photo by David Cavagnaro Squash, potatoes, onions, coconut milk, herbs, chili and curry paste…that’s what I had so we’ll see where this goes.  It could be good.  This dish was an experiment on a chilly afternoon and though it probably dips into the ‘vague recipe’ territory, I think you can handle it.   A Gratin generally consists of root or firm vegetables with cream baked in a a shallow dish with a browned topping of breadcrumbs and/or cheese, or perhaps lately it’s morphing into just ‘something baked in a

  An extraordinary project has been happening in our little town this year. Our resident English stone-guru Ted Wilson is building a dry-stone arch bridge with the help of Sean Smyth from Missoula, MT who travels around the country working on complex stone projects like this.  Dry-stone is an ancient building method that uses no mortar.  Dry-stone bridges have been built for centuries—the stones need a trapezoidal shape and a tight fit, then the arch holds its shape by only the pressure of the stones against each other.  Sound formidable

  Last spring we visited Mike’s Meat Market in Eau Claire, Wisconsin for some of their legendary bacon and spent time admiring their mighty cleaver collection.  Maybe a bit gruesome if you’re not a chef…but you have to admit they tell a story of how we eat (apologies to the vegetarians).  The knives were high on the walls so it was hard to get a great photo, but you get the idea.     These are from the days when all blades were

  This is a full-flavored simple soup for a fall day, and especially great for the dreary chill that arrives in this part of the northern hemisphere as we shift into late October.  And it’s orange.  That should cheer up nearly anyone.     I roasted and froze corn in August and was happy to use it up in this soup.  Fresh corn would work well too—it might not have the roasty flavor but it would make a smoother puree than the

  Once in a while during my occasional extrovert phases I would love my hair to be this color of deep, rich, delicious, Carmine red.  I looked up the many shades of red to find the best name for this particular color of paprika and Carmine from the aluminium salt of carminic acid was the closest match.  This photo is of the sauce before the sour cream is added which gives it a lighter hue, then it becomes more like a Carnelian Red or Venetian Red.   You can also dye eggs

  Judging from the cleaned and possibly licked-out ramekins we cleared from the tables at the end of the night I think this cheesecake may have been the favorite course of September’s Estonian Dinner.  Creamy with a hint of tang, it’s great with a fruit sauce or ‘kissel’.   These buddies are on the table waiting to be kisseled for the dessert course.  We sampled the ‘extra’ cheesecake earlier in the week, and though it was delicious by itself we also discovered

  Our monsoon rainfalls in the upper Midwest this summer have resulted in a bumper year for mushrooms….we take those silver linings whenever we can.  The Northeastern U.S. on the other hand has probably experienced a crummy year for the moisture-loving fungi, I believe the Midwest has squeezed every drop of Wetness out of the air and left none for them.  Sorry folks, we would truly love to send some of this excess precipitation your way.   Here we see a pile of adorable Oysters, Miniature Puffballs, Entaloma

  Every time my friend Dennis Larson hosts his Symra evening and dinner he chooses a different Scandinavian country or culture.  Other years have highlighted Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, the Sámi, the Vikings, the Faroe Islands and many more.  This year spilled into the northern Baltic country of Estonia with its strong Finnish, Swedish and Russian influences, and the fun began as we researched numerous foods and recipes.  He’s good at stretching my culinary boundaries.   The dinner was also on a full moon lunar eclipse

  Green and creamy-frothy on the tables of our favorite little Mexican restaurants, we have spent many a delicious moment speculating about the ingredients of this green condiment.  Emulsified oil, figured that out.  Some kind of chile, yep.  And beyond that we weren’t sure if there was lime, vinegar, mayonnaise or avocado…but just kept on eating regardless of the speculations. This is different than a tomatillo salsa verde which is also incredibly yummy but not as creamy.  Sometimes this sauce

  We recently spent a number of days at the Solarium Hostel in Ft. Collins, Colorado.  A tropical indoor commons, large shared kitchen, yoga in the basement, a stream and bike path in their back yard…this was a great place to hang out and meet people from around the world while making your breakfast before touring the breweries, eating at the pay-what-you-can FoCo Cafe, or heading to the mountains.  They even have adorable bikes you can rent for touring this