Tapioca ranks right up there in the Cute and Curious Food category. People may have vague memories (good or bad) of tapioca pudding, but if you’re in the Special Diet camp you probably are quite familiar with tapioca being in the ingredient list of gluten free products.   Tapioca pearls are made from the cassava root, a tropical plant native to Brazil but is widely used throughout the world. Its sticky quality works well for thickening sauces and is a common ingredient in

  Making hominy gets to the core of slow food cooking.  It’s a process that takes forethought and time, and though the concept is understandable the Complexities of Simplicity emerge.  Simple is not necessarily simple.   Pre-Columbian cultures began the practice of ‘nixtamalization’ in Mesoamerica.  It involes soaking the kernels of maize in alkaline wood ash to release protein, calcium, niacin and other micro-nutients, and removes fungal-mycotoxins from stored corn.  They then rinsed and slow-cooked the soaked corn in clay pots and

    Skis without skiers and skis with skiers at the North End Classic. It’s a small but sweet classic-only race organized by the North End Ski club, complete with the Cookie Classic for shorter people.   And while we’re on the subject of ski racing… I’m sure you already know, but this week Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, Alaska) and Jesse Diggins (Stillwater, Minnesota) won the first-ever Olympic medal for the U.S. women, and not just a medal but a GOLD medal, in

  Yes, they really are this color. At least before cooking, but it’s amazing to work with a food that is such a stunning hue!  It made me happy.  This was going to be a post just in time for Valentine’s Day, but the internet access was far away from the coziness of the cabin so we’re going with Valentine’s Week.  Any day can be a good day to make a fun meal for loved ones. There are a few recipes out there for

  The Upper Peninsula sunsets have been spectacular here in the sub-zero air.  This is the view from just outside our cabin, right next to the outhouse that I did not include in the photo—you’ve already seen numerous scenic outhouse photos over the years.  These views, along with the blindingly bright Super Moon or glittering falling snow, make the outhouse treks fairly memorable.  Sub-zero air can be pretty memorable too…     A Skiers Little Helper at the end of

. Something old, something new, something gifted and something almost-but-not-quite-blue. There’s been a lot of great reading here in the North Woods.  Life is good.      Soups! It’s the time of year when a Simmering Pot can be one of your best friends—providing warmth and good smells while slowly transforming ingredients into tasty sustenance, they are our kitchen’s ‘external stomach’ partially digesting our food so we spend less calories on digesting and more calories on having bigger brains.  Healthy as raw

  Spice mixtures, they are limitless! Chinese 5 Spice, Za’atar, Harissa, Shichimi, Jerk, Chermoula…like musical notes creating an infinite number of songs, the combinations and variations of spices are equally endless.   Baharat is the Arabic word for ‘spices’, and spices they are.  Generally the mix includes black peppercorns, paprika, cumin, coriander, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom and cinnamon.  Turkish Baharat usually contains mint, in Tunisia rose petals are added, and other areas might mix in ginger, allspice, sumac or saffron.  I’m

  I came across my post from 2014 that sounded perfect for the simpler meals of post-holiday excess so we’ll give it another go around.  This little recipe was initially from Food Renegade that I made with a few adaptations.  I used canned coconut milk but if you have access to fresh I’m sure it would be divine. I see this mostly as a savory dish but a person could also make this into a sweet lime rice by adding

  I recently came across a recipe for Vegan Nacho Cheese at Brita Britnell’s food blog: Life, One Meal at a Time.  Always looking for special-diet options for catering I gave this a try.  Yum!  I did make a few modifications to increase the creamy factor but it was really quite tasty all on its own without any meddling on my part. This is great as a chip dip if you’re wondering what to make for a New Years Eve

. Beginning in Sälen and ending in Mora, Sweden, the 90 kilometer Swedish Vasaloppet is one of the largest ski races in the world.  Tens of thousands of skiers pilgrimage to Sälen in mid-March to ski, enjoy the spectacle, and some to winter camp along the race course in a good spot to cheer on the racers.  During the week prior to the Vasaloppet between 50,000 and 80,000 people ski the course as a fun family event leading up to