Wolf was down in California finishing off Triathalon season over the weekend and I was back at the ranch prepping for the long week ahead. Food-wise, it was a hodge-podge, though I did cook Friday night after living off of enchilada casserole all week. It felt good to get back in the kitchen on Saturday morning and do something that didn't involve sitting in front of a computer. Kneading dough for pita bread and running some errands did me some good. But then that pita really needed something to go along with. Hummus? Mmm, ok, but maybe something else?
"Slightly Gingery. The Ed Sheeran of cookies,” says the sign at Trader Joe’s. Can you guess? Speculoos, aka biscoff cookies. Now, I’m late to the biscoff cookie crazy. I’ve never really flown Delta, which is where a lot of people first encountered a 2-pack of those cinnamony, gingersnappy cookies. Long known in Belgium, those little cookies have been one of the positives airline passengers can point to about flying in the last few years.
Gingersnaps have been a favorite of mine since childhood, thanks to little purple bags of Pogen's cookies. But I never paid much mind to speculoos. I mean, I’ve had a packet of them in my cupboard for the last several months, just languishing. So when I bumped into this blueberry mascarpone tart with a speculoos cookie crust, a light flicked on in my head. Speculoos cookies would be perfect for ice cream sandwiches.
Peeling back the wrapper on a can of refrigerator biscuits and thwacking it against the edge of the counter takes me back to childhood. I’m not talking about the big flaky layer biscuits, I’m talking the cheapest ones – the skinny tube of “homestyle” or “buttermilk” refrigerator biscuits that come 10 to a can. I’ll eat them every which way, but not as baked biscuits. Most of the time, I plunk them on top of Chunky Chicken Noodle soup and let them steam up in a shortcut version of chicken and dumplings. It’s comfort food from childhood that still hits the spot to this day if I’m not feeling great.
On the last day, she came up to my office one last time. I heard her slowly coming up the stairs and then stop in the hallway, catching her breath. She looked around the corner at me and then settled herself -- not on her bed in the usual spot under the window, just adjacent…
Just a couple of weeks ago, I was lamenting the end of summer. Something about back-to-school signals an end to the summer fun, but the truth of it is, it has been a grrrrrrrreat summer in Seattle. Maybe the best one we’ve had in the handful of years we’ve lived here. A long summer of…
It’s Hatch Chile Time. The moment to catch and enjoy them is so fleeting, chile heads across the country are grabbing them up by the case and throwing them into the freezer to last until next year. While we can get them fresh, take advantage. Don’t limit your green chile to lunch and dinner. Go beyond the usual scrambled eggs & chile and give this waffle a shot -- a Masa Waffle with Hatch Chiles, Bacon & Cinnamon Agave Syrup. (That said, this waffle has brinner written all over it, so why wait until next weekend?)
The last few summers we've made an annual trip up to Tofino, situated on the edge of Vancouver Island, about a 4 hour drive from Victoria, BC. It's a great surf spot for Wolf, it's got great hiking and beaches and a concentration of restaurants in Tofino-town. The timing of this year's trip didn't let us (well, at least me) sign off completely, so it ended up being a working vacation. Still great to get away. As it turns out, even after several visits there are plenty of new discoveries still to be made in Tofino.
Ten days ago, our old girl H was trotting on the beach with me and Wolf in Tofino and today she’s back home after a day and a half at the emergency vet. It doesn’t look good. It started with a lack of interest in her kibble, she was wheezy and her breathing was somewhat labored. She coughed a few times and by the end of the trip, she just wasn’t all that interested in going very far for a walk. We got home late and went to the vet the next day.
It always makes me laugh that instant ramen is (dis)regarded as college food. It’s the savior for the days when you’re so broke you drink Keystone Light and survive on a 33 cent pack of noodles. You couldn't possibly eat it because...you like it. But as with so many foods from my childhood, maybe initially…