So the original plan was to cook fried chicken wings for the traditional July 4 party, and also to cook omelets for my family for July 4 breakfast (which would have happened on July 3). That of course didn’t pan out, because my cat sitter lost Missy. But I figured I’d post pics from my practice runs and write up my notes and thoughts.
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So on Monday June 29th, the cat-sitter lost Missy. I’m not going into details, because I want this to be a happy post, but the short version is I had to cancel my vacation and fly back home to search for Missy.
Then, one and a half weeks later, on Wednesday July 8th, Missy jumped into my arms and let me carry her back home.
The Oatmeal calls it The Intergalactic SpaceBoat of Light and Wonder. I just call it Pretty Red Supercar. I got my Tesla in June 2014 (a little over a year ago), and I’ve always loved it. And every time I try to drive another car (for example, because I flew to California to visit my family and didn’t bring my car with me), that I was reminded of just how awesome the Tesla really is.
Almost everyone has heard, at some point in their lives, the saying “a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable”. It’s one of those things that sounds clever, but once you really start to think about it, once you start to do some research on it, it starts to unravel really quickly. I want to talk about tomatoes today and how the saying “a tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable” is just plain misleading.
A lot of people swear by cast iron. And for good reason. It gets hot and stays hot, which makes it ideal for searing steaks and other meats. And it’s naturally non-stick, which makes it ideal for sticky foods like eggs and pancakes. (Because let’s be honest, you don’t want to use non-stick pans.
But no one ever talks about stainless steel pans. Stainless steel is amazing in its own right, and sadly incredibly underrated. Here’s why I love my stainless steel pans so much.
(Photo courtesy of Joy)
For those of you who don’t know about Pi Day, March 14 can be written as 3.14, which is pi. Therefore, March 14 is Pi Day. Also, pi sounds like pie, so we celebrate Pi Day by eating pie. But wait, there’s more. This year, Pi Day falls on a Saturday. So I figured, all the stars are aligned, and this year, I’m going to bake a pie and have a pie eating party at my place. Fruit pie or savory pie? Why not both? It’ll be a Double Pie Pi Day, a Pi Day Pie-thon, if you will.
For the apple pie, I started with the crust and filling recipe from Sizzleworks, and eventually, I made enough tweaks to the apple pie filling that I’m willing to call it my own. The chicken pot pie recipe, though, I was inspired by an Emeril recipe from a long time ago, but I re-wrote the recipe from first principles and my own preferences. The only thing it has in common with Emeril’s recipe is they both have shiitake mushrooms.
In the traditional manner, I’ll show you the recipe(s) first, after the cut, then jump into the write-up.
I figured Valentine’s Day was an excuse to cook food. (It’s more personalized than going out to some overpriced crowded restaurant, anyway.) Joy likes fish, and I had a good experience with swordfish, so I figured I’d make her a grilled swordfish.
Monday, December 29, 2014 – It’s a tradition now. Twice a year, every year, when I visit my family in California, I cook them dinner.
