Here's my version of a traditional central Italian "midnight snack" pasta:

• Cook spaghetti until toothily al dente, then tossing with a little olive oil after it has been rinsed off and transferred to a bowl
• While the pasta is cooking, begin simmering anchovies -- I used two standard-sized cans -- in olive oil
• Add crushed red pepper and garlic to taste
• As the mixture starts to thicken to the point of not sliding easily across the bottom of the man, add a little white wine to deglaze it, turning down the heat until the sauce is barely bubbling
• Toss in a few handfuls of raisins and about half as many capers
• Add the juice of two lemons
• As the sauce thickens to the consistency you desire, grate pecorino romano cheese
• Once everything is done, sprinkle the cheese over the pasta liberally, then toss with the anchovy-raisin-caper sauce
• Try not to eat as much as I did tonight

Although the combination of salty, sweet and sour flavors might not seem like a good match for the cheese to some, I was overwhelmed by the heady savor of the combination.

Tags: everyday, food, recipe
Current Location: 85704
Muse: a memory of the aria from La Wally that is featured in Diva

I've recently discovered the virtues of cod, which retains a fine texture even after it has been frozen and thawed and tastes -- and smells -- divine when coupled with olive oil. My daughter loves it, which means I can cook one meal instead of two. Plus, I can conjure the illusion that I'm eating salt cod in a sea-sprayed Mediterranean locale.

Tags: everyday, food
Current Location: 85704

I had a vegan brunch yesterday. Not being a big fan of "cheez," I ordered mushrooms stuffed with risotto, only to find that the rice had been simulated by tofu as well. Now, I really love tofu, when it's prepared as tofu. But I find the practice of using it to approximate as many foods as possible, whatever its noble Buddhist lineage, highly annoying. As I told Joel and Rich, vegan cuisine of this sort might as well come with an announcement thanking the support of Archer Daniels Midland. At least the mushrooms were mushrooms.

Tags: food, rant
Current Location: 98107

The fact that the McDonald's here are promoting their new range of espresso drinks alongside their new wi-fi service seems deeply ironic, given the fact that we once used to refer to Starbuck's, back in the 1990s, as an alternative to McDonald's for those who wanted a somewhat more sophisticated place to find food, beverages and bathrooms while making pit stops on road trips. It's like there's a vanishing point for taste publics which, in this time of economic anxiety, is skewing down.

Tags: food, taste
Current Location: 98107

I made the following rice dish to accompany lamb chops last night. I think it falls into the pilaf category. Even if it doesn't technically fit, though, the results are similar. Please note that I used a rice cooker with a removable aluminum pot. The recipe would change if you were using a different rice-making technique, though not the ingredients. Besides, everyone should have a rice cooker: they save time and stovetop space:

• Coat the bottom of the rice cooker's pot with olive oil and place it on a stovetop burner at the lowest possible setting
• Add liberal portions of chopped cilantro and garlic (I used the redoubtable Israeli frozen cubes of each that Trader Joe's sells, in order to save time)
• Stir and add crushed red pepper and cumin
• Turn off the heat and add the rice you have measured out to the pot
• Mix the contents of the pot until the cilantro is evenly distributed and every grain of rice is coated with a sheen of oil
• Chop some lightly salted cashews until they are the consistency of the sprinkle topping on an ice-cream sundae
• Add the cashew pieces to the pot and mix thoroughly
• Add a few handfuls of raisins to the pot and mix them in as well
• Add the water you would normally use for that amount of rice (i.e. don't add extra water) or perhaps eve reduce the amount very slightly
• Cook the rice in the rice cooker and enjoy the delicious aroma coming from the pot
• When the rice is done, spoon it out onto a plate and mix in pieces of crumbled feta to taste
• Serve lamb chops over top of the rice with a little mint jelly and perhaps a few pieces of fresh mint as well
• Bask in the gustatory goodness

I think this may be my best rice concoction yet. Cashews were an inspired choice, if I do say so myself. Please note that the salt that they and the crumbled feta provide takes the place of any salt you would otherwise add to the dish.

Tags: everyday, food, recipe
Current Location: 85704
Muse: Amphetamine - Rocket From The Tombs - The Day the Earth Met the Rocket from

Cadbury Creme Eggs are back in stores for Easter. But the pleasure the prospect of eating them to the point of personality crisis is substantially compromised by the fact that I recently had a few Cadbury Creme Eggs for Valentine's Day. I'm reminded of a poem I wrote back when I still had hair:

"Even the Cadbury Creme Eggs here know no time. . ." Sometimes there's a reason for seasons.

Tags: autobiography, food, humor, poetry
Current Location: 85704

Tags: everyday, food, travel
Current Location: 40204
Muse: "Whole Lotta Love" at the Highland Coffee Company on Bardstown Road

Tags: autobiography, food, photography, travel
Current Location: 40213

Last night I made barbecue. I didn't have time to make a sauce from scratch, so I decided to "hack" a store-bought source and use up a number of almost-empty items in the pantry. The result was pretty tasty and felt almost homemade. Here's the recipe:

• Empty two containers of Kansas City-style -- thick and sweet -- barbecue sauce into a saucepan and turn on the heat to medium. I used Trader Joe's "Natural Barbecue Sauce."
• Add a shot glass -- or two -- of scotch, bourbon or other hard liquor of the "brown" sort. I used one of Seagram's and one of Applejack, which had been biding time in our store of supplies since a Thanksgiving dinner back in the early 1990s.
• Add a can of tomato sauce.
• Add the equivalent of six garlic cloves. I used the Israeli frozen cubes from Trader Joe's.
• Add a tablespoon of vinegar. I used apple cider vinegar.
• Add two tablespoons of a liquid sweetener, such as molasses or honey. I used this neat product I found at Trader Joe's last night, Blue Agave nectar.
• Add a teaspoon of soy sauce.
• Add a teaspoon of Tabasco sauce or equivalent.
• Add more red chiles to taste. I used this thick Thai-style chile sauce that Trader Joe's is presently selling, which gets its viscosity from tapioca. It worked great, because it didn't need to be reduced.
• Add the juice of one lemon.
• Slice two or three more lemons so that there are four slices per lemon. Put the slices into the sauce.
• Simmer until the liquor has given up its alcohol and the sauce has the density you desire.

The best thing about this sauce is that it really clung to the ____ I was grilling. Maybe the tapioca in the chile sauce helped. But it was like barbecue napalm.

Tags: food, recipe
Current Location: 85704
Muse: the sound of Thing Two in the cat box

I just finished eating my portion of what turned into a delicious -- and easy -- dish, invented this evening while I unsuccessfully tried various spells to make the kitchen floor clean itself:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (or whatever the equivalent is in more ten-centric places)
• Get out a relatively deep oven-safe dish with a lid, such as a Le Creuset cassarole or, for the more impecunious, one of the larger white Corningware products
• Cut up two onions and place in the bottom of the dish
• Peel and section four or five tangerines and add to the dish
• Add a goodly number of raisins to the dish as well
• Dust liberally with cumin and lightly with "sweet" spices such as mace, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg
• Add ground red pepper according to your preference
• Splash with white wine, taking care not add too much liquid
• Add a few drops of almond extract, if you have it, or perhaps some amaretto or another nut-based liqueur; I did the former myself
• Mix everything in the dish together as evenly as possible
• Arrange the pieces of a cut-up chicken over top of the mixture
• Cut two lemons in half, squeeze about half of their juice over the chicken pieces and their bed, then place the four lemon halves upright inside the dish, spaced evenly apart
• When the oven is preheated, place the dish in the oven -- leaving the lid off -- and turn it down to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
• Cook for approximately twenty-five minutes per pound of chicken
• Meanwhile, prepare a rice dish. I used a rice cooker and a mixture of white, brown and wild rice, which went very well with the main course
• When the chicken is done -- the innermost portion of the breast should register 180 degrees Fahrenheit on a meat thermometer -- turn the oven off and place the cover on the dish
• Let the chicken gently "stew" for another twenty to thirty minutes in the still warm, but turned-off oven
• Remove from the oven and serve
• Be sure to scoop liquid from the bottom of the dish, as well as the tangerines-onions-and-raisins mixture, and spread over top of the rice
• Say "Mmmmmmm" as you consume the dish and, if you want, send me a psychic murmur of thanks

This recipe is good enough that composing this entry made me crave seconds, even though I'm full. And perhaps even thirds!

Tags: everyday, food, recipe
Current Location: 85704
Muse: the thrum of Tartit in my memory banks

Tags: food, humor
Current Location: 85704
Muse: Cold Son - Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash

Not only did I receive a set of those Perfect Pushup do-dads for Christmas, I have also discovered that adding a little Frangelico -- or similar liqueur, I imagine -- prior to steaming the milk for an espresso beverage results in a finished product capable of blurring my edges for an hour or two.

Tags: everyday, food, health, holiday, humor
Current Location: 85704

Last night I made Skylar and myself hot chocolate using Hershey's unsweetened cocoa and the recipe on the box it came in. Because I intended to steam milk with the espresso maker -- we've all become big fans of the foam -- and mix a little more of the condensed milk remaining from Thanksgiving pie-making in with the 1% I usually use, I only used half the sugar the recipe suggested. It came out perfect. I'd forgotten how tasty something that simple can be. High-end drinking chocolate is all well and good, but the traditional Hershey's kind is hard to top.

Tags: food
Current Location: 85704

I went for my longest run in Tucson this afternoon, about six miles, with the return home primarily uphill. I was hoping that the exertion would make it easier for me to indulge in our delayed Thanksgiving feast. Sadly, though, my eyes still proved much bigger than my stomach. I simply can't eat as much as once did. I could only manage a single piece of pie, for goodness sakes. And now I'm faced with the prospect of having to go on another long midnight bicycle ride to compensate for the conviction that, despite failing to consume as excessively as I wished, I still feel like I exceeded my limit. Trying to be healthy can be highly frustrating.

Tags: food, health, holiday
Current Location: 85704