Peaches, blackberries and even local apples are starting to dictate food preservers’ plans. The biannual peach-canning spree with my mother-in-law is slated for Friday. But that hasn’t kept her from filling the freezer with other local fruits, including blackberries I picked, to put up at her leisure. Indeed, strawberries, given the low- and no-sugar treatment [...]
Saturday at Britt Festivals wasn’t just a chance to see one of my favorite artists; it also afforded one of the summer’s first occasions to picnic. Kudos to Britt for still allowing outside food and beverages at its venue. It’s a tradition I always plan to exploit, not least because I have so many garden [...]
Salads are the cook’s defense against cooking in such searing heat. Although a stove or grill is indicated for portions of the recipes that ran with this week’s salad story, lower serving temperatures still have the cooling effect we’re craving this time of year. And while the salads featured in this week’s food section are [...]
Speaking of abundant seafood: A cache of steamer clams narrowly missed their date with my stockpot after a recent weekend at the coast. Seeing those sturdy shells never fails to remind me of my childhood dining at the now-defunct Moe’s restaurant in Coos Bay, where plastic sand pails of steamers were a staple. I still [...]
Several months of adventurous eating were bound to run their course. My 1-year-old son, previously undeterred by most fruits and vegetables, has gravitated to the comfort of white bread washed down with large quantities of goats’ milk. Fairly bland foods don’t make the cut, of course, if their textures are too soft or mealy, as [...]
Recent recipes for red, white and blue foods that ran in A la Carte relied on fairly mainstream concepts for capitalizing on peak-season berries. Even the white fish suggested in this blog’s previous post couldn’t be fresher, as proven on a weekend visit to the South Coast. Calm waters have made for excellent bottom fishing [...]
A full slate of red, white and blue recipes for the holiday weekend was my intent for this week’s A la Carte article. But in a scenario that has repeated itself year in and year out at the Mail Tribune, the more copy planned for the print edition, the more advertising fills the pages, which [...]
I’m calling out cauliflower for my recent curry craving. True to form, the cheddar cauliflower in my garden sized up all at once, leaving me with mounds of gorgeous vegetable matter whose very color suggests curry. Cumin and coriander seeds, on my palate, are some of the most pleasing foils for cauliflower. And roasting is [...]
This week’s steak glossary for grillmeisters acknowledged that the size of steaks isn’t just a show of machismo. A thick steak is easier to grill to perfection. But for backyard cooks who want to infuse their meat with an extra measure of manliness, there’s new fuel for the fire. The image of John Wayne wearing his [...]
Now that a week of family wedding activities has passed, the excitement of World Cup soccer is taking over my household. We shared football fever with some international houseguests for my sister-in-law’s nuptials, in between spa appointments, fishing excursions, pool parties, brunches and Saturday’s big bash. The schedule didn’t leave much time for cooking, or [...]