PANTRY – Page 9 – Real Foodies

INSPIRE CHEESE PLATE ENVY on a budget.

A woman with clumpy eye make up, very long fake nails and over processed hair once asked me at a party, "So what did you bring?" and I answered, "The cheese plate." and she said, "well, that's not very creative." To which I replied with a pleasant smile and thought, "you should know broomhilda." I make a lovely cheese plate, I would even say, a thoughtful cheese plate and sometimes a very expensive cheese plate that I fashion from Whole Paycheck cheeses. The line up usually reads as: Brillat Savarin: French buttery triple cream heaven, Uniekaas aged gouda: Dutch, nutty, [...]

By claudia|2018-10-03T10:20:39-04:00May 24th, 2012|

I’LL TAKE MY COFFEE WHITE

My favorite Lebanese restaurant that also holds the title of my favorite restaurant with two locations on one block is called Open Sesame, A.K.A., Open Says Me, in Long Beach, California. I could write several pages on every menu item because just the thought of it makes my my mouth water and my heart sink in longing, but today I am celebrating their white coffee. White Coffee is not coffee at all, but hot orange blossom water with fresh mint. The first time I had it, it seemed weird to order a hot minty beverage with my garlic potatoes, lentil [...]

By claudia|2018-10-03T10:25:15-04:00April 3rd, 2012|

MAC AND CHEESE RIGHT NOW AND PORK SHRINKY DINKS

TJ's mac and Cheese packages I don't have a freezer full of pre-packaged and processed foods, but I almost always have a little frozen tray of Trader Joe's mac and cheese or the reduced guilt mac and cheese for extra guilty days. Stop right there with your judgement. I find that when someone else does something better than I can, and in this case, provides me with some of the silkiest and most delicious mac and cheese that I can make in 3 minutes, my gastronomic self righteousness goes out the window. I had to take a little [...]

By claudia|2018-10-03T10:26:09-04:00March 21st, 2012|

DOES YOUR KALE PREFER DEEP TISSUE OR SHIATSU?

I was inspired to teach a raw kale recipe in my Cooking Matters class after having made some really tasty kale with a delicious lemon pecorino dressing that I found on 101 Cookbooks. The director of the program, Sarah, said, "yah man, make some massaged Kale". I explained that I teach a respectable and rather "g" rated class. She went onto explain that raw kale must be massaged and that massaging this hearty green with a little oil tenderizes the coarse leaves into peaceful submission. I said, "yah, I'm just like Kale". Do you guys remember when Kale was the [...]

By claudia|2018-10-03T11:00:25-04:00February 9th, 2012|

Bi-Rite Market’s: EAT GOOD FOOD: My newest non-fiction crush.

I have a friend who reads cook books like novels. I use cook books for visual inspiration and then usually forget about them. There are exceptions, but that is another post. My current non-fiction crush happens to be a cookbook, and even better, a book where I get to visit the the setting and the characters anytime I want. (during business hours, of course, otherwise it would be stalking) Bi-Rite Market's: Eat Good Food is a story about accepting one's fate, but designing it as well. It is a guide to navigating food stores, to connecting to the people that [...]

By claudia|2018-10-03T11:02:07-04:00January 24th, 2012|