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It Was Savannah, Not New Orleans: One Pot Jambalaya

andouille sausage jambalaya |dailywaffleThe other night Wolf and I were watching House of Cards and talking about Kevin Spacey. We’re doling out the episodes, one per evening rather than gorging on the whole season. When was it that Kevin Spacey broke out? We reckoned it was the trifecta of The Ref, Usual Suspects and Swimming with Sharks that really put him on the map. Two years later, in 1997, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil came out. Now I admit, I haven’t seen this film in years, and really all I could remember about it was that it was set in New Orleans. So I looked it up on IMDB and I haven’t stopped laughing since.  Look at that ‘stache!

It turns out Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was set in Savannah, not New Orleans. Quirky characters walking invisible dogs, antebellum architecture, wrought iron gates, seersucker suits, you can see how my memory might have interchanged the cities after so long. Did my entire opening just get blown up?  Well, whatever. We’re still having One Pot Jambalaya with Andouille Sausage.

Falling in Love Again
library books|dailywaffleOnce the library was where I went for story hour, sitting in a semi-circle around the librarian, listening enthralled as books were read to us in sing-songy, “everything-is-aaaaahhhhmazing” tones, every sentence curled like a springy ringlet. When I could read on my own, it became a weekly stop for the summer reading program, all the books I’d finished logged in careful large print, each awaiting a star sticker at the end of its row.  Later, as a “Volun-teen,” I spent part of the summer in the air conditioned glory of the basement children’s department, shelving books, learning the Dewey decimal system and handing out gold star stickers. Then, like an old toy left behind, I lost touch with the library as a place of reading pleasure. College will do that to you.  The library became a place to study, look up information in the Congressional Record, search articles on microfiche, Xerox stuff and steal kisses in the stacks. You go there when you have to, and for several years, I bought books here and there, without giving the library, college or otherwise, another thought.
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Miso Buttercream
chocolate chip cookies miso buttercream| dailywaffleToying with chocolate chip cookie recipes has started something dangerous. It’s not the just having cookies around…it’s the dough. The current wisdom calls for aging the dough in the fridge for 24-36 hours. But unless you hide it in the back of the fridge, it’s impossible not to nibble. And this is only the first go – a chocolate chip cookie with red miso buttercream.
The Homies: So What’s This DailyWaffle All About?
DailyWaffle montage The About page and the front page of a blog only tell you so much. Really, it's just the last four or five things the author was thinking about -- a snapshot of a few moments in time. With nominations for the Kitchn's Homie Awards under way, this may be the first time you're reading the DailyWaffle, so hi, and thanks for stopping by. So what's the story here?  The DailyWaffle is a not-so daily (more like twice a week) blog focused on modern home cooking, sharing seasonal discoveries and food you’d really make and eat. And that's important.  I'm a home cook and I work a full-time job so I'm aiming for are dishes and recipes  that are accessible and appealing to the home cook. As a consumer of food and food writing, I’m not interested in retreads of basic recipes you’ve seen on Pinterest a thousand times already -- been there, done that, right?  Let's update some of those old favorites.  Let’s use ingredients in a way you might not expect.  That caramel at the top? Made with soy sauce and sugar.  I wouldn't call this an Asian food blog by any stretch, but you'll see a lot of what I share is influenced by my half-Japanese heritage -- it's a mix of American standards with Asian flavors thrown in.
Beet Mine, Valentine
We all know Valentine's is designed to sell roses, heart-shaped candy and chocolates. The beet board really needs to get in on this action. Why not tell someone how much you care with a naturally red food? With Valentine's falling on a Friday you aren't limited to a just salad or dessert. Plan for breakfast…
Lighten Up > King Ranch Casserole

king ranch casserole | dailywaffle

You don't have to buy canned cream of chicken soup.  I'm embarrassed to say this notion only just occurred to me. Instead, I've generally avoided any and all casseroles that call for either cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup.  Chalk it up to the childhood trauma that is tuna casserole (and the extreme amounts of sodium). Continuing that lightning bolt,  you can make what is basically cream of chicken soup – a béchamel with part chicken broth, part milk.  That’s exactly what went down with this King Ranch Casserole.

The Lost Art of Folding Notes
How to Fold a Heart In the time before texting and email and Facebook, we used to pass notes. Not the quick “Do you like me? Check the box,” sorts of notes, but long-form handwritten letters alternately squeeing and agonizing over our latest crushes, where we would sit at lunch, what SHE said about HER,…
Buckwheat Fig Scrolls a la Revolver Coffee

revolver coffee latte counter| dailywaffle

Other than the sunshine that appeared unexpectedly, one of the best things about our weekend in Vancouver, BC was the coffee. Not surprising, right? The wet, chilly weather that dominates the PNW most of the year makes mass coffee consumption a given. What that weather doesn’t require is local roasting and attention to detail in every step of the coffee brewing process. And that’s what you get at Revolver in Vancouver’s Gastown neighborhood.
How to Fold Gyoza
A thousand cranes are said to bring good luck, grant a wish and/or otherwise give good ju-ju.  For our wedding we folded 1,000 red, orange and yellow cranes. When I say we, I mean mostly me, my mom and my aunties. On my lunch breaks at work, I sat in the breakroom, folding, folding, folding. …