Twitter Stew

That is what I shall always call this meal: Twitter Stew. I am just learning about Twitter. It is somewhat scary. I have to face that, despite my job as a writer and my Communication degree, I am falling into a generational divide, slightly unable to keep up with internet trends, and I'm just 27 years old. JUST. To the tiny twittering tweens, that's OLD.

Back to the point: I found this recipe on Twitter from @amandahesser, who for some reason or another was posting recipes involving citrus and olives. It was cold and rainy (and continues to be) here in my new home of SF, so a lamb stew with pre-cut butternut squash that I had sitting in my fridge, along with those ingredients, sounded spot-on perfect.

The whole delicious thing took 10 minutes to prepare, then cooked for 30 more, and I'd barely finished catching up with my friend Janelle, who was over for dinner, before dinner was ready. Then, we paired it with an awesome little find from Bi-Rite's frankly very impressive wine selection: 2008 Musar Jeune--a fresh, unoaked red from the culty Chateau Musar made of Cab, Cinsault and Carignan grown on limestone soils. Hearts and stars, and all that.

We don't really have furniture in our new home, just flowery plates and rugs borrowed from the 'rents, so there we are on the floor. See? Moving is fun! SEE??!

----

Note: This MAY soon appear on a new and exciting blog called SameBrightStar Cooks! If my East Coast partner in crime gets on it and cooks this sucker up on Sunday. Here's hoping!

Countdown to Goodbye Bowls

 
The most important part of this picture is not the succulent, luscious free-range chicken thigh nor the saffron-suffused orzo, nor the gorgeous golden sweet potatoes floating in a rich broth of home-canned tomatoes and turkey stock and Moroccan spices.

No. The most important part of this picture is the pale blue bowl that you will not be seeing for much longer, because the somm and I and little Dook Napo pup are leaving NYC in just four weeks. And we will be selling all of our things, including this small set of loveliest bowls that I picked up off the street corner in Soho one day, shortly after spotting the largest pile of feces I've ever beheld. Fond memories, indeed, of these bowls.

So enjoy looking at them for as long as you can, and completely ignoring the insanely delectable tagine--one of the best meals we've ever made in our humble abode--that the somm crafted for me while I worked 13 hours last week.

New York working world: I will not miss you.

Thirst-Quenching Salad Supper

Ohh, what a long afternoon of whiskey and beer and horse racing and betting and hot, hot sunshine will do to you. A giant crystal decanter of cold water couldn't begin to quench my thirst, so I made a salad of all sorts of delicious, fresh and watery items--all conveniently leftover from the day's pan bagna.

Olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, basil, a bit of hard-boiled egg, some olive oil and salt and pepper... a juicy, delicate big salad that hydrated and satiated. "Oh! 'Ello, Summah!"

Lunch to Belmont

Check it. Ça c'est un pan bagna, et ça c'est délicieux! I won't link to a particular recipe for this Provençal creation because there are too many variations, but look it up, and make it, and be happy. We shoved this down our throats on the train to Belmont Stakes with a bit of homebrew, and it was all happiness.

My Clafoutis Brings All the Boys to the Yard

Yiii, that sounds suggestive. Oh, but the clafoutis was so, so good! And I must send sincere to thanks to my darling Cynthia in Belgium for introducing me to clafoutis years ago in our little catering trailer in West Hollywood. Thank you, Cynthia! "It's like a whole stack of crepes piled on top of each other!"

Free pound o' cherries at the Whole Foods plus the requisite eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla extract all on hand meant clafoutis was so easy (that's a nice rhyme).

Ms. J. Child's recipe, to be honest, was a bit overly sweet for my tastes, so I ended up squeezing some lemon juice over the whole show. Next time, less sugar. Oh, and pitting those damn cherries was seriously tedious. Next time, I leave the pits in.

Hey and here's the yummy cous we munched prior! Cleaned the fridge out of kalamatas, arugula, lemon and some parmesan.