“So, for lunch tomorrow, I was thinking we could go to Din Tai Fung,” our friend Dan said casually as he drove us away from downtown Portland.
This was in February, before things got crazy. Before fear and anxiety threatened to vanquish calm and reason. Before everything was turned upside-down by the novel coronavirus pandemic. I like to remember that period of time. Concentrating on it makes me calmer.
Read MoreThe fear of coronavirus was palpable in Portland, Oregon.
Friends told us that the dim sum place where we took turns nabbing bite-sized wonders was normally twice as full. Famed Taiwanese dumpling restaurant Din Tai Fung didn’t have a wait. Even the Portland Japanese Garden had ample parking on a Sunday.
Much though I dislike crowds, this was thoroughly disheartening. Frankly, my bigger concern was catching a stupid cold from someone coughing near me on the plane. When I admitted as much to our friend Carol, she said that she swears by elderberry syrup to boost resistance.
Read MoreHanging out with friends from around the world has taught me many things. One is that Americans sure do love foods that are intensely sweet and salty. Think chicken and waffles, fluffernutter sandwiches, and chocolate peanut butter cups.
So it’s no surprise that, as a nation, we can’t get enough of General Tso’s chicken. However you want to spell it in English and whatever its connection to the actual military man from Hunan province, this syrupy dish that combines fried chicken with blanched green broccoli florets is ridiculously American.
Read MoreThe Martha Stewart recipe promised soft, chewy caramels. I’d never made caramel in any form before ever, and followed the steps precisely using a handy candy thermometer.
But the solid brick that resulted was no match for the sharpest knife in my Colorado kitchen. Utterly crushed by the wasted ingredients and effort, I blamed myself. Must have done something wrong.
Read MoreI was a weird little kid, as anyone who knew me growing up could tell you. For my birthday, the biggest treat was going to a restaurant downtown, now long gone, and having the French onion soup.
Carbur’s was all dark wood and 1900s ephemera. Tabletops featured old newspaper drawings of ladies with Edwardian hair and dapper men riding penny farthings. For a PBS Mystery-obsessed tween, the place was bliss. At cake time, the servers brought it over while playing assorted musical instruments.
But the best part was when the small brown earthenware pot covered in a thick crust of melted cheese arrived.
Read MoreEating the Greek breakfast wrap at the farmers market required sitting down — and both hands.
It was the perfect flavor combination and surprisingly affordable, too. Lemony potatoes spread on a giant warm pita piled with seasoned scrambled eggs, chicken gyro strips, fresh spinach, crumbled feta, tomatoes, and a dollop of tzatziki sauce.
Then one year the Mediterranean food stand failed to return. I was on my own.
Read More“I thought he was joking.”
But Noel Fielding isn’t kidding when he tells the Great British Bake-Off contestants that they’re making a Monet cake colored green with spinach for their technical challenge. Welshman Jon Jenkins expressed disbelief at first, but he’s got some tricks up his sleeve.
I lost count of how many times I watched that video, trying to figure out what to do.
Read More“Prue would like you to make an impression of a cake. Quite literally. It’s her version of the impressionist painter Claude Monet’s favorite birthday treat, le gâteau vert.”
The technical challenge on the Great British Bake-Off, known stateside as the Great British Baking Show, was bonkers: three layers of pistachio sponge cake coated in pistachio buttercream covered with homemade pistachio marzipan drizzled with icing colored green using spinach.
I’d never attempted a Bake-Off recipe before, but this green pistachio ridiculousness spoke to me.
Read MoreThe pie recipe had been in our family for decades. We found it on a Dannon yogurt container, back when the company actually sold large tubs of plain yogurt in the local grocery store.
Whenever we had nice fresh fruit, Mom made the pie. She’d add berries or stone fruit to a graham cracker crust, blend the rest of the ingredients together, pour the filling over the fruit, and let it set. Often she’d send me to collect fresh mint from the garden that she’d brush with melted apricot jam for extra garnish.
It’s light, tart, and admittedly perfect for breakfast, but has one big problem for vegetarian friends: Gelatin.
Read MoreThe old French men thought we were crazy. I remember their amused expressions as our young co-ed American college student group played pétanque at a park in Southern France. Someone brought pastis that we diluted with water and sipped surreptitiously.
Nobody cared who won. What stuck with me was that feeling of easy-going enjoyment. The Mediterranean sun shining, ice melting in a tall glass, relaxed smiles all around. That, to me, is the Midi.
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