Purely Random

About 4 months ago, I fell in love with the concept of baking my own bread. Why? It all started with the bread baking “class” from the Enrico Biscotti Company. In just a single-session introduction, I didn’t learn all the intricacies of bread, nor was I able to actually reproduce the loaf of bread we made in class—at least initially. The primary outcome of the class was inspiration: I started baking bread every Saturday morning.

On Sunday, I took that class for a second time—this time with two new friends. If you like too cook (or have any interest in baking or Italian food culture), you should sign up and take the class as well. Breakfast alone is worth half the cost. (more…)

The more people that end up being invited to a dinner party, the less manageable that party becomes. It’s inevitable: as you invite more people, the amount of food required grows. Even the variety of food required expands as guests with what I’ll call “limited flavor tolerances” become involved. The result: lots of running around doing prep work and trying to please too many different people instead of bringing a close group of friends together for an enjoyable meal. I’m guilty of these sins, and they must stop. (more…)

I’m a big fan of tea. I’m sure that’s at least partially inspired by my mother, who so frequently has a hot cup of tea in front of her that my first words were, “hot tea!” So, of course, when I came into contact with Wick’s and Beans at some point last year, I was both intruiged and excited. In fact, I was so excited that it couldn’t be completely explained by some maternally-inspired appreciation of tea. I think it has much more to do with my love of small storefronts run by a connoisseur. This brings me to Margaret’s Fine Imports, which is nothing more than a bigger, better Wick’s and Beans in a new location. (more…)

Quite literally, this post is made possible by the “fruits” of Pittsburgh’s very own farmers market (only on Saturday mornings in the strip). I didn’t realize such an opportunity existed before I started working in the strip, but there are signs plasters all over the parking lot of the Firehouse Lounge. I basically had to give it a go. This week actually wasn’t my first time, but it was my most successful time. I’d love to get there early—because I have a feeling all the sellers do the same, but it seems like I’m always late (for my tastes). Even so, I managed to get out there by about 10:30am, which was good enough. I almost want to start writing about all my trips to the farmers market and do kind of a “market report” a la KCRW’s Good Food program. But alas, I don’t find time to post nearly enough. (more…)

Over the weekend, I went to my home town in Ohio for my mom’s Birthday. As a gift, I put together an exciting vegetarian barbecue and brought home all the fixin’s from the Whole Foods in Pittsburgh (my mom is a vegetarian—that’s why I sometimes lean that way). As always, the barbecue was tasty and exciting. But that’s not what this post is about. This post, is about the leftovers. My mom almost always sends all her leftovers home with me because I have housemates that might potentially eat it, and it would just sit in the fridge at her place. The result: I have a lot of leftovers in my fridge. It also seems as if it’s up to me to eat it; my housemates all seem to ask, “isn’t there any meat in it?” and go on to heat up a frozen dinner. (more…)

A few weeks ago, I read a section in Vegetarian Times about dinners that you could make with a microwave and items that you could keep around your (fridge-equipped) office. Though some of the items were a bit of a stretch for making in an office kitchen, they all looked tasty (as usual), and they did require only a microwave. That inspired me to try something a little different when I made a quick dinner last night: microwave-only preparation (with good results, even).

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