Like any healthy adult, I hate going to the grocery store. It’s tiring, especially with two kids in tow, and it means a lot of waiting in lines, lifting heavy things and dealing with parking lot traffic. So about once a week, I find myself pawing through my refrigerator and pantry,...
Eating New Orleans W...
posted by Dacia
On a whim, we recently tossed the kids in the car and headed east, specifically to New Orleans. We left the 100+ degree convection oven that is Austin in August and headed for the almost as hot and infinitely more humid swampland. And we had a blast. I was mostly excited about the culinary...
Tofu and Peas in Lem...
posted by Dacia
We’re going into month three of daily over-100-degree temperatures here in Austin. So I was kicking myself the other night when I made meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner. An oven set to 450 degrees plus a hot stove top equals a sweaty cooking, and eating, experience. And a...
From Pyramid to Plat...
posted by Dacia
The food pyramid, which the USDA first rolled out in 1992 is gone. It looked like this when I was a kid: It’s been replaced with “My Plate,” which looks like this: I can see that this is an improvement. I mean, just from a design standpoint, the new plate seems much easier to get...
Summer Tomato, Basil and Cheese Tart
posted by Dacia
Nothing angers me like a pink tomato on my plate. I seriously get livid when I order a sandwich or a salad and see an unripe sitting on top of my meal. I want to walk back into the kitchen and ask the chef Why Bother? Unripe tomatoes aren’t juicy. They have no flavor. If a chef can’t get her hands on a ripe one, why not just leave it off? In the winter, we don’t eat a lot of fresh tomatoes in our house. But in the summer we make up for lost time in a big way. Firstly, we drink a lot of gazpacho. But will my kid eat gazpacho? No. No, she won’t. As much as Neko loves tomatoes, she still refuses to eat soups or purees...