Purely Random

Have you ever watched a cooking show and thought, “I could do that if I had someone measure out all my ingredients and set them on the counter in little dishes for me.” Yes? Then you need to start using prep dishes. You may not have someone to fill them for you, but these cheap little dishes make it possible to do a lot of the detail work well in advance of actually cooking. All the chopping, measuring, and other little details that require careful inspection of your recipe can take place before you turn dive into combining, mixing, sauteing can be done well in advance of turning on the stove. Taking care of the details before the heat comes one, will make your cooking far more manageable. Who knows, maybe you can even find a friend to help you fill them up. (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…)

Let me step away from the traditional breakfast post for just a moment: today, I’m going to talk about a coffee shop. Realize that I’m a novice coffee drinker at best, but I find that there’s a lot of opportunity for variety in that world, and I’d love to become more aware of it’s intricacies. Variety, as we should all embrace, is the the spice of life. (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…)

I currently own two different private web sites that I own and operate. They’re both basically blogs, but I never seem to post new content. One is intended as a more professional summary of my research and essays on that topic; the other, which you are currently reading, is a dumping ground for whatever I want to post. Not a day goes by when I don’t have a huge number of ideas about what types of content I should post, but none of it ever gets posted. I plan on posting it a the time, but nothing actually comes of it. I write notes to myself summarizing the content and sometimes write out the whole thing. But still, nothing ever makes it to the site. Why? (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…)