup. Super simple; no seasonings besides what was in the homemade chicken stock* and a spoonful of ancho chili powder. Uncomplicated and impressively delicious!

*I make quite the fragrant chicken stock, though, so it hardly counts as "

I am proud of myself. I MADE GRAVY!

(The important missing detail here is that I am very intimidated by making pretty much any sort of sauce or gravy. Irrational but true.)

Delicious (vegetarian) mushroom gravy completely from scratch.

It didn't even have any lumps.

I really like mustard. I can eat a lot of good mustards in a year. Mmmmmmmustard. :-)

I really dislike toe cleavage. Sandals, whatever. But women's shoes with a foot-opening cut so low that you can see just the beginning of the cleavage between the toes? Eww. :-P

Frivolous low-content posting!

Has it ever happened to anyone else that chili seems to get hotter the longer it's been left over? I swear, this chili was not this hot a few days ago ...