Also known as ‘Seven Flavor Chile” because there are usually seven ingredients (shichi = seven), shichimi is a Japanese dried-spice mixture that can be cooked into dishes or added at the end for a complex punch of flavor.  Though regions and families have their own ingredient combinations and proportions, most shichimi contains chiles, citrus peel, sesame seeds, and nori.  Other ingredients may include Szechuan peppercorn, black or white poppyseeds, hemp seeds, paprika, salt, ginger and garlic.   I recently picked up a bag of pre-mixed shichimi and was reminded how

  Sanskrit scriptures describe the universe as being birthed from an egg. The term Brahmanda is from two words: Brahm (ब्रह्म) = ‘cosmos’ or ‘expanding’, and ‘anda‘ (अण्ड) = ‘egg’.  The Brahmanda Purana, an ancient Indian text, explains this fascinating concept in great detail.  Good reading while you wait for the weather to warm as we muck through this season of mudliness.    Eggs and Spring.   Along with symbolizing life and new birth, in earlier times eggs were one of the few things available

  Spring veggies are not far off and these miniature bites of goodness will go well with all of them.  Spinach, garlic scapes, asparagus, kale, green onions, peas, watercress, fiddlehead ferns, morel mushrooms—-mix any or all of these delicacies with ricotta gnocchi (and butter!) and you’ll have a seasonal celebration on your table. Gnocchi is traditionally made with cooked potatoes, which are also delicious and a great way to use up your leftover mash, but this version gives more protein

  Full moon in the North Woods from a couple of weeks ago…back when we were blanked by that white stuff called snow.  It’s been an interesting time of skiing in alternating slush-ice-slush-ice-rain conditions during these tropical heat waves, what can you do but enjoy the moment while quietly mourning the early loss of winter. Last week we were invited to a dawn ‘crust ski‘ on a nearby lake (there’s always a nearby lake in Wisconsin).  Usually a spring venture, people monitor temperatures and wait

  More wax!! For any of you partial to vintage ski paraphernalia here is Something Old and Something New in side-by-side Reds: years ago Swedish wax company Lind-Ex changed their name to SkiGo and here they are together. We bought the new SkiGo Red this year because of impending warm conditions, and Scott found a red Lind-Ex kick wax from the early 1980’s in his wax box. I love the SkiGo ski bag in the background of the SkiGo waxes, and next

  The Montreal River…not frozen.   There aren’t many places that can survive a week of temperatures hovering around 40 degrees (F) with multiple days of pouring rain and still have trails with skiable snow.  ABR in Ironwood, Michigan is such a place with their dedication to grooming and building a solid base.  The Upper Peninsula enjoys (most of them do enjoy it) an average of 167 inches (nearly 14 feet!) of snow per year, so fortunately they had some volume to

  Fuzzy diversions! Friends just picked up their chicks for the year and there are few things in this world more adorable than fuzzy babies.  Their nervous peeps filled the room when they first arrived, eventually softening into murmurs as they calmed and settled into to their new surroundings.  They would make a good jigsaw puzzle.   Check out Orange Free Sounds to hear chicks peeping!     Edible diversions. Baked ricotta is an easy dish that feels much more special than the energy it takes to make.

  Fritter me this. You can make a flavorful mash of nearly anything then fry it up and call it a fritter.  British fritters are often coated in a batter before frying, but U.S. fritters mainly consist of main ingredient with some kind of binder (like egg, flour or cornmeal) then are deep fried or pan fried.  Fritters are hugely popular in Southeast Asia, combinations like squash, chickpea and green onion; or yam and banana; or squid dipped in batter; or a mixture of shredded

  The Baltic Blitz continues… Blinis are a holiday treat in many traditions hailing from Eastern Europe and Russia.  In older times they were considered a symbol of the sun because of their round shape and were served at the end of winter to celebrate the coming of the new sun.  That ritual was eventually adopted by the Christians and is now known as ‘pancake week’ or ‘pancake day’ and blinis or pancakes are served on Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) before Ash Wednesday.  

  It’s been a very Baltic few months!   Zeppelins are adorable stuffed potato dumplings often served at Baltic holidays and they have the coolest name around.  We made these cuties for the Estonian Dinner last fall but I have to admit…I don’t have a Lithuanian grandmother therefore I really struggled with these stuffed dumplings.  Later I found some comfort to read online that other Zeppelin newbies have also struggled and I was not alone.   Though there are many versions,