February 2011: Recreating my favorite Asian noodles

This is the story of two recipes for Asian noodle dishes I loved in the past and wanted to recreate. One took months to develop the recipe for, and the other took 15 minutes. They’re both ridiculously good.

Thai peanut noodles

As a young Naval Academy graduate, my dad found himself stationed in Honolulu, and as a young dietician with a degree in home economics, my mom found herself experimenting with Asian cuisine when he was home from deployments. I don’t know if her recipe for Thai peanut noodles came from this time (the soft corners of the recipe card suggests it might be), but living in Hawaii definitely made my mom keen to Asian cuisine for the rest of her life. And thank God for that. Growing up, if I saw chicken defrosting in the kitchen sink in the morning, I would delight in learning it was for stir fry or yellow curry or — best of all — Thai peanut noodles. I used to beg my mom to abandon plans to cook anything else.

October 2010: What’s cookin’?

Of all of the reasons why I was excited to move to Los Angeles this summer, my boyfriend was at the top of the list.

Getting to cook, finally, was just below him, followed by having someone to cook for.

Below that, being able to drive my convertible around again, ie to discount specialty, and specialty, grocery stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.

April 2010: 10 ways to enjoy pickles right now

Barrels of pickles at Pickle Guys, 49 Essex between Hester and Grand

1. With a slice of history. Today, New York’s Lower East Side is known for its lively nightlife, restaurants whose hype exceeds their collective square footage, and fashion boutiques I wish were my walk-in closet. But as importantly (and arguably more so), the Lower East Side is home to the history of New York City’s Jewish community, and few gastronomic remnants are left — like Katz’s Deli (1888), Kossar’s Bialys (1936 and the US’ oldest bialy bakery), and, arguably, a few places to buy a great pickle. But whose pickle?

July 2009: Jalapeño infused tequila for spicy margs

Photo credit: Chaidizai

On a rainy day in June –pick one, it rained every day– there came a point when I asked myself how hard it would be to make a spicy margarita at home. I believe that point came when I was going through receipts, balancing my budget, and realizing stock in General Motors was a better investment than where my money had been going.

October 2008: On being home

With two day trips to Charlottesville and three to DC, I’ve hardly been home. But when I am, the theme has definitely been “fun with squash.”