Who knows what we'll do or where we'll be next
GROWING UP, WE HUNG OUT IN Dad's shop a lot. While he was busy building, repairing and usually swearing, we would tinker on our own projects, invariably getting in his way (this may or may not have been at least partly responsible for his profanity). Dad recycled everything. So he always had an old 3-pound …
IT IS QUITE LIKELY the most ubiquitous condiment in American households. Whether you call it "ketchup," "catsup" or "catchup," you likely have a bottle or two adorning a refrigerator shelf at this very moment. Americans love the stuff and that's putting it mildly. Somehow, per capita consumption is 71 pounds a year. I know I …
Having successfully produced a few batches of baguettes, the quintessential French bread, I decided it was time to take on its Italian counterpart: ciabatta. The history of these two loaves is fascinating and underscores the friendly culinary competitiveness between the two nations. The baguette has been around since the French revolution. Bread was a mainstay …
Continue reading "The Battle of the Breads: Wands vs. Slippers"
IT HAS BEEN QUITE SOME TIME since we have posted here and we have a good excuse. Amid the pandemic, raging wildfires, heat waves, economic mayhem and political strife, we left (escaped?) the hustle and bustle of downtown Los Angeles for a sleepy suburb in Ventura County. It seems like only yesterday that we were …
THE STREETS OF DOWNTOWN Los Angeles are empty. The stores are closed. The museums are quiet. The tourists have disappeared. But the wildlife, for the most part, seem quite content to be the only hustle and bustle around. Each morning, when the sun peaks above the skyscrapers to illuminate our little window garden, the bees …
Continue reading "Let me tell you ‘bout the birds and the bees"
ABOUT A YEAR ago, Sherry and I were in a small town in Minnesota staying at a Residence Inn. It was your typical chain hotel with nondescript rooms. But this place had quite the happy hour. It wasn't the friendly service or copious amounts of alcohol that impressed us the most, though. It was the …
When you have lemons, the saying goes, you make lemonade. And when you have potatoes -- and lots of them due to a clerical error in ordering online (5 bags vs. 5 potatoes) -- you start to get creative. Potato chips -- or crisps if you are British -- had always been on my bucket …
This is our view of the tip of the San Gabriel Mountains, touched by a bank of clouds on a recent sunset. This panorama is visible from our apartment in downtown Los Angeles. In the other direction, we can see all the way to Long Beach. On a clear day, we get a tiny glimpse …
WE use ginger. Lots of it. We make ginger ale, and ginger tea. We cook a multitude of Indian, Mauritian, Chinese and Thai dishes. Ginger is a necessity for these cuisines. But let's face it: peeling this root is tedious. The etymology of the word "ginger" (or should I say the root word of the …
Sherry & George 