For the last three years, my mother has been living in a little cottage in Kula, Maui on a beautiful property planted with mango, loquat, natal plum, macadamia nut, avocado, kukui nut and guava trees. While visiting my mother recently, my husband became excited about cracking open the macadamia nuts from the yard and…
Tag: home-made pantry item
Bittersweet Boozy Goodness- Old Fashioned Orange Marmalade (with bitters and sour cherries)
Just before Christmas, I came home one night to find the teenage daughter of one of my neighbors sitting in our cold and dirty hallway. She was locked out. I invited her into my apartment and offered to feed her dinner. Her mother found the note that we had left her when she came…
Seville Orange Marmalade with Whiskey and Brown Sugar
Last year, a dear friend of ours returned from a trip to Australia and gave us a fabulous jar of whisky marmalade as a gift. This is a perfect gift for me, because I LOVE marmalade, but it’s also risky. I am a woman who has some very strong opinions about marmalade. Luckily, the whisky…
The Saga of my Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter
I decided to make a gluten-free starter this summer. I was compelled to do this because I was determined to make a gluten-free version of my the dark sourdough rye bread that my grandmother used to make (Leib in Estonian). More on that later. It took a couple of months and a bunch of trial…
Tuna-Dill Tomato Sauce
I’m really happy with this sauce. I have consumed immense quantities of tomato sauce in my life but it’s not something that I’ve ever gotten into making. That just means I have opinions about the subject and know what the good stuff looks like when I see it. Cockiness aside, this is a really flexible…
Home-made cheap thrill sauce- Ajvar (or Ljutenica)
Ajvar (or Ljutenica) is one of my favourite store-bought condiments. It is a relish made from sweet red peppers, eggplant and tomatoes. Some brands are spicy and some are not. It is a beautiful bright orange-red color. It makes simple, cheap food taste thrillingly gourmet and it is astonishingly inexpensive, which is why I always refer…
Crab Apples Pickled in Sherry Vinegar and Five Spice Powder
My Estonian grandmother planted a fruit tree for each of her grandchildren when they were born. Mine was the crab apple tree. When I was about seven years old, I asked my grandmother why my tree was the one with fruit that was so hard and sour. She told me that the crab apple tree…
Sweet and Smoky Chipotle Seasoning Paste- And a love letter to my Texas friends
Good Mexican food is still not that easy to come by in NYC. For years, I got around this sad culinary situation by working (and eating) in Texas as least once a year. Sadly, this summer marks two years without a trip to Texas, so it’s time to start cooking Mexican for myself again. On…
For the Love of Sourness- Rhubarb Chutney
My maternal grandparents lived in a white farm house with a red roof and a veranda that wrapped around two sides. I have a lot of affectionate for the trees and plants that grew directly around that house. These were the plants that my grandma and great grandma has chosen to encircle the house….a…
Red, Yellow and Green Thai Curry Pastes
For many years, I made very large quantities of green, yellow and red Thai curry paste at Christmas time to give as gifts (and also to stock my freezer). A few years ago my friend Kerthy helped me roast and grind all of the ingredients and half way through the process we could barely speak or…
